About prophets in our present day, the New Testament had prophets like Agabus and Anna. What about our present day? Could God still appoint prophets to guide and direct his church?  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:1 to “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”  This gift can be a blessing to the church and should not be quenched or despised (1 Thessalonians 5:20).  So why would it be unreasonable to assume that God can still appoint prophets to guide his people today?

Our logic about whether it would be a good idea for God to use modern-day prophets is not particularly relevant to the question.  What is relevant is what the scripture says, not whether it is “reasonable.”   I am sure you will agree with this.

The evidence from scripture is that we do not have present-day prophets.  The passages you quote above are references to miracles and prophecies that occurred in the first generation after Jesus, which were performed by those who had had hands laid on them by apostles.  The need for such miracles in the first century is explained below.  The context of these passages is very important.  There are several lines of biblical argument that such prophecies do not occur today.

1. There are multiple Old Testament witnesses to the fact that after the time of Jesus prophecy would cease.  These include Daniel 9:24.  This is a prophecy about the coming of the Messiah to Jerusalem in about AD 30.  We are told that the coming of the Messiah would “seal up vision and prophecy.”  Another relevant passage is in Zechariah 13:1-6.  This passage is a prophecy of the opening of a fountain of salvation to cleanse from impurity–a clear reference to the saving work of Jesus.  In the context we are told that after that time there will be no more prophets or prophecy.

2. The means of giving the New Testament gift of prophecy has ceased.  The evidence of the New Testament points to the fact that the miraculous gifts, such as tongue-speaking, healings and prophecy were only transmitted by the laying on of hands of the apostles.  The scene in Acts 8:4-19 implies this very strongly.  It is stated here that the gifts were given by the laying on of apostle’s hands (not by Phillip, who was not an apostle).  The world “only” is not stated in this passage, but it is implied.  There are several other New Testament indications that this is implied.   I can say more about this if you like.

3. The need for prophecy has passed.  According to Hebrews 2:2-4, the miraculous gifts, and especially the gift of prophecy in this context, were given to provide testimony to the new revelation that God gave at the time of Jesus and his immediate successors–the apostles. “This salvation” was announced at first by such signs, wonders and miracles.  During the first thirty years or so of the church the disciples did not have what we now have, which is a reliable, written, authoritative source of inspired gospel teaching. A biblical case can be made that God’s special revelation to us through scripture is complete and that there is therefore no need for further prophecy.  We have all we need (2 Tim 3:16-17) to be thoroughly equipped. We have no further need of prophecy.

4. My fourth argument is based on reasoning.  I cautioned above that human reasoning is not part of the bottom line, but I am going to give my reasonable response to your reasonable argument that we need prophets today.  Let us say that person X claims to be a prophet.  How would we know?  What would be the evidence that he is speaking for God?  What does the Bible say about how we would know in the year 2017 that person X is indeed a prophet?  Will this person make many short-term predictions and will we check if they do indeed come true?  This was how prophets in the Old Testament were examined.  Deuteronomy 18:22 tells us that this is how the prophets were to be tested.  Will any supposed modern-day prophet allow himself to be put to this test?  I am sure the answer is no.   There is no biblical mandate for such a prophet.  There is no need for such a prophet, and there is no way for us to confirm that such a claimant is indeed a prophet.  Therefore I conclude that we should not look for such prophets and we should be EXTREMELY skeptical about anyone claiming to be a prophet.  Let us accept the only reliable source of special revelation from God today, which is the Bible.  It is good enough for me.

I do not want to be presumptuous.  God can do whatever he wants, including sending a prophet to visit your local church and I certainly do not want to speak for God, but the biblical evidence is that we will not be receiving modern-day prophets today to guide the church.

John Oakes