Theological Term of the Week

prophet (as an office of Christ)
The office by which Christ “reveals God to us and speaks to us the words of God.”1

• From scripture, the prediction2:

  I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:18-19 ESV)
  

• From the Westminster Larger Catechism:

  Question 43: How does Christ execute the office of a prophet?

  Answer: Christ executes the office of a prophet, in his revealing to the church, in all ages, by his Spirit and Word, in divers ways of administration, the whole will of God, in all things concerning their edification and salvation.

• From In Understanding Be Men by T. C. Hammond:

  1. Our Lord is the consummation of the line of Hebrew prophets. For example, see Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22, 26.
  
  2. He spoke with immediate prophetic authority, replacing ‘Thus says the Lord’ by ‘I say to you’. His ministry was characterized by direct authority, and also contained less of the predictive element than the messages of some of the earlier prophets. The other chief characteristics of His prophetic ministry were His incisive parabolic preaching to the common people, His eschatological pronouncements centering in the imminence of the kingdom of God, and His self-revelation as the Son of man through whose sufferings and exaltation the kingdom would come.
  
  3. He confirmed His prophetic ministry by performing miracles of healing, etc., such as had accompanied the beginnings of new epochs in the previous history of Israel.
  
  4. He continues His prophetic office, in a mediate sense, through the apostles and in the gifts of ministry in the church.

Learn more:

1. Matthew Henry: A Scripture Catechism in the Method of the Assembly’s, Question 24.
2. J. C. Philpot: Jesus the Great Prophet to His People
3. Thomas Watson: Body of Divinity Contained in Sermons upon the Assembly’s Catechism
4. Wayne Grudem: Chapter 29: The Offices of Christ: Prophet, Priest, and King, part 1 (mp3)

1From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, page 624.

2See threefold office(s) of Christ for a text that shows that Christ is the fulfillment of this promise to raise up a prophet like Moses.

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