Wayne Grudem [Grudem - The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today (Revised Edition)

The Gift of Prophecy

Copyright 1988, 2000 by Wayne A. Grudem

Published by Crossway

a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

First U.S. edition, 1988. Revised edition, 2000.

Published by arrangement with Kingsway Publications, Ltd.,

Eastbourne, England. First British edition, 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Liita Forsyth

Cover illustration: Artville, Lisa Zador
First printing of revised edition, 2000
Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations have been translated by the author.
Scripture references marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version. Copyright 1946, 1953, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Scripture references marked NIV are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of
Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either
trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.
Scripture references marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.
The Scripture reference marked KJV is from the King James Version.
The notation NEB refers to The New English Bible The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1961, 1970. The notation ASV refers to the American Standard Version.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Grudem, Wayne A., 1948
The gift of prophecy in the New Testament and today / Wayne Grudem. Rev. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 13: 978-1-58134-243-7 (alk. paper)
ISBN 10: 1-58134-243-8
1. ProphecyChristianityBiblical teaching. 2. Bible. N.T.Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. ProphecyChristianity. I. Title.
BS2545.P72 G78 2000
234'.13dc21 00-011050

VP	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	09
19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7

T HIS BOOK STARTED OUT to be a popular version of my doctoral thesis, The Gift of Prophecy in 1 Corinthians. But it has ended up as more than that, because it includes discussions of many more practical questions and interaction with quite a few other popular books on prophecy from both charismatic and non-charismatic perspectives. Moreover, though my understanding of New Testament prophecy remains the same as it was when I completed my doctoral dissertation, I have found that subsequent interaction with students and colleagues has led me to refine or modify several points of detail. I hope that the overall result, though here expressed in popular form without all the footnotes and trappings of a doctoral thesis, is somewhat more mature and more clearly stated.

It should perhaps be noted that since I finished writing my doctoral thesis in 1977 two very significant scholarly books on New Testament prophecy have appeared, by David Hill and David Aune. Because of their more academic nature, neither book has received detailed discussion in this volume, but I have reviewed both of them elsewhere. My review of David Hills New Testament Prophecy is in Evangelical Quarterly 59:4 (October 1987), 351-355.

Many people have, in the providence of God, influenced my thinking in this area. Both my more charismatic friends (I think especially of Bob Slosser and Harald Bredesen) and my more non-charismatic (or even anti-charismatic) friends (especially John Frame, Edmund Clowney, Richard Gaffin, and O. Palmer Robertson), as well as friends who are really in neither camp (especially Vern Poythress, Kim Batteau, Randy Hekman, and my doctoral supervisor C. F. D. Moule) have, in conversation and writing, caused me to think through these questions again and again, and have helped my understanding.

I wish to thank Mary Morris, Marie Birkinshaw and Jane Preston, who graciously and accurately typed various sections of the manuscript, and Don Rothwell, who compiled the indices.

I am thankful for my parents, Arden and Jean Grudem, who have helped in many ways in making it possible for me to write this book and the previous thesis on which it is based. And without the polite but persistent encouragement of Christopher Catherwood, editor at Kingsway Publications, I do not think I would have undertaken this book. But once I had agreed to do it, it was the wise and gentle (but also persistent) reminders from my wife Margaret that kept me from undue involvement with other projects and resulted in the completion of the manuscript nearly on time.

Finally, my sons Elliot, Oliver, and Alexander have been a great source of joy and encouragement throughout the work. I dedicate this book to them, in the hope that they may grow up to find stronger churches and a stronger evangelical movement, no longer divided over gifts of the Holy Spirit but united in using those gifts in the power and love and self-control (2 Tim. 1:7) that the Holy Spirit gives to those who love Jesus Christ and obey his Word.

Wayne Grudem
September 1987

I HAVE INTENDED TO revise this book but other projects have so far prevented that, and I am grateful that Kingsway is reprinting it in its 1987 form. I hold the same views as ten years ago but hope soon to take the opportunity to clarify several points at greater length, especially these:

(1) I do think there were varieties of prophecy in the Old Testament as well as the New, but this was not clear from my exclusive use of the phrase Old Testament prophecy to describe the primary Old Testament prophecies that had canonical authority.

(2) I still hold that pages 47-62 are unnecessary to the book and to my argument, as I stated on page 62. [NOTE: These pages have become appendix 6 in this 2000 edition.] It puzzles me therefore that several authors have expended great energy differing with my view of Ephesians 2:20, and have claimed that this verse is crucial to my position (it is not, on any interpretation).

(3)