The Prophet Like Moses
Deuteronomy 18, the One Israel must hear, as the early church read it
Moses, the greatest prophet of the old covenant, promised that he would not be the last: "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet… like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." Israel waited for "the Prophet" (John 1:21; 6:14), and the apostles announced that He had come: Peter (Acts 3:22-23) and Stephen (Acts 7:37) both quote this promise of Jesus. And on the mountain of Transfiguration, Moses himself stood beside Jesus while the Father's voice settled it, "this is my beloved Son: hear him." The early church read it the same way. Tertullian and Irenaeus in their own words below, with a plain restatement.
The Fathers' words are verbatim and attributed (Tertullian and Irenaeus, in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, public domain; selected from the running prose, footnote apparatus omitted). The box marked "In plain terms" is our own restatement, never the Fathers' words.
Deuteronomy 18:15,18 · KJVThe LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet… like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken… I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
"'A prophet,' says Moses, 'shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your sons… unto Him shall ye hearken, as unto me. Every one who will not hearken unto Him, his soul shall be cut off from amongst his people.'… the Father was going Himself to recommend (His Son). For He establishes the words of His Son, when He says, 'This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him.'"
TertullianTertullian hears the two voices line up. Moses said, "hear Him, as you hear me"; and on the mount of Transfiguration the Father Himself ratified it, "this is my beloved Son, hear ye Him." It is no accident that Moses appeared there in person and was then withdrawn, leaving Jesus alone: the prophet who was promised has come, and the command now is to listen to Him above all. Christ is the new and greater Moses, the final Prophet in whom God speaks His last word (Hebrews 1:1-2; 3:3).
Acts 3:22-23 · KJVFor Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things… And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed…
"For Moses truly said unto our fathers, Your Lord God shall raise up to you a Prophet from your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, whosoever will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people… Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son, sent Him blessing you, that each may turn himself from his iniquities."
St. Irenaeus of LyonsIrenaeus simply hands us the apostles' own sermon: Peter, preaching in the temple, declares Deuteronomy 18 fulfilled in the risen Jesus, "God, having raised up His Son, sent Him… to bless you." The promise was never about prophets in general but about One the people must hear on pain of being "cut off." To refuse the word of Christ is not a small thing; He is the Prophet to whom Moses pointed, and there is no appeal past Him.
Where the traditions diverge
That Christ is the Prophet like Moses is settled New Testament teaching, fixed by Peter and Stephen and sealed at the Transfiguration, so Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant read Deuteronomy 18 of Jesus without hesitation. The divergences come from outside that consensus. Second-Temple Judaism did expect a coming "Prophet" (the crowds ask John whether he is "that prophet," and call Jesus "that prophet of a truth"), but most Jewish readings since take the verse as establishing the prophetic office in general, the line of true prophets after Moses, rather than one Messiah; Christians answer that the New Testament itself names the fulfillment. Islam claims the verse predicts Muhammad, reading "from among their brethren" as the Arab descendants of Ishmael; the Christian reply, and the plain sense in context, is that "their brethren" means fellow Israelites (the promise is to Israel, raised up "from the midst of thee"), and that the apostles, speaking under inspiration, applied it to Jesus. The modern critical reading treats it as a Deuteronomic safeguard for legitimate prophecy over against pagan divination. The drift to resist is detaching the promise from the One the apostles plainly named: the Prophet who does not merely carry God's words but is Himself the Word, who could say, "I have not spoken of myself… the Father… gave me a commandment, what I should say" (John 12:49). Above Moses, above the prophets, the Father says, "hear him." (See the Son is God, the Word was God, and out of Bethlehem.)
Patristic text from Tertullian, Against Marcion (Book IV), and Irenaeus, Against Heresies (III.12, quoting the apostolic preaching of Acts 3), in the Ante-Nicene Fathers (public domain), selected from the running prose with footnote apparatus omitted; nothing added or paraphrased within the quotation marks. Scripture in the King James Version; the plain-language lines are our own restatement. This passage in the Study Bible; Deuteronomy 18 at BibleHub.