I just did present evidence of a prophetess. Do you really think you can win an argument by introducing smilies? lol good grief
Let's refresh your memory again. What IS a prophetess?
Luk 2:36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin,
The greek word here is the feminine tense of the masculine form for prophet.
While you're appealling to gender specifics regarding grammar. Tell us why the term "elders" is ALWAYS in the MASCULINE & NEVER in FEMININE . Hmmm..........Moving right along.
Here is a little grammar lesson for you. In the Greek since Anna is a female, the noun form of the word prophet would have to be used. So Anna is a prophetess. It's the same word but with a feminine ending. Your "argument" here is a red herring. A "red herring" argument is used to avoid the real issue and try to deflect or misdirect the attention somewhere else, obfuscating the real issue. Here you attempt to obfuscate the issue of prophetess to some other issue of "Elders". So apparently this person realizes his argument is dead in the water and so he hopes to change the issue from preachers and prophetesses to elders?
While we are at it, maybe you can tell us why "church" is always feminine?
The same word is used in the LXX version of the OT
Jdg 4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
2Ki 22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her.
So what is a prophet?
Act 21:10 While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
Act 21:11 And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'"
Prophet
In the NT prophḗtēs corresponds to the person who in the OT spoke under divine influence and inspiration. This included the foretelling future events or the exhorting, reproving, and threatening of individuals or nations as the ambassador of God and the interpreter of His will to men (Ezek. 2). Hence the prophet spoke not his own thoughts but what he received from God, retaining, however, his own consciousness and self-possession (
Exo_7:1; 2Pe_1:20-21; especially 1Co_14:32).
And as we have seen a prophetess is a feminine version of the same word
So it's interesting that the verse in question comes just before the one above
(II) To tell forth God's message, hence the noun prophḗtēs (G4396), prophet, is the proclaimer, one who speaks out the counsel of God with the clearness, energy, and authority which spring from the consciousness of speaking in God's name and having received a direct message from Him to deliver.
THUS, ONE MAY PROPHESY WITHOUT BEING A PROPHET IN THE STRICT SENSE OF THE WORD. A prophḗtēs, both in the OT and NT, is not primarily one who foretells things to come, but who (having been taught of God) speaks out His will (
Deu_18:18; Is. chap. 1; Jer. chap. 1; Ezek. chap. 2; 1Co_14:3). The art of heathen
Did ya' see it in red above...or did ya' miss it?? All those quotes & NOT A ONE OF THEM SAYS ANYTHING ABOUT EXPOUNDING FROM THE SCRIPTURES...as many modern women do today [so I hear]. AND, to make matters worse, Prophecy connotes the lofty & spontaneuous utterance of the revealing of the hidden [much like interpretation of tongues w/out the tongue]...not a sermon from the Scriptures. Are you getting this Prax??
Did YOU? Did you see what it meant by "in the strict sense of the word"? Clearly you did not get it. This is saying a Prophet can be NOT just someone that fortells the future but someone that "one who speaks out the counsel of God with the clearness, energy, and authority which spring from the consciousness of speaking in God's name and having received a direct message from Him to deliver." You seemed to miss that part. If you read it in context you'd see that. Instead you read it just like you read the word of God, pulling bits and pieces OUT of context and destroying the original meaning.
So in other words what this just said was a Prophet is not always someone that strictly or only predicts the future. Nice try though
Those girls were prophetesses. They prophecied.
Then as soon as I pop a pimple I'm a dermatologist...right? Why not??
If to pop a pimple is the definition of "dermatologist" yes, but it isn't
Now let's look at the gift!
1Co 14:3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies
speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
Notice next how prophecy is one of the ways to edify the church like teaching?
1Co 14:6 Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless
I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?
Then Notice what Paul says to the church?
1Co 14:26 What should you do then, brothers and sisters? When you come together,
each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church.
Also notice what Paul says about those exercising the gift of prophecy? He calls them prophets
1Co 14:29
Two or three prophets should speak and the others should evaluate what is said.
And what is prophecy for? Learning
1Co 14:31 For you can all prophesy one after another,
so all can learn and be encouraged.
"Preacher" is not an office. Teachers are not Preachers. A teacher can be a preacher but those office or rolls are not the same. Same goes for the other offices. So the words are not synonymous.
The word Preach means to proclaim. Notice Paul uses it distinctly from being an Apostle and a teacher
1Ti 2:7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Sorry but you haven't done your homework.