Worth Green, Th.M., D. Min.
There was a time in the history of the church and the world when miracles were accepted uncritically. This went on for 17 or 18 centuries, until the time of the Enlightenment. [ See Footnote 1] The Enlightenment did not close the book on miracles for all people; but it did close the book on miracles for a great many people.
In his book, “Why I Am a Catholic,” Pulitzer Prize winning author Gary Wills says that Thomas Jefferson typified the enlightenment view of Jesus. Thomas Jefferson was a follower of Jesus, and in helping to form these United States he felt he was doing the work of God, but he had problems with the miracles of Jesus. Jefferson said that the true and supremely admirable story of Jesus was discernible in the gospels if only one brushed away “the supernatural incrustations.” Jefferson’s view of Jesus is plainly visible in his personal edition of the New Testament. I have a copy. It has been stripped of all miracles, exorcisms, and the like. Jefferson wrote to a friend that it was a matter of only one or two evenings work to go through the New Testament and make the cuts. He said that he found it obvious and easy “to separate the gold from the dross.”
Wills advises that in cutting the miraculous element from the story of Jesus, Jefferson was following up one of the misconceptions of his time. In Jefferson’s time, even the best scholars thought that the four gospels were the original Christian writings, to which the Epistle’s of St. Paul were added later. Jefferson himself called Paul “the great [Stage Manager] of the Christian faith, and the first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus.” [See Footnote 2]
Some of this same attitude persists today. In their “quest for the historical Jesus” some scholars ignore Paul’s view of Jesus precisely because they prefer a fully human Jesus, stripped of his miracles, and, of course, stripped of his Divinity. They can reconstruct their view from the gospels much more easily if they ignore Paul.
Those who place the gospels ahead of Paul in the chronology of the New Testament make a huge mistake. Pauline Christianity predates the gospels by a generation. The gospels were not initially written down until the first generation of witnesses began to die out. (See John 21) They were not written down, too, because the first Christians lived in the strong light of the resurrection of Jesus. Most were Jews. As Jews, mostly followers of the Pharisees, they believed that the General Resurrection that was to take place at the end of history had begun with the resurrection of Jesus. They believed that Jesus was the first born from the dead, and the first fruits of God’s great harvest, and that the harvest would soon continue. They believed that Jesus was coming back soon, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps next Tuesday, and when he did, that the General Resurrection would continue. The dead in Christ would be raised, and those who were yet alive, would be changed, in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye. We know that Paul believed this, because he said as much in 1st Thessalonians 4:1-18, and in 1st Corinthians 15:1-58. Though Paul was primarily interested in the Risen Christ that Paul thought was coming back for his church at anytime, Paul does include a great deal of material about the historical Jesus in his epistles:
He includes at least the following facts about Jesus in his epistles:
That he was a Jew (“he was born of a woman, born under the law.” (Galatians 4:4)
What he taught on marriage and divorce. (1st Corinthians 7)
What he taught about clean and unclean foods. (Romans 14)
That he had twelve apostles. (1st Corinthians 15)
That he was betrayed. (1st Corinthians 11)
That on the night he was betrayed he shared a Last Supper with his disciples, comparing the bread with his body, broken for us, and the wine with his blood, shed for many, for the remission of sin. (1st Corinthians 11)
That he died on the cross “for our sins.” (1st Corinthians 15)
That he was buried. (1st Corinthians 15)
That he was raised on the third day, and that he appeared. Paul said he himself had seen the risen Christ. (1st Corinthians 15)
Though Paul does not credit Jesus as his source, Paul teaches other things in his epistles that echo the teachings of Jesus. Paul, like Jesus, taught disciples to be watchful, because the end would come quickly, unlooked for by many. (1st Cor. 15) One may also note the two great commandments of Jesus: The first, to love God with heart mind, soul and strength, and the second, to love one neighbor as one’s self. Jesus said that all the law and prophets depended on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:40) Likewise, Paul said that the all the commandments be summed up in a single sentence, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Romans 13:9)
Paul’s outline of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, though not as complete as the gospel record, is completely compatible with the gospel record, and that Paul’s message is substantially the same as the message that Jesus preached with one key difference: their historical perspective. Jesus preached the dawn of the kingdom of God, and claimed to be the coming Messiah/King. Paul proclaimed that the kingdom of God had come in Jesus, and it was not just for Jews, but for Gentiles as well. Paul preached Jesus as the Messiah/King and Lord of All.
Now, having pointed out what Paul taught about Jesus let me now point out that nowhere does Paul mention any of the miracles of Jesus performed in the days of his flesh. However, Paul does mention two things that intrigue us, and inform our understanding of Jesus and miracles.
First, Paul mentions the resurrection of Jesus on the third day. He tells us that he is an eyewitness of the Risen Christ. (1st Cor. 15:3-11) For Paul the resurrection is God’s ultimate vindication of Jesus the Messiah, and the key to Jesus’ true identity. In Romans 1:4 Paul says that Jesus was “designated Son of God in power, thorough a Spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead.”
The miracle of the resurrection changes everything. It sheds new light on Jesus.
- It means that the cross was not the bad end of a good man, but a road traveled once for all by a now victorious savior. “He was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)
- It means that death is not the end, for Jesus or for us, but a gateway into eternal life in the heavenly kingdom. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But as certainly as God has prepared for us a physical body, he has prepared for us a spiritual body. (1st Cor. 15:35-50)
- If we believe in the resurrection of Jesus, then the other miracles that Jesus performed in the days of his flesh become much less problematic. C.S. Lewis once wrote that it is utter foolishness to swallow the camel of the resurrection, and strain out the gnats of the lesser miracles.
Paul makes another key point that pertains to the picture we have of Jesus in the days of his flesh. In the chapter before us, 1st Corinthians 12, he mentions that there are those in the church whom the Spirit has gifted with “the working of miracles.” It is quite natural to assume that if Paul accepts the fact that certain followers of Jesus can work miracles, and then he would certainly not be surprised that Jesus himself worked miracles. At this juncture we ought to observe that just because Paul does not mention Jesus said or did something does not mean that Paul did not know that Jesus said or did something. We know from Paul’s epistle to the Galatians that Paul visited with Peter on at least three occasions, and he also visited with John the son of Zebedee, and with James, the brother of the Lord. Just one of those visits was for “fourteen days.” Paul knew these “pillars of the church,” over a period of at least 17 years, and probably longer. He had plenty of opportunity to carry on additional correspondence with them, though this is not mentioned. About his visits with them we can says this: Paul did not spend all his time talking to them about the weather. Paul had lots of opportunities to talk to these men about Jesus in the days of his flesh. Every indication is that he knew the Jesus Story—the Jesus of history; but that his orientation was to the Future that was coming to us in Christ, as it should have been.
Now, let us return to our subject: the gift of miracles that Paul mentions as one of the gifts of the Spirit. I have saved it for last, because what we can say about it with authority is brief. Paul says that the Holy Spirit has gifted some Christians, not all Christians, with the ability to work miracles. Paul does not stipulate what kind of miracles these people could work. I suppose Paul might have referring to miracles of healing; but he has already mentioned that gifts of healing stand on their own. I suppose Paul might have been referring to miracles of communication, like that experienced on the Day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up in Jerusalem and preached, and visitors of many nations heard preach him the gospel in their own language, simultaneously. That may be so, but Paul also mentions a gift of facility with tongues. I suppose that Paul may have been referring to an ability to see into the future; but he also mentions the gift of prophecy, and the ability to see into the future is one aspect of prophecy. Paul might have been referring to other kinds of miracles like those mentioned in the book of Acts, or those worked by Jesus in the gospels. Not only did Jesus heal, but various stories from the gospels tell us that Jesus turned the water into wine, raised the dead, multiplied the loaves and fishes, walked on water, and stilled the storm. (This list is by no means complete.) We know from Acts 19 that in some cases handkerchiefs and aprons carried from Paul to the sick produced a healing. In recent days this miracle has inspired some simply awful fund raising techniques on the part of television evangelists, like blessed handkerchiefs and blessed billfolds and purses.
I wish we knew definitively what kind of miracles the members of Paul’s congregations were able to work. We do not. We only know that according to Paul’s writings these miracles happened in more than one congregation. They certainly happened in Corinth where Paul mentions this gift of the Spirit. And they certainly happened in Galatia, because in the Epistle to the Galatians Paul writes that miracles God works miracles among the Galatians, not by works of the law, but by hearing with faith.
So what can we say about miracles? Let me suggest these few things:
1. C.S. Lewis says that miracles are in fact a retelling in small letters of the very same story, which is written across the whole universe in letters too large for some of us to see. He means nothing less than that God is in control.
2. Though miracles appear to be a suspension of natural law, I believe that miracles are not so much a suspension of natural law, as they are an amplification of it. We don’t always understand that now, but someday we will. As Paul says in 1st Corinthians 13:12 “now (we) know in part, then (we) shall understand fully, even as (we) have been fully understood.”
3. Not everyone can work miracles, and not everyone will witness them. We have to go near a railroad track if we expect to see a train, and those that have reportedly seen miracles have been where miracles are likely to take place. They have been missionaries, and evangelists, or perhaps, monks and nuns. The Catholic Church has reported a great many miracles happening near those who have spent their whole lives in prayer seeking God. Most of us will pass through life hearing about a miracle—-defined by something that appears to circumvent natural law, here or there, but never seeing one. That is o.k. Jesus spoke to Thomas saying, “Thomas, do you believe in me because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe.” (John 20:29) In the gospels Jesus refused to work miracles (signs) to secure belief. (Matthew 16:4) (If I might be permitted to challenge my own statement, I would add that for the person of faith the world is brimming up and overflowing with miracles. Life itself is a miracle.)
4. Some miracles are miracles of timing. Some have said that the crossing of the Yom Suph (Red Sea/Reed Sea) by the children of Israel was such a miracle. Many believers who are also Americans have long pondered the fortuitous fog that saved Washington’s Army at Long Island on the night of August 29th and 30th, 1776. It was as well placed as an artillery barrage. It enabled Washington to save his Army against certain annihilation, and that preserved the Revolution, and gave us the opportunity to win our war of Independence. I would include one more grace note in American history as worthy to give us pause. Certainly one of the most memorable days in American History is July 4th, 1826. On that day both John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States, and Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States, both of whom were key figures in drafting and signing the Declaration of Independence, died. Once bitter enemies, they had in again become friends. They had recently exchanged letters in which they expressed the mutual hope that they would meet again, after death, in heaven. Adams advised that if they did not, they would not in any case be disappointed. As Adams lay dying in Massachusetts he sighed and said, “Jefferson lives.” Some think it was the last thing Adams ever said. Unfortunately, he was mistaken. Jefferson had died earlier in the day, in Virginia. Things like this make one doubly appreciate a line in “America the Beautiful,” where we sing, “God shed his grace on thee.”
5. Miracles—or what we think of as miracles, may make us grateful, but not necessarily comfortable. I know a woman who witnessed the wheel of her 1973 full-size Buick roll over the head of her daughter, who was less than two years old. The little girl’s face was scraped and bruised, but her skull was intact, and not a bone in her head or body was broken. When I met with her at the hospital, she said, “It is a miracle; I must tell this story.” I said, “Yes, I suppose it is a miracle, and you are grateful to God for it; but, as you tell the story, remember that for the rest of your life you must bear the pain of facing those parents who, in similar situations, did not receive a miracle.”
6. We don’t want too many miracles. The late E. Stanley Jones, the Methodist missionary and evangelist, once wrote, “We want miracles, but not too many of them, lest we come to depend on miracles and forget to depend upon God.” We don’t want too many miracles. I suspect that what we really crave is to see God’s power at work in purely natural ways, as people respond to the challenge of the gospel, and discover the basic truth of the gospel: Nothing is impossible with God. We can do more together than we can as individuals.
7. Miracles require faith. “Without God we cannot, without us, God will not.” Paul said that God performed miracles in the congregations in Galatia not because of works of the law but of faith. Our religion is a moral religion; and yet Paul says that moral excellence is not always the path followed by a miracle, but faith. Miracle happens when people go out on a limb, and then saw it off.
As I wrote this, I asked myself if I was willing to go out on a limb for a miracle. I suppose I am, provided that God showed me the tree, told me to climb it, gave me the saw, and furnished me with directions for sawing off the limb on which I was sitting. Even then, in the back of my mind I would still be wondering if God was not using me just demonstrate why we should not saw off the limb that supports us.
8. I think we must give up on the idea that miracles are always relevant. According to the Temptation story, Satan challenged Jesus to turn the stones into bread. Jesus refused to return the stones into bread, even though people were hungry and it was the relevant thing to do. As long as we believe in miracles some people will think us irrelevant, but they already think the same of God. Miracles are an offense to human reason, but miracles—-especially the miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus, are the foundation upon which the gospel is laid. Some people tell me that they are Christians because it is the right way to live, or because it is their tradition, or because they value life in Christian community. Not me. I am like Paul. I think that, if for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1st Corinthians 15) If the Christ has not been raised, then the dead are not raised, so we really should eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we are dead.
That said, I do believe in miracles, for I believe in the Risen and Triumphant Christ, who died for our sins, and then rose again to give us a future and a hope.
Finis
Notes:
1. Scholars assign different dates to the start of the Enlightenment.
2. Jefferson actually said that Paul was “the great Coryphaeus.” In Jefferson’s time it was commonly understood among the educated classes that in Greek drama the “coryphaeus” was the leader of the chorus, or in modern terms, “the stage manager.”