What is prophecy in the NT?

For leader: In a chapter on spiritual gifts, 1Cor 14:22-25 describes specifically the purpose of prophecy.

According to v24, prophecy is the means by which the Holy Spirit converts unbelievers. This study explores how, and why this makes prophecy a sign “for believers”, v22 (ESV), in contrast to the gift of tongues that is a sign for unbelievers.

Furthermore, v25 states that prophecy “discloses the secrets of the heart”: To whom, and how so? Not by one to all, but by all to one, v24: Prophecy is not a supernatural insight of a clairvoyant into your personal secrets. For as explained already in 1Cor 4:5, no one can know the hidden motives of the heart of other people before a final day of judgement. This is why they are called secret. Instead, v25 describes how preaching by two or three who “speak” is autenticated as prophetic, first by how the agreement among these two or three witnesses stands up to the scrutiny of all others (v29), and then also by how it opens hearts even of those who are still ignorant of the gospel, thus helping them to feel for themselves their need to repent and be converted (cf Acts 2:36-38).

Recommended commentary: M. Henry.

Warm-up: What do you think is prophecy? And what is a prophet?

1) Read 1Cor 14:22-25. How did Paul define here what prophecy and its purpose are in the New Testament?

v22: How does prophecy “convict”? cf Jn 16:8
If prophecy convicts the uninstructed and unbelievers, how can it be ‘for believers’ (and/or a sign for believers, ESV)? =>
- In Ps 71:7, the author described his prophetic ministry as a portent (wonder sign) ‘for many’: Why? Hint: Signs point somewhere. Where does the prophecy of Ps 71 point to? =>
- Read Ps 71:14-21. What do these words contain that makes them prophetic?
  - Hint: How do they point to and explain the gospel to inspire saving faith?

2) Read Acts 2:25-39, the very first prophecy of a disciple after the resurrection of Jesus: Who was speaking here to whom?

Peter used Ps 16 to explain Pentecost and the sign of tongues where they miraculously spoke in languages of other nations present: What was the fruit of Peter’s prophetic sermon? Acts 2:38-42
What did this result tell believers? => How was it to them God’s stamp of approval, cf 2Tim 2:15?
How did the Holy Spirit make Peter’s sermon so prophetic that it convicted >3000 unbelievers on that occasion, Acts 2:37?
- Hint: What if Peter had never appropriated Ps 16 by memorizing it?

3) If prophecy is a sign for believers (1Cor 14:24, ESV), how was Peter’s prophecy at Pentecost such a sign? Hint: How did it help believers to recognize his words as genuinely prophetic? =>

Jesus spoke of prophets as teachers (Mt 7:16). What did he regard as the fruit of their (prophetic) teaching?
- What does such fruit signify? Mt 12:33
Read Eph 3:4 => How did Paul’s own prophetic writings become a sign to believers?

4) Read 1Cor 2:12-13. How do these verses define Spirit-filled prophecy in the New Testament? [Prophecy explains ‘the spiritual things freely given to us’ so that we may understand and believe]

What did Peter do so that unbelievers were convicted by God himself through the Holy Spirit? =>
Did Peter quote Ps 16 to say: “It must be true because the Bible says so”? => If not, what else did this Scripture accomplish? =>
- Hint: What did it explain?
When Peter explained the death and resurrection of Jesus by a prophecy from Scripture, written centuries before it happened, how did that help the hearers to understand and believe (Acts 2:38)?

5) Personal and application

Has anything ever struck you as being genuinely ‘prophetic’ that you heard someone say to you or others?
- What led you to that conclusion?
Write down your definition of what you think prophecy is, based on the scriptures examined in this study?
- Discuss together how your definitions compare to what you found during this study.
e.g. “The voice that guides our understanding of the work of God through faith in Jesus” =>
- Can you think of any prophecies in the Bible that would be incompatible with such a definition?
- What kind of sermons or prophesying will not qualify as prophetic by this definition?