Though the New Testament describes Jesus as a prophet, he is at the same time believed to be more than a prophet: he is the expected Messiah (Greek christos, "anointed one"), predicted by prophets of old, who should reign as the Son of David and the Son of God. The royal ideology of the Old Testament was most important to early Christianity, for herein lay the seeds of its doctrines of Christ (see above, Eschatology).
Several prophets are mentioned in the New Testament. One, Zechariah, is said to have perished "between the altar and the sanctuary" (Luke). Reference to his death is included by the Gospel writers because he was the last prophet before Jesus to have been killed by the Jews. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, uttered the Benedictus ("Blessed," the initial Latin word of the prophetic song) under the inspiration of the spirit. His wife, Elizabeth, also was described as being inspired by the spirit.
Others are Simeon, the prophetess Anna, and John the Baptist. These prophets are conceived by the New Testament writers as the termination of Old Testament prophecy, a concept also expressed by Jesus with reference to John the Baptist.
The New Testament mentions several prophetic figures in the early church. Among them are Agabus of Jerusalem; Judas Barsabbas and Silas, who also were elders of the Jerusalem Church; the four prophesying daughters of Philip the evangelist; and John, the author of Revelation. The term prophet is used with reference to an office in the early church along with evangelists and teachers, and the recipient of the letter bearing his name, Timothy, is called both a minister and a prophet. The prophet's role in the early church was to reveal divine mysteries and God's plan of salvation. Paul instructed his followers in the correct use of prophecy, and evaluated it as more beneficial to the life of congregations than ecstatic glossolalia (speaking in tongues). He considered prophecy to be the greatest spiritual gift from God, and in his view a prophet therefore ranks ahead of evangelists and teachers. With all this prophetic activity, the problem of false prophecy was crucial, and warnings against it abound in the New Testament. The most dangerous of the false prophets is predicted in the book of Revelation to John as yet to come. Many of these prophets, viewed as magicians and exorcists, are condemned for inducing chaos and for leading people astray. Therefore all prophetic activity had to be examined.
In the period immediately after the Apostles, prophets continued to play an important leadership role in the church, sometimes being called high priests. They were the only ones permitted to speak freely in the liturgy because of their inspiration by the Holy Spirit. Gradually, however, the liturgy became more and more fixed, and less freedom and innovation was permitted; this change, combined with the threat of false prophecy, eliminated these charismatic personalities. Among the heretical sects that advocated a return to prophetic activity, Montanism (2nd century), led by the prophet Montanus, advocated that the spirit of truth had come through Montanus. The freedom of doctrinal innovation that Montanus advocated could well have led to doctrinal anarchy, and the result of the struggle against this heresy was the suppression of charismatic prophecy, wherein ecstatic inspiration came to be viewed by the church as demonic.
Another prophet who created a problem in the early church was Mani--the 3rd-century founder of a dualistic religion that was to bear his name (Manichaeism)--who considered himself to be the final messenger of God, after whom there was to be no other.
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