11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 1
Chapter 11.1
The Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working
Table of Topics
A) Introduction: Faith, Healing, & Miracle Working
B) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked with a
Command, Not a Prayer: Miracles vs. Miracle Working
C) Miracle Working Gifts Always Required Miracle Faith
from God
D) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked Powerfully, Not
Partially
E) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked Convincingly,
Not Suspiciously
F) A Biblical “Healing Ministry” Always Worked to
Authenticate a Divine “Revealing Ministry”
Extras & Endnotes
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 2
Primary Points
“Gifts of healing,” and “miraculous powers” were abilities
granted to Prophets and Apostles enabling them to perform
miracles on command.
The difference between praying for a cure and commanding a
cure is the difference between the direct miracles all
Christians can request God to do today, and the human
miracle working only those with the real gift of healing could
do.
Those with gifts of healing in Scripture healed perfectly,
completely, instantly, and powerfully on command 100% of
the time. None of those claiming such gifts today can, which
is why it is fraud to do so.
Biblical miracle workers convinced their enemies of their
divine power. Modern “miracle” workers cannot even
convince most Christians.
The conspicuous absence of miracles over Nature is best
explained by the fact that “healings” of humans is much
easier to fake, or procure through natural means such as the
power of suggestion.
If modern “miracle workers” want any biblical support for
their claims today, they must admit to one of the following:
1) they are a source of new extra-biblical divine revelation
that has the authority of Scripture, or 2) they really do not
perform miracles at all, or 3) their miracles are demonically
empowered.
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 3
A) Introduction: Faith, Healing, & Miracle Working
The Apostle Paul mentions the miracle working gifts in 1
Corinthians 12 when he writes:
To one there is given through the Spirit . . . [miracle]
faith . . . to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to
another miraculous powers. (1 Cor 12:7, 9-10)
There are three supernatural gifts or abilities listed here that are
especially related to one another: miracle “faith,” “healing,” and
“miraculous powers.” We will briefly state our understanding of
these gifts here, and defend our perspective in the remainder of the
chapter.
“Gifts of healing,” and “miraculous powers” were
supernatural abilities granted to Prophets and Apostles enabling
them to perform miracles on command. The Apostle’s distinction
between “healing” and “miraculous powers” is best understood
as the latter referring specifically to miracles over Nature as well,
such as Christ’s multiplication of bread and fish (cf. Matt 8:24-26;
15:36-37), or Elisha’s ability to make an iron axe head float on
water (cf. 2 Kings 6:5-7). “Healing,” of course, always involved
people. 1
As noted, the Apostle Paul also mentions “faith” among these
miraculous gifts. We will demonstrate below that this is miracle
faith which is given by God to miracle workers or recipients of
miracles so that there is complete confidence a miracle will occur.
Accordingly, Jesus said if a person has just a “mustard seed”
amount of miracle faith, they can literally command a “mountain,
'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you” (Matt 17:20). Therefore the miracle faith is
as miraculous as the miracle working itself. It was the miracle faith
that accompanied the gifts of healing and miracle working that
enabled the miracle worker to command a miracle that
immediately, and without fail occurred. This is in contrast to the
right of all Christians to pray for healing or a miracle which may or
may not occur.
Obviously there is a great deal of controversy on the miracle
working gifts today due to the teachings and claims of super-
supernaturalism. 2 Throughout this section of Knowing Our God
(KOG) we have made the claim that God is no longer granting the
miracle working gifts to His Church because their purpose of
authenticating messengers of new extra-biblical divine revelation
has ceased. Here we wish to support that claim by taking a closer
look at the biblical attributes of these gifts and comparing them
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 4
with how they operate in modern super-supernaturalism. Our
conclusion is that no one today has the right to claim these gifts
because they cannot demonstrate their biblical attributes. 3
In order to illustrate the biblical attributes of miracle working
gifts, we will use the Apostle Peter’s healing of the paralytic in Acts
chapter three as it would seem to involve all of these
characteristics. Luke writes:
Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to
the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put
every day to beg from those going into the temple
courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he
asked them for money.
Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter
said, "Look at us!" So the man gave them his attention,
expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said,
"Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give
you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and
instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He
jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went
with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping,
and praising God. (Acts 3:2-8)
B) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked with a
Command, Not Merely a Prayer: Miracles vs. Miracle Working
The paralytic in Acts 3 was healed by the Apostle Peter, not a
prayer, and on his command to “walk.” This healing did not simply
involve a request to God to heal, but God worked through the gift of
healing he had given to the Apostle. This difference between
praying for a cure and commanding a cure is the difference between
what all Christians can do today and what only those with the real
gift of healing can do. The method of healing performed by Christ
and the Apostles was by command or touch, never merely prayer. 4
Some might also object to our claim that those with miracle
working gifts never healed merely by prayer by citing the example
of the Apostle Paul on the island of Malta. There Luke records that
a man “was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery,”
and “Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his
hands on him and healed him” (Acts 28:7-8). Obviously here
the healing involved prayer, but not merely prayer, as the Apostle
then healed with a touch. Our point here is that there is an
important difference between the ability to heal by command or
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 5
touch which the gift of healing invariably provided, and the kind of
healing occurring today by prayer, but rather rarely. 5
This fact reflects the important distinction between direct
miracles performed by God and delegated miracle working
performed by human miracle workers. Accordingly, the Apostle
Paul refers to the latter as workers of miracles” (1 Cor 12:28
NASB). 6 More specifically, we have written:
In general, we can say that direct miracles can occur in
response to the simple prayer of anyone, but such requests
are often not granted. On the other hand, delegated miracles
occur by the command or touch of a person and never fail, as
we have no record in Scripture of a God-appointed miracle
worker commanding or attempting to perform a miracle that
did not occur. Accordingly, direct miracles authenticate and
glorify God alone. Delegated miracle working intentionally
authenticates and unavoidably glorifies the human as well.
The distinction between direct miracles and delegated
miracle working is not merely a theological one, but important
in the modern debate regarding miracles. Super-
supernaturalism, which is the belief that divine miracles of all
kinds are quite common today and that God-ordained miracle
workers abound, often fails to make the biblical distinction
between direct miracles of God and delegated human miracle
working, with some unfortunate consequences.
For example, because many Christians deny that delegated
human miracle working is operating today according to its
biblical attributes and purposes, super-supernaturalism
routinely insinuates that they are also denying God is doing
miracles today. On the contrary, of course God is still doing
miracles! But this is far different from saying that God is still
empowering human miracle workers as super-supernaturalism
claims, but which we demonstrate elsewhere is a false claim.
We believe in miracles, not miracle workers, and by not
distinguishing between them, super-supernaturalism has
falsely accused others of believing in miracles less than they
do.
In addition, super-supernaturalism bolsters its claims to
miracle working gifts by suggesting that miracles or healings
occurring in response to prayer are examples of these gifts
operating. On the contrary, as we demonstrate elsewhere, no
biblical character with miracle working gifts ever healed people
with merely a prayer. Biblical Prophets and Apostles, and
Christ healed without fail through their command and/or touch
of a person.
This is the important difference between the direct divine
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 6
miracles God may, but not always do in response to the
prayers of any Christian, and the delegated human miracle
working through miraculous sign gifts that, in Scripture, were
only given to those who were also sources of new divine
revelation from God. 7
We distinguish human miracle working through God-given gifts
from the direct kind in that the former occurred in the context of a
man commanding a miracle that occurred immediately. This is
significantly different from miracles we may pray for and ask God to
do directly. “Be healed!” is the common language of a biblical
miracle worker, and may or may not include any request to God for
the miracle.
Such is illustrated when we read of Philip: “The crowds with
one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip,
as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing”
(Acts 8:6). Likewise, we note that those truly with such gifts could
even pronounce miraculous judgment and have it immediately
executed (cf. Acts 5:3-11; 13:10, 1 Cor.5:3-5; 1 Tim.1:20). Our
distinction between miracles and miracle working gifts was also
recognized by ancient Jewish rabbis of which David Garland notes,
“the difference between rabbinic miracles and Jesus’ miracles: Jesus
heals by a word, at a distance; Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa only prays
for healing and waits for God to grant fluency to his requests.” 8
Along these lines, the respected Evangelical theologian E. J.
Carnell (1919–1967) writes:
Lest an unnecessary confusion result, it is vastly important
that one comprehend the true meaning of the gift of miracle
working. When one is endowed with the power to work
miracles (such as in raising the dead), he performs these
wonders according to his own personal discretion and by a
power which, through God, is resident within him. His working
of miracles is systematic, nonchalant, and sure. When Paul
healed Eutychus (Acts 20:9ff.), he prefaced it with no
extravagant emotional ritual; by powers residing within him he
leaned over and brought life back. 9
A good illustration of the difference between a direct miracle of
God and a delegated miracle working through the miracle working
gifts is the difference between how Hezekiah and Tabitha were
healed. The former “became ill and was at the point of death”
but prayed to God Who responded, “I have heard your prayer
and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life” (Isa
38:1, 5). There was no human intermediary performing the
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 7
miracle, but rather, God performed it directly, and on this occasion,
in response to a prayer.
On the other hand, Tabitha’s life was restored at the discretion
of the Apostle Peter who simply commanded, “Tabitha, get up”
(Acts 9:40), and she did. 10 In fact, we have no record in Scripture
of a person with God-given miracle working gifts, commanding or
attempting to perform a miracle that did not occur. This is how the
real gifts of miracle working work.
The commanding nature, as opposed to the praying nature, of
the miracle working gifts is clearly illustrated in the ministry of
Christ. He did not pray for miracles, but commanded them or
performed them by touch. For example in Matthew chapters 8-9 we
read that because Jesus was “willing,” He “reached out His hand
and touched” a “man” with “leprosy” and “said, ‘Be clean!’” and
“immediately he was cured” (Matt 8:3).
“When Jesus came into Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s
mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her
hand and the fever left her” (Matt 8:14-15). Then, “When
evening came” He “healed all the sick” “with [only] a word”
(Matt 8:16). When a severe storm occurred, Jesus “got up and
rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely
calm” (Matt 8:26). When He met a “paralytic” He simply
commanded “’Get up, take your mat and go home.’ And the
man got up and went home” (Matt 9:6).
Without any fanfare, He simply “took [a dead] girl by the
hand, and she got up” (Matt 9:25). A “woman who had been
subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and
touched the edge of His cloak. . . . And the woman was
healed from that moment” (Matt 9:20-22). The “sight” of two
blind men “was restored” when “He touched their eyes” (Matt
9:29). This is not how Jesus healed in just these two chapters, but
this is the way He always healed—by command or touch, not
prayer.
And this is the way the Apostles healed. Accordingly, Jesus tells
them, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have
leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely
give” (Matt 10:8). Therefore, we are not surprised to see that
every recorded healing of the Apostles in the NT was by command
or touch, not prayer. Why? Because as Christ said, they had
“received” the spiritual gifts of healing and miracle working which
gave men the ability to command miracles, not just ask for them.
Accordingly, we read that when the Apostle Peter “found a man
named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight
years . . . Peter said to him, ‘Jesus Christ heals you. Get up
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 8
and take care of your mat.’ [and] immediately Aeneas got up”
(Acts 9:33-4).
The reason that those with gifts of healing or miracle working
could command miracles, instead of merely pray for them, is that
miracle faith, which provided a supernatural knowledge of God’s will
to heal, was present. This will be discussed further below.
Nonetheless, miracle faith accompanied the miracle working gifts so
that the miracle worker could command the miracles.
Therefore, when the Apostle Paul encountered, “a man
crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never
walked . . . Paul looked directly at him . . . and called out,
‘Stand up on your feet!’ [and] at that, the man jumped up and
began to walk” (Acts 14:8-10). And when a “young man” died
from falling asleep during one of the Apostle’s sermons, Luke
records Paul merely laid on him and brought him back to life (Acts
20:9-10). 11 Finally, because he had the gift of miracle working,
the Apostle “looked straight at Elymas and said, ‘You are . . .
an enemy of everything that is right! . . . Now . . . you are
going to be blind” and he immediately was (Acts 13:9-11).
Clearly, then, a biblical attribute of the miracle working gifts was
that they enabled a person to command a miracle, not merely pray
for one. 12
It is therefore unbiblical and misleading for super-
supernaturalism to commonly claim that effectively praying for the
healing of someone once in a while is the spiritual gift of healing.
Of course God has answered some of our prayers to miraculously
heal someone, but this is not the gift of healing which gave those
who possessed it the ability to command a healing. Let someone
today command healing after healing and never have that
command denied, and then they can claim the biblical gift of
healing.
A primary difficulty with interpreting super-supernaturalistic
literature is its failure to make the important distinction between
the direct miracles that God may do simply in answer to prayer, and
those that He would do through the spiritual gifts of healing or
miracle working through the command or touch of a person. The
popular super-supernaturalistic author Jack Deere is especially
guilty of such a distortion throughout his book, Surprised by the
Power of the Spirit.
For example, in the introduction to the book he is relating a
phone conversation that he had before his conversion to super-
supernaturalism. At the time he was speaking with a leader of the
movement and trying to argue that the gift of healing does not
operate today. Mr. Deere tells the man, “Surely you know that
God’s not healing any more and that all the miraculous gifts of the
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 9
Spirit passed away.” 13 Even then, it would appear that Mr. Deere
completely misunderstood, or chose to ignore, the difference
between the fact that God still heals people today in response to
prayer (and even without it), but the “miraculous gifts” enabling
people to heal on command are not operating.
Likewise, consider the title of Chapter 8 of Mr. Deere’s book:
“Were Miracles Meant to be Temporary?” How many Christians
would argue that miracles were meant to be temporary?! What we
are claiming is that human miracle-workers were meant to be
temporary. Even in the last paragraph of the book Mr. Deere says,
“Healing gifts are given to the whole church, and the elders of the
church are to have a regular healing ministry (James 5:14-16).” 14
Again, such a statement confuses the difference between what Mr.
Deere claims is the restoration of the NT gift of healing on
command, and the ability for any Christian to pray for someone’s
healing. We will address the proper interpretation of James 5:14-
16 in the next chapter. 15
Likewise, Dr. Wayne Grudem, Research Professor of Bible and
Theology at Phoenix Seminary, does not distinguish between these
methods of healing in his discussion of the NT gift of healing. 16 The
majority of his thoughts throughout his seven page section on the
gift of healing in his Systematic Theology have nothing to do with
the miraculous gifts of healing and miracle working, but rather,
praying for healing. This error, whether intentional or
unintentional, only serves to unfortunately obscure the issue, and
would seem to further expose the shortage of real biblical evidence
that the NT gift of healing is operating today.
Dr. Grudem’s attempt to actually redefine the NT gift of healing
is evident in the following remarks:
Those with “gifts of healing” will be those people who find that
their prayers [not commands or touch?] for healing are
answered more frequently and more thoroughly than others.
When that becomes evident, a church would be wise to
encourage them in this ministry and give them more
opportunity to pray for others who are ill. We should realize
that gifts of healing could include ministry not only in terms of
physical healing, but also in terms of emotional healing. . . .
Perhaps the gifts of being able to pray effectively in different
kinds of situations and for different kinds of needs are what
Paul referred to when he used the plural expression, “gifts of
healings.” 17
We would ask again, were “prayers for healing” characteristic of
the gift of healing that operated in Scripture? No, healings occurred
with a command or touch. Always. Dr. Grudem’s attempt here to
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 10
define a person with the NT gift of healing as someone who’s
“prayers for healing are answered more frequently and more
thoroughly than others” is completely without biblical support.
Also, there was no need to hope that the authentic NT gift of
healing would work “more frequently and more thoroughly” than it
did at other times. It worked perfectly and completely every time,
as demonstrated below.
Dr. Grudem’s appeal to “emotional healing” would seem to be
an effort to lend support to the majority of healing claims that
involve very subjective, psychosomatic symptoms, things that are
difficult to verify. Did Jesus or the Apostles ever use their gift of
healing to only heal someone emotionally? The reason they didn’t
is that such a healing is too subjective to be a convincing,
authenticating miracle.
It would seem that there is a consistent attempt to present
instances of people being healed directly by God through the
prayers of Christians, and then to use these instances as proof that
the gift of healing has been restored to the Church. It is obvious
that such healings have nothing to do with these gifts. No right-
minded Christian would deny that God heals today in answer to
prayer, or that we should be praying for people’s physical illnesses.
And it is this proper conviction that super-supernaturalism attempts
to appeal to. However, it is both reasonable and biblical to insist
that the spiritual gifts of healing and miracle working no longer
operate.
The apparently deliberate confusion in super-supernaturalism
between miracles and miracle working has some unfortunate
results. Surely there are healings that God has performed through
the faithful and secret prayers of humble Christians that some
egotistical “faith healer” has publicly taken the credit for. In fact, if
this distinction between miracles that are prayed for, and the gift of
miracle working on command, were applied to the claims of
healings today in super-supernaturalism, those thought to be a
result of the operation of the gift of healing would be virtually
eliminated. No one today is healing on command, because no one
has the biblical gift of healing and miracle working.
This is even true of those places where the Gospel is being
newly introduced and we would expect more miracles, as noted
elsewhere. 18 Brother Yun’s ministry in underground China, for
example, is certainly miraculous, but does not reflect the biblical
attribute of the gifts of healing or miracle working which operated
on command.
Accordingly, in one imprisonment, a fellow prisoner who was
spying on the Christians became very ill. Yun and another Christian
leader prayed for the man and Yun says, “the Lord totally healed
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 11
that man.” 19 In another time of imprisonment, Yun met an old
man who had suffered a stroke and half his body was paralyzed.
Yun shared the Gospel with him and he and his wife asked Christ
into their hearts. Yun writes:
The next morning before dawn, the old man suddenly felt
someone strike him on his neck and back. For the first time in
months he could easily move his head. He exclaimed, "It feels
as if a rope around me has snapped!" . . . . The old man's
health recovered and soon he was able to walk up and down
the stairs. This was remarkable for a man who'd been
paralyzed by a stroke! He witnessed to all his old friends and
sought forgiveness from people he'd wronged in the past. 20
Remarkable? Yes! The biblical gift of healing? No. Such a
miracle is probably explained by the potentially powerful physical
effects of conversion discussed elsewhere. 21 And those attempting
to use such examples to claim the gift of healing has been restored
to the Church should repent and cease to distort the Word of God
and mislead God’s people in that manner.
The biblical balance then is this: Let us embrace miracles as
blessings of God, but evaluate miracle workers with the word of
God. We have stated from the beginning that our critique of
modern miracle workers is not a disparagement of miracles that
God is clearly still doing. Accordingly, the Princeton theologian B.
B. Warfield (1851-1921) summed up his masterful study of physical
miracle working, Counterfeit Miracles, by saying that, “We believe in
a wonderworking God, but not in a wonder-working church.” 22
Likewise, John MacArthur, in his book, Charismatic Chaos,
rightly recognizes the difference between miracles and miracle
working and sums up our own view of them when he writes:
Does God heal? I believe He does. I do not automatically
discount all claims of supernatural healings just because some
are false. But I am convinced that dramatic, miraculous,
immediate intervention by God is quite rare—never dependent
on some supposedly gifted person who acts as an agent of
healing.
Genuine healings may come as a result of prayer and most
often involve simple natural processes. Other times, God
speeds up the recovery mechanisms and restores a sick
person to health in a way that medicine cannot explain.
Sometimes he overrules a medical prognosis and allows
someone to recover from a normally debilitating disease.
Healings like that come in response to prayer and the
sovereign will of God and can happen at any time. But the gift
of healing, the ability to heal others, special annointings for
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 12
healing ministry, healings that can be “claimed,” and other
typical faith-healing techniques have no biblical sanction in the
post-apostolic era. 23
C) Miracle Working Gifts Always Required Miracle
Faith from God
Because the miracle working gifts operated on the confident
command or touch of those possessing them, miracle faith was
always present as well to provide such confidence. Below we
explain the biblical topic of miracle faith further, but as we noted
above, “[M]iracle faith . . . is given by God to miracle workers or
recipients of miracles so that there is complete confidence a miracle
will occur.” When miracle working occurs through the miracle
working gifts there are no doubts that the miracle will occur
because a supernatural miracle faith always accompanies either the
commanding or the claiming of the miracle.
This is why we have no record in Scripture of a God-appointed
miracle worker commanding or attempting to perform a miracle
that did not occur. It was because God revealed His will to heal in a
particular instance through the miracle faith He granted, that the
miracle working gifts worked perfectly every time.
Not only was miracle faith granted to enable the unfailing
commanding or claiming of a miracle, but it was as God-given and
supernatural as the miraculous deed itself. It is not a type of faith
that can be produced by humans through positive thinking or any
other human exercise, but rather, must be graciously and
supernaturally given by God.
The “gift” nature of miracle faith is certainly demonstrated in the
Apostle Peter’s healing of the paralytic, as he is careful to explain:
By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see
and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the
faith that comes through Him that has given this
complete healing to him, as you can all see” (v. 16).
Yes, it was “By faith in the name of Jesus” that the man was
healed, but it was a miracle faith that was granted to the Apostle by
God to command his healing. As we point out elsewhere, some
kinds of biblical faith are dependent on us, and others are
completely a gift of God. 24 Miracle faith is the kind of faith that
humans are not at all capable of because it requires belief in a
miracle without any doubt at all (cf. Matt 21:21). Therefore, the
kind of faith that must accompany miracle working has to come
from God just as much as the miracle itself.
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 13
Understanding the nature of miracle faith is very helpful in
properly understanding the relationship between faith and miracles
and correcting several errors particularly in super-supernaturalism,
which we discuss in the next chapter. 25
D) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked
Powerfully, Not Partially
Another obvious attribute of the biblical gifts of miracle working
was that they worked powerfully. This is demonstrated in several
ways. First, the miracles worked by those possessing these gifts
were 100% effective 100% of the time. As we’ve already noted, we
have no record in Scripture of a God-appointed miracle worker
commanding or attempting to perform a miracle that did not occur.
Such was the case of the Apostle Peter’s healing of the paralytic in
Acts 3. Neither the nature of the man’s illness, nor the lack of his
faith hindered his healing in any way.
In every instance where the gift of healing is recorded as
operating, every single person ministered to was healed. If you
were there and wanted and needed healing, you were healed,
completely, immediately, and convincingly. This was certainly true
of Christ as Matthew records, “great multitudes followed Him,
and He healed them all” (12:15). Luke likewise records that at
another time:
He went down with them and stood on a level place. A
large crowd of His disciples was there and a great
number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem,
and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to
hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. Those
troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all
tried to touch Him, because power was coming from him
and healing them all. (Luke 6:17-19; cf. Acts 10:38)
The Apostles experienced nothing less. We read in Acts 5:
People brought the sick into the streets and laid them
on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might
fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered
also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their
sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them
were healed. (Acts 5:15-16)
The gift of healing always operated at this very level of power
and consistency and there is not a single verse of Scripture that
would indicate otherwise. We read of the gift operating through the
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 14
Apostle Paul on the island of Malta. After healing the father of the
chief official Publius, “the rest of the sick on the [whole] island
came and were cured” (Acts 28:7-9), indicating that there wasn’t
a single sick person on the island that wasn’t cured in the three
months the Apostle spent there.
The power of the real gifts of healing and miracle working are
also demonstrated in the complete nature of the miracles
commanded. The Apostle Peter describes the paralytic’s healing as
follows, “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through
Him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can
all see” (Acts 3:16). When someone was ministered to with the
gift of healing, they did not leave the experience with a cure in one
leg and a limp in the other.
Likewise, we read of the King:
On another Sabbath He went into the synagogue and
was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand
was shriveled. . . . He looked around at them all, and
then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did
so, and his hand was completely restored. (Luke 6:6, 10)
The power of the real gifts of healing and miracle working are
also demonstrated in the immediate nature of the miracles
commanded. Accordingly, in the above instance of healing recorded
in Acts 3, the gift of healing worked “instantly” (v. 7) on the
paralytic and there are no exceptions to this in the Scriptures.
Likewise, the King touched a man and commanded, “Be clean!”
and “Immediately he was cured of his leprosy” (Matt 8:3), and
when He touched two blind men, it is recorded that, “Immediately
they received their sight” (Matt 20:34).
Finally, the power of these God-given miracle working gifts is
demonstrated in the nature of their effect. They deny natural
explanations. The paralytic in Acts 3 was a “man crippled from
birth” (v. 2). When the Apostle commanded his healing,
“instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He
jumped to his feet and began to walk” (vs. 7-8). Actual
structural changes, not merely psychological manipulations, had
occurred in the bone structure of the man’s “feet and ankles” such
that the results astounded all who witnessed it.
Scripture clearly portrays the God-given miracle working gifts as
working perfectly, completely, and instantly. Therefore, the
reasonable and necessary conclusion is that anyone claiming these
same gifts should have the same abilities. It is right here that
super-supernaturalism most clearly fails in its unique claims to the
biblical gifts of healing and miracle working. Their “miracle
workers” simply do not heal perfectly, completely, instantly, and
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 15
powerfully on command. Never. Accordingly, it is agreed even
within super-supernaturalism that the power of those claiming these
gifts today is rather dismal compared to how they are recorded to
have worked in Scripture. Nevertheless, super-supernaturalism
would still have us believe that God has given them these biblical
gifts.
For example, former Associate Professor of Theology at
Wheaton, C. Samuel Storms, writes:
It is repeatedly argued that the extent and intensity of
apostolic signs, wonders and miracles has not continued
unchanged throughout church history. I agree. But this
would only prove that the Apostles operated at a level of
supernatural power unknown to other Christians, something
virtually everyone concedes. It has no bearing, however, on
the question of whether the miraculous gifts of I Corinthians
12:7-10 are designed by God for the church in every age. 26
On the contrary, the relatively pathetic power of those claiming the
biblical gifts of miracle working today has significant bearing on
whether they are operating today, or at any time since the
Apostles.
Likewise, Dr. Grudem, in another unfortunate attempt to
degrade the authentic biblical gift of healing in order to legitimize
present day “faith healing,” claims that Christ’s “two-step” healing
of a blind man in Mark 8:22-25 suggests that “it may also be his
intention to heal people in two stages today—or in three or four or
more stages.” 27 This very able and gifted brother is scraping the
bottom of the barrel to find biblical precedence for the merely
temporary psychological healing that occurs at the hands of faith
“healers” today.
Along the same lines, the super-supernaturalist Evangelical Free
Pastor Bannister writes:
Healing ministries are often set back by the false demand
[how about biblical?] that they be exactly like the healing
ministry of Jesus and the Apostles. Healings that are partial or
gradual in nature are dismissed as false because "that's not
like they did it in the book of Acts." I am not aware of any
healing ministry in the history of the church that rivals in
power and drama the healing ministry of the Apostles. There
was something unique and foundational about their ministry
(Eph. 2:20). The often-heard charge is true: Nobody does
healing today like the Apostle Paul. But must we conclude
from that that God is done with his healing ministry? . . .
There does seem to be a distinction between the apostolic
gift of healing and the gifts of healing mentioned in I
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 16
Corinthians 12:8-10. These gifts of healing may be of lesser
intensity, which would account for the difference between
apostolic and modern miracles. 28
Several misunderstandings would seem to be evident here.
Again, like many super-supernaturalist teachers, Pastor Bannister
has confused the denial of the operation of the gift of healing with a
denial “that God is done with his healing ministry.” We have
already demonstrated that they are not the same thing. God has,
of course, continued His healing ministry, but not through the
biblical gift of healing that worked perfectly, powerfully, and on
command.
Accordingly, we read in Brother Yun’s biography that he lead
one of the prison wardens to Christ. This warden had “a terrible
throat infection that made him cough day and night.” Upon
receiving Christ, Yun prayed for the warden and “he was gradually
restored to full health.” 29 We praise God for what may have been a
miracle, but it is not an instance of the biblical gift of healing that
always worked instantly in Scripture.
The second mistake that Pastor Bannister makes is expecting us
to believe people possess the biblical versions of the miracle
working gifts even when they cannot produce the same attributes.
Actually, if modern miracle workers cannot claim the power of
biblical miracle workers then it is both arrogant and absurd for them
to claim these biblical gifts.
While Pastor Bannister says, “I am not aware of any healing
ministry in the history of the church that rivals in power and drama
the healing ministry of the Apostles,” we are. As we document
elsewhere, Bishop Irenaeus (c. 180), almost a hundred years after
the Apostles, wrote that in his day those with the gift of healing had
raised people from the dead. 30 He did not call them Apostles.
Contrary to Pastor Bannister then, there is historical evidence that
we can indeed hold those who claim the gift of healing to the
standard set by those who possessed it in Scripture.
Thirdly, Pastor Bannister falls into reading his experience into
his exegesis of Scripture when he conveniently claims there is a
difference, “between the apostolic gift of healing and the gifts of
healing mentioned in I Corinthians 12:8-10.” While such an
interpretation fits the experience and claims of super-
supernaturalism it does not reflect a face value interpretation of
Scripture. Here we have encountered yet one more significant
doctrine and practice of this movement that is simply unbiblical.
Finally, super-supernaturalism cannot even claim partial
healings on command, let alone complete ones as demonstrated in
Scripture. In other words, their effort to define the gift of healing
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 17
as working haltingly, incompletely, and in a much delayed fashion is
evidently based on a claim that this is how it is operating among
them. But even these kinds of real physical healings among them
are rather non-existent. They cannot even authenticate the instant
but partial healing of any organic 31 disease, let alone the complete
healing of such a thing. Which leads us to our next topic.
E) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked
Convincingly, Not Suspiciously
The gift of healing worked convincingly, partly because it
worked perfectly, immediately, and completely, but also because it
worked undeniably miraculously. The paralytic in Acts 3 was a
“man crippled from birth” and many others knew it because for
many years they had carried him around. This man’s condition was
not recent or known only to him. It was not just a pain, or
temporary limp, or some other ailment that can either be faked,
simply imagined, or produced psychologically. 32 All could verify
that this man had never walked in his entire life.
Accordingly, the miraculous nature of the Apostle’s healing of
the paralytic was undeniable, even for the enemies of the Christian
faith. Luke records:
The next day [after the healing] the rulers, elders and
teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high
priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John,
Alexander and the other men of the high priest’s family.
They had Peter and John brought before them and
began to question them: “By what power or what name
did you do this?” (Acts 4:5-7)
The men evaluating the authenticity of this miracle were among
the most public and devout enemies of Christianity. And yet, they
admitted that the healing of the paralytic was a demonstration of
miraculous “power.” Luke adds, “They could see the man who
had been healed standing there with them, there was
nothing they could say” (v. 14). Accordingly, they remarked
amongst themselves “What are we going to do with these
men? . . . Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have
done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it” (v. 16),
even though they would have greatly desired to do so.
Healings today that occur through supposed healing ministries
are quite often very subjective in nature, have not been diagnosed
by a medical professional, and are difficult to independently verify.
The paralytic in Acts 3 did not have a subjective or self-diagnosed
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 18
condition, his physical defect was plain for all to see. If this one
criteria for real miracle working were applied to modern faith
healing, it would eliminate a vast majority of the claims to a miracle
working gift.
Elsewhere we have written that one biblical attribute of miracles
in general is their awe-inspiring effect. 33 Of course, for them to
have this effect, they must be convincing. This was never a
problem with the biblical characters who possessed the miracle
working gifts. It is a big problem for “faith healers” today.
Accordingly, we have written:
It is because of our confidence that God will supply what is
needed in order for a miracle to be recognized among
regenerated believers, that we are not impressed with the
claims particularly in super-supernaturalism to an abundance
of miraculous deeds and communication. “Healed” headaches
and “prophetic” declarations by people who cannot foretell the
future inspire little of the wonder and awe that biblical
miracles did. Simply put, such claims only serve to remind us
just how far we are removed from “the good ole days” in the
early Church when a miracle really was a miracle! 34
Those possessing the miracle working gifts in Scripture
convinced even their enemies, while those claiming them today
cannot even convince their friends and brothers in Christ.
Accordingly, Max Turner, a respected theologian who
enthusiastically supports super-supernaturalist doctrine and
practice, nonetheless admits that:
While the claims [of John Wimber (1934-1997), founder of
Vineyard] are many, the substantiating evidence is somewhat
thinner on the ground. As Andrew Walker [himself
sympathetic to the super-supernaturalist movement] warns:
“It is precisely at the level of rigorous investigation into the
miraculous that the Pentecostal movements, since their
earliest days, have let themselves down. In the euphoria and
excitement of [supposed] revival, miracles have been testified
to in abundance, but rarely verified. Testimonies are [a]
direct, successful, and personal means of communication, but
they are by definition prone to exaggeration or capable of
incorrect assessment. Congregations awash with the emotion
of enthusiasm feed off rumor, conjecture, and hearsay. . . .
For those at an inspiring healing service, some change of
feeling in the part of the body affected, combined with a
conviction that God is healing, may be enough. For the
investigating doctor with a professional reputation to maintain
[or the discerning and sincere Christian!], however, there
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 19
needs to be a competent and documented medical history of
the condition before the healing, and clear evidence of change
that cannot simply be accounted for in terms of temporary or
spontaneous remission. Though we could wish otherwise, it
needs to be said, in all honesty, that there are relatively very
few occasions that stand up to such rigorous medical analysis.
35
Referring again specifically to what the founders of the Vineyard
Churches have claimed as miracles, Professor Thomas R. Edgar of
Capital Seminary has written:
[John] Wimber refers to a man who fell, hit his head, was
apparently unconscious for three minutes, and “came to” with
a bump on his head. After Wimber and others prayed the
bump eventually went away. This is incredible, not as a
miracle, but that anyone would consider this as a possible
raising of the dead. Would anyone have been convinced by
such a “miracle” that Jesus was the Son of God or that the
Apostles represented God? 36
Accordingly, we discuss elsewhere, the great deal of fraud in
super-supernaturalism and its claims to miracles. 37 It is because
modern miracle workers cannot be miraculous enough to produce
convincing medical evidence for their claims that they suggest they
shouldn’t be held to such a standard. Accordingly, Dr. Ronald Kydd,
Research Professor of Church History at Tyndale Seminary writes,
“The question is, How much weight ought one to place on scientific
observation as a means of validating the miraculous?” 38 To the
contrary, there is no question at all.
What Dr. Kydd seems to disparagingly refer to as “scientific
observation” is nothing more than using our God-given reason to
wisely assess someone’s very significant claim that they possess a
divine gift of heal people. “Scientific observation” is precisely what
every human does to even recognize the miracle of Creation. It
seems to us that the only reason that such a question is even being
asked is that “scientific observation” of past and present claims
regarding the return of miracle working gifts exposes Dr. Kydd’s
super-supernaturalist doctrine as a fraud.
Likewise, the super-supernaturalist Christian apologist J. P.
Moreland writes in his effort to insist that the biblical gifts of miracle
working are operating today:
Limiting our focus to assessing the credibility of contemporary
miracles, I have two things to say. First, it is simply not true
that there is no medical evidence for miracles. . . . But second
and more importantly, this standard of evidence is too high to
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 20
guide the belief selection of a rational person because it would
justify rejecting beliefs that have enough rational support to
make them intellectually obligatory to believe. 39
First, notice again the apparent confusion between divine
miracles and human miracle working. Of course there is scientific
evidence that God has done miracles, but this does nothing to prove
He is empowering humans to perform them which is the effect of
the miracle working gifts Dr. Moreland thinks still operate.
Nonetheless, Dr. Moreland wishes to claim that “medical evidence”
should not be a part of “the belief selection of a rational person” on
whether or not a miracle has occurred. An apologist of Dr.
Moreland’s stature should know better. Why would claims to the
biblical gift of healing be “intellectually obligatory to believe”
without medical evidence?
Several suggestions are necessary at this point. First of all, if
someone wants to believe that God did a miracle for them, one that
exceeds the abilities He has placed within Nature or humanity, it
would usually seem both unwise and unnecessary to deny them
their right to believe such a thing. Whatever evidence they believe
they have “may be enough” as Dr. Turner says, not only in their
own mind, but God’s as well. In fact, it is suggested that God may
perform a private miracle intended only for the private experience
and belief of an individual, and will, therefore, only provide
evidence sufficient to convince that individual. Others may call
such evidence too subjective, but again, the possibility of such a
miracle must be kept in mind.
A problem occurs however when others are also expected to
believe that a miracle has occurred and is being used as proof that
the biblical miracle working gifts are operating. In this case it must
be said that if that is God’s intention, then He will provide sufficient
evidence to convince others as well. While an anti-supernaturalist
attitude is unbiblical, so is the undiscerning acceptance of any and
all claims to miracles. Not even God expects His people to believe
He has miraculously intervened without sufficient evidence.
What is sufficient? The miracles and miracle working recorded
in the Bible set a standard by which all modern claims to miracles
and miracle working must be judged. If a modern claim does not
match the magnitude, certainty, consistency, and durability under
prolonged scrutiny of biblical miracles and miracle working, than no
one is obligated by God to believe such a miracle has occurred.
The miracles and miracle working recorded in Scripture were
intended by God to be recognized by any reasonable human being,
and He provided sufficient evidence to accomplish that purpose.
God used the gifts of healing and miracle working to fulfill His desire
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 21
to undeniably authenticate His new divine revelation of nothing less
than how humanity was to escape eternal Hell. The message was
critical enough that God designed these gifts to leave no possible
excuses for rejecting it except outright rebellion and hatred for
everything Christian. God knew that the burden of proof lay with
Him to convince people of the authenticity of His messengers and
these gifts worked in such a way that it completely fulfilled that
responsibility. Therefore, if and when He desires to do the same
today, the evidence will be the same kind as well. Unfortunately,
what suffices for many today for a miracle or miracle working, pales
in comparison to the biblical and real kind.
This is precisely why modern “miracles” are more open to
alternative explanations than biblical miracles. The magnitude,
character, and effect of biblical miracles make it unreasonable to
accept anti-supernaturalists explanations for them. The same
cannot be said for the claims of the modern “miracle” movement.
In fact, elsewhere we demonstrate that many other explanations
account for such claims including lying, exaggeration, faking, and
the power of suggestion. 40
Accordingly, if super-supernaturalists’ claims are to be believed,
why isn’t there any miracles over Nature claimed among them?
When is the last time you heard of someone claiming the biblical
miracle working gifts to have instantly withered a tree or calmed a
storm on command? The conspicuous absence of such miracles
over Nature is best explained by the fact that “healings” of humans
is much easier to fake, or procure through natural means such as
the power of suggestion, as we demonstrate elsewhere. 41
Modern “faith healers,” (the ministries of which are often not
worthy of the biblical meaning of either “faith” or “healing”), are in
a constant struggle to defend the authenticity of their own “miracle
working.” Instead of admitting the fact that their ministries simply
are not that miraculous, they have reverted to several dishonest
tactics.
For example, in an effort to give biblical precedent for the
pathetic record of those claiming miracle working gifts today, Dr.
Grudem claims such gifts may fail at times because they “vary in
strength or degree of intensity.” 42 Dr. Grudem bases such a
statement on the obvious fact that gifts that we might categorize as
serving gifts, such as teaching or leading, may vary in strength
depending on its use and development. But he and anyone else is
sadly mistaken to apply this to gifts that God gives for the
miraculous reception, recording, and authentication of His perfect
revelation.
As we discuss further below, the purpose of the sign gifts was to
miraculously prove that a person was speaking for God.
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 22
Accordingly, we can readily see the difficulties with the super-
supernaturalist attempt to downgrade these biblical gifts in order to
justify modern claims to these gifts. How convincing is an
authenticating gift that “may vary in strength and intensity” and
even fail? This is precisely why supposed faith healers today are
not convincing, because their healing efforts do not match the
100% effectiveness of the authentic biblical gifts. The fact remains
that the miraculous Scripture and Sign gifts always accomplished
precisely what they were intended to, and by definition they could
not “vary in strength or degree of intensity.”
Another tactic used in super-supernaturalism to divert attention
from the unmiraculous nature of their ministries is to blame their
critics for some sort of spiritual problem on their part. The constant
mantra within the super-supernaturalist camp is that the rest of us
need to be more “open-minded” and “believing,” and if we were
then their pathetic ministries would be recognized as more
miraculous. We have given examples of such accusations
elsewhere. 43
On the contrary, it should be noticed that at no time did the
King or the Apostles ever have to encourage even their enemies to
be more “open” to their claims of miracle working. The credibility of
those who possessed the gift of healing never depended one iota on
the amount of “openness,” gullibility, or even the attitude toward
Christianity of those who witnessed their miracle working.
Along these lines, one thinks of Simon the Sorcerer of whom we
read:
Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced
sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of
Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and
all the people, both high and low, gave him their
attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power
known as the Great Power.” They followed him because
he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.
But when they believed Philip as he preached the good
news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus
Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Simon . . . followed Philip everywhere, astonished by
the great signs and miracles he saw. (Acts 8:9-13)
We demonstrate elsewhere that Simon was not a true believer, 44 and here we see that he was a powerful magician, probably
knowledgeable of all sorts of tricks and illusions, and he stood to
lose a lot of popularity by accepting the fact that the Apostles were
performing real miracles in his territory. Yet neither his knowledge
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 23
of magic, nor his desire to protect his reputation could move him to
offer another explanation.
The reason so many godly people are suspicious of the claims of
modern faith “healers” is not because we have a natural aversion to
miracles. In fact, we like miracles just as much as any human
being. But rather, our suspicions regarding modern faith “healers”
arise because their “healings” are often through the faithful prayers
of others, not the “healers” touch or command. The “healings” are
not in the context of a Scripture-quality “revealing” ministry as all
miracle workers in the Bible were. And faith “healers” today do not
heal instantly, completely, and convincingly like those with these
gifts did in the Bible. If we are not convinced of the abilities of
supposed “miracle” workers today, it is their fault, not ours, and it
can be suggested that if they want the recognition they seek, then
the burden is upon them to be more miraculous and biblical.
Instead, modern “miracle workers” and their supporters are
increasingly tiring of the struggle to convince their fellow Christians
that God is uniquely working among them. Instead, they now most
often resort to laying the burden of proof on those who would
question the effects of their supposed “miracles” and “miracle
working.” They no longer feel they have to prove anything, but
rather, expect the rest of us to prove that a miracle didn’t happen.
As we’ve said elsewhere, such a response only serves to remind us
just how far we are removed from “the good ole days” in the early
Church when a miracle really was a miracle!
F) Biblical “Healing Ministries” Always Worked to
Authenticate a Divine “Revealing Ministry”
The Apostle Peter, like every other God-empowered miracle
worker in Scripture, was a messenger of new extra-biblical divine
revelation to be believed and obeyed by all. Therefore, immediately
after the healing in Acts 3 is performed (cf. vs. 2-8), the Apostle
communicates nothing less than the changing of the covenant
between God and humans. Imagine the revolutionary nature of the
Apostle’s words when he proclaims:
Men of Israel . . . the God of our fathers has glorified
His servant Jesus. . . . You killed the author of life, but
God raised Him from the dead. We are witnesses of
this. . . . Now, brothers, I know that you acted in
ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God
fulfilled what He had foretold through all the Prophets,
saying that His Christ would suffer.
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 24
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may
be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from
the Lord, and that He may send the Christ, who has
been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in
Heaven until the time comes for God to restore
everything, as He promised long ago through His holy
Prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise
up for you a Prophet like me from among your own
people; you must listen to everything he tells you.
Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely
cut off from among His people.’ (vs. 12-13, 15, 17-23).
Clearly, the Apostle is speaking new, extra-biblical divine
revelation from God that must be believed and obeyed by all.
Accordingly, as we have discussed at length elsewhere, such
supernatural revelation needs to be miraculously authenticated. 45
Along these lines we have written elsewhere:
The purpose of such direct, divine communication through
Scripture gifts and miraculous authentication through sign
gifts becomes obvious when we recognize that during these
unique periods of human history God was radically and forever
changing the answer to the most critical question for any
human being: How can I be accepted by the holy God and
escape His eternal judgment? Such a monumental purpose
calls for extraordinary divine revelation accompanied by
extraordinary supernatural authentication. . . .
When Christ’s ministry was completed, the source of these
New Covenant truths passed to the Apostles and Prophets in
the early Church. This is why Paul tells us that the New
Covenant Church was “built on the foundation of the
Apostles and [NT] Prophets (i.e. Agabus, cf. Acts 13:1-3),
with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone” (Eph
2:20; see also 3:5). Because the message of the NT Apostles
and Prophets with Scripture gifts was both unprecedented and
revolutionary, God provided undeniably miraculous sign gifts
such as healing, in order that the revolutionary New Covenant
revelation might be divinely authenticated. 46
Equally clear in Acts 3 is that the purpose of the Apostle Peter’s
ability to heal was God’s desire to authenticate him as a divine
messenger. Accordingly, we have written elsewhere:
In Scripture, you will not find a single divine miracle worker
who was not also a messenger of new extra-biblical divine
revelation from God that must be believed and obeyed by all.
You will find men who prayed for miracles and received them
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 25
(e.g. Joshua, Gideon, Hezekiah). You will find divine
messengers who were apparently not authenticated with
miracles (e.g. John the Baptist). But you will not find a divine
miracle worker in Scripture who did not also receive and
communicate extra biblical direct revelation from God that had
to be unconditionally believed and obeyed like Scripture. 47
These supernatural abilities possessed by messengers of
authoritative extra-biblical divine revelation were God’s signature
on such revelation. How else could the people of God recognize and
properly respond to a person claiming to be an Apostle or Prophet
of God? Just because they said so? Accordingly, God has ordained
that God-like deeds are the required authentication of anyone or
anything claiming God-like authority. While this is denied or
ignored by super-supernaturalists today in order that they too may
claim “miracle workers,” it is one of the clearest teachings of
Scripture. Even the super-supernatural apologist J. P. Moreland
writes:
In Scripture, God does not call people to trust in him or some
truth he reveals without first revealing himself to those people
or providing tests for the truth he reveals (e.g., fulfilled
prophecy, a public manifestation of his power, or a
manifestation of his presence in New Testament times and
subsequently up to the present). In this way, God provides
knowledge of himself and attesting credentials for revealed
truth. 48
For example, in the OT God told Moses to perform miracles “so
that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers
. . . has appeared to you” (Exod 4:5). Moses’ miraculous abilities
obviously authenticated him as a messenger of extra-biblical divine
revelation. Likewise, when Elijah raised a boy from the dead, the
mother’s response was: “Now I know that you are a man of
God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the
truth” (1 Kgs 17:24). 49 God’s people knew that if someone truly
spoke for Him, that God would authenticate that person with
miraculous abilities.
Long ago, when God instituted human spokesmen for Himself,
He clearly instructed the Israelites in one important way they would
know that such a man spoke for God, and therefore possessed God-
like authority. After telling the Israelites that He would speak and
exercise His authority through Prophets, God said:
[A] Prophet who presumes to speak in My name
anything I have not commanded him to say . . . must be
put to death. You may say to yourselves, "How can we
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 26
know when a message has not been spoken by the
LORD?" If [a prediction] a Prophet proclaims in the name
of the LORD does not [miraculously] take place or come
true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That
Prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid
of him [or give him authority]. (Deut 18:20-22)
Again, it is clear that God ordained that the gift of miracle
working would specifically authenticate those who were His
messengers. In the case of His Prophets, they were given the
ability to predict the future with perfect accuracy in ways that
normally only God could do. This was not only true of OT Prophets,
but NT Prophets as well, such as Agabus, who is recorded twice as
having miraculously predicted the future in order to authenticate
himself as a God-sent Prophet (cf. Acts 11:28; 21:10-11, 27ff).
Accordingly, Christ plainly described His God-like credentials
when He said:
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the
Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just My
own. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, Who is doing
His work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father
and the Father is in Me [and that He possessed the Father’s
authority]; or at least believe on the evidence of the
miracles themselves. . . .
Do not believe Me unless I do what My Father does.
But if I do it, even though you do not believe Me,
believe the miracles, that you may know and
understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.
(John 14:10-11, 37-38).
The first Christians believed that Christ’s God-like deeds
authenticated His God-like authority, as demonstrated when the
Apostle Peter says, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited
by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did
among you through Him, as you yourselves know” (Acts
2:22).
This passage reveals several things about the gifts of miracle
working. First of all, as we noted above, the gifts of miracle
working worked through a person, like Christ or an Apostle. It did
not involve the occurrence of a miracle apart from the specific
ministry of a person. This distinguishes it from other miracles that
God may do. A miracle occurring through these gifts could always
be identified with the supernatural ability of a specific person.
We also notice in Acts 2:22 that the purpose of Christ’s miracle
working was to authenticate His words as having divine authority.
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 27
Christ claimed to be speaking for the Creator and Judge of all
humanity and to ignore, disbelieve, or disobey what He said could
cost you an eternity in Hell. God knows that such authority needs
to be authenticated and He therefore provides it.
Christ’s miraculous abilities were specifically to authenticate His
divine authority to God’s people. Nicodemus told Christ, “Rabbi,
we know You are a teacher who has come from God. For no
one could perform the miraculous signs You are doing if God
were not with him” (John 3:2). When Jesus was asked if He was
the Christ, and worthy of God-like authority, He said, “The
miracles I do in My Father's name speak for Me” (John 10:25).
When the Pharisees questioned the magnitude and source of
Christ’s authority He replied, “so that you may know that the
Son of Man has [God-like] authority on earth to forgive sins . .
." Then He said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and
go home” (Matt 9:6). When John the Baptist began to question
Christ’s identity, Christ responded: “Go back and report to John
what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the
lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised” (Luke 7:22).
The Apostle John especially focuses on the fact that Christ’s
miracle working was for the purpose of authenticating Him as a
messenger of new extra-biblical divine revelation (cf. John 2:11, 18,
23, 4:48, 54; 6:2, 14, 30, 5:20-27,30-47; 7:27-31; 8:28f.; 9:30-
33; 10:25; 11:41-45; 14:10f.; 15:24; 17:2-4, 21). Accordingly,
the Apostle concludes his Gospel with:
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence
of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you
may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)
Accordingly, the NT scholar Leon Morris writes concerning John’s
conspicuous use of the word “sign”:
A sign is more and means more than a miracle, for it does
not stand alone [like the “miracles” being claimed today], but
is a token and indication of something else. Thus John’s word
shows that our Lord’s works had a definite purpose. They
were not wrought at random, but were intended for a special
object. . . .
What is said above is enough to explain the reason why John
so constantly used the term [simeion: “sign”] to express our
Lord’s miracles. The water changed into wine at Cana he calls
“the beginning of signs” (John 2:11), and the healing of the
centurion’s son is “the second sign” (John 4:54), as being the
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 28
first and second indications of Christ’s wielding those powers
which belong to God as the Creator and Author of nature, and
which therefore pledged the God of nature, as the sole
possessor of these powers, to the truth of any one’s teaching
who came armed with them. 50
Because God has ordained to uniquely authenticate His
messengers with the gift of miracle working, Jesus told His
disciples, “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of
heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those
who have leprosy, drive out demons” (Matt 10:7-8; cf. Mark
6:12; Luke 9:1, 6; 10:8). This, again, is extra-biblical divine
revelation that must be believed and obeyed and it was to be
authenticated with miracle working.
Along the same lines, we read in Acts:
Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there [in
Iconium], speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed
the message of His grace [new divine revelation] by
enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
(Acts 14:3; cf. 15:12; 19:10-12) 51
An important statement concerning the biblical purpose of
miracle working was written by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians:
Actually I should have been commended by you, for in
no respect was I inferior to the most eminent Apostles,
even though I am a nobody. The [authenticating] signs of
a true Apostle were performed among you with all
perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles. (2
Cor 12:11-12 NASB; cf. Rom. 15:18-19). 52
The immediate context of Paul’s statement is the fact that some
in the Corinthian church were doubting his authenticity and
authority as an Apostle of Jesus Christ. There were also “false
Apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as Apostles of
Christ” (2 Cor 11:13) that the real Apostle was contending with.
Paul tells the Corinthians that he deserves the apostolic authority he
claims because he is a “true Apostle.” “The signs of a true
Apostle” are clearly defined as “signs and wonders and
miracles.” Accordingly, we read in Acts that, “many wonders
and miraculous signs were done by the Apostles” and “The
Apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders
among the people” (2:43; 5:12).
Miracle working was a unique, authenticating signature of an
Apostle of Jesus Christ carrying and proclaiming His extra-biblical
divinely authoritative message of the New Covenant. Therefore,
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 29
Paul’s immediate defense of his being a real Apostle is to point out
his God-given ability to perform miracles, something that not only
the “false Apostles” could not do, but other “non-apostolic”
Christians were not doing either.
Accordingly, NT scholar Paul Barnett writes concerning 2
Corinthians 12:11-12:
"The signs," which are miracles pointing to God as their
author, are the demonstration that Paul was precisely that,
one of the select group of the Apostles. He is exactly what the
professed "Apostles of Christ" now come to Corinth are not.
They are "pseudo," false Apostles (11:13); he truly is an
Apostle. "The signs" establish that.
His present reference to "signs, wonders and miracles" in
Corinth was not, apparently, a point of superiority claimed by
the "superlative" [false] Apostles [or Paul would not have used
such a defense]. Rather, Paul, having denied any "inferiority"
to them (12:11), can merely point to his apostolic miracles at
the time he first came to Corinth to clinch outright, and
without further argument, his claim to apostolicity. On this
understanding, Paul's miracles - and the "superlative"
Apostles' lack of them -were an indisputable demonstration of
his authentic Apostleship.
The suggestion that "the signs of the Apostle" [merely]
include, e.g., missionary conversions or a Christlike life is
overturned by the explicatory triad that follows: "signs,
wonders, miracles." 53
It is obvious that Paul’s appeal to miracle working is worthless,
if in fact, many “non apostolic” Christians were also performing
miracles as super-supernaturalists claim. Because Paul’s words
here deliver such a crushing blow to their idea that miracle working
was common in the early Church and should be common today,
there has been a great deal of effort to reinterpret the Apostle.
For example, Gordon Fee’s usual objectivity would seem to be
obscured by his super-supernatural beliefs when he writes
concerning 2 Corinthians 12:11-12:
Paul's affirmations about miracles are not the statements of
one who is trying to prove anything. That is, not only does he
not point to miracles as grounds for accepting either his gospel
or his ministry, but on the contrary he rejected such criteria as
authenticating ministry of any kind. The cross, with the
subsequent resurrection, and the present gift of the Spirit was
all the authentication he ever appealed to. 54
Likewise, Dr. Grudem claims in his Systematic Theology that the
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 30
Apostle Paul says nothing here that communicates that miracle
working was an authenticating sign of genuine Apostleship.
However, he would seem to be splitting hairs when he admits,
“Miracles of course had a significant function in confirming the truth
of Paul’s message.” 55 Surely he does not expect us to believe that
miracle working authenticated an Apostle’s message, but did
nothing to prove an Apostle’s ministry. The NT simply does not
separate the two as Dr. Grudem and other super-supernaturalists
are so anxious to do. When we read that, “Paul and Barnabas
spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord,
who confirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to
do miraculous signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3), we do not
conclude that God intended to only authenticate the message but
not the messengers (cf. Acts 2:43; 5:12).
Dr. Grudem also argues that Paul’s claim to miracle working is
not to differentiate himself from other Christians, but rather false
Apostles. 56 However, he seemingly ignores the fact that Paul is
additionally, and possibly primarily, wanting to support his right to
have authority in the Corinthian church, not just to claim his
superiority over false Apostles (cf. 1 Cor 4:1-3, 18-19; 9:1-3; 2
Cor. 2:9; 3:1-3; 5:12; 6:3; 7:2; 10:1-12). Particularly Paul’s
immediate statement that he “should have been commended”
by the Corinthians has much more to do with how the Corinthians
viewed his authority than his superiority over false Apostles. It is
obvious that Paul’s miracle working ability might distinguish him
from false Apostles, but this fact does nothing to disprove the fact
that the early Church recognized miracle working as a unique
authentication of true Apostles.
Additionally, Dr. Grudem claims that the “signs of a true
Apostle” have nothing to do with the “signs and wonders and
miracles” that Paul mentions, but rather are merely nonmiraculous
things such as “suffering and hardship endured for Christ.” 57 Jack
Deere presents the same argument, 58 and it is one that is fairly
popular in particularly liberal Christian literature. Indeed, we have
argued elsewhere that supernatural virtue is the ultimate divine
authentication of a divine messenger. 59 However, Christ and the
Apostles also pointed to their physical miracle working as an
additional essential authentication of their ministries.
Nonetheless, super-supernaturalists ignore the plain meaning of
the text in 2 Corinthians 12:11-12 simply to justify their claim that
miracle workers were abundant then, and are today. Let’s look at it
again:
Actually I should have been commended by you
[Christians as an Apostle of Jesus Christ], for in no respect
was I inferior to the most eminent Apostles, even
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 31
though I am a nobody. The signs [sēmeia] of a true
Apostle were performed among you with all
perseverance, by signs [sēmeiois] and wonders [terasin]
and miracles [dynamesin].
The apparent desperation to find biblical support for their
doctrine and practices is evidenced when Dr. Grudem claims that
while the word “signs” in the latter part of the sentence “must refer
to miracles,” Paul’s reference to “signs” in the first part of the
sentence refers to “suffering and hardship.” 60 All of this to deny
the obvious biblical fact that the gifts of miracle working were
unique enough to the first century Apostles, that Paul could refer to
them as “the signs of a true Apostle,” which again, makes the
super-supernaturalists claim to the ordinary nature of these gifts
then and today an absurd and unbiblical one.
Finally, the writer to the Hebrews summarizes our point in this
section when we read:
This salvation [the revelation of the New Covenant], which
was first announced by the Lord, was [miraculously]
confirmed to us by those who heard Him. God also
testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles,
and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His
will. (Heb 2:3-4).
The need for miraculous authentication for new divine revelation
was precisely the reason the King told the Apostles to wait in
Jerusalem “for the gift [of] “the Holy Spirit” so they could
“receive [miracle working] power” in order to be His messengers
of new divine revelation (Acts 1:4-5, 8). They already had the
revelation they needed after Christ had, “appeared to them over
a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God”
(v. 3). But new divine revelation is not enough, these messengers
needed divine authentication as well which came with the ability to
miraculously speak in tongues (cf. Acts 2:1-12) and perform
miracles (cf. Acts 2:43).
And such miraculous gifts for authentication were not just
granted to Apostles, but to anyone given the responsibility of
communicating new divine revelation. Accordingly, we read of
Philip: “When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous
signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said”
(Acts 8:6) which was the new divine revelation of the New
Covenant.
With this in mind, it is alarming that the vast majority of modern
“miracle workers” in the Church will not even dare to claim that
they are sources of divine extra-biblical revelation that all must
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 32
believe and obey. Yet that is precisely what every God-sent miracle
worker in the Bible was and there are no exceptions. In other
words, such “miracle workers” in the Church today do not have a
single biblical example or teaching of Scripture that they can point
to in order to support their “ministries” unless it is Simon the
Sorcerer. 61 There simply were no miracle workers or faith healers
who did not also receive direct, divine revelation from God that
needed to be believed and obeyed by all.
It is true that some “miracle workers” today may claim a “gift of
knowledge” or “prophecy” which grants them extra-biblical and
divinely authoritative direction for another individual. Accordingly,
a self-proclaimed “prophet” may claim God has told them it is
“God’s will” for a particular person seeking their counsel, to move to
a particular place, take a particular job, or other extra-biblical
matters. But none of this fits the pattern of Scripture. The kind of
divine revelation that biblical miracle workers received was not the
kind that would primarily apply to just an individual, but was
applicable to all Christians, in the same way Scripture is. 62
Contrary then to super-supernaturalism, God has always
granted sign and Scripture gifts together, because their purposes
are interdependent. 63 Perhaps, then, we can be forgiven one verse
out of context when we say, “Therefore what God has joined
together, let man not separate” (Matt 19:6). Modern “miracle
workers” will simply find no biblical support for their claims to God-
sent miracle working unless they are willing to also claim that they
speak with the God-given and conscience-binding authority of a
Moses, Elijah, Jesus, Peter, or Paul. It is the God-like
authentication of the Prophets and Apostles that grants their
writings in the Scriptures God-like authority. We are not expected
to give such authority to documents written merely by good men. 64
One reason that modern “miracle workers” do not claim to
possess extra-biblical revelation that is to be believed and obeyed
by all Christians is that they know their ministries would come
under greater scrutiny and be exposed as the frauds they are. As
long as they are just being nice “miracle workers” supposedly doing
people good, they are unfortunately left alone.
However, the habitual severing of the God-ordained relationship
between Scripture and sign gifts is serious business because it has
undermined the foundation of what the authority of Scripture is
based upon. Contrary to beliefs in super-supernaturalism, the
miracle-working abilities of God’s Prophets and Apostles were not
meant to be imitated, but were meant to be His unique signature on
such men as His messengers. Their exclusive possession of gifts of
healing and miracle working is the foundation of our confidence that
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 33
what these men wrote was divine revelation instead of human
invention.
Accordingly, the reason we believe that Moses, Jesus, Paul, and
Peter were unique sources of divinely authoritative revelation is that
they uniquely performed miracles. If modern so-called “Prophets”
and “miracle workers” possess the same gifts as those who
supernaturally revealed and authenticated the covenants recorded
in Scripture, then what authoritative superiority do Moses, Christ,
and Paul have over them? None, if the modern claims to the same
gifts are true. To whatever degree you dilute the superiority of
their miracle working, as the doctrine and practice of super-
supernaturalism does, you dilute the divine authority of their
writings.
Accordingly, Peter Jensen, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney
writes, “The constant recourse to claims for miracles today
diminishes the revelatory significance of those recorded in the New
Testament.” 65 Likewise, in this context, Christian apologist Norman
Geisler warns:
The issue has significance for apologetics. First, existence of
apostolic, sign gift-type miracles today raises the issue of
whether the New Testament miracles uniquely confirmed the
truth claims of Christ and the Apostles, as recorded in
Scripture. Second, if miracles that confirm divine truth claims
exist today, are truth claims they accompany to be accepted
on par with those of Scripture? 66
The fact that super-supernaturalism separates miracle working
from its biblical purpose not only undermines the authority of
Scripture, but makes the source of any real miracles in their midst
suspect. The reason God sends miracle workers is to authenticate a
new covenant or a messenger of extra-biblical divine revelation that
God’s people must believe and obey. If this is not God’s plan today,
then who might send miracle workers? satan, who sends them to
deceive. 67
Therefore, if modern “miracle workers” want any biblical support
for their claims today, they must admit to one of the following: 1)
they are a source of new extra-biblical divine revelation that has the
authority of Scripture, or 2) they really do not perform miracles at
all, or 3) their miracles are demonically empowered. These are the
only options the Bible will offer someone who claims to be a miracle
worker. And if number 1 is not true, then they had best flee to the
humbling but forgivable concession of number 2, if they do not wish
to be accused of number 3.
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 34
Extras & Endnotes
A Devotion to Dad
Our Father, we thank you that the greatest miracle working
occurring today is the supernatural regeneration of the Holy Spirit
which resurrects the spiritually dead to spiritual life! Forgive the
Church for any misplaced emphasis on physical miracle working
that has distracted from the real miracles occurring today. We pray
that your Church would love and see You more than the mere
healing of the body.
Gauging Your Grasp
1) How do we define the essence and purpose of “gifts of
healing,” and “miraculous powers” (1 Cor 12:9-10).
2) What is the essential difference between the direct miracles all
Christians can request God to do today, and the human miracle
working only those with the real gift of healing could do?
3) What are the biblical attributes of those with the real gift of
healing? Do you agree or disagree that modern “faith healers”
match these attributes?
4) What is the significance of the fact that biblical miracle workers
even convinced their enemies of their divine power?
5) What is our explanation for the conspicuous absence of miracles
over Nature in modern super-supernaturalism?
6) Do you agree or disagree with the conclusion of this study: If
modern “miracle workers” want any biblical support for their
claims today, they must admit to one of the following: 1) they
are a source of new extra-biblical divine revelation that has the
authority of Scripture, or 2) they really do not perform miracles
at all, or 3) their miracles are demonically empowered.
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 35
Recommended Reading
Books 10 and 11 of Knowing Our God: Diving Miracles and
Human Miracle Working.
Publications & Particulars
1 NT scholar Anthony Thiselton offers supporting evidence for our
distinction between the gifts of healing and miracle working when he writes:
On these matters patristic evidence and arguments deserve serious attention. Chrysostom [c. 347-407] perceives both overlap and
contrast with healings: "He who had a gift of healing used only to do cures; but he who possessed [miracle working] used to punish also . . . even as Paul imposed blindness and Peter brought death" (Acts 13:11; 5:1-11) [I Cor. Homily 29:5]. So miracle working includes healing, but also whatever human healing does not include. Thomas Aquinas [1225-1274] also referred the latter to miracles over nature like Moses’ dividing the Red Sea and Joshua stopping the sun. (The
First Epistle to the Corinthians [Eerdmans, 2000], 954) We also believe it is a mistake to confuse the gifts of healing and
miracle working with exorcism, as we discuss in section 11.10.B
2 For an introduction to super-supernaturalism see chapters 10.13-16.
3 According to Nave’s Topical Bible, all of the healings in the NT are described in the following references: Mt. chs. 8-9; 12:9-13, 22; 15:22-28; 17:14-21; 20:29-34; Mk. 7:31-37; Lk. 7:11-16; 13:10-13, 14:1-6;
17:12-14; 22:49-51 Jn. 4:46-53; 5:2-9; 9:1-7; 11:1-46; Acts 3:2-10; 5:15-16; 9:34; 9:40; 14:8-10; 19:11-12; 20:9-12; 28:8-9 (John R. Kohlenberger, ed., [Zondervan, 1992], 414, 684). Reading them will
help a person understand how miraculously superior these healings were compared to those claimed today. They will also confirm, without exception, the biblical characteristics of the gifts of miracle working that
are presented here.
4 The only clear exception is the record of people being healed by “handkerchiefs and aprons that [Paul] had touched” (Acts 19:12). But even here we would point to the fact that such healings involved the touch of the one having the gift, not a simple prayer. Luke also reports that, “people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some
of them as he passed by,” and while they might have received healing, the text does not say this.
5 The proper interpretation of James 5:14-16 will be taken up at section 11.5.E
6 It is true that “workers” is not in the Greek text of 1 Corinthians 12:28,
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 36
which simply has dynameis (“miracles”). The idea of workers of miracles as opposed to direct divine miracles seems demanded by the text. For example, the literal translation of verse 29 would be “all are not miracles?” Because it appears in a list of gifts attached to people, even
the rather literal NASB renders this, “workers of miracles.”
7 Excerpted from section 10.5.A.1.
8 David Garland, Reading Matthew: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the First Gospel (Crossroad, 1993), 94-97.
9 E. J. Carnell, An Introduction to Christian Apologetics (Eerdmans, 1956),
273. Yet, just a page earlier, Dr. Carnell himself would seem to confuse
direct miracles with delegated miracle working when he writes: The doctrine that miracles no longer occur is one of those fundamental canons which separate Protestantism from Roman Catholicism. . . . Miracles are a seal and sign of special, covenantal revelation; but revelation has ceased. There cannot, therefore, be new miracles. (Ibid., 272)
It is, of course, just this kind of inaccuracy that super-supernaturalists
take advantage of in order to accuse historicists of not believing in modern miracles
10 Regarding our first characteristic, that the gift worked through the command or touch of a person, rather than simply an answer to prayer, it might be objected that Peter’s raising Tabitha from the dead is an exception (Acts 9:36-41). Luke records that before he commanded Tabitha to “get up,” he had gotten “down on his knees and prayed.”
Still, Peter’s command to “get up” was certainly involved in the healing. Our point here is to distinguish between the ability of any Christian to ask God to heal someone, and the miraculous ability for a person to command a healing. Tabitha is no exception
11 A study of the OT prophets reveals a similar pattern. However, unlike
the NT, Moses and Aaron performed their miracles with the raising of a
rod (cf. Exod 7:19; 8:5; 8:16; etc.), and Elijah divided the Jordan river by striking it with a cloak (cf. 2 Kgs 2:14).
12 We would suggest, for example, that D. M. Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) ignores this distinction when he writes:
We must never use the word 'claim' [in regards to miracles]. It is incompatible with sovereignty. People say, 'Claim this gift claim healing.' You cannot claim healing. The Apostle himself claimed
healing three times and did not get it. Never claim; never even use the word. We are to submit ourselves -it is the Spirit who gives. The claiming of gifts is clearly incompatible with the whole of the New
Testament emphasis. No, no, he is Lord, he controls and he gives. You can supplicate but you must never claim. Never! (The Sovereign Spirit: Discerning the Gifts [Harold Shaw, 1985], 48-9
On the contrary, if someone has been given the gift of miracle working
and the accompanying miracle faith to command or claim a miracle, they certainly can do so. Lloyd-Jones’ thoughts, however, apply very well to
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 37
situations where the gift of miracle faith is absent and people are still “claiming” a miracle instead of asking for one.
13 Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit Power (Zondervan, 1993), 18.
14 Ibid.
15 For a discussion of James 5:15-16 see section 11.5.E
16 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Zondervan, 1994), 1063-1069.
17 Ibid., 1067 (italics in the original).
18 For further discussion of the proper expectation of miracles as illustrated in China’s underground Church see section 10.3.C.3-5.
19 Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway, The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun (Monarch Books, 2002), 247.
20 Ibid., 207-8.
21 For further discussion of the powerful healing effects of spiritual conversion see section 11.10.A.
22 B. B. Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles (Banner of Truth Trust, 1972), 58.
23 John MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos (Zondervan, 1992), 256-257.
24 For an introduction to the different kinds of biblical faith see section 6.1.D-E.
25 For further discussion of miracle faith see chapters 11.4-5
26 Wayne Grudem in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?, Wayne Grudem ed. (Zondervan, 1996), 159
27 Grudem, Theology, 366.
28 Doug Bannister, The Word and Power Church (Zondervan, 1999), 156,
193.
29 Yun, 173-4.
30 For further discussion of Bishop Irenaeus’ testimony concerning the gift of healing see section 11.7.B.2.
31 There is an important distinction between functional [psychological] disease and [physical] organic disease: A functional disease is one in
which a perfectly good organ does not function properly [because of psychological ailments]. An organic disease is one in which the organ is
diseased, maimed, physically impaired, or even defunct. “Faith healers” can affect the former, but not the latter. See section 11.9.A.
32 For further discussion regarding the rather amazing illnesses that can be caused by psychological problems, and the natural cures that can be provided through psychological means see chapter 11.9
33 For further discussion of the awe-inspiring effect of miracles see section
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 38
10.2.C.
34 Excerpt from 10.2.C.3
35 Max Turner, The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts (Hendrickson, 1998), 332-333, 335.
36 Thomas R. Edgar, “The Cessation of the Sign Gifts” BSac 145 (1988), 378.
37 For further discussion regarding the fraud in super-supernaturalism see chapter 11.8
38 Ronald Kydd, Healing Through the Centuries: Models for Understanding (Hendrickson, 1998), xxvi.
39 J. P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle (Zondervan, 2007), 185.
40 For other legitimate explanations for super-supernatural claims to miracles see chapters 11.8-12.
41 For further discussion regarding the rather amazing illnesses that can be caused by psychological problems, and the natural cures that can be provided through psychological means see chapter 11.9
42 Grudem, 1022-25.
43 For examples of the habit in the super-supernaturalist camp to claim the rest of us need to be more “open-minded” and “believing,” and if we were then their pathetic ministries would be recognized as more miraculous, see section 10.16.G
44 For further discussion of Simon the Sorcerer’s spiritual state see section 6.6.C. While here we suggest he may have been a mere magician, at section 11.12.A we admit that his abilities may have been demonically
empowered as well.
45 For further discussion regarding divine authentication of divine revelation see sections 3.1.D and 7.1.B.5 and 7.6.F
46 Excerpted from section 7.3.C.3.
47 Excerpted from section 7.6.F. For further discussion regarding divine authentication of divine revelation see sections 3.1.D, 7.1.B.5 and 7.6.F.
48 J. P. Moreland and Klaus Issler, In Search of a Confident Faith (Intervarsity, 2008), 18-19
49 Many Evangelicals suggest the significance of Elijah’s miracle working was that it occurred during a time of apostasy, therefore, apparently
offering biblical evidence that such circumstances could bring more Elijah’s.
For example, the long time Professor of Systematic Theology at
Westminster, Sinclair B. Ferguson writes: Outbreaks of the miraculous sign-gifts in the Old Testament were, generally speaking, limited to those periods of redemptive history in
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 39
which a new stage of covenantal revelation was reached and during which the kingdom of God required special defense against the danger of annihilation by the powers of darkness: the days of the Exodus, the entry into the promised land, and the establishment of
the people there; the time of Elijah and Elisha and the establishing of the prophetic ministry; and the days of the Exile. (The Holy Spirit [Intervarsity, 1996], 224)
We sympathize with Dr. Ferguson’s attempt to demonstrate the uniqueness of the sign gifts, but when he fails to note that every God-sent miracle worker was a messenger of extra-biblical divine revelation,
and instead highlights the miracle working of Elijah and Elisha when “the kingdom of God required special defense against the danger of annihilation by the powers of darkness,” he leaves open the possibility that non-revelational miracle workers may be sent by God in such circumstances today. Such a view would not reflect the full teaching of Scripture
50 Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John (NICNT) (Eerdmans, 1995),
608
51 This episode in Acts 14 is just one occasion where an Apostle performs miracles in order to authenticate new revelation in the presence of
Gentiles. This refutes the idea that when Paul said, “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom” (1 Cor 1:22), that such miraculous authentication was somehow confined to the Jews. The apostles elsewhere performed miracles among Gentiles (cf. Acts 15:12;
20:6-12; 28:7-10). The Jewish demand for supernatural authentication of supernatural revelation was not cultural, but creational and biblical
52 Super-supernaturalist Wayne Grudem suggests that 2 Corinthians 12:12 is not biblical evidence for the purpose of miracle working. For further discussion see section 8.4.B.2
53 Paul Barnett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Eerdmans, 1997),
580. Barnett lists K. H. Rengstorf in the TDNT 7.258-60 as supportive of his view.
Nonetheless, even a respected NT scholar such as C. K. Barrett dismisses the obvious and contends:
Paul's rivals, originally standing on a Jewish-Christian platform, had no difficulty in accommodating themselves to the requirement [of working miracles] (and thus in some respects give the impression of
claiming to be 'divine men'. (The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (BNTC) [Henddrickson, 1997], 321, cf. 29).
In other words, Barrett suggests there were an abundance of bona fide miracle workers in the pagan religions, and for example lists Apollonius
of Tyana. Elsewhere we have noted the very sketchy and questionable data on Apollonius (cf. section 11.8.C) and more liberal scholars such as Barrett do not have the enough evidence for real pagan miracle
workers in the apostolic age. If an abundance of such people existed, again, Paul would not have offered the evidence of his miracle working as a defense
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 40
54 Gordon Fee, God’s Empowering Presence (Hendrickson, 1994), 888
55 Grudem, 364 (Underlining added for emphasis).
56 Ibid., 362.
57 Ibid., 363-364.
58 Deere attempts the same arguments, no doubt, based on Grudem’s work. (Power, 104-105). Carson disagrees with both Grudem, Deere, and, he says, Turner, and rightly points out that, “The expression signs of an apostle or the like occurs in a few crucial passages (Acts 2:43; 5:12; 2
Cor. 12:12), and it teaches us not to avoid the link [between “the miraculous gifts” and the “role of attestation”] altogether.” (Spirit, 156).
59 For our claim that virtue is the ultimate test for a divine messenger see especially sections 9.12.D and chapter 11.13.
60 Grudem, 363.
61 See section 11.12.A regarding Simon the Sorcerer.
62 Some may object that Ananias (cf. Acts 9:10-18) is a miracle worker that does not fit our claim that every God-sent miracle worker was also a source of new extra-biblical divine revelation that was to be believed and
obeyed by all. We discuss his special case in the next chapter at 11.2.B.3
63 For further discussion of the definition and purpose of Scripture and sign gifts see sections 3.1.D, 7.1.B, 7.6.F.
64 This divine method of miraculous authentication is especially important for doctrinal revelation. This is because our New Nature by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit through our regeneration is also a powerful source
of divine authentication regarding the moral directional revelation in Scripture (see section 3.5.A). However, how could we be assured that, for example, God the Father:
chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons . . . having been predestined according to the plan
of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. (Eph 1:4-5, 11) While we could know we are saved through the Gospel by its
supernatural effects in our lives, we still would not know we got saved because God “chose us” and “predestined us” to be so. These are incredibly weighty truths, and the only reason we can know that they are from God is because the apostle Paul who penned them was a man of
both supernatural virtue and power to perform miracles.
65 Peter Jensen, The Revelation of God (InterVarsity, 2002), 272.
66 Norm Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Baker, 1999), 468.
67 For further discussion of demonic miracle working see chapters 10.6 and
11.1: Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working 41
11.11-13.