Prophets and Apostles
There are three reasons for a prophet and apostle (or other leader) working together. The prophet gives vision and direction. The prophet challenges the apostle if they take a wrong turn or go in the wrong direction.
The third reason is more challenging. A key role of the prophet is to protect the people from the apostle. Apostles are dangerous. Most of the people around them have blessed by them or discipled by them, so they tend to look up to the apostle. This means that an apostle is often surrounded by “Yes men”, not because they are devious, but because they love and respect the apostle so much. An apostle needs someone bold enough to challenge them if they are mistaken. That task will usually fall to a prophet. Nathan took this role for David. Barnabas for Paul.
When a prophet colludes with the apostle to attack some of the people, it gets dangerous. When a prophet starts firing the apostle’s bullets, he becomes a pet prophet. This is a risk that all prophets working with an apostle need to guard against.
5 comments:
wow, you call this as it is. This is a real situation.
I can tell this is your opinion...but its a good one.
Pretty Bold. BUT true.
makes sense to me ... but there are cases where a person walks in BOTH the prophetic AND apostolic office - as Paul did (he was called a Prophet before he became an apostle). So that is an interesting case in itself.
Jeffery
I think that you are wrong to say that Paul was a prophet before becoming an apostle. I presume the basis your belief on Acts 13:1.
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.
This does not say that Paul was a prophet. It says there were two types of ministry at work in Antioch: Prophets and teachers. Paul was mentioned last, so he was probably a teacher (or pastor). We must remember that in the NT, there were no teaching theologians. Teachers were disciplers, just like pastors. Teacher and Pastor were the same ministry. Paul was a pastor in Antioch, before he was sent out as an apostle. That is why he always took a prophet with him, to have a balanced team.
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