The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

The Claims of the Montanists

There are many who are persuaded that the Montanists represent a line of God’s true witnesses paralleling the growing apostasy that later became the “man of sin,” dominant throughout the Middle Ages. Others, impressed by evidences of fanaticism, at certain times and places, have questioned all Montanist claims to spiritual gifts, and have placed the Montanists among the sectarian heretics. AGP 190.2

Without attempting to settle the point, it is sufficient here to point out that historical evidence reveals the fact that claim was made by this group to the manifestation of the gifts,—especially the gift of prophecy,—and that such was regarded neither inconsistent nor impious by those who sought seriously to determine its genuineness. AGP 190.3

The earliest ecclesiastical synods were called to discuss the Montanist movement. The leaders of the church were not slow to mark the serious consequences of recognizing the uncontrolled authority of prophets who might arise among the lay members of the church. Prominent men in the church opposed Montanism, the records tell us. One sect, later known as the Alogi, in opposing the claim of prophecy, went so far as to reject the book of Revelation, and even the Gospel of John, because of its promise of the Paraclete. AGP 190.4

Whatever conclusion one may reach, therefore, regarding the genuineness of the claims of Montanism to the prophetic office, historians generally agree that the controversy resulted in a definite action taken by the ecclesiastical dignitaries of the church to discredit all such claims for the future. The full significance of this action should impress itself upon us, for it has a bearing upon the future course of the church that is far-reaching: AGP 190.5

“The most immediate and striking result of Montanism was its effect upon the final formation of the New Testament canon. The church met the proclamation of a new era of prophecy with the authoritative declaration that revelation was closed and prophecy was at an end…. The channel of truth is not to be the lonely individual in communion with God, but the supernaturally ordained hierarchy of the church.”—“The Church’s Debt to Heretics,” Rufus M. Jones, p. 143. New York: George H. Doran Company; London: James Clarke & Co., Limited.

Of the cessation of prophecy, H. B. Swete says: AGP 191.1

“The church herself did not at once resign herself to the loss of prophecy. But the exigencies of controversy, added to the growing officialism of the church, succeeded in silencing this conviction, and the church ceased to prophesy, leaving Montanism in possession of a claim which rightly belonged to the church.”—Biblical World, September, 1905.