Testing Prophets in the Early Church
The early church experienced a revival
of the gift of God’s prophetic spirit. Paul expects that those gathered for
worship would experience and share prophetic words, revelations, ecstatic
speech (“tongues”), and the translation of such speech (1 Cor. 12:1-11, 27-31;
14:26-33). Such experiences provided encouragement and guidance, and empowering
the Christian movement and its mission, but they could also be counterfeited or
abused, serving the interests of self-seeking teachers, introducing unorthodox
innovations, or perverting the practice of disciples.
It became important from the outset to distinguish genuine words spoken
in the Spirit from false ones (1 Cor. 14:29; 1 Thess 5:20-21), whether uttered
by members of the congregation or by teachers and prophets coming from outside.
Matthew preserves a Jesus saying that warns against “false prophets” who speak
like genuine disciples but really seek to take advantage of the church (Matt.
7:15-20). The disciples are to examine the results of these prophets’ work in
their midst, to determine if they are genuine. Paul warns the Christians in
Colossae that visions of angels and the practice of austere lifestyles are not
sufficient guarantees against fraud: real authority flows from connection with
Christ. John the Elder framed doctrinal tests alongside ethical ones; prophets
failing to acknowledge that Jesus was the Christ come in the flesh do not speak
from God’s Spirit (1 John 4:1-6).
The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, is a
manual on Christian ethics, church order, liturgy, and eschatology dating from
the late first century or early second century. It contains the most extensive
treatment of how to welcome, and how to test, itinerant prophets, Such prophets
enjoyed great liberty and authority, but they were not above suspicion. If they
used prophetic speech to solicit money or other material assistance for their
own use, or if they lingered more than three days at the community’s expense,
they were to be shown the communal door. Charismatic endowments were not meal
tickets.
There were no simple, universal tests: a prophet’s theology, behavior,
motives, and fruits could attest either to genuineness or fraud. Prophets were
subject to the apostolic faith and the ethics taught and approved within the
church, which remained the authoritative norm. Jude provides a window into this
process of discernment at work. (John
Painter and David A. DeSilva, James and Jude [Paideia: Commentaries on
the New Testament; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2012], 185)