The Apostle Paul or should I say prophet Paul

[Freak]

Acts 13:1 gives us a glimpse of this possibility:

In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.

Paul, while at the church at Antioch, operated as a prophet. Not many see Paul as a prophet but apparently he was. Prophet Paul!

[spl_cadet]

Not really. To me it makes more sense to read it as "there were prophets and teachers" with them being two different things, instead of a combined role as prophet/teacher.
To make an analogy, it's like saying that "In the conference hall there were officers and enlisted: John, Jacob, Jingle, Heimer, and Schmidt."

[Gavin]

Certainly Paul possessed prophetic abilities. He speaks of receiving revelations in many passages, including but not limited to II Corinthians 12:7, Galatians 2:2, Ephesians 3:3. He also possessed teaching abilities.

Interestingly, Paul was also an avid tongues-speaker: "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you" (I Corinthians 14:18).

[Jaltus]

Peter essentially says that any who wrote scripture is a prophet.

See II Peter 1:20-21.

[Freak]

Jaltus, great verse.


Jaltus:
Peter essentially says that any who wrote scripture is a prophet.

See II Peter 1:20-21.

Very interesting indeed....

[AcousticJS]

Hi Jaltus

Not entirely sure about your interpretation of 1 Peter 1:20-21. I've always read that to mean that the prophecies contained in Scripture were inspired by God, not that all scripture is prophecy, cos not all of it is. Song of Solomon isn't, for example. Can you explain why you read these verses the way you do? Sounds kinda interesting.

God bless
Jon

[Gavin]

Hi Jaltus

Not entirely sure about your interpretation of 1 Peter 1:20-21. I've always read that to mean that the prophecies contained in Scripture were inspired by God, not that all scripture is prophecy, cos not all of it is. Song of Solomon isn't, for example. Can you explain why you read these verses the way you do? Sounds kinda interesting.

God bless
Jon
I would be interested in this too, Jaltus.

Is all Scripture categorically "prophecy", or is there just "prophecy" within Scripture, both of which being inspired?

[Jaltus]

Not entirely sure about your interpretation of 1 Peter 1:20-21. I've always read that to mean that the prophecies contained in Scripture were inspired by God, not that all scripture is prophecy, cos not all of it is. Song of Solomon isn't, for example. Can you explain why you read these verses the way you do? Sounds kinda interesting. The first issue to deal with is the definition of prophecy. Most biblical scholars will tell you that prophecy is not FOREtelling the future, rather it is FORTHtelling the will of God. Prophecy is when a specific person confronts a community with the will of God. THerefore, all of scripture really is prophecy, it just happens to be directed at the church regardless of time or place.

Remember, Abraham is called a prophet, not because he foretold the future nor even because he wrote, but because he told people what the will of God was (Gen. 20:7).

[Jaltus]

Gavin,

I think all scripture is prophecy, but that there is also a genre of scripture we call prophecy that has specific forms and ways of communicating.

[Carl Smuda]

The first issue to deal with is the definition of prophecy. Most biblical scholars will tell you that prophecy is not FOREtelling the future, rather it is FORTHtelling the will of God. Prophecy is when a specific person confronts a community with the will of God. THerefore, all of scripture really is prophecy, it just happens to be directed at the church regardless of time or place. Thank you Jaltus! :joy: Gavin, do you see that? This is the kind of reasoning explained to us when they taught us to operate the manifestation of prophecy. NOT that it was FORE telling the future but that it was FORTHtelling. Have you run across this? I haven't myself tried to check different places. I said somewhere else that I was amazed at how different a write up was on "word-of-knowledg" in a big charismatic theology book. What Jaltus said here about scripture was very encouraging. :yipee:

God Bless.

[ItalianGold]

If prophecy is not "foretelling" - but merely explaining God's will, then why are there so many arguments about having this prophecy or that prophesy fulfilled?

And how does Revelations fit into this??

[Carl Smuda]

ItalianGold,
God Bless you in the name of Jesus Christ! Up until about "Amos" the Prophets mostly just told the people and then the King how screwed up everything was and the people/King would respond to correct, or not. Then by Amos it got to the point where God was past telling His people His will, and began to tell them what was going to happen TO them. So before Amos you have forthtelling and after Amos you have Foretelling. (anyone who wants to slap me for gross overgeneralizing go right ahead, I'm meek. :tongue: ).

Then in the Charismatic/Pentecostal circles the manifestation of Prophecy, to many, is considered a "worship/utterance" gift and the message is forthtelling. God's Will of His Love for us and calling us to Stand on His Word and hold forth His Son.

So I suppose, out there, is some Gift Ministries that could be Prophets that foretell.

Forgive me while I duck-out on the Revelation question. :help:

respectfully,
Carl :read:

[ItalianGold]

Carl Smuda:
ItalianGold,
God Bless you in the name of Jesus Christ! Up until about "Amos" the Prophets mostly just told the people and then the King how screwed up everything was and the people/King would respond to correct, or not. Then by Amos it got to the point where God was past telling His people His will, and began to tell them what was going to happen TO them. So before Amos you have forthtelling and after Amos you have Foretelling. (anyone who wants to slap me for gross overgeneralizing go right ahead, I'm meek. :tongue: ).

Then in the Charismatic/Pentecostal circles the manifestation of Prophecy, to many, is considered a "worship/utterance" gift and the message is forthtelling. God's Will of His Love for us and calling us to Stand on His Word and hold forth His Son.

So I suppose, out there, is some Gift Ministries that could be Prophets that foretell.

Forgive me while I duck-out on the Revelation question. :help:

respectfully,
Carl :read:


Hey thanks ! :cheers:

[barley]

The first issue to deal with is the definition of prophecy. Most biblical scholars will tell you that prophecy is not FOREtelling the future, rather it is FORTHtelling the will of God. Prophecy is when a specific person confronts a community with the will of God. THerefore, all of scripture really is prophecy, it just happens to be directed at the church regardless of time or place.

Remember, Abraham is called a prophet, not because he foretold the future nor even because he wrote, but because he told people what the will of God was (Gen. 20:7).
Jaltus, You are accurate to point out that prophecy has two possible meanings in this context, did you mean to include the words "not only" . Prophecy is not only foretelling, but is the majority of time forthtelling.

[Nikao]

Paul, while at the church at Antioch, operated as a prophet. Not many see Paul as a prophet but apparently he was. Prophet Paul![/QUOTE]

Or he was neither a prophet nor an apostle. Just saying.

[Rdr. Arsenios]

The Gift of Prophesy is that of fore-seeing the future, re-seeing the past, and in-seeing the present... Christ foresaw Peter's death, Moses re-saw the creation of the Kosmos, and for most, insight into the present is the regular Gift of Prophesy... As Christ had insight into Photini, the Woman at the Well...

Arsenios