December 05 2025

Friday December 05

The Gift and Office of Prophet

Ephesians 4:7-11

“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift… And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.”

Today we're looking at Ephesians 4, specifically verse 11. Here the Apostle Paul is talking about specific offices in the church. For the past several days we have been looking at the spiritual gifts that have been given to the church and that are displayed or used in these four offices that He mentions here in verse 11. “He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.”

Yesterday we talked about what it means to be apostle. Those were the 12 that Jesus originally chose (Matthew 10:1-4). Specifically, these Apostles had to be a witness of Jesus life and ministry since His baptism and also His resurrection (Acts 1:21-22). These were specially chosen men we read about in the Book of Acts that laid the foundation of the church. But also other special group that assisted in laying the foundation of the church in the first century were men who were called the prophets.

Now we usually think of a prophet in the Old Testament of someone that predicts the future. God gave these men special revelation and insight to talk about things to come. But in the New Testament, the prophet was someone who forthtold the word of God. Remember in the first century New Testament church in the book of Acts, they did not have a New Testament. Most of the believers did not have copies of the Old Testament. Those were on scrolls and these were in the synagogues. Therefore, they needed the office of a prophet who also laid the foundation of the church along with the apostles.

These people were gifted by the Holy Spirit with special knowledge and wisdom. We read in 1 Corinthians 13:2, "Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge…." This gift and office gave them special insight to God's truths. They could proclaim to the local church a direct revelation from God that would help the early believers to know and understand the truth and will of God concerning the mystery and ministry of the church along with specific application of God’s Word concerning their lives. At the same time many of these gifted men, like Paul, also gave revelation about future events concerning the future of the church in the last days as they were inspired to write letters to the churches.

In the book of Romans 12:4-8 we find that there are seven spiritual gifts that are mentioned. The first one that is mentioned in Romans 12:6 is prophesy along with instruction on how to exercise the gift. I believe that as important and necessary as it was for all the spiritual gifts to be exercised in the local church that it also appears that these gifts are listed in order of their importance as far as their use in the church. Here in Ephesians 4:11 the gift and office of Apostleship is of course the first one. And as far as this gift and office is concerned, it was for very a specific purpose and for a very specific time period at the beginning and foundation of the church.

Next in importance would be the gift of prophecy.  In 1 Corinthians 14:1, Paul writes: “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy”. Then he goes on to explain what the purpose of prophecy is in verses 2-5: “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.”

So this spiritual gift of prophecy was given to the men to come alongside the men who had the gift of Apostleship to specially lay the foundation. You see this in Ephesians 2:20: “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone”. So they preached Jesus Christ. They taught that Jesus was the head of the body, the chief cornerstone.

I believe that today it is possible the gift of prophecy is still able to be exercised, but it has to do with a person who is able to lead the church in such a way that he understands and has special discernment of what is right and wrong in a specific way and is able to call out evil. Still, other Bible scholars believe the gift of prophecy expired with the early church when the New Testament was completed. What matters today is that we still have love and unity and make the name and salvation of Jesus known to everyone we can!

God bless!