The Gift of Prophecy (The Role of Ellen White in God’s Remnant Church)

New Testament prophets

The word prophet, or prophets, appears about 150 times in the New Testament, mostly in the Gospels (86 times) and in the book of Acts (30 times). In the vast majority of cases in the New Testament, the word prophet refers to the Old Testament prophets; only a few times is it used for people actually living in New Testament times. GP 29.1

Among the pre-Christian prophets in the New Testament was Zacharias, who “was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied” (Luke 1:67); his wife, Elizabeth, who also being filled with the Holy Spirit, greeted Mary as the mother of the Messiah (see Luke 1:41-43); and Simon and Anna in the temple (see Luke 2:25-32, 36-38). All of them were pious Jews. GP 29.2

The most prominent pre-Christian prophet in the New Testament was John the Baptist. “Of no [other] prophet is it stated that he was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb, Lk. 1:15. Other prophets, even though God chose them prior to their birth (Jer. 1:5), were seized by the Spirit and given special tasks only as adults. John stands apart. He is a Spirit-filled prophet from the very first; he is the prophet.” ⁸ John the Baptist was not only the forerunner of the Messiah (see Matthew 3:1-3), he was the expected prophet, the promised Elijah (see Matthew 11:14). GP 29.3

Jesus is referred to as a prophet about twenty times. In most cases, it is the people who call Jesus a prophet (see Matthew 21:11; Luke 24:19). In Mark 6:4 and Luke 4:24, however, Jesus by implication identifies Himself as a prophet. GP 29.4

Living prophets in the time of the New Testament are scarce. Apart from the prophets and teachers at Antioch (Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Saul, mentioned in Acts 13:1), the only other New Testament prophets mentioned by name are “Judas and Silas” in Acts 15:32 and a prophet by the name of Agabus in Acts 21:10. To this group we should add the four daughters of Philip the evangelist (see Acts 21:9), though we don’t know their names. Other nameless prophets are mentioned in Acts 11:27 and in 1 Corinthians 14:29-32. GP 29.5

In Ephesians 4:11, 12, Paul tells us that God has placed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers in the church “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 12:28, 29, Paul lists the prophetic gift among other spiritual gifts. GP 29.6