In many Christian circles today, believers are encouraged to expect God to speak to them directly through prophetic words, visions, impressions, or inner messages. Books are written in the voice of Jesus, leaders recount angelic encounters, and churches are told to “listen for God’s voice” beyond the Bible. When these practices are questioned, one verse is often raised in response: “Earnestly desire…that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1).
At first glance, this seems decisive. If Scripture tells Christians to desire prophecy, why should the church today be cautious—or even resistant—toward modern claims of prophetic revelation? The Reformed answer is not to dismiss the verse, but to understand it within the wider teaching of Scripture itself. When we do, we discover that the Bible gives us a coherent and compelling explanation of why prophecy belonged to the church’s foundational period, and why Scripture alone is now sufficient for faith and life.
Prophecy in the Apostolic Age
The church in Corinth lived during a unique moment in redemptive history. The gospel had been revealed in Christ, but the New Testament had not yet been written or completed. God was still actively revealing his Word through apostles and prophets, and that revelation was being preached, taught, and eventually written down as Scripture.
When Paul urges the Corinthians to “earnestly desire…that you may prophesy,” he is addressing a church that did not yet possess a completed Bible. The saints in Corinth did not have even one gospel never mind four. They didn’t have Acts and the collected letters of Peter, Paul, John, James and Jude. Prophecy at that time was not vague encouragement or personal guidance; it was real revelation from God, given to the church so that it might be instructed, corrected, and built up during the period when Scripture was not complete.
This is why New Testament prophecy carried great weight—and also required careful discernment. Prophecies had to be tested. False prophets were a serious threat. Claims to revelation were claims to speak for God and therefore had to be tested carefully.
Apostles, Prophets, and the Foundation of the Church
The clearest explanation of the role of prophecy comes not from Corinthians, but from Ephesians. There Paul explains why apostles and prophets existed in the first place.
In Ephesians 2:20, he says that the church is:
“built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.”
This verse is very important. A foundation is laid once. You do not keep laying foundations after the building has begun to rise. Once the foundation is complete, the structure grows upward, not downward.
Paul reinforces this in Ephesians 3:5, where he explains that the mystery of Christ:
“was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.”
Here we see that New Testament prophecy was closely tied to the apostles and served a specific purpose: the once-for-all revelation of the gospel. Apostles and prophets were instruments through whom God unveiled what he had planned from eternity and accomplished in Christ.
This tells us something crucial. Prophecy was not meant to be permanent. It belonged to the foundational period of revelation, the era in which God was giving his Word to the church. Once that revelation was complete and inscripturated, the office of both apostles and prophets came to an end.
Scripture and the End of Revelatory Prophecy
This brings us directly to the sufficiency of Scripture. The Reformed confession does not teach that God has stopped working, stopped guiding, or stopped comforting his people. It teaches that God has finished speaking in the way he once did.
Holy Scripture, we confess, “fully contains the will of God” (Article 7, Belgic Confession). Everything necessary for salvation, faith, and Christian life has been given. To seek new revelation today—whether through prophecy, visions, or inner messages—is to say that God’s Word in Scripture is not sufficient—a position that ultimately has affinity with Roman Catholicism.[i]
Because of their conviction about the sufficiency of Scripture, Reformed churches do not expect prophecy to continue. There is only one place to hear the Word of God and that is in “the holy and divine Scriptures” (Article 3, Belgic Confession).
Contemporary Claims to Prophecy
Seen in this light, modern prophetic movements take on a different character.
Todd Bentley claimed angelic visitations and direct messages from God, presented as guidance for the church. Rick Joyner describes visions that interpret history, the church, and spiritual reality in ways Scripture itself does not. Sarah Young, in Jesus Calling, presents inner impressions written in the first person as the voice of Jesus speaking today.
These figures – just a few in a large crowd – differ in tone and intention, but they share a common assumption: that God continues to give revelatory content beyond Scripture. This assumption directly contradicts the biblical teaching that apostles and prophets belonged to the church’s foundation, and that the foundation has already been laid.
Even in some conservative evangelical circles, some argue that prophecy continues but as a non-binding and fallible utterance, distinct from the authoritative prophecy of the apostles. But this distinction is not found in the Bible. In Scripture, to claim “a word from the Lord” is to claim divine authority. To label prophecy as non-binding and potentially incorrect does not protect the church from error; instead, it removes the biblical safeguards required to test a true prophet.[ii]
The issue in all discussions about prophecy is authority. Once believers are trained to expect God to speak beyond Scripture, Scripture itself becomes one voice among many rather than the final Word of God.
The Ongoing Prophetic Calling of Every Christian
Notwithstanding all that has been said thus far, Reformed believers do confess that every Christian has a prophetic office. Lord’s Day 12 of the Heidelberg Catechism teaches that Christ is our chief Prophet and Teacher and that all believers share in his anointing. Because we belong to Christ, we too are prophets, priests, and kings.
The catechism explains what this prophetic calling means: as prophets we are called to “confess his Name”. The church does not receive new revelation from God, but it does proclaim the revelation God has already given. The prophetic task of believers is therefore not to add to God’s Word but to speak that Word faithfully in every sphere of life.
This prophetic calling is exercised throughout the life of the church. When the Word of God is preached, when elders apply Scripture in pastoral care, when parents teach their children the promises of the gospel, when Christian schools instruct the next generation in the truth of God’s Word, when believers bear witness to Christ in their daily work and relationships, and when Christians address the authorities with Scriptural truth, the church is carrying out its prophetic calling.
This kind of prophecy is very different from the claims often heard today. It does not arise from private impressions, visions, or inner messages. It arises from the Word that God has already spoken and recorded in Scripture. The prophet in the church of the new covenant is therefore not someone who announces new revelations, but someone who faithfully repeats and applies the revelation God has already given.
Far from silencing the church, the sufficiency of Scripture strengthens this calling. Because God’s Word is complete, believers can speak with confidence—not their own ideas, but the truth God himself has made known. The church does not wait for new messages from heaven. She already possesses the Word of the living God and is called to proclaim it.
The Providence of Guidance
As Reformed believers, we often pray: “Lord, show me your will.” We ask for wisdom in our work, for solutions to troubled relationships, and for direction in our decisions. Some may wonder: “If God has finished speaking in Scripture, does our prayer for guidance mean nothing?”
While we believe that God certainly hears such prayers and answers them, we must be clear that he does this in two ways.
First, there is the revelation of Scripture. This is God’s authoritative and sufficient Word. It is the “lamp unto our feet and light unto our path”. It tells us what to believe and how to live. It is the boundary within which every Christian must live their lives of faith.
As we pray, God gives us his Spirit through whom we can better understand Scripture. The Holy Spirit does not guide us by adding new chapters or verses to the Bible. Instead, he grants us the “spiritual wisdom and understanding” for which Paul prayed (Col. 1:9–10), so that we can discern the application of already known truth to our lives.
Second, there is providence. This is God’s active governance of our lives, where he uses the realities of our world to point us toward his will.
- He shows us his will through the events of our lives: We might find a door unexpectedly slammed shut, forcing us to abandon a path that was not for our good, or a door that suddenly opens, providing a clear way to serve him.
- He shows us his will through the people around us: Through the counsel of a wise friend, an elder, or a godly spouse, God often holds up the mirror of Scripture to our blind spots, helping us see what we were too distracted to notice on our own.
- He shows us his will through our own conscience: As we saturate our minds with Scripture, the Holy Spirit begins to sharpen our moral instincts. We find our desires shifting, our peace growing as we choose the path of obedience, and our hearts becoming more inclined toward the things that please him.
- He shows us his will through the work he has already put in front of us: We often waste time hunting for secret messages about our future while ignoring the responsibilities already sitting on our desks and in our homes. God’s will is not a puzzle to be solved in the shadows; it is usually found in the faithful, day-by-day execution of the roles he has already given us—as a parent, a neighbor, an employee, or a student.
In short, praying for guidance does not mean we are hoping to hear a voice from heaven. It means we are looking to a Father. We are asking him to use the Word he has already given, and the providence he is already orchestrating, to sharpen our judgment and direct our steps. We do not need a new oracle for our decisions, because we have a Savior who is already guiding us along the path of his will.
Why This Matters for the Church
The desire for prophecy often grows out of understandable longings: certainty, immediacy, reassurance, and personal direction. But Scripture does not promise to satisfy every curiosity or answer every “why” or “what now”? Instead, it promises something better: a trustworthy Word that anchors us to Christ.
The Bible does not clear up all the questions of our hearts, but it gives us enough light to walk by faith. It fully contains the will of God “and all that man must believe in order to be saved” (Article 7, Belgic Confession).
When Paul told the Corinthians to desire prophecy, God was still laying the foundation of revelation. Now that the foundation is complete, God calls his church not to seek new words, but to listen carefully to the Word he has already given. To honor Scripture is not to silence God. It is to believe that in Scripture God continues to speak to his people in every generation.
[i] The Roman Catholic Church teaches that God’s revelation is handed down in two ways: through Sacred Scripture and through Sacred Tradition. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, these together form “a single sacred deposit of the Word of God” entrusted to the church (Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 80–82). Reformed churches reject this two-stream view and confess that Holy Scripture alone fully contains the will of God and is sufficient for faith and life (Belgic Confession, Article 7).
[ii] For a prominent contemporary defense of the view that New Testament prophecy is fallible, see Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), ch. 53, “The Gift of Prophecy.” Similar arguments regarding the “continuation” of prophecy are found in Sam Storms, The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts (Zondervan, 2002) and Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God (Zondervan, 1996). These positions generally rely on a distinction between “canonical” (authoritative) and “congregational” (fallible) prophecy, a distinction that is notably absent from the New Testament itself.
This article was published in Clarion July 24, 2026, and is republished on Defence of the Truth by kind permission of Rev. R. Schouten and Clarion‘s EIC, Rev. P. Holtvluwer.