To the young Thessalonian congregation, recently planted by Paul, he wrote, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21). The grouping of these brief exhortations show that they primarily concern the exercise of miraculous gifts in the first-century church.

While one can quench the Spirit’s influence by pursuing a lifestyle that is contrary to God’s word—by hardening one’s heart with sin (Hebrews 3:13)—the context in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 seems to indicate they were smothering the miraculous activity of the Spirit; the next exhortation against despising prophecies refers to the Spirit’s working in a miraculous context. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul addresses these miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit; one was prophecy (v.10), a gift that some, but not all, had in the first-century church (vv. 28-29; cf. 14:2-5). Prophecy was the means by which God revealed His message and served to edify her members (1 Corinthians 14:29-33). To first-century congregations such as Thessalonica, who did not yet have a complete, written New Testament, prophets foretold the message of God (the mystery of the Gospel of Christ) that had been hitherto kept secret (Ephesians 3:3-7). Sometimes a prophet of God would foretell events to come (Acts 11:27-28). 

However, there were also false prophets who claimed to have messages from God, but were liars (Acts 13:6; 2 Peter 2:1; 2 Corinthians 11:13; Revelation 2:2). When Paul was with the Thessalonians, he warned them about false prophets who would try to deceive them leading to a great apostasy from the faith (2 Thessalonians 2:3-5). With false teachers running amok, it is possible that some in Thessalonica had the tendency of putting all who claimed to be prophets of God in the same pigeon hole as false teachers and thus despised some true prophets of God. Do we not see people who have a similar attitude in regard to religious groups today? There are those who think that all religious groups advocate abandoning reason, manipulate emotions, and prey on the gullible to make lots of money. There are individuals who, upon hearing I am a preacher, have said to me, “Oh, your all about getting money out of people.” It is similar to Nathanael’s initial criticism concerning Jesus’ hometown, when he said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Jesus was the exception. Likewise, though there were false prophets, that did not mean there were no true prophets.

Since there are both true and false prophets, the proper response Paul advocates is to, “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). This is much like the admonition of 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

It seems that Paul had to leave the congregation at Thessalonica after only three weeks (Acts 17:2, 10). His two letters to them soon after his departure, which we have preserved for us in the New Testament, were written to more fully instruct them and encourage them to grow in Christ. Those who had the miraculous gift of prophecy in the infant church of the first century would aid new congregations like Thessalonica by messages from God just as Paul’s letters aided them.

While the miraculous gift of prophecy is no longer extant in the church today since we have the entire Bible: the complete revelation of God (1 Corinthians 13:8-10; James 1:25), we must still examine what a preacher says to determine whether it is true or false according to God’s revealed word. The teaching that is good should be embraced and practiced rather than despised and discarded.

-Mark Day

            Last month we examined the importance of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. We noticed that the right hand was a place of equal power, authority, and honor. Christ is God. God the Father and God the Son are equals; one is not greater than the other. The fact Jesus is sitting indicates He has completed His task. He accomplished His objective at the cross and now He sits in Heaven next to God. Yet, an interesting scene is presented at Stephen’s death. As the Jewish council prepared to stone him, Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:54-55). Stephen said, “Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:56). This is the only place in the New Testament where Jesus is recorded as standing next to God. Since Luke was guided by the Holy Spirit and a physician by trade, it should not surprise us that he was meticulous about writing every minute detail. There is a reason Luke wrote this account as he did. In this article, the 2 most likely reasons will be considered.

            When royalty stands, it is either out of anger or honor for the person before him. The Bible, in several places, validates this statement. King Ahasuerus arose out of anger when Esther revealed Haman’s plot to kill the Jewish people (Est. 7:1-7). Out of anger, Jonathan arose from the table while he argued with his father Saul concerning David (1 Sam. 20:34). When Isaiah was preaching to Judah about their sinful living, the prophet described the Lord as standing up to judge them. God’s anger caused Him to arise and judge those who were living in wickedness (Is. 3:8-15). On the other hand, royalty also will stand when they wish to honor someone. When Jonah’s message of Nineveh’s destruction reached the Assyrian king, he arose and humbled himself before God (Jonah 3:4-10). When Josiah ordered the Law to be read to all the people of Jerusalem, he stood beside a pillar at the temple and made a covenant before the Lord (2 Kgs. 23:1-3). These verses illustrate that royalty stood either out of anger or out of respect, depending on the person. Jesus standing at Stephen’s death may have been both out of anger and honor. Jesus may have stood in anger against those who stoned Stephen, certainly their wicked action would have displeased our Savior (Acts 7:57-60). Jesus may have stood out of respect for His faithful martyr who had preached His Gospel without fear (Acts 7:1-53).

            The second possible reason Jesus stood at Stephen’s death was because He was standing as a witness on Stephen’s behalf. The proper posture for a witness was standing; an example of this can be found at Jesus trial when his accusers stood up to give their false testimony (Mk. 14:56-59). Therefore, Jesus was standing as an advocate to the Father on behalf of Stephen. Stephen was confessing Jesus before men and Jesus was in turn confessing Stephen before God. Those that hold to this view find a real-life example of Christ acting on His promise (Matt. 10:32-33). Without a doubt, Jesus is the Christian’s advocate to the Father if we confess our sins (1 John. 1:9-2:2). The imagery of Jesus standing to defend Stephen should warm the Christian’s heart and give he/she hope that Christ will do the same for us if we stand up for Him in this life.

            We cannot know with certainty why Jesus stood in Stephen’s vision. The reasons given were possibilities, not certainties. This article was written to draw attention to how important it is to notice the small details. It is beneficial to read your Bible, but it is even more beneficial to study it deeply. May the Lord bless you in your deep study of His Word.    

–Brandon Foresha