SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND THE SUPREMACY OF THE SCRIPTURES

How should we respond to present-day prophecy? For one thing, we shouldn’t live in expectation that prophetic utterance (and other miraculous signs) will be a regular part of our diet:

 For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV ; Romans 8:24; Hebrews 11:1)

However, prophecies were not to be rejected but tested:

• Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things. (I Thessalonians 5:19-21; 1 Corinthians 14:1, 31)
  

But how are we to “test all things?” The Scriptures must judge everything, even prophecies. They make us complete unto every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). How else could prophesies be judged? By other prophecies? This would simply result in a standoff. For example, what if five prophesied that Jesus would return in a week and one prophesied that He wouldn’t? Should the five carry more weight than the one? Certainly not! The five might have been influenced by political correctness or some other form of group-think.

 Instead, the Scriptures must be the supreme judge of all things (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). And nothing could be added to them (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32):

 Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. (I Corinthians 4:6)

Everything has to conform to the Scriptures, even prophesies. This is why the Book of Acts praised the Bereans for weighing everything that Paul had been preaching by the light of the Hebrew Scriptures:

• These [Bereans] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore, many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. (Acts 17:11-12)
  

Paul consistently taught that the Word of God had to reign supreme over every other alleged revelation from God:

• If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions. (I Timothy 6:3-4)
  

No one was at liberty to present a revelation that contradicted or added to what the Apostles were teaching. The Word had to take precedence over all forms of supernatural revelation:

• And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:19-20)
  

The Bible was always to be the ultimate judge. Israel was required to test prophets and their prophecies according to the Word:

• “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-4)

This prohibition also pertained to new teachings, which contradicted the Hebrew Scriptures. Prophets had to prove themselves, not only by prophesying according to what had already been written, but also by being 100% correct:

• “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken.” (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)

These teachings put the kibosh on the practice-makes-perfect prophetic training of some churches. Instead, prophecy was either given by God or it wasn’t. Wrongly claiming to speak for God deserved death (Deuteronomy 13:5). By this threat, the Scriptures were protected.