Do not despise prophecy

1) In what context did Paul write about prophecy here?

• v20: How were the Thessalonian believers at risk to ‘despise prophecies’?
  • Did they doubt that prophecy existed? cf 1Thes 2:13; 4:2; 4:8; 4:15 => Why not?
  • When God spoke in the past, was there ever a command (or any need) to test the authenticity of such a revelation? => Why not? cf Gen 12:1; Acts 2:37; 1Cor 14:24-25
  • When God is heard, how does He remove uncertainty about whether or not He spoke? cf Jn 10:4, 27; Heb 4:12; Isa 50:4-5
  • Acts 17:4 recounts how the Thessalonians themselves experienced the power of genuine prophecy to show itself to be true: How so? cf Jn 16:8
• Since they recognized Paul’s words as words from God (i.e. as prophetic), how else were they inclined to ‘despise’ prophecies (gr. exoutheneo, lit. to ignore, treat as zero)? 1Thes 4:13-18
  • 4:18″…with these words”: Not with any words, but with these (demonstrative pronoun): Where else did the Thessalonians seek encouragement other than in these (truly) prophetic words (of Paul)? 1Thes 4:15
• v15: Did they question Christ’s own prophecies about his bodily resurrection or future return (Mt 24:30-31) ? =>
  • Why did errors about it nonetheless continue? 2Thes 2:1-3
• Read 1Thes 5:14: Why did their neglect matter morally?
  • What was wrong with their eschatology that it prompted Thessalonian believers to retire from work and wait idly for an earthly kingdom of Christ? 2Thes 3:6-7, 11

2) 1Thes 5:21 ‘…test everything’: Does ‘everything’ mean every prophecy? Why or why not?*

• After preaching the gospel in Thessalonica, Paul travelled to Berea, where the hearers were commended for examining the Scriptures daily “…to see if these things were so”, Acts 17:11 (ESV). Does this mean that they tested Paul’s prophecy? Or did they recognize its self-evident power that moved them to search what it says?
• The ESV (following RSV and others), inserts in v21 the word ‘….but test everything’ (gr. de, a conjunction that can mean but, and, or now, depending on context). Some copies of the Vulgate translation have ‘autem’ which also in Latin can mean ‘but’ or ‘and’: What should be tested according to those who translate “…but test everything”?
• Since the prophecies in question among the Thessalonians were predictions about the future, how do you envision these to be testable at all, except in retrospect when it might be too late?
• By contrast, if the text means ‘…and test….’, what were the Thessalonians asked by Paul to put to the test (gr. dokimazo, lit. approve upon examination)?
  • Test everything whether it is good or evil, as determined by prophecy as the measuring stick? cf 1Cor 14:29; Acts 17:11
  • Consider the context: What were the Thessalonians inclined to test other than by prophecies, or to not test at all? vv21b-22

3) If testing everything would mean to test prophecies*, what standard would you consider fit to use as a test?**

• i.e. by what ‘measure’ would you ever be able to approve anything as ‘prophetic’ if prophecy itself needed testing?
  • E.g., could Abraham ‘test’ whether God’s promise for his distant posterity was truly prophetic and not just wishful thinking? 
• Read Mi 2:6*** What happened to Micah’s genuine prophecy when people ‘tested’ it instead of using it to test their own hearts?
  • How did their contempt for Micah’s prophecy manifest as contempt?

4) Read 1Jn 4:1-3. Here, believers are asked to test the spirits. Why is it necessary, and (unlike the ‘testing’ of prophecy) feasible?

• v2-3: A spirit cannot be from God unless it “confesses that Jesus Christ…”: What exactly must that spirit confess?
  • John warned of the gnostic sect who were Christian in name but antichristian in spirit. How did he find them out as false? Hint: How did genuine prophecy (of Jesus) enable John to recognize that they were a sect who did not proclaim the same Jesus? cf Jn 14:24-26
  • If everything must be tested by prophecy, how will prophecy reveal the nature of any spirit?
    • Why should we not expect new oracles to do it for us?
    • Why must spirits be tested based on what they say? cf Acts 17:11)
    • Why not the other way round, e.g. “Paul is so virtuous, therefore he surely must be a man of God?
• Read 2Tim 2:14-18 => How can we know whether a spirit is approved by God himself?
  • v15: “…to God a workman unashamed correctly handling (gr. orthotomeo, lit. “cutting straight”) the word of truth”: What could this mean?
    • How do vv16-18 explain what ‘orthotomeo’ meant to Paul?
    • Read 1Tim 1:6-11 => What did he think e.g. of the hermeneutics of the Mosaic Law party? How did they fail to ‘cut the word of truth straight’, notwithstanding their zeal for outward compliance with rules?****

5) Why is it presumptuous to test spirits by the prophet’s behavior? cf Mt 7:15-16; 2Tim 3:5; 3:13; 2Cor 11:15

• cf the previous study: Why did this approach ruin king Josiah? What led Josiah to despise (‘treat as zero’) Necho’s prophecy by which God chose to warn him, 2Chr 35:21-22?
• What was the punishment in Israel of those who were found out to be prophesying falsely? cf Deut 18:20; Zech 13:2-6
  • How could prophets be judged guilty of a capital crime unless their predictions were proven wrong by subsequent events? If there was no other way, are they testable at all? Why not?
  • What do you think of (modern) claims that true believers (born again by the Holy Spirit) may prophesy inaccurately or falsely? cf Ja 3:11

6) Personal and application

• Does your Christian community have any specific views of what prophecy is or what it is not? How do these compare to what came out of this study?
• In which ways do you think may prophecy be ‘despised’ by believers today?
  • Are we like the Thessalonians at risk to esteem prophets (in their case Paul) but despise prophecies of Scripture?
• That prophecy itself isn’t something that we can test, but that it is instead the acid test for everything else (incl. to test spirits and prophets) may sound provocative: Why?
• If prophecy in 1Thes 5:21 instead would mean dreams or visions that should and can be ‘tested’, what criteria would you rely on?
  • Can you think of a precedence for such ‘testing’ anywhere in the Bible?
  • Can you discern any spiritual matter other than by the prophecy in Scriptures? cf 2Pet 1:19-20
• How were prophecies found worthy of inclusion in the Bible? Discuss [and perhaps study next time, e.g. Ex 34:27; Jer 36:1-24; 2Pet 1:19-21].

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* The Greek word for ‘prophecies’ is a feminine plural. By contrast, the adjective translated “everything” (gr. πάντα, panta) is either singular masculine or plural neuter, and thus cannot possibly mean “every prophecy“. To refer to prophecy, it would have to be the feminine form πάσας (plural) or πασαν (singular).

** A policy that prophecy must always “agree with the Bible” to qualify as genuine may avert the most obvious deviations, but can at best apply to doctrines that the Bible covers. By contrast, to “evaluate” the fanciful impressions and oracles offered as personal guidance and as “insights” beyond the knowledge revealed in the Bible, the Bible obviously provides no basis for such ‘testing’, except to reject them as unbiblical precisely for this reason. Otherwise, this sphere is bound to become a stomping ground for those who parade as prophets to try to impress and manipulate others by purporting all sorts of wrong ideas and projects as being of divine origin.

*** Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, Hosea and Amos, was the first to predict the destruction of Jerusalem. He also denounced the abuse of prophecy for business.

**** The Holy Spirit distinguishes law and gospel to use each according to its purpose: For a concise analysis of how the re-discovery of this hermeneutical approach to all of Scripture became the root of the Protestant Reformation, see e.g. Luther’s Law/Gospel Hermeneutic by Adam Darnell