Prophet or Steward?

Two models of Cultural Transformation

By Thomas Whitehouse, Ph.D.

When Christ called His disciples to be salt and light in a dark and insipid world,

he was putting His own stamp of authority on the cultural mandate that has been in effect

since Genesis. He is clear in His teaching that God’s plan is more than simply “believe

and you’ll go to Heaven.” Discipleship involves the whole man in relation to the whole

society of man, and the metaphors he used illuminate two aspects of the interaction.

Salt penetrates the meat, bringing preservation and adding goodness and taste.

Light shines from outside, illuminating the inherent evil of the world system and calling

people out of it into something better, As Paul states “He has delivered us from the power

of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:13).

While many agree with the need to be a transformational element in society, there

is disagreement as to how. Some advocate active participation in every aspect of society

(science, education, politics, etc.), bringing a Christian worldview and story to bear on

those fields. This has been the emphasis of Reformed theologians from Calvin to

Dooyeweerd and beyond.

Other groups (often associated with what has been called the “Radical

Reformation) have opted to separate from the mainstream of society. The best known of

these groups in the United States is the Amish.

There has often been a mutual mistrust between these two groups. The Reformed

see the Amish and similar groups as pietist, and the Amish see the Reformed as

compromising, too involved with the decadent world.

It is the contention of this paper that God’s great Kingdom plan is wider than

either option. It is time that each, without deviating for a moment from it’s own calling,

begin to appreciate what God is doing with, and in, the other. This is not only true of

groups, but equally of individuals in their callings. The Kingdom vision spread as both
salt and light.

Tim Stafford makes a twofold practical distinction between Stewards and

Radicals (what I will, in this paper, call “Prophet”):

[T]here have been two great patterns of response of Jesus' call to discipleship.
One is the response of stewardship. The other is the response of radicalism. If you
give a steward a million dollars, he will invest it wisely and honestly, and use the
profit for God's kingdom. The radical will immediately give it all to the poor. . . .
The steward will serve on the city council, the radical will demonstrate outside the
doors. The steward works with the conditions of life as he finds them; the radical
seeks fundamental change.1

The distinction is, of course, general. Individual disciples may go through a

Prophet phase and then a Steward phase or vice versa, and a person or group may be a

Prophet in one area (for example pro-life or ecology activism), and a Steward in other

areas (his business and use of money). However, most individuals (as well as groups) will

find that their lifestyle emphasis tends toward one or the other direction.

‘Both Models Biblically and Historically Valid.

Randy Alcorn points out that even in the Gospels (where most preachers of a

prophetic bent find their wealth of proof texts), both patterns of discipleship find their

God-approved expression. He observes that in Mark 1:16-20 Jesus called the first four

disciples to leave their fishing business and .follow him.2 However, in the case of the

Gadarene3 demoniac, who, having been freed of his Legion, begged to leave all and

follow Christ, he is expressly forbidden to do so (Mk. 5:18-20.4

Historically, both patterns of discipleship emphasis have been used by God and

1
Tim Stafford, The Sexual Christian (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), p. 147, emphasis added.
2
Randy Alcorn, Money Possessions and Eternity (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1989), p. 293.
3
Alcorn says "Gerasene" with Aleph, B, D. The Byzantine/Majority textform, with A, C, f13, reads
"Gadarene" in Mark 5:1. Geographically, this seems more probable. Gerasa was approximately 35 miles
from the Sea of Gallilee. Certainly the canon favoring the most difficult reading was not meant to endorse
such geographical improbability. Exact harmonization is impossible. It seems most likely that Mark and
Luke, being written to Gentile audiences, name the territory by its Capital (Gadara), while Matthew, his
more Jewish audience being more familiar with the territory, names (if the Majority text is followed) the
demoniac's true home town: Gergesa, which is by the seashore.
4
Alcorn, Money, 9. 295. “Indeed, ‘he did not let him' adopt the life style of the apostles. Christ insisted, in
this man's case, that God's kingdom could be better served if his home was his base of operation.”
have their place. The first community in Acts was more "prophetic," having a communal

system of goods (Acts 4:32-37). The epistles, however, often seem to presuppose and to

commend the steward model. Thus, in 1 Cor. 7:17-24, Paul three times exhorts the

Corinthians to remain in the calling in which they were called. Godet, commenting on

this passage, states of the steward model:

In fact, this principle has been of incalculable importance in the development

of the Church. It is by means of it that Christianity has been able to become a
moral power at once sufficiently firm and sufficiently elastic to adapt itself to all
human situations, personal, domestic, national, and social.5

After the New Testament era, and throughout the history of the Church, the two

ways coexist, not always comfortably. Williams calls them the affirmative way

(stewardship), which he typifies, as far as the Middle Ages are concerned, in the writings

of Dante's Commedia; and the negative way, typified in the ascetic treatise called The

Cloud of Unknowing.6 It is further seen in the twin movements of the Reformation and

the Radical Reformation (Anabaptists).

Historically, prophetic discipleship often flourishes during times of extreme

difficulty within the cultural system, or during outright persecution, when working within

the system becomes near impossible (eg. Deitrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship,

written under persecution in Nazi Germany). Stewardship is emphasized in times when

the system follows at least some Christian consensus, allowing for somewhat open work

within it. However, as will be seen below in the comparison of the ministries of Elijah

and Obadiah, both have their part, even in the worst of situations.

Characteristics of the "Prophet."

A outline for comparing and contrasting the two perspectives can be clearly seen

in the Old Testament account of the meeting of Elijah and Obadiah, as told in 1 Kings

18:1-19. The characteristics of a “Prophet” can be seen in the prophet Elijah.

5
Frederic Loius Godet, Commentary on First Corinthians, reprint ed. (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications,
1977), p 365.
6
Charles Williams, The Descent of the Dove: A Short History of the Holy Spirit in the Church, reprint ed.
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), Chapter 6.
 Called to Work Outside the System. Elijah's ministry was clearly of a separatist

and confrontational nature. He carne to King Ahab calling him a troublemaker (1 Ki.

18:18), and openly decried his abominations. He could do this because he served an

authority higher than the king. Thus also Polycarp, at his martyrdom, exclaimed, “Eighty

six years have I served Him, and He never did me wrong. How can I blaspheme my King

who saved me?”7 In this he reflects the New Testament example of Peter and the apostles

(Acts 5:29) as they proclaimed the Gospel in spite of the orders of the Sanhedrin. F. F.

Bruce comments:

With such a proclamation to make, the apostles could do no other than insist
as they had done before that they must obey God rather than men. The authority
of the Sanhedrin was great, but greater still was the authority of Him who had
commissioned them to make this good news known.8

Often Blessed by God in Great Steps of Faith. Elijah could come before Ahab

in this manner because God had shown His power through him. James 5:17 states that

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain;

and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.” He knew all the human

frail ties that harass every man,9 yet he believed God's word, that God would do mighty

things through him.10

An Idealist and a Visionary ("Sees the Forest"). The Prophet often goes

forward with a wide vision from God. He is concerned with the whole picture, the

7
“The Letter of the Smyrnans” in J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, edited and completed by J. R.
Harmer, reprint ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976), p. 112.
8
F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts,, in The New International Commentary on the New Testament, F. F.
Bruce, Gen. Ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1954), p. 121.
9
Alexander Ross, The Epistles of James and John, in The New International Commentary on the New
Testament, F. F. Bruce, Gen. Ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1954), pp. 101-102.
The frailties of Elijah are nowhere more clearly seen than in his death wish in 1 Kings 19, just after his
awesome Mount Carmel victory.
10
It is important to remember that it is not the amount of faith that is in view, but the promise that is
believed in (Matt. 17:20). It would not be correct to say that the Prophets have greater faith than the
Stewards. Rather it should be stated that the Prophets may have received more visually spectacular
promises. One cannot believe in what one has not been promised. Thus Elijah could pray for rain because
God had told him it would occur (1 Kings 18:1). Obadiah, whose faith may have been just as great, was not
given that promise. See Charles Goodwin and William D.McBrayer, Seven Dynamic Word Studies in the
New Testament (Roswell: The Original Word Publishers, 1990), pp. 45-62.
conflict between the people of God and the system of the world. This does not mean that

he is unconcerned about individuals (In 1 Kings 17:17-23 Elijah cared for a widow and

raised her son, and in 2 Kings 6:3-7 Elisha intervened in something as seemingly trivial

as the recovery of a borrowed axe head), but they are looked at with the wider

perspective in view. Thus Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Carmel was

a call to the people of God to the revelation God had given them when they carne out of

Egypt:

Throughout the Elijah account, including his flight to Sinai, the historian
emphasized the importance of the pristine revelation of Yahweh in the wilderness.
The twelve tribe organization around the altar of Yahweh with the necessary
animal sacrifice was the simple faith of the Israelites in the wilderness to which
Elijah was demanding that the people return. When Yahweh responded with the
miracle of fire on the altar, the people cried out, "The Lord - he is God! The Lord
he is God.11

The Prophet, standing as he does, primarily outside the system, sees and

proclaims God's word to the system as a whole, calling for large-scale repentance, and

providing a picture of the direction this repentance should take by the radical

commitment of his own life. He does this by example as well as words.

Vocal and Visual. As the Prophet (in the area of his prophetic ministry) works

from outside the system, he cannot get his goal accomplished by the system's means. He

stands rather as a sign; a visual and vocal reminder to the greater world outside12.

Sometimes, as in Elijah's case, this involves the flagrantly supernatural (1 Kings 18:31-

46), but usually it does not. Always it involves a decision to do things differently than the

surrounding world (St. Francis embracing Lady Poverty, the Amish choosing to farm

with animals instead of machines, and getting a better yield than their technological

neighbors). The call of the Prophet is a call to forsake the bonds of the world and put full

11
Homer Heater Jr., "A Theology of Samuel and Kings," in Roy A. Zuck, ed., A Biblical Theology of the
Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991), p. 134.
12
This was the effect, for instance, of the reaction of the Amish after the School shooting at Nickel Mines
on October 2, 2006. The stark contrast of their attitude of reconciliation and forgiveness to the attitude of
anger that followed similar shootings at places such as Columbine was widely discussed in the national
media, and provided a witness of light that would never have been seen as clearly in a mixed cultural
situation.
trust in God's revelation.

Characteristics of the “Steward.”

While Elijah is the stereotypical Prophet, Ahab's servant Obadiah is the typical

Steward. It is important to reiterate that his calling and style of life is just as valid

biblically as that of the prophet. A. W. Pink states:

A few extremists ('Separatists') have grossly traduced the character of

Obadiah, denouncing him as an unfaithful compromiser, as one who sought to
serve two masters. But the Holy Spirit has not stated that he did wrong in
remaining in Ahab's employ, nor intimated that his spiritual life suffered in
consequence: instead, He has expressly told us that “Obadiah feared the Lord
greatly,” v. 3. . . . 13

The life of the Steward is not easy. It is fraught with temptations to compromise in

secret which may not befall the more separated Prophet. Joseph, at work in his master's

house, is tempted by Potiphar's wife (Gen. 39:7-12). It is hard to imagine the same kind

of temptation striking Simon Stylotes, sitting up on his pole in the desert.

Works Within Established Structures. The Steward is called to work within the

world, to model God’s kingdom within the established structures of society. It is

important that he do so with excellence, no matter what his field of endeavor. Lewis says:

What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books
by Christians on other subjects–with their Christianity latent. " It is not books on
Christianity that will really trouble [the materialist], but he would be troubled if,
whenever he wanted [an] . . . introduction to some science, the best work on the
market was always by a Christian.14

What holds true for science holds true for all other fields. Christians living out the

rule of God within the world system must do not only good works, but good work as

well.15 The temptation is always to mediocrity, to just "getting by."

It is important that the Prophets remember that, more often than not, the

13
A. W. Pink, The Life of Elijah (Carlisle: Banner of Truth Trust, 1956), p. 99.
14
C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1970), p. 93.
15
See Lewis, “Good Work and Good Works,” in The World's Last Night and Other Essays (New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1960), pp. 71-81.
underpinning of their whole ministry is made possible by the support and protection of

Stewards. Not all Prophets are fed, like Elijah, by ravens. One hundred other prophets

had to be fed bread and water by Obadiah (1 Kings 18:4). Pink points out that:

There is nothing wrong in a child of God holding a position of influence if he

can do so without sacrifice of principle. And indeed, it may enable him to render
valuable service to the cause of God. Where would Luther and the reformation
been, humanly speaking, if it hadn't been for the Elector of Saxony? And what
would have been the fate of our own Wycliffe if John of Gaunt had not
constituted him his ward?16

Similarly, the early Anabaptists found shelter in East Friesland under Countess

Anna, and Menno Simons ended his life in peace on the estate and under the protection of

a count at Wuestenfeld.17

Often Blessed by God in Practical Affairs. The Steward, working within the

established system, often receives God's blessing in such “mundane” areas as the

prospering of business. Thus Joseph (Gen. 39:3-6) prospered in Potiphar's house, and

later (Gen 41:39-44), over the whole land of Egypt. Similarly, when unbelieving Ahab

wanted someone to be in charge of his house, he picked the believer Obadiah (1 Kings

18:3), and it was only Obadiah who was chosen for the vital task of finding water and

grazing lands during Elijah's famine (1 Kings 18:5-6), presumably because Yahweh had

blessed his past endeavors. It was this blessing that allowed him to have bread and water

for the prophets (see above, 1 Kings 18:4).

An Organizer and Planner (“Sees the Trees”). Obadiah was in charge of Ahab's

house (1 Kings 18:3a). One only has to ask any full time homemaker to hear the detail

that goes into running even a small household, and Ahab's was large as befits a king. This

is typical of a Steward ministry. While the Prophet has the broad vision, it often the

Stewards that work out the details of its implementation. Thus Elijah needs to confront

Ahab, but it is Obadiah who is entrusted with the details of getting the message to the

King, for it is Obadiah who has direct access (1 Kings 18:8).

16
Pink, Elijah, pp. 99, 100.
17
James Hefley, Heroes of the Faith (Chicago: Moody Press, 1963), p. 97.
 This kind of access comes, not from a prophetic ministry, but from faithful

stewardship in everyday work. Thus Proverbs 22:29: “Do you see a man who excels in

his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before unknown men.”

Behind the Scenes. The ministry of the Steward is often missed because it is in

the background. The sanctuary is clean on Sunday morning, the church books are in order

when the I.R.S. demands an audit, the teens are ferried safely back and forth to summer

camp, the prophets are quietly hidden in a cave and fed (1 Kings 18:4). These are

ministries that are more readily appreciated if one thinks of what the situation would be

like in their absence. They are no less important for that reason, and the church must

learn to openly celebrate these callings.

Clash of Perspectives: Example of Elijah and Obadiah.

The gifts and callings of God, when given to fallen men, are always a two-edged

sword. They can divide the church (and often have) if not understood correctly. Both the

Prophet and the Steward are beset by their own special types of temptation regarding the

ministry of the other. These, too, can be illustrated in the exchange between Elijah and

Obadiah (1 Kings 18:1-19).

“Prophet”: Temptation to Impatience, Narrow Vision. The Prophet is a man

with a “burden,” a fiery passion that is based on a very specific vision that God has given

him. Thus economic Prophets are often called to a life of austerity (eg. St. Francis of

Asisi), and the temptation is to make their specific calling normative, and to be impatient

with those who do not see their specific vision. Thus Art Gish states: “The way of

salvation is the way of downward mobility. It is the way of the cross. It is the call to give

up our privilege and power and to identify with the poor . . . The upward way is the way

of death.”18

Notice that here a specific radical economic lifestyle is made not only normative,

18
Art Gish, "Decentralist Economics," in Robert G. Clouse, ed., Wealth and Poverty: Four Christian Views
of Economics (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1984), p. 138.
but essential to salvation! Gary North’s response in the same book is instructive: “Gish

and his spiritual colleagues have made a fundamental theological error. They have

confused ethics with metaphysics. They have confused one's historic class or status

position in the plan of God with one's permanent ethical standing before God.”19

A similar, and even stronger, position to that of Gish is taken by Dr. Ronald Sider,

who not only advocates “simple living” but would make it legally mandated, including

government control of food distribution and population.20 Here one Prophet’s radical

vision of a simple lifestyle and care for the third world is not only made normative for all

believers, but legislated for the unbelieving world.

In these situations the Stewards often find themselves in the position of having to

justify their ministry to their more radical brethren. So Obadiah tells Elijah: “Was it not

reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid

one hundred men of the LORD's prophets, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and

water? (1 Kings 18:13)”

The Prophet does not consider an important point made here by Obadiah: that the

ministry of the Prophet is often supported by the Steward. As previously mentioned, not

all God's prophets were fed by ravens and miracles with widows' bread during the

economic crisis caused by Elijah's ministry. Here one hundred Prophets were kept alive

by the ministrations of one faithful Steward. Pink observes: “As the governor of Ahab's

household Obadiah was undoubtedly in a most difficult and dangerous position, yet so far

from bowing his knee to Baal, he was instrumental in saving the lives of many of God's

servants.”21

This was so self-evident to Gary North, that, contra Gish's quote above, he

19
Clouse, ed., Wealth and Poverty, p, 164, emphasis in original.

20
Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1977), chapter
9, and especially pp. 214-215. For a trenchant rebuttal to Sider's enforced radicalism, see David Childon,
Productive Christians in and Age of Guilt Manipulators: A Biblical Response to Ronald Sider, 3rd Edition,
(Tyler: Institute for Christian Economics, 1985).
21
Pink, Elijah, p. 100.
generalized in the opposite direction, saying: “It is our task to seek influence, power,

prestige, and capital in order to bring glory to God. . . .”22

In fact, both extremes (Gish and North) are wrong. The Kingdom needs both

emphases. Paul understood well the temptation to impose his radical vision when,

regarding his unmarried state, he said, “For I wish that all men were even as I myself” (1

Cor. 7:7a, Paul makes a similar statement in 1 Cor. 14:5 regarding the charisma of

tongues). However, Paul knows that God's calling is a matter of Gift, not a matter of

enhanced spirituality,23 for he continues, "But each one has his own gift24 from God, one

in this manner, and another in that (1 Cor. 7:7b). Paul furthermore expounds that the

forcing of such a radical calling (celibacy among other things) on those not so gifted is a

“doctrine of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1-5)25

The Prophets in the Kingdom, then, must beware of imposing the standards of

their special calling on the church as a whole (or worse, on unbelievers!), and despising

the calling of those who remain and work within established structures. They must

beware of spiritual pride, remembering that those who work behind the scenes often

support and undergird their very ministry. Yet they must keep vocally confronting the

church, calling her away from mediocrity. Stewardship can easily lead to complacency. If

that is allowed to happen, the Prophets miss their calling.

“Steward”: Temptation to Mistrust. If the Prophet is tempted to pride and an

22
Clouse, ed,, wealth and Poverty, p. 164.
23
See, for example, F. W. Grosheide, Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, in The New
International Commentary on the New Testament, F. F. Bruce, Gen. Ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1953), p 159. “He that received the gift of continence should not boast as if he were more
than somebody else. He that does not possess it should marry.?
24
It is germane at this point to notice that the same Greek (charisma) is used at 1 Cor. 7:7b that is used of
what are more commonly known as spiritual gifts, as in 1 Cor. 12:4, 9, 28, 30, 31; Rom. 12:6). The
emphasis is laid on the gracious, non meritorious, nature of the gift, and not, as in doron, doma, on the gift
itself; W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary, pp. 146-147.
25
See Stanley R. Ponz, Organizing the Truth: A Study Guide of 1 Timothy (Hollywood: Florida Bible
College Press, 1976), p. 34. This passage was, however, disregarded early in the history of the church (the
Encratites, see Stuart G. Hall, Doctrine and Practice of the Early Church (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), p. 18, and Charles Williams's guardedly positive discussion of the
issue of the subintroductae in Descent of the Dove, pp. 12-14). The Roman Catholic Church still disregards
it, regarding its clergy, contra the express admonitions of 1 Tim. 3:2, Titus 1:6.
authoritarian view of his calling, the Steward is tempted toward mistrust of the Prophet’s

ministry. Thus, when Elijah tells Obadiah to advise his master Ahab that “Elijah is here,”

Obadiah demurs:

“How have I sinned, that you are delivering your servant into the hand of
Ahab, to kill me? As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom
where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you; and when they said, 'He is
not here,' he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you.
And now you say, 'Go tell your master, “Elijah is here”!' And it shall come to
pass, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you to
a place I do not know; so when I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will
kill me” (1 Kings 18:9-12).

The Prophet’s ministry is often unpredictable. Working outside the system, they

are (sometimes literally) moved by the Spirit of Yahweh (1 Kings 18: 12). The ministry

of the Steward, on the other hand, being bound with the cultural schedules of the working

world, is much easier to trace and predict.

It is important that the church's Stewards, without deprecating their own calling,

learn to appreciate God working in unusual, often unpredictable ways. It is often helpful

to read the biographies of some of the mavericks of the church, through whom God has

worked wonders, and especially the Old Testament Prophets.

The Steward might also be well advised to take some small “Prophet” style steps

of his own. Though he may not be called to join a Hutterite community26 or to go alone to

the far mission field, he is still called to be one of God's own “special people” (1 Peter

2:9), and to walk unconformed27 to this world 28 (Rom. 12:2). He is to walk by faith, not

by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). He may accommodate to the system, working within it, but he may

26
For an overview of modern attempts at full-fledged Christian community, see Dave and Neta Jackson,
Living Together in a World Falling Apart (Carol Stream: Creation House, 1974).
27
“The verb indicates the adoption or imitation of a pose or perceived mode of conduct . . . The pres. imp.
w. neg. indicates the discontinuance of an action in progress or means that the action is not to be
continually done.” Fritz Rienecker, Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament, Trans. Cleon Rogers
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1980), p. 375.
28
Here aijw¿n appears to be used as a synonym for ko/smoß. Louw and Nida’s Lexicon, 41:38, defines both
words together under one semantic subdomain as: “the system of practices and standards associated with
secular society (that is, without reference to any demands or requirements of God–world system, world's
standards, world'.”
never compromise. Richard Foster points out: “We understand the need for a certain

adaptation or accommodation to be in the society in which we live, but we want to grow

in our perception of when that turns into conformity or compromise. We seek to be in the

world without being of the world.29”

The Steward needs to realize that his temptation to compromise with the world

system is greater than that of the Prophet, not because the Prophet is more spiritual, but

by the very nature of the Steward's calling to live in close connection with the world

system. He must make small but conscious steps to distance himself from that system in

his lifestyle, make what Foster calls “Beginning Steps to Outward Simplicity.”30

Unity of Interdependence.

The total community of Kingdom of God, like the Trinity it images, is to be a

thing of endless variety. The church and her individual members must return to the

Biblical truth that they are bought by God (1 Cor. 6:19-20 and given to each other. Paul

states in 1 Cor. 3;21-23: “Therefore let no one glory in men. For all things are yours:

whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death, or things present or

things to come, all are yours. And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.” Grosheide

elaborates:

Paul, Apollos, Cephas, they all are the property of the congregation inasmuch
as God puts His servants at the disposal of the church (cf. 4:1f.). At Corinth they
were choosing one of these men and rejected the others. That is foolishness. It is
wisdom of the world, for God gave them al1.31

Societal transformation and revival will require both Prophets and Stewards, and

it will require both to be totally faithful to their respective callings, but without

discounting the other. Both on the individual level, and at the level of whole

communities, it is time that Prophets and Stewards appreciate, and pray for, the ministries

of the other. Both salt and light are needed, and God’s kingdom is greater than both.

29
Richard Foster, Freedom of Simplicity (San Francisco: Harper and Row Publishers, 1981), p. 115,

30
Ibid., chap, 7,
31
Grosheide, First Corinthians, pp. 94-95.