Should there be any other prophesies today other than the Word of the LORD?
While many may not fully understand the difference in Apostolic power and Prophetic power, one must look to the scriptures to understand the difference between the gifts given to the Apostles and that of the spiritual gifts given to the church:
EPH. 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
EPH. 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
EPH. 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
In this passage we find one of three lists of spiritual gifts found in the New Testament, written by Paul. He begins with three important words: He gave "some". Christ selects and controls the gifts each believer receives while He delivers the gift to us by means of His Spirit at the moment of our faith. Turning to the list, apostleship was the highest gift God gave to the church – but Jesus only gave it for a time and by the end of the first century, the church was well-established and the New Testament canon was complete. Therefore, the church had no more need for the office of apostle.
As John, the last apostle, died, the most powerful unifying gift shifted to the next gift on Paul’s list, prophets. Prophets continued to guide the church in understanding the word of God. The revelation of God was complete in the apostles, but the early church still needed help to understand the meaning of scripture. We must keep in mind, access to copies of scripture remained limited for many centuries and many people of this time were illiterate. Thus, God equipped some with a gift to relate scripture to the church through prophets. We know the prophetic gift is different from the apostolic gift since it’s listed separately here. Additionally, we know that apostles were prophets, since they delivered the New Testament to the church.
So what’s the difference?
The difference is the gift of prophecy doesn’t involve revealing new scripture. Scripture itself says that no one may add or subtract from the words God gave to the final apostle, John, in Revelation:
REV. 22:18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;
REV. 22:19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
Therefore, the gift of prophecy provides supernatural understanding of God’s word which is already complete. A prophet will reveal the proper meaning of scripture to a generation where that understanding was lost (like during the Reformation); or a prophet may bring the knowledge of scripture to places where the word of God itself is restricted (like in China). So unlike the gift of apostleship, prophecy may continue on even today, particularly in areas of the world where access to God’s word is limited. The Lord may move through prophets or teachers to bring a knowledge of the Lord to those lost, however, in keeping with scripture their prophetic speech doesn’t add to scripture or compete with scripture, it is 100% Biblically accurate. It definitively echoes scripture by bringing it to life in the hearts of those who lack understanding or access to God’s word otherwise. With that being said, there are many today who wish to deceive young believers, leading them astray with new visions and new revelations. This is the definition of a False Prophet or False Teacher that the Bible warns about.
