Foundational Apostles and Prophets Continued: New Covenant, Foundational Prophets

1Co 14:3 NET  "But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation."

In the previous post, I began a conversation about foundational apostles and prophets. The adjective foundational comes from Ephesians 2:20. Furthermore, it was established that foundational apostles and prophets focused primarily on the gospel of grace. In this post, I will look at how the New Covenant foundational prophet functions, and what the nature of the prophecy is. The New Covenant foundational prophet is not like the Old Covenant prophet. She/he does not prophecy about God's impending wrath. You can see from the above scripture that the New Covenant foundational prophet prophesies to strengthen, encourage and console.

It is interesting that during the earthly ministry of Jesus, his disciples were sent on ahead to prepare for his eventual appearance in a Samaritan village. The village rejected the overture and Jesus' disciples asked him if he wanted them to rain fire down on their heads. In Luke 9:54 - 56 this incident is recorded. In verse 55 Jesus rebuked them. He went on to tell them that they did not realize what spirit they were of or from and that his mission was salvation and not judgment. I realize that the latter thoughts are not found in the older manuscripts and have been omitted from several of the newer translations of the bible. While it may have been added later to explain Jesus reasoning for the rebuke, I personally believe that it is Holy Spirit illuminated and revealed.

Paul also explains that there are different types of prophecies but they are all for a specific purpose and that purpose is to establish the truth of the gospel of grace. There is the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom. You may be curious as to what the difference is between the two. The word of knowledge is to establish that the prophet has supernatural knowledge provided by the Holy Spirit. It is knowledge of a situation that the individual prophesied too knows well, but has not told anyone or knows that it is not well known, and that the prophet has no way of knowing what she/he has shared. This places a stamp of approval on the gospel of grace message that the prophet is sharing.

The word of wisdom is a word that offers encouragement by making the recipient aware of a pending pit fall or something that may be working against the person. It is a word that can help the hearer avoid a problem. It can also be a word that simply adds wisdom to the individual such as prophesying that the hearer has a gift or calling that they may not currently be aware of, or they are aware but are in need of conformation. The word of wisdom often can be a word of conformation. An example of the word of wisdom being a warning is where the daughters of Philip prophesied about the impending imprisonment of Paul upon reaching Rome. Another example of a word of wisdom is when the prophet is given a message that God wants the individual to know about their calling.

As I have visited many congregations that recognize prophets and the prophetic, I have found that way too many of these prophets have patterned themselves after Old Covenant prophets that are expressing the impending wrath to come. I do not believe this is a valid example of New Covenant Foundational Prophets. New Testament foundational prophets function for both the saints of the assembly and potential converts that are being evangelized.