Ephesians 4:7-11 - The Gift and Office of Prophet

Yesterdaywe talked about what it means to be apostle. Those were the 12 that Jesusoriginally chose (Matthew 10:1-4). Specifically, these Apostles had to be a witnessof Jesus life and ministry since His baptism and also His resurrection (Acts1:21-22). These were specially chosen men we read about in the Book of Actsthat laid the foundation of the church. But also other special group thatassisted in laying the foundation of the church in the first century were menwho were called the prophets. Nowwe usually think of a prophet in the Old Testament of someone that predicts thefuture. God gave these men special revelation and insight to talk about thingsto come. But in the New Testament, the prophet was someone who forthtold theword of God. Remember in the first century New Testament church in the book ofActs, they did not have a New Testament. Most of the believers did not havecopies of the Old Testament. Those were on scrolls and these were in thesynagogues. Therefore, they needed the office of a prophet who also laid thefoundation of the church along with the apostles.  Thesepeople were gifted by the Holy Spirit with special knowledge and wisdom. Weread in 1 Corinthians 13:2, "Though I have the gift of prophecy andunderstand all mysteries and all knowledge…." This gift and officegave them special insight to God's truths. They could proclaim to the localchurch a direct revelation from God that would help the early believers to knowand understand the truth and will of God concerning the mystery and ministry ofthe church along with specific application of God’s Word concerning theirlives. At the same time many of these gifted men, like Paul, also gave revelationabout future events concerning the future of the church in the last days asthey were inspired to write letters to the churches. Inthe book of Romans 12:4-8 we find that there are seven spiritual gifts that arementioned. The first one that is mentioned in Romans 12:6 is prophesy alongwith instruction on how to exercise the gift. I believe that as important andnecessary as it was for all the spiritual gifts to be exercised in the localchurch that it also appears that these gifts are listed in order of theirimportance as far as their use in the church. Here in Ephesians 4:11 the giftand office of Apostleship is of course the first one. And as far as this giftand office is concerned, it was for very a specific purpose and for a veryspecific time period at the beginning and foundation of the church. Nextin importance would be the gift of prophecy.  In 1 Corinthians 14:1, Paul writes: “Pursuelove, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy”. Thenhe goes on to explain what the purpose of prophecy is in verses 2-5: “But he who prophesies speaksedification and exhortation and comfort to men. Sothis spiritual gift of prophecy was given to the men to come alongside the menwho had the gift of Apostleship to specially lay the foundation. You see thisin Ephesians 2:20: “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles andprophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone”. So they preached JesusChrist. They taught that Jesus was the head of the body, the chief cornerstone. Ibelieve that today it is possible the gift of prophecy is still able to beexercised, but it has to do with a person who is able to lead the church insuch a way that he understands and has special discernment of what is right andwrong in a specific way and is able to call out evil. Still, other Biblescholars believe the gift of prophecy expired with the early church when the NewTestament was completed. What matters today is that we still have love andunity and make the name and salvation of Jesus known to everyone we can! Godbless!