Prophecy in early Christianity

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In early Christianity, prophecy determinesthe proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth , who consistently referred to prophecy in the Tanakh and updated it. The early Christians also related their preaching of Jesus Christ to biblical promises and found Jesus' messianship announced and preparedtherein. Prophetic charisma playedan essential rolein her following Jesus .

New Testament

In the New Testament , the already canonical message of the prophets of Israel is essential in several ways:

  • as a crucial part of the history of salvation , which runs towards the coming of Jesus Christ and heralds it,
  • as an interpretative framework for his story from his birth to his resurrection and the post-Easter mission that the prophecy of universal prophecy (Joel 3) initially fulfilled (Acts 2)
  • as a spiritual gift for his successors, whom they commissioned and enabled to proclaim his salutary rule, healing and the forgiveness of sins, even in the face of deadly persecution.

Therefore, in the NT, prophecy at the time of Jesus must be distinguished from Jesus' own prophecy, the prophetic interpretation of his history and the prophecy of his followers.

Prophecy in the time of Jesus

In Judaism at the turn of the century, no Jewish prophet had appeared for about 300 years. Biblical prophecy was considered a closed past epoch and was only alive as a written tradition and its interpretation. This is confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls (originated approx. 250 BC - 30 AD), which all books of the prophets presuppose and which many comment on. Some speak of a teacher of righteousness (around 150 BC) who saw himself as an end-time prophet and interpreted the Torah for his followers with authority without making new promises.

John the Baptist marked a new beginning for Israelite prophecy. According to the NT, he did not call himself a prophet. But like a prophet of judgment, he heralded the imminent, inevitable final judgment and called his contemporaries to repent . Even of priestly origin (Lk 1,5ff), he opposed the Jerusalem temple cult and sharply criticized the vassal king Herodes Antipas , who was dependent on the Romans , and his marriage policy and multiple marriages. He referred to the tradition of criticism of kings and cults since Elijah and the "Judgment Day of YHWH " announced since Amos (Am 5.12ff) , which will reverse the fate of those trodden under by the wicked (Mal 3.19ff). What was new was his one-time penitential baptism , which symbolically anticipated the salvation of the baptized sinners from the judgment that was imminent and was intended to enable them to repent.

The last book of the prophets of the Tanakh had announced Elijah's return before the final judgment (Mal 3,23f). The expectation that Elijah would return, overthrow the mighty and bring justice to the poor was widespread among the Jewish population under Roman occupation (Mk 15: 35f). Both the disciples of John ( Mandaeans ) and other Jews, including the early Christians, identified John after his execution by Herod Antipas (around 28) with Elijah (Lk 1:16f; Mt 11:14). Whether he understood himself that way is uncertain: According to Jn 1: 21-25, he contradicted the view that he was the returned Elijah or the prophet of the end times, but presented himself with reference to Isa 40: 3 as a desert preacher to prepare the way for the Messiah This was the role of the last prophet in biblical tradition.

In the wake of John and Jesus, but without direct reference to them, prophets of signs and end times appeared again in Palestine, for example the farmer Jesus ben Ananias , who announced the destruction of the Jerusalem temple from 62 (reports in Flavius ​​Josephus , Antiquitates Judaicae 20,167 -172 et al).

Jesus' prophecy

Jesus' preaching of the near kingdom of God follows and updates biblical prophecy. He took over essential traits from John, by whom he was baptized according to Mk 1,4ff: the call to return (Mt 4,17), the imminence of the final judgment (Mk 9,1; 13,30), the apocalyptic fire of judgment (Mt 10, 34), the judgment sermon (Mt 11: 21ff), probably also a criticism of the sacrificial cult. Motifs such as the call to followers (e.g. Lk 9.59ff), the abandonment of all ties to one's homeland, devotion to the poor as the poor, healing and miracles such as the multiplication of bread (Mk 6.30ff) resemble the Elijah and Elisha narratives (e.g. 1 Kings 19: 19ff).

Jesus was therefore interpreted by Jews from Galilee and Judea (Mt 21:11) as well as by some of his disciples (Lk 24:19) during his lifetime as a great prophet, as the born again John or as the returned Elijah (Mk 6: 14f; 8 , 28). Jesus himself may have induced this view in his homeland (Mk 6.4; Lk 4.24; John 4.44). In view of the execution of the Baptist and in view of the coming confrontation with Israel's leaders in Jerusalem, he probably placed himself in the ranks of the persecuted and murdered prophets of Israel (Mt 23: 37ff; Lk 11:47; 13, 34f).

But unlike biblical prophets, Jesus claimed according to Lk 4,16-21 that Deutero-Isaiah's message of salvation from the coming year of Jubilee (Lev 25,8-31) for the poor would already be fulfilled in his actions. According to Mt 5: 3-11, he promised the poor God's kingdom and inheritance of the land. According to Mt 11,5 he referred the imprisoned Baptist to his Messiah question about what his actions were causing. According to the Synoptics, he did not baptize, although the Mandaeans probably told this about him (Jn 3,22f, corrected in Jn 4,2). Instead, he himself forgave sins (Mk 2,5), also returned to sinners who were excluded from the kingdom of God according to the Torah (Mk 2,15ff), also healed on the Sabbath (Mk 3,1-5) and sent out his disciples to do the same how to do him (Mt 10, 5-15). In doing so, he implicitly made a messianic claim.

Accordingly, the early Christians interpreted John the Baptist possibly following Jesus himself (Mk 9.13; Mt 11.10-14; 17.12) in retrospect as the last prophet of Israel and Jesus' pioneer (Lk 1:17).

Early Christian prophets

In the Acts of the Apostles , individual Christian prophets appear, but in less prominent roles - for example Agabus , who prophesied that Paul would be captured. More important for the early Christians are prophets like Priscilla , who with her husband Aquila was the support of some churches.

However, these reports and letter notes indicate a certain "everyday" nature of Christian prophecy. In 1Cor 12 z. B. called prophetic speech (or prophecy) with other gifts or offices (v. 28). In the 14th chapter Paul formally calls upon the congregation to seek prophetic speech as a gift of the Spirit given by God for the edification of the congregation, and calls it far superior to speaking in tongues . He even suggests the maximum number of prophets to stand up in a meeting or service .

In many other NT passages prophecy and prophets are presented in such an everyday context. They are therefore just as much a constitutive part of the church as teachers and apostles . Precisely because of the restriction of prophecy, the possibility for prophetic messages is by no means terminated with the conclusion of the NT canon , although an expansion of the content of the message is usually rejected because of the emphasized character of the message of Jesus and his person.

In the NT the criterion for true prophecy is generally related to effects: "You will recognize them by their fruits" ( Mt 7:15  EU ). The distinction between the spirits of good and bad is only possible for those who have received God's Spirit for this purpose ( 1 Jn 4,1  EU ).

From the Bible passage Mt 7.15  EU ( Beware of the false prophets; they come to you like (harmless) sheep, but in reality they are raging wolves ) the phrase wolf in sheep's clothing also comes .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Markus Öhler: Elijah in the New Testament . 1st edition, Walter de Gruyter, 1997, ISBN 3-11015547-8 , pp. 125ff