The Passing Of The Prophets In The Apostolic Fathers -- By: Michael J. Svigel
Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 176:704 (Oct 2019)
Article: The Passing Of The Prophets In The Apostolic Fathers
Author: Michael J. Svigel
BSac 176:704 (October-December 2019) p. 459
The Passing Of The Prophets In The Apostolic Fathers
Michael J. Svigel is chair and professor of theological studies, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas.
Abstract
The New Testament does not sufficiently address whether prophets and prophesying passed off the scene in subsequent generations. This issue must therefore be addressed in the earliest writings of the church received as doctrinally sound by the majority of Christians who were heirs of the apostolic ministry and message. The evidence from these writings, the Apostolic Fathers, ca. 50–160, presents a narrative in which the work of the Spirit through the ministry of prophets gradually ceased in the second and third generations of Christianity. Prophesying flourished during the peak of the apostolic era (ca. 50–70), settled among ordained church leaders between 70 and 120, and waned with the passing of prophetic leaders (ca. 100–150).
At the Council of Constantinople in 381, the church universally confessed that the Spirit “spoke through the prophets.”1 While this statement positively asserts the authority of the Scriptures because they had been inspired by the Holy Spirit, its use of the past tense (λαλῆσαν, locutus est) implies that the speaking of the Spirit through the prophets was a thing of the past. Likewise, Origen in his rebuttal of the second-century critic of Christianity, Celsus, stated, “And Celsus is not to be believed when he says that he has heard such men prophesy; for no prophets bearing any resemblance to the ancient prophets have appeared in the time of Celsus. If there had been any, those who heard and admired them would have followed the example of the ancients, and have recorded the prophecies in writing.”2 According to Origen,
BSac 176:704 (October-December 2019) p. 460
authoritative prophetic utterances had ceased by the time of Celsus during the second century. What, then, do the earliest writings from the period say about when such inspired prophecies passed off the scene? Do we see a sudden cessation of prophetic utterances at the close of the apostolic age around the year 100, as “cessationists” contend? Or did prophesying continue to function in the life of the church beyond this first generation, contrary to the testimony of Origen, as “continuationists” argue?3
In this article, I argue that the extant historical evidence provided by the Apostolic Fathers (ca. 50–160) regarding the work of the Spirit through th...
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