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TESTING THE PROPHETIC SERIES
In the 2nd century, in an area known as Phygria (present-day Turkey), a man named Montanus had been recently converted to the Christian faith. Asterius Urbanas, who wrote about the Monastist movement, described Montanus as a man with “excessive lust of his soul after taking the lead”. Montanus wanted to be the leader. In meetings, Montanus would become overwhelmed by some spiritual influence and he would prophesy. Eventually, he drew a number of people away from the churches in Phygria and they began calling themselves The New Prophecy movement.
Montanus had identified two women, Maximilla and Prisca. He convinced these women to leave their husbands through a prophetic word. Both women became integral to the New Prophecy movement. For a time, Montanus attracted the support of Tertullian, a highly respected church father of the time. This lent an air of credibility to the New Prophecy movement. Initially, it was hard to deny the attractiveness of what was happening in Phygria. They were theologically orthodox, and many were become quite passionate about the Christian way. Montanus emphasized a strict ascetic discipline as the path to spiritual maturity.
The Montanist claimed direct descendance from the prophets of the New Testament. They saw themselves as carrying on the function of the prophetic office in line with Agabus, the daughters of Philip, and two early church prophetic figures; a woman known as Ammia of Philadelphia and a man respected as a prophet named Quadratus.
It was not until 177AD that the church began to deliberately speak out against the practices of Montanus and his followers. The bulk of the refutation focused on the content of their prophecies and the manner in which they prophesied. The first critique labeled against Montanus was how atypical his prophetic utterances were:
If the gifts of the Spirit had ceased with the Apostles, this would have been an appropriate time to state as much. That Asterius does not claim the gifts have ceased goes a long way to demonstrating that the gifts were fully alive and well in the everyday functioning of the church over 100 years after the last of the twelve Apostles had died.
While Montanus was carried away in a frenzy and ecstasy, this seemed to directly contradict the instruction of the Apostle Paul:
Another criticism was how others were led into pride:
The accuracy of their prophetic predictions were called into question. Prisca and Maximillian prophesied of an eventual war that never came:
WE CAN SEE SHADES OF A CREDIBLE CRITIQUE THAT THE MINISTRY OF PROPHECY COULD USE IN OUR DAY AND AGE.
TESTING THE PROPHETIC SERIES
In the 2nd century, in an area known as Phygria (present-day Turkey), a man named Montanus had been recently converted to the Christian faith. Asterius Urbanas, who wrote about the Monastist movement, described Montanus as a man with “excessive lust of his soul after taking the lead”. Montanus wanted to be the leader. In meetings, Montanus would become overwhelmed by some spiritual influence and he would prophesy. Eventually, he drew a number of people away from the churches in Phygria and they began calling themselves The New Prophecy movement.
Montanus had identified two women, Maximilla and Prisca. He convinced these women to leave their husbands through a prophetic word. Both women became integral to the New Prophecy movement. For a time, Montanus attracted the support of Tertullian, a highly respected church father of the time. This lent an air of credibility to the New Prophecy movement. Initially, it was hard to deny the attractiveness of what was happening in Phygria. They were theologically orthodox, and many were become quite passionate about the Christian way. Montanus emphasized a strict ascetic discipline as the path to spiritual maturity.
The Montanist claimed direct descendance from the prophets of the New Testament. They saw themselves as carrying on the function of the prophetic office in line with Agabus, the daughters of Philip, and two early church prophetic figures; a woman known as Ammia of Philadelphia and a man respected as a prophet named Quadratus.
It was not until 177AD that the church began to deliberately speak out against the practices of Montanus and his followers. The bulk of the refutation focused on the content of their prophecies and the manner in which they prophesied. The first critique labeled against Montanus was how atypical his prophetic utterances were:
“…this person was carried away in spirit; and suddenly being seized with a kind of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to speak and to utter strange things, and to prophesy in a manner contrary to the custom of the Church, as handed down from early times and preserved thenceforward in a continuous succession.”— Asterius Urbanus, The Extant WritingsNOTICE HOW THE CRITIQUE IS NOT TO DENY THE EXISTENCE OF PROPHECY, BUT TO PROPHECY (sic) IN A WAY THAT IS INCONSISTENT WITH WHAT WAS TYPIFIED IN THE CHURCH.
If the gifts of the Spirit had ceased with the Apostles, this would have been an appropriate time to state as much. That Asterius does not claim the gifts have ceased goes a long way to demonstrating that the gifts were fully alive and well in the everyday functioning of the church over 100 years after the last of the twelve Apostles had died.
While Montanus was carried away in a frenzy and ecstasy, this seemed to directly contradict the instruction of the Apostle Paul:
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.— Corinthians 14:32-33The function of prophecy had a well-established norm and that stood in stark contrast to the mannerism of the Montanists, and this stood as a check against their credibility. The check required a church well versed in the everyday function of prophetic utterances. Asterius basically states that what Montanus was doing looked nothing like what had come before. A later document, the Shepherd of Hermas (which we will examine in due time) claimed that the one with the prophetic spirit would be peaceable, humble, and kind. Montanus and his disciples looked anything but.
Another criticism was how others were led into pride:
“But there were others too, who, as if elated by the Holy Spirit and the prophetic gift, and not a little puffed up, and forgetting entirely the Lord’s distinction, challenged the maddening and insidious and seductive spirit, being themselves cajoled and misled by him, so that there was no longer any checking him to silence.”— Asterius Urbanus, The Extant WritingsThose who came to Montanus left full of themselves, ostensibly because of what Montanus would say to them. They did not consider the teachings of Christ and failed to exercise discernment. The prophecies of Montanus were designed to flatter his hearers.
“For he stirred up two others also, women, and filled them with the spurious spirit, so that they too spoke in a frenzy and unseasonably, and in a strange manner, like the person already mentioned, while the spirit called them happy as they rejoiced and exulted proudly at his working, and puffed them up by the magnitude of his promises…”— Asterius Urbanus, The Extant WritingsThey rejected the universal church and saw themselves as the remnant church:
“But the same arrogant spirit taught them to revile the Church universal under heaven, because that false spirit of prophecy found neither honour from it nor entrance into it.”— Asterius Urbanus, The Extant WritingsMontanus and his followers saw themselves as the spiritually elite that carried on the true nature of the church. How could the rest of the church be the true church is they rejected Montanus? After all, wasn’t he a powerful prophet?
The accuracy of their prophetic predictions were called into question. Prisca and Maximillian prophesied of an eventual war that never came:
“And has not the falsity of this also been made manifest already? For it is now upwards of thirteen years since the woman died, and there has arisen neither a partial nor a universal war in the world. Nay, rather there has been steady and continued peace to the Christians by the mercy of God.”— Asterius Urbanus, The Extant WritingsThe Montanists prophesied in a way that denigrated the wider church, seeing themselves as the true Christians. They prophesied in a way that was contrary to the normal function of the gift of prophecy. Their prophecies failed to come to pass. They stirred those who followed them to pride and not to humility by the very content of their prophecies.
WE CAN SEE SHADES OF A CREDIBLE CRITIQUE THAT THE MINISTRY OF PROPHECY COULD USE IN OUR DAY AND AGE.
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