Luke tells us that when Paul arrived in Athens, “he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and devout persons, and in the market-place every day with those who happened to be there” (Acts 17:17, ESV). As contemporary pastors, we should rightly be concerned to stand firm in the only apostolic succession which has validity—that of proclaiming the same gospel of Christ, crucified and risen.
We know that the whole counsel of God needs to be taught within our equivalent of the synagogue, the local Christian congregations, planted around the world. But it also needs to be argued in the forum and in the specialist contexts such as the Areopagus, in all the public debates of our culture. However, we have to acknowledge that most of us pastors are more skilled, experienced and comfortable in the congregation, so that the forum is rarely addressed effectively and is more often ignored, often with disastrous consequences. More than one observer has pointed out that most contemporary Christian preachers are happier in the role of the scribe than that of the prophet.
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Even when we embrace the prophetic role in preaching, we tend to have stereotypical and somewhat simplistic views about the prophetic methodology. Typically, the prophet is seen as a purveyor of doom and gloom about the future, and not without some reason, since the message of impending judgment is central to much of the Old Testament prophets’ ministry to Israel and Judah. But they are also great encouragers to those same people, about the covenant blessings which will accompany repentance, faith and obedience, and which a gracious, covenant Lord waits to pour out on a responsive people.
The common content to both strands of their message is that the prophets have been given divine insight into the future and so they are seeking to persuade God’s people to act now, in the light of what God has declared he will do. Present behavior will condition future experience, and so whether it is by warning or incentive, the prophet’s task is to persuade his hearers to act wisely here and now. But if they are going to do that, they will need to be convinced of the truth of what is prophe¬sied and so be motivated to respond to the prophet’s call.
A brief survey of Luke’s vocabulary in his description of the New Testament equivalent of the prophetic ministry—the apostolic preaching of the gospel—reveals the same methodological priorities. In Thessalonica, Paul attended the synagogue “and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving…,” culminating in his procla¬mation that “this Jesus…is the Christ” (Acts 17:2-3). When he arrived in Corinth, “he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4). Other verses speak of him “testifying that the Christ was Jesus” (v. 5) and “teaching the word of God among them” (v. 11).