_THE PROPHECIES ON TIMOTHY.--THE PROPHETS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, AN
EXCEPTIONAL INSTRUMENT OF EDIFICATION._
"This charge I commit unto thee, my own child Timothy, according to
the prophecies which went before on thee, that by them thou mayest
war the good warfare; holding faith and a good conscience; which
some having thrust from them made shipwreck concerning the faith: of
whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I delivered unto Satan, that
they might be taught not to blaspheme."--1 TIM. i. 18-20.
In this section St. Paul returns from the subject of the false teachers
against whom Timothy has to contend (vv. 3-11), and the contrast to
their teaching exhibited by the Gospel in the Apostle's own case (vv.
12-17), to the main purpose of the letter, viz., the instructions to be
given to Timothy for the due performance of his difficult duties as
overseer of the Church of Ephesus. The section contains two subjects of
special interest, each of which requires consideration;--the prophecies
respecting Timothy and the punishment of Hymenaeus and Alexander.
1. "This charge I commit unto thee, my child Timothy, _according to the
prophecies which went before on thee_." As the margin of the R.V. points
out, this last phrase might also be read "according to the prophecies
which _led the way to thee_," for the Greek may mean either. The
question is, whether St. Paul is referring to certain prophecies which
"led the way to" Timothy, _i.e._, which designated him as specially
suited for the ministry, and led to his ordination by St. Paul and the
presbyters; or whether he is referring to certain prophecies which were
uttered _over_ Timothy (=epi se=) either at the time of his conversion
or of his admission to the ministry. Both the A.V. and the R.V. give the
preference to the latter rendering, which (without excluding such a
view) does not commit us to the opinion that St. Paul was in any sense
led to Timothy by these prophecies, a thought which is not clearly
intimated in the original. All that we are certain of is, that long
before the writing of this letter prophecies of which Timothy was the
object were uttered over him, and that they were of such a nature as to
be an incentive and support to him in his ministry.
But if we look on to the fourteenth verse of the fourth chapter in this
Epistle and to the sixth of the first chapter in the Second, we shall
not have much doubt when these prophecies were uttered. There we read,
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee _by
prophecy_, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery!" and "For
which cause I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God,
which is in thee through the laying on of my hands." Must we not believe
that these two passages and the passage before us all refer to the same
occasion--the same crisis in Timothy's life? In all three of them St.
Paul appeals to the spiritual gift that was bestowed upon his disciple
"_by means of_ prophecy" and "_by means of_ the laying on of hands." The
same preposition and case (=dia= with the genitive) is used in each
case. Clearly, then, we are to understand that the prophesying and the
laying on of hands accompanied one another. Here only the prophesying is
mentioned. In chapter iv. the prophesying, accompanied by the imposition
of the presbyters' hands, is the means by which the grace is conferred.
In the Second Epistle only the laying on of the Apostle's hands is
mentioned, and it is spoken of as the means by which the grace is
conferred. Therefore, although the present passage by itself leaves the
question open, yet when we take the other two into consideration along
with it, we may safely neglect the possibility of prophecies which _led
the way_ to the ordination of Timothy, and understand the Apostle as
referring to those sacred utterances which were a marked element in his
disciple's ordination and formed a prelude and earnest of his ministry.
These sacred utterances indicated a Divine commission and Divine
approbation publicly expressed respecting the choice of Timothy for this
special work. They were also a means of grace; for by means of them a
spiritual blessing was bestowed upon the young minister. In alluding to
them here, therefore, St. Paul reminds him _Who_ it was by whom he was
really chosen and ordained. It is as if he said, "We laid our hands upon
you; but it was no ordinary election made by human votes. It was God who
elected you; God who gave you your commission, and with it the power to
fulfil it. Beware, therefore, of disgracing His appointment and of
neglecting or abusing His gift."[28]
The voice of prophecy, therefore, either pointed out Timothy as a chosen
vessel for the ministry, or publicly ratified the choice which had
already been made by St. Paul and others. But by whom was this voice of
prophecy uttered? By a special order of prophets? Or by St. Paul and the
presbyters specially inspired to act as such? The answer to this
question involves some consideration of the office, or rather
_function_, of a prophet, especially in the New Testament.
The word "prophet" is frequently understood in far too limited a sense.
It is commonly restricted to the one function of predicting the future.
But, if we may venture to coin words in order to bring out points of
differences, there are three main ideas involved in the title "prophet."
(1) A _for_-teller; one who speaks _for_ or instead of another,
especially one who speaks _for_ or in the name of God; a Divine
messenger, ambassador, interpreter, or _spokesman_. (2) A
_forth_-teller; one who has a special message to deliver _forth_ to the
world; a proclaimer, harbinger, or herald. (3) A _fore_-teller; one who
tells _beforehand_ what is coming; a predicter of future events. To be
the bearer or interpreter of a Divine message is the fundamental
conception of the prophet in classical Greek; and to a large extent this
conception prevails in both the Old and the New Testament. To be in
immediate intercourse with Jehovah, and to be His spokesman to Israel,
was what the Hebrews understood by the gift of prophecy. It was by no
means necessary that the Divine communication which the prophet had to
make known to the people should relate to the future. It might be a
denunciation of past sins, or an exhortation respecting present conduct,
quite as naturally as a prediction of what was coming. And in the Acts
and Pauline Epistles the idea of a prophet remains much the same. He is
one to whom has been granted special insight into God's counsels, and
who communicates these mysteries to others. Both in the Jewish and
primitive Christian dispensations, the prophets are the means of
communication between God and His Church. Eight persons are mentioned by
name in the Acts of the Apostles as exercising this gift of prophecy:
Agabus, Barnabas, Symeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the
foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, Judas, Silas, and St. Paul
himself. On certain occasions the Divine communication made to them by
the Spirit included a knowledge of the future; as when Agabus foretold
the great famine (xi. 28) and the imprisonment of St. Paul (xxi. 11),
and when St. Paul told that the Holy Spirit testified to him in every
city, that bonds and afflictions awaited him at Jerusalem (xx. 23). But
this is the exception rather than the rule. It is in their character of
prophets that Judas and Silas exhort and confirm the brethren. And, what
is of special interest in reference to the prophecies uttered over
Timothy, we find a group of prophets having special influence in the
selection and ordination of Apostolic evangelists. "And as they
ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me
Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them. Then when
they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them
away" (xiii. 2, 3).
We see, therefore, that these New Testament prophets were not a
regularly constituted order, like apostles, with whom they are joined
both in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (xii. 28) and in that to
the Ephesians (iv. 11). Yet they have this in common with apostles, that
the work of both lies rather in founding Churches than in governing
them. They have to convert and edify rather than to rule. They might or
might not be apostles or presbyters as well as prophets; but as
prophets they were men or women (such as the daughters of Philip) on
whom a special gift of the Holy Spirit had been conferred: and this gift
enabled them to understand and expound Divine mysteries with inspired
authority, and at times also to foretell the future.
So long as we bear these characteristics in mind, it matters little how
we answer the question as to who it was that uttered the prophecies over
Timothy at the time of his ordination. It may have been St. Paul and the
presbyters who laid their hands upon him, and who on this occasion at
any rate were endowed with the spirit of prophecy. Or it may have been
that besides the presbyters there were prophets also present, who, at
this solemn ceremony, exercised their gift of inspiration. The former
seems more probable. It is clear from chap. iv. 14, that prophecy and
imposition of hands were two concomitant acts by means of which
spiritual grace was bestowed upon Timothy; and it is more reasonable to
suppose that these two instrumental acts were performed by the same
group of persons, than that one group prophesied, while another laid
their hands on the young minister's head.
This gift of prophecy, St. Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Cor. xiv.), was
one specially to be desired; and evidently it was by no means a rare one
in the primitive Church. As we might expect, it was most frequently
exercised in the public services of the congregation. "When ye come
together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation,
hath a tongue, hath an interpretation.... Let the prophets speak by two
or three, and let the others discern. But if a revelation be made to
another sitting by, let the first keep silence. For _ye all can prophesy
one by one_, that all may learn and all may be comforted; and the
spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." The chief object
of the gift, therefore, was instruction and consolation, for the
conversion of unbelievers (24, 25), and for the building up of the
faithful.
But we shall probably be right in making a distinction between the
prophesying which frequently took place in the first Christian
congregations, and those special interventions of the Holy Spirit of
which we read occasionally. In these latter cases it is not so much
spiritual instruction in an inspired form that is communicated, as a
revelation of God's will with regard to some particular course of
action. Such was the case when Paul and Silas were "forbidden of the
Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia," and when "they assayed to go into
Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not:" or when on his
voyage to Rome Paul was assured that he would stand before Caesar, and
that God had given him the lives of all those who sailed with him.[29]
Some have supposed that the Revelation of St. John was intended to mark
the close of New Testament prophecy and to protect the Church against
unwarrantable attempts at prophecy until the return of Christ to judge
the world. This view would be more probable if the later date for the
Apocalypse could be established. But if, as is far more probable, the
Revelation was written c. A.D. 68, it is hardly likely that St. John,
during the lifetime of Apostles, would think of taking any such decisive
step. In his First Epistle, written probably fifteen or twenty years
after the Revelation, he gives a test for distinguishing true from
false prophets (iv. 1-4); and this he would not have done, if he had
believed that all true prophecy had ceased.
In the newly discovered "Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles" we find
prophets among the ministers of the Church, just as in the Epistles to
the Corinthians, Ephesians, and Philippians. The date of this
interesting treatise has yet to be ascertained; but it seems to belong
to the period between the Epistles of St. Paul and those of Ignatius. We
may safely place it between the writings of St. Paul and those of Justin
Martyr. In the Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. xii. 28) we have
"First apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then" those who
had special gifts, such as healing or speaking with tongues. In Ephes.
iv. 11 we are told that Christ "gave some to be apostles; and some
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." The Epistle to the
Philippians is addressed "to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at
Philippi, with the bishops and deacons," where the plural shows that
"bishop" cannot be used in the later diocesan sense; otherwise there
would be only one bishop at Philippi. Prophets, therefore, in St. Paul's
time are a common and important branch of the ministry. They rank next
to apostles, and a single congregation may possess several of them. In
Ignatius and later writers the ministers who are so conspicuous in the
Acts and in St. Paul's Epistles disappear, and their place is taken by
other ministers whose offices, at any rate in their later forms, are
scarcely found in the New Testament at all. These are the bishops,
presbyters, and deacons; to whom were soon added a number of subordinate
officials, such as readers, exorcists, and the like. The ministry, as we
find it in the "Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles," is in a state of
transition from the Apostolic to the latter stage. As in the time of
St. Paul we have both itinerant and local ministers; the itinerant
ministers being chiefly apostles and prophets, whose functions do not
seem to be marked off from one another very distinctly; and the local
ministry consisting of two orders only, bishops and deacons, as in the
address to the Church of Philippi. When we reach the Epistles of
Ignatius and other documents of a date later than A.D. 110, we lose
distinct traces of these itinerant apostles and prophets. The title
"Apostle" is becoming confined to St. Paul and the Twelve, and the title
of "Prophet" to the Old Testament prophets.
The gradual cessation or discredit of the function of the Christian
prophet is thoroughly intelligible. Possibly the spiritual gift which
rendered it possible was withdrawn from the Church. In any case the
extravagances of enthusiasts who deluded themselves into the belief that
they possessed the gift, or of impostors who deliberately assumed it,
would bring the office into suspicion and disrepute. Such things were
possible even in Apostolic times, for both St. Paul and St. John give
cautions about it, and directions for dealing with the abuse and the
false assumption of prophecy. In the next century the eccentric
delusions of Montanus and his followers, and their vehement attempts to
force their supposed revelations upon the whole Church, completed the
discredit of all profession to prophetical power. This discredit has
been intensified from time to time whenever such professions have been
renewed; as, for example, by the extravagances of the Zwickau Prophets
or Abecedarians in Luther's time, or of the Irvingites in our own day.
Since the death of St. John and the close of the Canon, Christians have
sought for illumination in the written word of Scripture rather than in
the utterances of prophets. It is there that each one of us may find
"the prophecies that went before on" us, exhorting us and enabling us to
"war the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience." There will
always be those who crave for something more definite and personal; who
long for, and perhaps create for themselves and believe in, some living
authority to whom they can perpetually appeal. Scripture seems to them
unsatisfying, and they erect for themselves an infallible pope, or a
spiritual director, whose word is to be to them as the inspired
utterances of a prophet. But we have to fall back on our own consciences
at last: and whether we take Scripture or some other authority as our
infallible guide, the responsibility of the choice still rests with
ourselves. If a man will not hear Christ and His Apostles, neither will
he be persuaded though a prophet was granted to him. If we believe not
their writings, how shall we believe his words?
FOOTNOTES:
[28] Chrysostom _in loco. Hom._ v. _sub init._
[29] Acts xvi. 6, 7, xxvii. 24; comp. xviii. 9, xx. 23, xxi. 4, 11,
xxii. 17-21.