There is an interesting verse as the first epistle to the Corinthians comes to a close. In it, Paul admonished the brethren to accept Timothy as a fellow worker (I Cor. 16:10). He then went on to talk about Apollos, saying “Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brethren, but he was quite unwilling to come at this time; however, he will come when he has a convenient time.”  (vr. 12).

Think about how Paul had strongly urged Apollos to go to Corinth. It wasn’t a passing question like, “Hey Apollos, would you like to go?” There is no doubt the apostle had some strong reasons for wanting this man to go to Corinth. However, Apollos didn’t just say no. We are told that he was quite unwilling. It wasn’t that he despised the brethren at Corinth. The text make it clear that Apollos was very busy at that time and could not get away right then.

All of this teaches us an important lesson about respecting the opinions and advice of others. It wasn’t Paul’s place to “order” this teacher of God’s word to go to Corinth. Nor was Apollos showing disrespect to Paul, since he informed him that he would go when he had the time.

The danger that we must see is making assumptions which blow a situation out of proportion. For example, Apollos could have blasted Paul and assumed that Paul was thinking he wasn’t busy and could go at the drop of the hat. The apostle could have also told the brethren at Corinth that Apollos said he had something that was more important than coming to be with them. The fact is, whatever Apollos had going on, wasn’t to be measured by importance. Whatever he was doing needed to get done, and going to Corinth is something that was also needed.

All Christians would do well to learn from this example and work together and respect one another.

Chuck

I do not mind studying the Bible with anyone. The problem comes when people throw out all common sense when handling the scriptures. Such happened to me this week, and I found it frustrating. I think there are many lessons we can draw from this experience.

I was asked if the event described in John 16:25 had happened to me. The person I was studying with said it had happened to him. “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.”

I explained that in this text, Jesus is specifically dealing with His apostles. He is describing what is going to happen after the Holy Spirit comes upon them. This was mentioned earlier in the chapter (verse 13). The Lord brought this event up a number of times in the previous couple of chapters (14:26; 15:26).

Did this happen to me? Yes and no. The promise was given directly to the apostles, but everyone after them (including me) benefited from the inspired message that they recorded. In Acts 2:1-4, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and then they spoke the word of God (verse 6). Everybody who has heard the gospel of Christ had heard this plain message about the Father described in John 16:25. But did this happen to me in a literal sense? No, I was not alive when Jesus gave this premonition, nor was I in the audience.

However, the message that the apostles spoke was not a mystery. Paul wrote: “How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)” (Eph. 3:3-4).  The reveals that God’s message is plain and understandable by all, which is consistent with John 16:25.

Having said all of this, why did this man ask me the question in the first place? They are many who think mankind needs divine intervention today to help us understand the message given by the apostles (the Bible). This logic is weak – why would our Lord send the Holy Spirit to guide His disciples into all truth if everyone else would not be able to understand the message that the apostles would then be preaching?  

To help this gentleman rightly divide the word, we read I Corinthians 1:26-27. As Paul said, not many mighty, noble or wise according to the flesh would be called. Few of these people would respond to the gospel because they considered it beneath them.  Consider also these words of Jesus: “I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes,” (Matt. 11:25).

Knowing this, I then answered “yes” to the original question. I can plainly understand the heavenly message. I do not need the Holy Spirit to help me understand what the Holy Spirit revealed. Why? Because the message was revealed in a way that was already understandable to those who are looking for the truth. We already noted that the message is hidden to those unwilling to see it. It is not because they cannot see it – rather because they do not want to!

I finally asked the person if he could pick up serpents and not be harmed as Jesus stated in Mark 16:18. He said that verse was not meant for him. Even though I agreed, it caused me to wonder – why consider the context surrounding the Mark passage but not the John passage? For this man, the only rule is apparently “no rules”.

Chuck

Anyone who is familiar with the word of God knows that there were many prophets. People like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and scores of others are found in the Bible. Prophets were used by God to communicate His message to mankind (Heb. 1:1-2). Prophets are not exclusive to the Old Testament either – they were found in the first century as well.

Paul told the brethren at Ephesus that the Lord gave apostles and prophets, along with others, to help edify the church (Eph. 4:11-12). Obviously then, prophets existed during the time of the early church. The church we have today (the church that belongs to Jesus) is the same as the one described in the first century. Are there living prophets today then? To answer this, we are going to do a short study of spiritual gifts.

I Corinthians 12:7-11 describes the variety of spiritual gifts that were given to the saints through the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:18). One of the gifts mentioned was prophecy. Recipients of this gift were called prophets (I Cor. 12:28-31). This is a direct fulfillment of the promise given in Acts 2:17, which stated that God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh in the last days. The last days began when the gospel message was delivered (Heb. 1:2; John 16:13; Acts 2:1-4).

We must now divert and talk a little about the apostles. We already read how spiritual gifts could be given through the laying of the apostle’s hands. Are there living apostles today? Answering this question it will answer the question about prophets.

After Judas hanged himself, a replacement apostle was needed. This replacement process is described in Acts 1:15-26. One of the qualifications was to have witnessed the resurrection of Christ (verse 22). No one (other than Paul) has seen Jesus since His ascension, thus there have been no other apostles since Paul (Acts 9, 22, 26).

Without an apostle, there can be no laying on of hands to impart spiritual gifts. Since one of the spiritual gifts was prophecy, there can be no prophets since the time of the apostles. This means that people like Joseph Smith, Muhammad, Ellen G. White and scores of others who claimed to be prophets were not!

Saints were warned in the New Testament to beware of false prophets (I John 4:1; II Cor. 11:13; II Pet. 2:1). How could they determine who was a true prophet and who was fake? Through the inspired word of God (I Pet. 4:11)! Therefore, we cannot simply accept the words of every person who claims to be a prophet! False prophets are guilty of putting their words on par with the Lord’s. These false teachings should be rejected as we have the complete revelation from God today (Jude 3; II Tim. 3:16-17; Gal. 1:6-9).

To read Acts 2:17 and conclude that God continues to pour out His Spirit today is to abuse the scriptures. God has spoken unto us in these last days by His Son (Heb. 1:2). Should we to conclude that His message is not yet complete? This is exactly what modern “prophets” want us to believe. When you hear anyone say, “I have a message from God for you that was revealed just to me,” be WARY!

The role of prophets, like apostles, existed for a period. That time is over. God’s word has been fully delivered, so messengers are no longer needed to deliver additional revelation. We know this because 1) the apostles were guided into all truth (John 16:13), and 2) there is no mystery anymore thanks to the apostles and prophets (Eph. 3:1-5). Christians should reject any group that supports, endorses or promotes apostles and prophets after the first century. May we not be deceived into being man-followers.

                                                                                               Chuck