"What is the Spiritual Gift of Prophecy?" Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd

The spiritual gift of prophecy is listed among the gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:10 and Romans 12:6. The Greek word translated “prophesying” or “prophecy” in both passages

means to declare the divine will of God, to relate the purposes of God, and to make known in any way the truth of God. By speaking God’s truth his words are designed to influence people. Many people misunderstand the gift of prophecy to be the ability to predict the future. While knowing something about the future may sometimes have been an aspect of the gift of prophecy, it was primarily a gift of proclamation “forth-telling,” not prediction which is “foretelling.” To proclaim or forth-tell is, if you travel down this road in sin then this is what will happen to you. If you turn away from your sins then this is what will happen to you.

What is a prophesier?

A pastor, like myself, who declares the word of the Bible can be considered a “prophesier” in that he is speaking forth the willful counsel of God. With the completion of the New Testament, prophesying changed from declaring new revelation to declaring the completed revelation God has already given. Jude 3 speaks of “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” In other words, the faith to which we hold has been settled forever, and it does not need the addition or refinement that comes from extra-biblical revelations.

New revelations ceased

Also, note the transition from prophet to teacher in 2 Peter: 2-1: “There were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you.” Peter indicates that the Old Testament age had major & minor prophets, whereas the true Church will have teachers forth-telling what is to come. The spiritual gift of prophecy that came from the prophets in the old testament in the sense of receiving new revelations from God to be proclaimed to others, ceased with the completion of the Bible in Revelations. During the time that prophecy was a revelatory gift, like in the old testament, it was to be used for the edification, exhortation, and comfort to men. - 1 Corinthians 14:3. The modern gift of prophecy, which is really more akin to teaching or forth-telling of scripture, still declares the truth of God. What has changed is that the truth of God today has already been fully revealed in His Word, while, in the early true Church, it had not yet been fully revealed because the Bible was still being written.

Be wary of new messages

Christians are to be very wary of those who claim to have a “new” message from God; there is no new message because all that is God’s will is now in the completed Bible. It is one thing to say, “I had an interesting dream last night.” However, it is quite another matter to say, “God gave me a dream last night, and you must obey it.” What does happen is God, in these last

days, will give visions and dreams to some to forth-tell what is about to happen.

In Joel 2: 28-32 the Lord tells us, “And it shall come to pass afterward that i will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughter will prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And also on my menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out my Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth; Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, Among the remnants whom the lord has called.”

No utterance of man should be considered equal to or above the written Word or able to change the meaning of the written word. Only to clarify. We must hold to the Word that God has already given and commit ourselves to Scripture alone.

By Gary Boyd

Go to: http://gkboydinkllc.com an download my E-Books on “What must Happen Before the Tribulation Starts” – “Are You Rapture Ready” – “Will You Be Ready When Jesus Comes?”