Meaning
"one who speaks forth or openly" (see PROPHECY, A), "a proclaimer of a divine message," denoted among the Greeks an interpreter of the oracles of the gods. In the Sept. it is the translation of the word roeh, "a seer;" 1Sa 9:9, indicating that the "prophet" was one who had immediate intercourse with God. It also translates the word nabhi, meaning "either one in whom the message from God springs forth" or "one to whom anything is secretly communicated." Hence, in general, "the prophet" was one upon whom the Spirit of God rested, Num 1:11-29, one, to whom and through whom God speaks, Num 12:2, Amo 1:3-8. In the case of the OT prophets their messages were very largely the proclamation of the Divine purposes of salvation and glory to be accomplished in the future; the "prophesying" of the NT "prophets" was both a preaching of the Divine counsels of grace already accomplished and the foretelling of the purposes of God in the future.
In the NT the word is used (a) of "the OT prophets," e.g., Mat 5:12, Mar 6:15, Luk 4:27, Joh 8:52, Rom 11:3; (b) of "prophets in general," e.g., Mat 10:41, Mat 21:46, Mar 6:4; (c) of "John the Baptist," Mat 21:26, Luk 1:76; (d) of "prophets in the churches," e.g., Act 13:1, Act 15:32, Act 21:10, 1Co 1:12-29, 1Co 14:29, 1Co 14:32, 1Co 14:37, Eph 2:20, Eph 3:5, Eph 4:11; (e) of "Christ, as the aforepromised Prophet," e.g., Joh 1:21, Joh 6:14, Joh 7:40, Act 3:22, Act 7:37, or, without the article, and, without reference to the Old Testament, Mar 6:15, Luk 7:16; in Luk 24:19 it is used with aner, "a man;" Joh 4:19, Joh 9:17; (f) of "two witnesses" yet to be raised up for special purposes, Rev 11:10, Rev 11:18; (g) of "the Cretan poet Epimenides," Tit 1:12; (h) by metonymy, of "the writings of prophets," e.g., Luk 24:27, Act 8:28.
<2,,5578, pseudoprophetes>
"a false prophet," is used of such (a) in OT times, Luk 6:26, 2Pe 2:1; (b) in the present period since Pentecost, Mat 7:15, Mat 24:11, Mat 24:24, Mar 13:22, Act 13:6, 1Jo 4:1; (c) with reference to a false "prophet" destined to arise as the supporter of the "Beast" at the close of this age, Rev 16:13, Rev 19:20, Rev 20:10 (himself described as "another beast," Rev 13:11).
