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1994
PRESIDENTIAL
Affirming
God’s
People
as a
Community
Roger
Stronstad
The theme of this
Twenty-Fourth
of
upon them,
upon
whom
Jesus,
himself the
Spirit
of
prophecy-both children’s
generation,
people
of God as the
body
prophets,
145
ADDRESS
Diversity:
of
Prophets
Annual
Meeting
of the
Society
for
In keeping with this
theme,
I
which the
people
a narrative
theology
of one of
for their
This paradigm
of the
of all believers. This
Pentecostal Studies is affirming
diversity.
will affirm the fact that there are diverse
paradigms by
of God have been
described,
and
give
these
paradigms.
This
paradigm
is Luke’s
portrait
of the
people
of God
the new
age, who, by
virtue of
having
the
Holy Spirit poured
forth
have become the
eschatological community
of
prophets
the
eschatological prophet,
has
poured
forth
for their own
generation,
and for each
succeeding generation. paradigm
distances Luke from Paul’s all-too-dominant
of Christ and also from the traditional Protestant
paradigm
of God’s
people
as the
priesthood
of all believers. These two
paradigms-the
Pauline and the Reformed-have not
only overshadowed
Luke’s,
but have over
time,
and until this
century, snuffed out the
practical
belief that God’s
people
are a
community
of
or,
in other
words,
the
prophethood
prophethood paradigm is, however,
Luke’s distinctive vision of the people
of God and is an
important
dimension of his contribution both to the New Testament and to the
ministry
of God’s
people
in the twentieth
century.
In the discussion which
follows,
I will trace the
portraits
of God’s
of
prophets through
its three
stages
of redemptive history.
The first
stage
is to be found in Moses’s earnest desire that all of God’s
people
would be
prophets,
the second in the
all believers
through
Jesus and
and the third in its
partial recovery
in the twentieth
century, functionally, experientially
and
theologically.
people
as a
community
inauguration
of the
prophethood among
his
followers,
of
1
146
Earnest Desire:
Moses Desires a Nation
of Prophets (Numbers 11:24-30)
The
concept
of the
prophethood
of all believers is rooted in the redemptive history
of Israel as a nation. At Mt. Sinai God covenanted with his
people
to make
them,
“a
kingdom
of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:6).
While God was faithful to his
redemptive purposes, Israel, especially
the
generation
of the
Exodus,
often
proved
to be disloyal. Moses,
Israel’s
leader, quickly
discovered that not
only
was the nation rebellious and disobedient to
God,
but that it was difficult to lead. In this time of
leadership
crisis for
Moses,
God instructed him to delegate leadership responsibilities among
the
seventy
elders of Israel. With this transfer of
leadership
there was also to be a
complementary transfer of the
empowering Spirit.
This transfer
happened
at the Tabernacle and is reported in these words:
He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Hlm upon the seventy
elders. And it came about that when the
Spirit rested upon them, they
prophesied (Num. 11 :25).
But two of the elders had remained in the
camp,
and
they
also prophesied.
When this fact was
reported
to
Moses, Joshua,
his attendant
urged: “Moses, my lord,
restrain them”
(Num. 11 :28). With
a wisdom bom out of his
struggles
as a leader of a stubborn
nation, Moses
replied
with the earnest desire: “Would that all the Lord’s people
were
prophets,
that the Lord would
put
His
Spirit upon
them!” (Num. 11 :29b). Thus,
the ideal for Israel was that in addition to
being
a kingdom
of priests it would also be a kingdom of prophets.
Moses’s earnest desire that Israel would be a nation of
prophets remained unfulfilled across the
advancing centuries,
until God himself raised
up
the
eschatological prophet
like
Moses, who,
in turn, became the fountainhead of a community of prophets.
Inauguration:
The New Testament Restoration
of Prophecy (Luke-Acts)
A millennium and more would
pass
before Moses’s earnest desire that God’s
people
would be a nation of
prophets
would be fulfilled. It was fulfilled in the life and
ministry
of a Galilean
peasant,
Jesus of Nazareth,
and
through
the transfer of the
Spirit
of
prophecy
was extended from him to the small
company
of his followers.
The
Restoration
of
Prophecy
When Jesus was bom to
Mary,
a young
peasant girl
from Nazareth in Galilee,
Rome ruled Palestine with a grip of
iron,
the Pharisees and the synagogue
vied with the
priesthood
and the
Temple
for the
religious affections of the
people,
and,
with a few
exceptions,
the
prophet
and prophecy
had been silent in Israel for four hundred
years.
Into this environment God restored
prophecy suddenly, dramatically
and
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147
unexpectedly.
A
young baby,
who a
generation
later would
appear among
the
people
identified as John the
Baptist, was,
“filled with the Holy Spirit,
while
yet
in his mother’s womb”
(Lk. 1:15),
and
was, consequently, “[to]
be called the
prophet
of the Most
High” (Lk. 1:76). Even before he was bom his
mother, Elizabeth,
was
similarly,
“filled with the
Holy Spirit,”
and broke forth in a song of praise
(Lk. 1:41-45). Not
only
did these remarkable events
occur,
but after John was bom his father, Zacharias,
“was filled with the
Holy Spirit
and
prophesied” (Lk. 1:67-79).
In
addition, Simeon,
who had the
Spirit upon him,
who had revelations
by
the
Spirit,
and who was led
by
the
Spirit,
broke forth in inspired,
that
is, prophetic praise
when he discovered the
baby
Jesus in the
Temple
with his
parents. Further, Anna,
the
octogenarian prophetess, gave
thanks to
God,
and continued to
speak
about Jesus. Finally Mary,
who conceived Jesus
by submitting
to the
overshadowing power
of the
Spirit
and who also
sang
a
song
of
praise (Lk. 1 :35-38, 46-55), was,
like
John, Elizabeth, Zacharias,
Simeon and
Anna,
a prophet.
This outburst of prophecy in Israel after four hundred
years
of silence was the
dppafl£v,
the
promise
or
pledge
of the fulfillment of Moses’s earnest desire that all of God’s
people
would be
prophets.
In other words,
these
six-John, Mary, Elizabeth, Zacharias,
Simeon and Anna-anticipate
the next
generation
of God’s
people-the daughters, the
young men,
the old
men,
and the
bondslaves,
both men and women-upon
whom the Lord will on the
day
of Pentecost
pour
forth the
Spirit
so that
they
will
prophesy.
And
so,
in this outburst of prophecy,
which was associated with the births of these two
cousins, John and
Jesus,
the
Spirit
of prophecy came
upon
“all flesh” in these six persons,
who were
anticipatory representatives
of that
nation-wide,
or universal, gift
of
prophecy
on the
day
of Pentecost which was to both transcend and
negate
all
age, gender
and social barriers
among
God’s people. Thus,
this dramatic outburst of
prophecy
heralded the
dawning of the new
age-the age
of the Messiah and the
subsequent complementary
and
unprecedented gift
of
prophecy among
his followers.
Jesus: The Anointed
Prophet
About
thirty years
after God had restored
prophecy
in Israel, and at the time when the
ministry
of John the
Baptist
was at its height, Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized
by his cousin. Luke reports:
… and while He (Jesus) was praying, heaven was opened and the Spirit
descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice Holy came out of heaven, “Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased” (Lk. 3:21b-22).
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148
Subsequently,
when Jesus returned to the
synagogue
in Nazareth one Sabbath he
explained
the
meaning
of his
baptismal experience
in the language
of the
prophet Isaiah,
who wrote:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.
Because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the He has sent me
poor.
to proclaim release to the captives, And recoverv of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are down trodden
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (Lk. 4 :18-19).
Next, he challenged
the
people
to
accept
him as the
Spirit-anointed prophet, solemnly affirming: “Truly
I
say
to
you,
no
prophet
is welcome in his home town”
(Lk. 4:24).
He continued
by identifying
his immediate situation as a prophet in Nazareth with that of the two
great charismatic
prophets, Elijah
and Elisha, who were both
rejected by their own
people,
and
subsequently
ministered to
strangers (Lk. 4:25-30). This association with Israel’s
prophetic
tradition was used to buttress the claim that Jesus, God’s Son, was the
Spirit-anointed prophet.
In other
words, Jesus
was the Messiah or
Christ,
but after the
prophetic pattern
rather than after either the
royal
or the
priestly patterns.
The
Gospels
show that Jesus’
ministry
was meteoric. It
began
in a blaze of
public popularity
as the
people
wondered at his gracious words and witnessed his
amazing
miracles. But like the
prophets
of old he quickly
became the
rejected prophet.
As a result, within three
years
of his
baptism by
John at the Jordan, he was crucified on a cross
by
the hands of
godless
men-both Jewish and Gentile. Three
days
after this brutal and fearful event, Jesus, now risen from the
dead, joined
a disillusioned
Cleopas
and
companion
as
they
were
walking
from Jerusalem to Emmaus
(Lk. 24-13ff).
He asked them what
things they had been
talking
about.
They replied:
The things about Jesus the Nazarcne. who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief and our rulers delivered Him
priests
up to the sentence of death, and crucified 24:
Him (Lk. 19-20).
Here in this
reply
is the
report
of Jesus’
status, namely
that he was a prophet
in the
sight
of God and the
people,
that he died as a
rejected prophet, and, further,
that his deeds and his words were
powerful.
In other
words, beginning
with his
baptism
all the works which he performed
were
empowered by
the
Spirit
and all the words which he spoke
were
empowered,
or
inspired by
the
Spirit (compare
Acts
1 :2). Clearly, then,
between Jesus’
reception
of the
Spirit
at the Jordan and his
pouring
forth of the
Spirit
on the
day
of
Pentecost,
everything which he said and did was the work and words of a
Spirit-anointed, Spirit-filled, Spirit-led,
and
Spirit-empowered prophet – (Lk. 3:22, 4-18-1 4:1, 4:14).
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149
This observation is
fully
borne out
by
Luke’s
report
about Jesus’ ministry.
For
example,
when he raised the widow’s son from the
dead, Jesus did the work of a
prophet (Lk. 7:16). Subsequently, among Simon the
Pharisee,
Herod and the
people,
he had a
widening reputation
as a
prophet (Lk. 7:39; 8:7-9,
18, 19). Further, while en route to
Jerusalem,
he
aligned
himself with the
prophets
of old who were
persecuted
and killed
(Lk. 11:45-52). Moreover,
after his arrest he was blindfolded, beaten and mocked as a
prophet (Lk. 22:63-65). Finally, Jesus,
the
eschatological Spirit-anointed prophet,
died in Jerusalem as the
rejected prophet. Nevertheless, prophecy
did not die out
among
God’s
people
for on the
day
of Pentecost the newly-ascended
Jesus transferred the
Spirit
from himself to his disciples. By
so
doing,
he raised
up
a
company
of
eschatological, Spirit-baptized, Spirit-empowered
and
Spirit-filled prophets
who would,
in turn, witness about him to the ends of the earth.
The
Disciples:
A
Company
of Spirit-Baptized Prophets
After the
contemporary pattern
of a rabbi and his
disciples,
or after the earlier
pattern
of a
prophet
and the sons of the
prophets,
Jesus called to himself a company of disciples
who, following
his ascension to heaven,
would be heirs and successors to his
ministry (Lk.
To this end he
taught
them
(Lk. 6),
modeled the
prophetic ministry (Lk. 7-8),
and sent them out to minister
(Lk. 9).
But Jesus knew that if his disciples
were to succeed him as a
company
of
prophets they
would need more than
instruction,
role
modeling
and
ministry experience. They
would need to be
empowered by
the same
Spirit
as
he, himself, was.
Thus, anticipating
the not-too-distant end to his
earthly ministry Jesus
began
to
promise
the future
pouring
forth of the
Spirit upon them.
Luke
reports
that
Jesus,
in
fact,
made six
promises
about the future pouring
forth of the
Spirit.
Three of these he made before his death and resurrection. The first was the
promise
to the
disciples
that
“your heavenly
Father
(will) give
the
Holy Spirit
to those who ask Him”
(Lk. 11:13);
the second was that when the
disciples
would be put on trial the Holy Spirit
would teach them what to
say (Lk. 12:11-12),
and the third was that when the
disciples
underwent
persecution
he would
give
them an irresistible “utterance and wisdom”
(Lk. 21:15).
Between his resurrection and his ascension Jesus made three further
promises
to his
disciples
about the
coming
of the
Holy Spirit. First,
he promised:
“And
behold,
I am
sending
forth the
promise
of
My
Father upon you;
but
you
are to
stay
in the
city
until
you
are clothed with power
from on
high” (Lk. 24:49). Second,
he renewed John the Baptist’s
earlier announcement that
they
would
be, “baptized
with the Holy Spirit”
not
many days
later
(Acts 1 :4-5). Finally,
he
promised them:
“you
shall receive
power
when the
Holy Spirit
has come
upon you” (Acts 1:8).
It will be this
inspiration
of the
Spirit,
this
being
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150
baptized
with the
Spirit,
and this
empowering
of the
Spirit
which will transform the followers of Jesus from mere
disciples
to
dynamic
prophets.
from
disciples
to
prophets began the
Spirit
on them on the
day forth of the
Spirit
was
part Temple mount,
These
promises
of the
Spirit
and the transformation of his followers
to be fulfilled when Jesus
poured
forth
of Pentecost. In
itself,
this initial
pouring
of a
great
and
glorious theophany
on the
where the
disciples
had
gathered.
At that time:
…
suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and
appeared
they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to
with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance (Acts
speak 2:2-4).
Sinai, namely,
appeared
to
Elijah,
tongues
.
at Mt.
_
When this
report
is
compared
with the two earlier
theophanies
when God made His covenant with Israel after he had redeemed them out of
Egypt (Exod. 19:16-18),
the
refugee
from Jezebel
(Lk. 19:11-12), evident that the first two
signs-the
as of fire-are
signs
of
theophany.
signs
of God’s manifest
presence,
but
they
of the
Spirit.
It is the third
sign alone,
which is the
sign
of the
pouring
forth
forth
mean?
and later when he
it is sound of the violent wind and the
In other
words, they are
are not
signs
of the
pouring
the
tongues-speaking, of the
Spirit.
But what did it all
This
theophany
and the
complementary pouring
forth of the
Spirit
is the
programmatic beginning
of the
prophethood
of all believers. This observation is confirmed
by
Peter’s
explanation
of the
signs
in which he
an oracle
by the prophet
Joel:
quotes
Blood,
_
“And it shall be in the last days,” God
“That I will
says,
pour forth of my Spirit upon all mankind; Your sons and
your daughters shall And prophesy, And your young
men shall see visions,
your old men shall dream dreams; Even
upon my bondslaves, both men and women, I will in
those forth of
And shall days pour
my Spirit
And I will they
prophesy.
grant wonders in the sky above,
And signs on the earth beneath,
and fire, and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:17-21).
description pouring
Joel’s
oracle,
with its announcement of wonders and
signs
is an exact
of the two
signs
of the
theophany
and the
sign
of the
forth of the
Spirit.
More
importantly,
it describes an
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151
eschatological
outburst of
prophecy among
God’s
people, irrespective of their
age, gender
or status. In other words, when the
Spirit
has been poured
forth
upon
them-and
echoing
the
representative universality
of the outburst of
prophecy
which Luke has
reported
in the
infancy narrative
(Lk. 1-2)-sons
and
daughters
shall
prophesy
and
young
and old men will have dreams and visions, those ancient media of prophetic revelation
(Num. 12:6).
Even
bondslaves,
both men and
women,
will prophesy.
Since Peter has declared that the
signs
of Pentecost fulfill Joel’s
prophecy, then, by definition, speaking
with other
tongues
is a type
of
eschatological prophecy. Thus,
the
pouring
forth of the
Spirit upon
the
disciples
on the
day
of Pentecost is eschatological,
universal, and
prophetic.
This
pouring
forth of the
eschatological
and universal
gift
of the Spirit
of
prophecy
stands in a
point-counterpoint relationship
to the experience
of Israel at Mt. Sinai when God covenanted with his
people. At that time he established them as a nation of priests. Now, on the
day of Pentecost God establishes his
people
of the new covenant to be a company
of prophets. This new
kingdom,
as we have
already seen,
was inaugurated
at the restoration of
prophecy
which was associated with the births of John and Jesus. On the
day
of
Pentecost, however, Moses’s earnest desire that all God’s
people
would be
prophets
has taken a
quantum leap
toward literal fulfillment. Soon, and for the first time in
redemptive history,
the
Spirit
will be
poured
out
upon
God’s people
as a young, and
small,
but nevertheless real nation.
A Nation of Prophets
.
The
pouring
forth of the
Holy Spirit upon
the
disciples
on the
day
of Pentecost
programmatically,
but not
literally,
fulfilled the
prophecy
of Joel for a nationwide
pouring
forth of the
Spirit.
In other
words,
the company
of 120
disciples
who are filled with the
Holy Spirit
on the
day of Pentecost are
not,
in themselves, a nation.
Nevertheless,
because of the success of their
Spirit-empowered
witness this
company
of Spirit-baptized prophets
will soon
grow
to true nationhood.
Luke
reports
the
rapid growth
of the
disciples
from a small
company to nationhood in a series of
quantitatively escalating terms, beginning with the eleven
apostles (Acts 1:2, 13), advancing
to the 120
disciples (1:14-15), adding 3,000
on the
day
of Pentecost
(2 :41),
then
numbering 5,000
men
(4:4).
At this
point
Luke
stops counting
and describes the believers
simply
as “the multitude”
(4:32). Finally,
Luke describes the followers as “the church”
(Tfiv ÉKKÀ:r]ŒLav, 5:11).
This term first appears
in
Scripture
to describe Israel
gathered together
as a nation (Deut. 4:10; 9:10;
18:16
LXX; compare
Acts
7:38). Therefore,
at this point
in his narrative Luke has borrowed a term from the LXX to portray
to his readers that the
growing community
has achieved the status of
nationhood,
akin to the nationhood of the first
generation
of the Exodus.
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152
Not
only
have
they
become a nation which numbers over
5,000
men plus
women and
children, but, during
a second
theophany
on the Temple
Mount in Jerusalem,
they
have also become a nation of prophets.
Luke
reports:
And when they had prayed, the place where they had
was
gathered together
shaken,
and they were all filled with the
Holy Spirit,
and began to
speak
the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31).
In this
text, typically given
short shrift in the
commentaries, Luke briefly
but
clearly conveys
the
following
information to his readers:
I ) the
disciples
have
gathered together
on the
Temple Mount,
for the term “place” (T6vog)
in an
adjacent
context describes the
Temple (Acts 6:13, 14), 2)
the
disciples
who have
gathered together
are the 5,000 men
reported
in Acts
4:4, 3)
the
disciples experience
a
theophany,
for the
earthquake
is as
typical
a
sign
of
theophany
as the wind and fire were
typical signs
of
theophany
on the
day
of Pentecost
(compare Exod.
19:18,
I
Kings 19:1 1 ), and 4)
filled with the
Holy Spirit
the disciples speak
the word of God with
boldness,
that
is, they prophesy.
These four facts lead to the
inescapable
conclusion that in this text of Acts 4:31 Luke has described a corporate outburst of
prophecy among all believers, who numbered in the thousands.
Thus,
Luke has
reported more than the
representative pouring
forth of the
Spirit upon
the six when John and Jesus were born
(Lk. 1-2),
and more than the programmatic
universal
pouring
forth of the
Spirit
of
prophecy upon the 120 on the
day
of Pentecost
(Acts 2).
In this second
theophany there was the actual literal fulfillment of Moses’s earnest desire that all
the Lord’s
people
would be
prophets,
for the Lord has
put
his
Spirit
on them;
more
specifically,
the Lord has filled them all with his
Spirit. Therefore,
after and because of this massive outburst of
prophecy
it was
appropriate
for Luke to
identify
the
disciples
for the first time as “the church”
(Tiw lKKXqaiav),
that
is, “the nation”
in a way that it was not
appropriate
to describe the
company
of
disciples
on the
day
of Pentecost who
prophesied.
Here in Luke’s
narrative,
and for the first time ever in the
redemptive history
of God’s
people, they truly functioned as a nation of prophets-the prophethood of all believers. Six Charismatic
Prophets
In the narrative of
Luke-Acts,
Luke first
reported
about the three-stage representative, programmatic,
and literal
fulfillment, respectively,
of Moses’s earnest desire that all God’s
people
would be prophets (Luke 1-2,
Acts
1:1-6:7).
In the remainder of his
narrative,
he reports
about six charismatic
prophets: Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, Agabus,
Peter and Paul
(Acts 6: 8-28:31 ).
These individual
prophets typify
and illustrate the
ministry
of the
prophethood
of all
believers, witnessing
in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth
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153
by
works which were
empowered by
the
Spirit
and
by
words which were
inspired by the Spirit.
Stephen
is the first deacon and the first of these six
prophets
about whom Luke will
report.
He had a fivefold
experience
of the
Spirit: 1) along
with the other
deacons,
he was “full of the
Holy Spirit
and wisdom”
(Acts 6:3), 2)
he was also “a man full of faith and of the
Holy Spirit” (6:5), 3)
he was “full of
grace
and
power” (6:8), 4)
he
spoke with wisdom and the
Spirit (6:10),
and
5)
he was “full of the
Holy Spirit,”
and had a vision of the risen Jesus
(7:55). Clearly,
his works-i.e.,
the
great
wonders and
signs
which he
performed (6:8)-were empowered by
the
Spirit. Similarly,
his words-not
only his witness to the
Synagogue
of the Freedmen
(6:9-10),
but also his prophetic
denunciation of the Sanhedrin
(7:2-53)-were inspired by the Spirit. Therefore,
what had earlier been
reported
about Jesus was also true of
Stephen; namely,
he was a prophet
mighty
in works and word in the
sight
of God and all the
people
and the chief
priests
and rulers
put him to death.
Philip
is the second deacon and the second of the six
prophets
about whom Luke
reports. Stephen
witnessed in Jerusalem. In contrast,
Philip witnessed in Samaria and Western Judea
(Acts 8:4-40). Philip
had a threefold
experience
of the
Spirit: 1)
like
Stephen
he was “full of the Holy Spirit
and wisdom”
(6:3), 2)
he was led
by
the
Spirit
to the Ethiopian
Court official
(8:29),
and
3)
he was
supernaturally transported by
the
Spirit
after he had
baptized
the
Ethiopian (8:39).
He witnessed
by
works
empowered by the Spirit. Specifically,
he cast out unclean
spirits
and healed the sick
(8:7).
He also witnessed
by
words which were
inspired by the Spirit, proclaiming
Christ to the Samaritans (8:5)
and
preaching
Jesus to the
Ethiopian
court official
(8:35).
Whereas Luke
portrays Stephen
and
Philip
to be
prophets by function, though
he does not
identify
them as
such,
he does
identify Barnabas,
the third of the
six,
as a
prophet (Acts 13 :1 ). Luke reports that Barnabas had a threefold
experience
of the
Spirit: 1 ) like Stephen he was “full of the
Holy Spirit
and of faith”
(11:24; compare 6:5), 2)
he was led
by
the
Spirit (13:1-4),
and
3)
in
company
with the other disciples
at Iconium he
was, “continually
filled with
joy
and with the Holy Spirit” ( 13:52).
Like all of the charismatic
prophets
who
preceded him, Barnabas,
in company with
Paul,
was a prophet who was
powerful in work and word.
Thus,
at Pisidian Antioch he
spoke
out
boldly (13:46),
a mark of
being
filled with the
Spirit (compare 4:13, 31). Further,
at Iconium he
performed signs
and wonders
(14:3; 15:12; compare 2:43; 5:12; 6:8; 8:16, 13).
The fourth charismatic
prophet
is
Agabas. Along
with other anonymous prophets
he came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. There he “indicated
by
the
Spirit
that there would
certainly
be a great famine all over the world”
(Acts 11 :28).
He next
reappears
in the narrative
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154
when Luke
reports
about Paul’s
journey
to Jerusalem at the end of this third
missionary journey (20:13ff).
Luke
reports
that when Paul arrived at Caesarea: “a certain
prophet
named
Agabas
came down from Judea” (21:10). Agabas
took “Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands” (21:11 a). Adding
voice to action he then said, “this is what the
Holy Spirit says:
‘In this
way
the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles”‘
(21:11 b). In each of these two
episodes, Agabas
functioned as a
prophet by speaking
words which were
inspired by the Spirit.
Peter is the
fifth,
and in
many ways
the most
important, prophet about whom Luke
reports.
He had a manifold
experience
of the
Spirit. For
example,
in Jerusalem he was filled with the
Spirit
on three separate
occasions
(Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31 ). Later,
in Samaria he was used to bestow the
Holy Spirit
to the believers there
(8:15-17). Finally,
in Joppa
he was instructed
by
the
Holy Spirit
to
go
to the home of Cornelius,
a Gentile
( 10:19-20),
who
along
with his household will be baptized
with the
Holy Spirit
while Peter witnessed to them
( 10:44-48; 11:15-17). Along
with the other
apostles
Peter
performed signs
and wonders in Jerusalem
(2:43; compare 3:1-10; 5:12-16).
He also performed signs
and wonders in Western Judea, such as
healing
a cripple
in Lydda
(9:32-35),
and
raising
the dead in Joppa (9:36-43). He not
only
witnessed
by
works
empowered by
the
Spirit
but he also witnessed
by
words
inspired by
the
Spirit (2:4, 14-36 ; 4:8-12). Indeed, Peter
personally
fulfilled the
programmatic
outline of Spirit-empowered witness
reported
at the
beginning
of Acts
( 1:8). In geographic terms,
he ministered in Jerusalem, then in Samaria, and,
finally,
in Judea. In racial terms,
he witnessed to
Jews, Samaritans,
and
Gentiles, respectively.
In the
light
of this record it is little wonder that Peter is so
prominent
in Luke’s narrative about the
origin
and the witness of this
prophetic community.
It is little
wonder, further,
that Peter is the standard of an apostle
and
prophet by which Luke
will measure Paul as an
apostle
and prophet.
Paul is the
final, and, quantitatively,
the most
prominent prophet about whom Luke
reports.
Luke identifies him as one of the
prophets
at Antioch
(Acts 13 : 1). He
also has a manifold
experience
of the
Spirit. For
example,
like Peter he was filled with the
Holy Spirit
three times (9:17; 13:9, 52).
He was also led
by
the
Spirit (13 :1-4 ; 16:6-8),
and was used to
impart
the
Holy Spirit (19:6).
Paul witnessed
by signs
and wonders
( 14:3; 15:12; 19:11 )
and raised the dead
(20:10).
He also witnessed
by
words
inspired by
the
Spirit (13:9). Clearly,
Paul’s charismatic
apostleship
and
prophethood
was the
equal
of Peter’s-a fact that
many
in the church in Jerusalem
may
have
questioned.
To sum
up,
this
survey
of Luke’s narrative about the acts of these six charismatic
prophets (Acts 6: 8-28:31 )
has
consistently
shown
examples of
prophets
whose works were
empowered by
the
Spirit
and whose
10
155
words were
inspired by
the
Spirit.
In
fact,
Luke
gives
no other
picture in this
narrative, or, indeed,
either earlier in Acts
(1:1-6:7)
or in his first account about
Jesus,
who was the
Spirit-anointed prophet mighty
in work and word. Thus, for
example,
in Luke’s narrative
Stephen
and Philip
were not the
only
charismatic deacons. The other five were as well
(6:3). Similarly,
Barnabas and
Agabas
were not the
only prophets. Rather,
each
represented groups
of
prophets ( 11:27; 13 :1 ). Finally, Peter and Paul were not the
only
charismatic
apostles.
The other eleven were as well. Indeed, not
only
were these leaders all charismatic prophets
in function, but,
beginning
with the
pouring
forth of the
Spirit on the
day
of
Pentecost,
all the
disciples
were as well
(2:4; 4:31 ).
This prophetic
function was also as true for Samaritan believers
(8:15-17) and for Gentile believers
( 10:44-48; 19:1-7)
as it was for
disciples
in Jerusalem. And
so,
the
disciples generally
were the
prophethood
of all believers. As Luke shows, their leaders, such as
Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, Agabas,
Peter and
Paul,
could be no less. In these community
and individual
examples,
Luke has shown that all the Lord’s s people
were
prophets,
that he had
put
his
Spirit upon
them. He did so by pouring
forth his
Spirit upon
sons and
daughters, upon young
men and old
men, upon
the slave and the
free, representatively (Lk. 1-2) programmatically (Acts 2),
and
nationally (Acts 4:31 ). Thus,
in its first generation
the church became a nation, or community of prophets.
Recovery:
The
Twentieth-Century Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Such is Luke’s vision of the
eschatological people
of God. As heirs and successors to the former
people
of
God,
who were a nation of priests,
the new
people
of God are a nation of
prophets.
And
they functioned as a community of prophets, more or less
completely, during the first
generation.
But
very quickly subsequent generations
ceased to function as
prophets,
either
individually
or
corporately. Identifying
the reception
of the
Spirit
with water
baptism, institutionalizing
the
gifts
of the
Spirit,
and
reacting
to
perceived
excesses in prophetic
movements, such as the
Montanists,
contributed to the cessation of
prophecy
in the church. But this demise was never a permanent condition.
Among
both individuals and
renewal/pietistic groups prophets
and
prophesying sporadically reappeared.
Now,
in the twentieth
century,
Luke’s vision of the
people
of God as the
prophethood
of all believers has been permanently, though only partially,
restored.
The
pouring
forth of the
Spirit
and of the
complementary gift
of prophecy,
such as Luke has
reported happening
on the
day
of Pentecost,
is
being
restored
among
God’s
people through
the contemporary
Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. This restoration began
on
January 1, 1901,
when
Agnes Ozman,
a student at Bethel Bible School in Topeka,
Kansas, began
to
speak
in other
tongues.
This
11
156
fresh
outpouring
of the
Spirit spread
like
prairie
wildfire from Kansas and Missouri to
Texas,
on to California, and from there to the ends of the earth.
According
to David B. Barrett’s “Annual Statistical Table on Global Mission:
1994,”
the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement now numbers about 450 million. This
explosive growth
means that in this century
to a
greater
or lesser extent Moses’s earnest desire that God would
put
his
Spirit
on all his people is being realized.
This
pouring
forth of the
Spirit
of
prophecy
in the
contemporary PentecostaUCharismatic Renewal restores
important
New Testament realities. For
example,
the
baptizing/filling
with the
Holly Spirit
restores the
immediacy
of God’s
presence
to his
people.
In other
words,
the formerly
transcendent God becomes immanent in the conscious experience
of his
people.
As a corollary, worship
gains
a dynamic and a vitality
that is often otherwise
lacking. Further,
there is a new
hunger for the Word of
God,
and a new existential
understanding
of God’s Word.
Finally,
and more
directly
related to the
age-old purpose
for the gift
of the
Spirit,
the
baptizing/filling
with the
Spirit
restores the
Spirit’s empowering
in witness.
Thus,
Pentecostals/Charismatics witness as prophets by
works which are
empowered by
the
Spirit
and
by
words which are
inspired by
the
Spirit. Indeed, right
from the
start, Pentecostalism has been an evangelism and
missionary
movement.
Though
it represents the restoration of
prophecy
in this
century,
the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement does not
fully
measure
up
to the effectiveness of that first
generation
of
prophets
which Luke
reports about. There are
perhaps
as many reasons for this
anomaly
as there are Pentecostals/Charismatics.
Nevertheless,
there are several basic reasons for this lack of
prophetic ministry among
Pentecostals which deserve comment. For
example, Pentecostals, themselves,
do not
fully understand the
meaning
of the
pouring
forth of the
Spirit according
to Luke’s
primary emphasis, namely,
as the restoration of
prophecy. Rather, they
are
preoccupied
with
secondary terminology, namely, baptized
with the
Spirit, speaking
with other
tongues
and initial evidence. As a result
they
are not
challenged
to function in the church and in
society
as
Spirit-baptized, Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered,
and Spirit-filled prophets. Consequently, though they may
have a zeal for missions and
evangelism,
their works are not
always empowered by the Spirit,
nor are their words
always inspired by the Spirit.
As a further result of not
understanding
that their
experience
is prophetic-which
is
necessarily
others-directed-the Pentecostal’s experience
tends to be both
individualistic, self-centered, and, even, narcissistic. In other
words,
the
experience
is
sought
as a
private blessing,
rather than as an
empowering
for
ministry.
Far too
many Pentecostals have been led to receive the
blessing
of the
Holy Spirit
in the
prayer
room and have never been
taught
to take the
empowering
of that
gift
into the streets and
marketplaces
of society.
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157
In addition, the restoration of
prophecy
is often trivialized and/or commercialized. Christian bookstores and church libraries are filled with literature and
tapes
on
prophecy
whose contents all too often border on the credulous, the absurd, the
blasphemous
and the exploitative.
To the authors and
publishers
of this material about prophecy, prophecy
is about new revelations and novel and authoritative
interpretations
of the
Bible,
and about who to
marry
and when to have babies. It is also about material
prosperity,
and about careers,
either sacred or secular. All over the world there are
prophets who,
like
Balaam, prostitute
the
gift
of
prophecy
for
money
and
power and who
grandstand
the
gift
for
prestige.
This
emphasis totally
misses the first
century
function of
prophets
and
prophesying.
At that time it was in terms of a
local, regional,
and worldwide witness about Jesus. Now it is about revelation
knowledge
and health and wealth-to be given
in return for a Pentecostal
handshake,
a love
offering,
or an honorarium.
Finally,
the restoration of
prophecy
in this
century
is a
splintered
or fractured
phenomenon. Independence
and individualism characterize the Pentecostal movement.
Split churches, independent churches,
a multiplicity
of
denominations,
and of
split-off
denominations abound. Often absent is the
unity,
the all
togetherness,
the one
accordness, which characterized the first
century prophets.
The antidotes to these and other ills in the Pentecostal
movement,
as the restored
community
of
prophets,
is to
recapture
Luke’s vision of God’s
people
as the
prophethood
of all believers. This vision is to reaffirm with Luke the
reality
of the Church as a nation of
prophets.
It is to
recapture
more
fully
the
gift
of the
Spirit
as the source of a Spirit-empowered
witness. It is also to
recapture
the divine seriousness of the
gift
in
meeting
eternal rather than
merely temporal
and material human needs.
Finally,
it is to
recapture
the
unity
of the
Spirit.
As the writer of
Luke-Acts,
Luke
undoubtedly perceived
himself to be a Spirit-inspired prophet, just
as did the
anonymous
writers of the books of the Former
Prophets.
Luke-Acts
itself, then,
is a
prophetic
word to the
contemporary Church, exposing
its
narcissistic, divisive, trivial,
and commercial use of the
Spirit, and, by giving
it the
example
of the disciples
as a
prophetic community, pointing
the church to how it should
properly
and
effectively
function as a nation of
prophets-the eschatological prophethood
of all believers.
‘
13
