Difference between Knowledge/prophecy

[he4rty]

Its been mentioned that some words given are more words of knowledge than prophetic, So I am going to ask the question

how do you define each one and differentiate between the two.

 

[ahmunmun]

I will answer this question like an elder from my old church would answer:

Word of knowledge is information about someone that you couldn't have known in the natural. For example, an elder prayed over my mom and was able to tell her all about her childhood, and this elder doesn't even know my mom.

Word of knowledge opens up the situation. Then prophecy continues on, giving edification, encouragement and comfort, and sometimes even a prediction about the future (although it is rare under the New Covenant). To continue on with the example I gave, the elder didn't just tell my mom about her childhood and leave it at that. He went on to speak God's word of comfort over that situation and made a general prediction about how God will restore everything she lost.

 

[LogonLalein]

I have stated my position in the other thread. I will restate here:

Prophecy simply means to speak forth from an utterance.
The utterance can be from:

• The Holy spirit.
• The regenerate spirit of born again men.
• The unregenerate spirit of unsaved men.
• A demon spirit.
• The soul a man (a faux utterance that is not spiritual and so technically not really prophecy).

I recall Saul prophesying from the utteracnce provided by an evil spirit.

The prophets spoke of other prophet who spoke forth from the utterance of their own spirits.

The psalms have evidence of words that were generated in the spirit of the speaker.

David commanded men to prophecy from their own spirits and they did so with harps.

Paul said spoke from utterance that came from his own spirit.

The OT prophets spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

All these are examples of people speaking forth from different utterances. All of them are called prophecy.


Prophecy that comes from your own spirit is not supernatural. It is merely you expressing the movements of your spirit. It is "merely spiritual." IOWS there are no exterior resources. It is you and your spirit = spiritual.
This is key:
Because all the information is actually coming from the spirit of the prophesier... no new knowledge is being shared.


The supernatural forms of prophecy are those that receive utterance from external sources. This includes the Holy Spirit and demons (yuck). These are supernatural because information is being shared that does not come from soley from the spirit of the speaker. Because the information is coming from an external source, it is possible that NEW information may be introduced that is not know to the speaker. When the utterance is from the Holy Spirit, the knowledge comes as the manifestation of "the word of knowledge" or the "word of wisdom."

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I hold to the definition of prophecy as Paul stated it in ICorinthians14.

He said we may all prophesy. He also said let the prophets prophesy one by one and let the others judge.

Prophesy is motivated by love for others, and is given in obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit who is dwelling in us.

Perfect love drives out all fear. Especially the fear of being wrong when you step out in faith and obedience and give a prophecy that you believe comes from the heart of God to a person.

Love and faith work together. The Holy Spirit will always vindicate and support a person who ministers in love and faith.

Fear is always generated by unbelief. The fear of giving false prophecies is generated by unbelief in the sense that you do not believe that the Holy Spirit wants to use you, therefore you are afraid to use your faith to give a word, even if the Holy Spirit is prompting you to do it.

This is why I always give encouraging and uplifting teaching when I am teaching about prophecy, because the greatest hindrance to faith in the prophetic is the fear of getting it wrong. And there are plenty of teachers who increase and generate that fear in what they teach others. Probably they are only reflecting their own fears which hinder them from moving in prophecy, and therefore would be disobedient to the Holy Spirit through their fear when He prompts them to give an encouraging word to another person.

 

[apsalmistspraise]

i would like to refer you to the books by John Bevere as (even in Drawing Near) he speaks of the differences way better than I could.

 

[spiritfilledjm]

Prophecy (in greek) = Fore Speak.

Word of Knowledge is basically just letting the person know, hey, I am of God. I usually am skeptic of prophecies that aren't accompanied by a word of knowledge unless of course I get the same prophecy from a couple 800 miles away. That happend to me at IHOP in Kansas City. Me and my wife had 3 young adults prophesying over us one after the other but there was no word of knowledge so I was skeptic until we got home and at a called to connect we got the exact same prophet from another couple.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Prophecy (in greek) = Fore Speak.

Word of Knowledge is basically just letting the person know, hey, I am of God. I usually am skeptic of prophecies that aren't accompanied by a word of knowledge unless of course I get the same prophecy from a couple 800 miles away. That happend to me at IHOP in Kansas City. Me and my wife had 3 young adults prophesying over us one after the other but there was no word of knowledge so I was skeptic until we got home and at a called to connect we got the exact same prophet from another couple.

The Lord knows just how to overcome our doubts when He really wants to give us a love letter that will enrich and bless us.

 

[spiritfilledjm]

Yeah, basically.

 

[pdudgeon]

i was thinking about this same thing this morning as i got up, so i'm glad you asked the question!
(no,I'm not trying to pull your leg about this.)

word of knowledge is speaking about something that has already happened, whether it is known to the speaker or not.

the prophetic is speaking about what will happen, or in the case of words of admonition/exhortation, what may happen according to whether they are followed or not.

the classic case of admonition/exhortation would be Noah and the Ark, Moses and Pharoah.

a case where word of knowledge and prophesy are combined would be that of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-10.

 

[he4rty]

Thanks for all your replies, I think I'm understanding the differemce, although it does seem they both really tend to go hand in hand.