The Holy Spirit · The Gifts
Prophecy as a Gift Today
Of all the gifts Corinth prized, Paul told them to want one above the rest: “desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” What he meant by it is narrower than the word’s Old Testament thunder and larger than a sermon: Spirit-prompted speech that builds, stirs, and comforts — spoken freely, weighed always, and never for a moment placed beside Scripture in authority. The gift’s honest description, and the honest contest over its continuance, both belong on one page.
The Gift, Defined by Its Fruit
— 1 Corinthians 14:1-5 — edification, exhortation, comfortPaul never defines congregational prophecy by its mechanism — he defines it by what it does to the hearer: “he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.” Building up, stirring up, binding up. It is intelligible (the whole point of chapter 14’s contrast with tongues), aimed at the church’s good, and desirable enough that the apostle commands a whole congregation to want it.
Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort. The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I wish that all of you could speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be edified.Now he assigns the first place to prophecy. Covet, therefore, spiritual gifts -- that is, "Neglect no gift, for I exhort you to seek after them all, provided only prophecy holds the first place."
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554), on 1 Cor 14:1
Follow after charity - Pursue love 1Co 13:1; that is, earnestly desire it; strive to possess it; make it the object of your anxious and constant solicitude to obtain it, and to be influenced by it always. Cultivate it in your own hearts, as the richest and best endowment of the Holy Spirit, and endeavor to diffuse its happy influence on all around you.
Albert Barnes· Notes on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869), on 1 Cor 14:1
But--on the other hand. edification--of which the two principal species given are "exhortation" to remove sluggishness, "comfort" or consolation to remove sadness [BENGEL].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on 1 Cor 14:3
But he that prophesieth - See the note at 1Co 14:1. He that speaks under the influence of inspiration in the common language of his hearers. This seems to be the difference between those who spoke in foreign languages and those who prophesied.
Albert Barnes· Notes on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869), on 1 Cor 14:3
Spoken Freely, Weighed Always
— the court of 14:29 — and the line no prophecy crossesTHE COURT OF 1 CORINTHIANS 14
spoken freely · weighed always
WHO SPEAKS
“let the prophets speak two or three” — sons and daughters, young and old (Acts 2:17); Philip's four daughters did (Acts 21:9) · 1 Cor 14:29→
WHO WEIGHS
“and let the other judge” — the congregation and its prophets weigh every word; no utterance arrives pre-approved · 1 Cor 14:29→
WHAT IT IS FOR
“edification, and exhortation, and comfort” — building, stirring, consoling; never controlling · 1 Cor 14:3→
ITS HONEST LIMIT
“we know in part, and we prophesy in part” — partial, fallible in delivery, subject to the speakers themselves (14:32) · 1 Cor 13:9→
THE LINE THAT IS NEVER CROSSED
Scripture weighs every prophecy; no prophecy weighs Scripture. The canon is closed — and it is the continuationists’ own teachers who say so loudest, because everything on this page depends on it.
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is seated, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace—as in all the churches of the saints.Do not extinguish the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.despise not — prove all — hold fast the good: the balance in one breath.
Let the prophets - See the note at 1Co 14:1. Speak two or three - On the same days, or at the same meeting; see the note at 1Co 14:27. And let the other judge - The word other (οἱ ἄλλοι hoi alloi, the others), Bloomfield supposes refers to the other prophets; and that the meaning is, that they should decide whether what was said was dictated by the Holy Spirit, or not.
Albert Barnes· Notes on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869), on 1 Cor 14:29
Despise not prophesyings - That is, preaching; for the apostle is not here speaking of extraordinary gifts. It seems, one means of grace is put for all; and whoever despises any of these, under whatever pretense, will surely (though perhaps gradually and almost insensibly) quench the Spirit.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on 1 Thess 5:20
The weighing is where the gift’s honest limits live: “we know in part, and we prophesy in part” (13:9), and “the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (14:32) — no seizure, no compulsion, no immunity from correction. This is also where the continuationist mainstream plants its own guardrail: Derek Prince and Bill Hamon — the office-stream’s architect (Prophets and Personal Prophecy) — both teach that congregational prophecy never adds to the canon and never overrides Scripture, pastors, or plain wisdom. A “prophecy” that demands unweighed obedience has already failed the chapter it appeals to.
Sons and Daughters
— Acts — the promise poured out, and the people it landed onPeter’s Pentecost text put prophecy at the center of the new era: “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” Luke then shows it working: Agabus signifies a famine by the Spirit (Acts 11:28) and later binds his own hands with Paul’s girdle — and in the same house, almost in passing, “Philip… had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” The promise’s “all flesh” was not rhetoric; Luke records it as census fact, every age, sex, and rank — Wesley’s own gloss below.
‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. After we had been there several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.’”"I will pour out of My Spirit": He said not Spirit, but "of My Spirit," for we are not able to receive the fulness of the Holy Spirit, but we receive as much as our Master divides to us of His own according to His will.
Ambrose of Milan· On the Holy Spirit, Book 1 (397), on Acts 2:17
The times of the Messiah are frequently called the last days, the Gospel being the last dispensation of Divine grace. I will pour out of my Spirit - Not on the day of pentecost only, upon all flesh - On persons of every age, sex, and rank.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on Acts 2:17
For Today? — the Positions, and Who Holds Each
— the continuance question, honestly dividedThe positions, each at its bestnamed with their holders — the gracious rule governs
Continuationist(the site’s own heritage): the gift continues as described — weighed, partial, edifying — because Joel’s “last days” run from Pentecost to the Return, and because 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 places the ceasing of prophecy at the face-to-face, not at the canon’s close. Held by the Pentecostal stream (Hagin, Prince, the Hamon office-stream) and by continuationist Reformed voices (John Piper). Within this camp the gift-of-prophecy and office-of-prophet are carefully distinguished — most who prophesy hold no office at all (14:31: “ye may all prophesy one by one”).
Cessationist: prophecy as revelation belonged to the foundation (Eph 2:20) and closed with the canon; what continues is illumination and preaching. R.C. Sproul held this strictly; B.B. Warfield’s Counterfeit Miracles(1918) is the position’s modern charter; JFB’s note on 14:1 says it in a sentence — “our modern preaching is the successor of prophecy, but without the inspiration.”
The mediating reading: congregational prophecy in 1 Corinthians was already a lesser, weighed speech distinct from the “thus saith the LORD” of the canonical prophets — which is why it could be judged at all. On this reading (argued in the modern literature and consistent with either camp’s practice), the real question is not whether God still prompts speech that edifies, but what it may be called and how it must be handled. All camps converge on the handling: prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,the gift's own epitaph on every overclaim — 'we prophesy in part.'
Where It Points
— the testimony of JesusRevelation 19:10 gives the whole subject its compass heading: “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Prophecy that is of the Spirit — in any era, weighed by any court — talks about Him. That is the final test hiding under all the others, and the reason a page about a contested gift can end in an uncontested place.
Closing
A gift commanded to be desired and commanded to be judged — spoken by sons and daughters, weighed by brothers, bounded by a closed canon, and aimed at the church’s comfort. Whatever else divides its readers, Paul’s two imperatives still stand un-repealed side by side: despise not; prove all.