Should Christians Expect Miracles Today? Objections and Answers from the Bible, Part 1

Should we expect the Holy Spirit to work in powerful, miraculous ways in connection with the preaching of the gospel and the life of the Church today? This has been the claim of John Wimber and the Vineyard movement, and of others within what is called the “third wave” of renewal by the Holy Spirit.¹  Similar claims have been made for years by Christians within the Pentecostal and charismatic movements. But other evangelicals have differed with this claim, and have raised several objections. In this series, I want to consider some of the most frequent objections and propose some answers from Scripture.

1. Doesn’t Jesus say, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 16:4)?²  Doesn’t this mean we should not seek miracles today—rather, we should look to “the sign of Jonah,” which means the resurrection of Christ, and emphasize that when we talk about miracles?³

The mistake made in this objection is a failure to look at the context and find whom Jesus was talking to. In the context of Matthew 16, it is the Pharisees and Sadducees who came, “and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven” (Matthew 16:1). Similarly, it was the hostile scribes and Pharisees who came in Matthew 12:38-45, the Pharisees who began to argue with him “to test him” in Mark 8:11-12, and skeptics who came “to test him” and seek a sign from heaven in Luke 11:16. (The only passage that doesn’t specify that the comment was directed against hostile unbelievers is Luke 11:29, but the parallel passage in Matthew 12:39-42 does specify that it was specifically the scribes and Pharisees against whom this word was directed.)

So in every instance the rebuke for seeking signs is addressed to hostile unbelievers. Jesus is rebuking Jewish leaders who had hard hearts and were simply seeking a pretext for criticizing Him. In no case are such rebukes addressed to genuine followers of Jesus who sought a miracle for physical healing or deliverance for themselves or others, either out of compassion for others or out of a desire to advance the gospel and see God’s name glorified. These warning verses, taken in the original contexts, apply to unbelievers, and therefore to use them to apply to genuine Christians is an illegitimate application. No New Testament passages warn against the use of miracles by genuine Christians.

It seems to me that the New Testament encourages us to believe God and seek answers to prayer in many ways, including miraculous answers to prayer. (See Acts 4:30; 1 Corinthians 14:1; Galatians 3:5 [implicitly], see also the entire pattern of gospel proclamation plus miraculous demonstration in the evangelism carried on in Acts 3:6, 12ff.; 4:29, 30; 5:12-16, 20, 21, 28, 42; 6:8 10; 8:4-7, 12; 9:17, 18 [cf. 22:13] 34, 35; 14:3, 8-10, 15ff.; 15:12, 36; 18:5, 11 [cf. 2 Corinthians 12:12, 1 Corinthians 2:4-5]; 19:8-12; compare Hebrews 2:4; James 5:13-18).

2. Doesn’t Jesus warn us that in the end times false Christs and false prophets will work miracles, and they will be so deceptive, they will “deceive if possible even the elect”? Therefore isn’t it dangerous to follow people who work miracles today? Might we be deceived into following a false prophet?

This objection is based on Mark 13:22, which says, “False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.” Some people might be concerned that false Christs will be so deceptive, they could not tell what was wrong anyway. In that case, it might be safer to stay away from any church where miracles are being done, just in case the church was deceptive and trying to lead people astray. People will reason:

False Christs work miracles. Miracles are occurring in church A. Therefore I will stay away from church A just to be safe (I really couldn’t discern the falsehood anyway).

However, we should remember the New Testament does not speak that way. Instead, Jesus gives a test for false prophets: “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). The New Testament does not say false Christs and false prophets are so deceptive that even Christians cannot identify them. And it does not say false Christs will lead astray the elect; it just says that is the purpose they will try to accomplish. The Greek phrase is pros to apoplanan, ei dunaton, tous eklektous, (literally) “for the purpose of leading astray, if possible, the elect” (Mark 13:22. But Satan’s purpose in this will not be accomplished. Jesus promises us, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16), and He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Peter gives many marks of doctrinal purity and life character that distinguish false prophets from true prophets (2 Peter 2:1-22). John tells us that false prophets bring false doctrine about Jesus Christ, and their teaching is from the world, not the apostles. He then says, “By this we know the spirt of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6). This is much better counsel than giving a bare warning about miracles that will make people think they have no way of telling false Christs from the true.

False religions (e.g., Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, Buddhists) teach false doctrine. Pharisees (ancient and modern) oppose, and do not further, the work of the kingdom. False prophets bear evil fruit—”nor can a bad tree bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:18. But where Christian churches do not teach false doctrine, and further the work of the Kingdom, exalt Jesus Christ, and bear abundant good fruit in the lives of thousands of people, we should know that these qualities are not deceptive marks—they are the marks of true Christianity in the power of the Holy Spirit. They are not the marks of a false religion.

3. If we say that miracles should accompany the gospel today, doesn’t this cheapen the gospel? Wouldn’t this show that we don’t think the gospel itself is powerful enough to save sinners—rather, we think the gospel of Christ is weak and needs help from miracles?

If this objection is correct, then the working of miracles must have cheapened the gospel when Peter preached the gospel⁴  as well, and when Paul preached⁵ —and even when Jesus preached.⁶  Miracles must have detracted from the gospel when Stephen and Philip preached (Acts 6:8; 8:6-8), and when Christians at Corinth and in the churches of Galatia worked miracles (1 Corinthians 12:28; Galatians 3:5). Did miracles cheapen the gospel in almost the whole of the preaching of the Early Church, and still the Church used them? Surely this is an incorrect conclusion about miracles.

If miracles did not detract from the gospel in the repeated patterns we see in the New Testament, and if the working of miracles was given by God in all those cases, then this objection is not valid, and we are right to seek God for the working of miracles along with evangelism today as well. The New Testament pattern is that present-day miracles attest to the gospel and enhance the power of its proclamation (Romans 15:18, 19); they demonstrate the power of the gospel, but they certainly do not weaken it.

4. What do miracles prove anyway? Since there can be true miracles and false miracles, miracles alone can never prove anything. Therefore, how could a miracle ever be God’s means for converting an unbeliever?

This objection is stated well by James Montgomery Boice, who says,

My point is that miracles alone prove nothing. They may be false and deceptive as well as true and instructive, and we are never told that they are God’s means for converting unbelievers or that we should seek to perform them …The New Testament does not teach that evangelism is to be done by cultivating miracles.⁷ I can agree with the beginning of the first statement: miracles alone prove nothing, and they may be false and deceptive as well as true and instructive. But I cannot agree with Boice’s conclusion: Therefore miracles are never said to be God’s means for converting unbelievers. For that to be true, we would first have to assume that populi can never distinguish true from false miracles. Then the bare fact of a miracle would have no value for evangelism, because any given miracles could be either evil or good, and we could never tell the difference. (This is what Boice seems to assume in order for his argument to work.)

In fact, the New Testament picture is different. People see Jesus’ miracles and they know He comes from God, and they believe in Him (John 2:11, 23; 3:2; 20:30, 31; etc.) They decide correctly that His miracles are “true and instructive,” not “false and deceptive.” And so it is with the later evangelistic ministry of the Early Church, as we see in Acts and the Epistles.

So I fail to understand how Boice would explain the evangelistic activity of Jesus Himself. Or the evangelistic activity of Peter and Paul. Or the evangelistic activity of Stephen. Would he say regarding miracles in the ministry of these people that “we are never told they are God’s means for converting unbelievers”?

Certainly the apostle Paul would not agree with this. He says,

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has worked through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyr’icum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ Romans 15:18, 19). These verses describe the whole of Paul’s evangelistic ministry. He says that the “power of signs and wonders” is one of the means God Himself used for converting unbelievers. Paul says that he did evangelism with miracles. It is hard for me to understand how Boice can say, “We are never told that they [miracles] are God’s means for converting unbelievers” (p. 127).

Perhaps at this point Boice would modify his statement and say it was only Jesus and the apostles who worked miracles along with their evangelism. But that would not seem to help his argument, because if miracles were a means God used to bring about faith when Jesus and the apostles preached, then why could God not use miracles to bring about faith when we preach today? Is our preaching today more powerful than that of Jesus and the apostles? Did they need miracles to accompany their preaching but we do not, because our preaching is so much more powerful? Certainly that is an incorrect argument.

We must remember it is God Himself who “bore witness” to the gospel “by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will” (Hebrews 2:4), and we cannot say that He has an inappropriate view of the power of the gospel message.

5. Weren’t miracles mostly limited to the apostles? Of course we see a lot of miracles in the book of Acts, but wasn’t that a special time when new Scripture was being written?

Some have argued that miracles were restricted to the apostles, or to the apostles and those closely connected with them. Before considering their arguments, it is important to note a remarkable concentration of miracles in the lives of the apostles as special representatives of Christ. For example, God was pleased to allow extraordinary miracles to be done through both Peter and Paul. In the very early days of the Church,

Many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles …And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed (Acts 5:12-16). Similarly, when Paul was in Ephesus, “God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them” (Acts 19:11-12).⁸  Another example is found in raising Tabitha from the dead. When she had died, the disciples at Joppa sent for Peter to come and pray for her to be raised from the dead (Acts 9:36-42). They apparently thought that God had given an unusual concentration of miraculous power to Peter (or to the apostles generally). And Paul’s ministry generally was characterized by miraculous events, because he summarizes his ministry by telling the Romans of the things Christ has worked through him to win obedience from the Gentiles “by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:19).

Nevertheless, the unusual concentration of miracles in the ministries of the apostles does not prove that no miracles were performed by others. As we have clearly seen, “working of miracles” (1 Corinthians 12:10) and other miraculous gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-11 mentions several) were part of the ordinary function of the Corinthian church, and Paul knows that God “works miracles” in the churches of Galatia as well (Galatians 3:5).

In the larger context of the New Testament, it is clear that miracles were worked by others who were not apostles, such as Stephen (Acts 6:8), Philip (Acts 8:6-7), Ananias (Acts 9:17-18; 22:13), Christians in the several churches in Galatia (Galatians 3:5) and those with gifts of “miracles” in the Body of Christ generally (1 Corinthians 12:10, 28). Miracles as such cannot then be regarded as exclusively signs of an apostles. “Workers of miracles” and “healers” are actually distinguished from “apostles” in 1 Corinthians 12:28:

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers. Similar evidence is seen in Mark 16:17-18: Serious questions have been raised about the authenticity of this passage as part of Mark’s Gospel.⁹  The text is nonetheless very early¹⁰  and bears witness to at least one strand of tradition within the Early Church, which the manuscript evidence suggests came to be widely accepted in the postbiblical Early Church.¹¹  This text reports Jesus as saying,

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them: they will lay their hands on the sick; and they will recover. Here also the power to work miracles is assumed to be the common possession of Christians. Those who wrote and passed on this early tradition, and who thought it represented the genuine teaching of Jesus, were certainly not aware of any idea that miracles were to be limited to the apostles.¹²

The argument that many other Christians in the New Testament worked miracles is sometimes answered by the claim that it was only the apostles and those closely associated with them or those on whom the apostles laid their hands who could work miracles.¹³  However, this really proves very little because the story of the New Testament Church is the story of what was done through the apostles and those closely associated with them. A similar argument might be made about evangelism or founding of churches:

In the New Testament, churches were only founded by the apostles or their close associates; therefore, we should not found churches today. Or,

In the New Testament, missionary work in other countries was only done by the apostles or their close associates; therefore, we should not do missionary work in other countries today. These analogies show the inadequacy of the argument:

The New Testament primarily shows how the Church should seek to act, not how it should not seek to act. But if many other Christians throughout the first century Church were working miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit, then the power to work miracles could not be a sign to distinguish the apostles from other Christians.¹⁴ 6. Wasn’t the purpose of miracles to authenticate new Scripture as it was being given? Since no more Scripture is being given today, doesn’t it mean there will be no more miracles today?

If we consider the New Testament period, it is more accurate to say that miracles authenticated preaching the gospel rather than just giving new Scripture. For example, when Philip went to a city in Samaria,

The multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he did. For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city (Acts 8:6-8). But Philip did not write any words of Scripture. The same was true in the life of Stephen (Acts 6:8).

Several other purposes are given for miracles in the New Testament. A second purpose is to bear witness that the kingdom of God has come and has begun to expand its beneficial results into people’s lives. The results of Jesus’ miracles show the characteristics of God’s kingdom. Jesus said, “If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28). His triumph over the destructive forces of Satan showed what God’s kingdom was like. In this way, every miracles of healing or deliverance from demonic oppression advanced the Kingdom and helped fulfill Jesus’ ministry, for He came with the Spirit of the Lord on Him “to preach good news to the poor …to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

Similarly, Jesus gave His disciples “power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal” (Luke 9:1-2). He commanded them, “Preach as you go, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Matthew 10:7-8; compare Matthew 4:23; 9:35; Acts 8:6, 7, 12).

A third purpose of miracles is to help those who are in need. The two blind men near Jericho cried out, “Have mercy on us,” and Jesus “in pity” healed them (Matthew 20:30-34). When Jesus saw a great crowd of people, “he had compassion on them, and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14; see also Luke 7:13). Here miracles give evidence of Christ’s compassion toward those in need.

A fourth purpose of miracles, related to the second, is to remove hindrances to people’s ministries. As soon as Jesus had healed Peter’s mother-in-law, “she rose and served him” (Matthew 8:15). When God had mercy on Epaphroditus and restored his health (whether through miraculous means or not, Paul attributes it to God’s mercy in Philippians 2:25-30).

The text does not explicitly say that Tabitha (or Dorcas) resumed her “good works and acts of charity” (Acts 9:36) after the Lord through Peter raised her from the dead (Acts 9:40-41). But by mentioning her good works and those who bore witness to her selfless care for the needs of others (Acts 9:39), it suggests that she would resume a similar ministry of mercy when she was raised from the dead. Related to this category would be the fact that Paul expects people to be edified when miraculous gifts are used in the Church (1 Corinthians 12:7; 14:4, 12, 26).

A fifth purpose for miracles (and one to which all the others contribute) is to bring glory to God. After Jesus healed a paralytic, the crowds “were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men” (Matthew 9:8). Similarly, Jesus said that the man who had been blind from birth was blind “that the works of God might be made manifest in him” (John 9:3).

These multiple purposes for miracles show that we should not claim they were limited only to the time when new Scripture was being written.

7. Doesn’t Paul say miracles were the “signs of an apostle” (2 Corinthians 12:12) that were given to show the unique authority of the apostles? And doesn’t that mean we should expect such signs today?

This objection is based on 2 Corinthians 12:12, where Paul says, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.”¹⁵  Some people say the “signs of an apostle” here are miracles, and this verse implies that only the apostles (and their close companions) had the authority to work miracles.¹⁶  These people then argue that this means other people did not have the authority to work miracles. They say that the working of the miracles ceased when the apostles and their close associates died. Therefore, they conclude, no further miracles are to be expected today. (Those who hold this position are sometimes known as “cessationists,” because they hold to the ceasing or “cessation” of miracles early in the history of the Church.)

This argument is unpersuasive, however, for several reasons:

A. The word “sign” alone does not necessarily mean “miracle.” People who say 2 Corinthians 12:12 shows that miracles ceased usually assume that “signs of an apostle” in this verse means miracles, but they do not give any reasons to support their assumption. And, the assumption is open to serious objections (see below), and, if no arguments can be given in its favor, there is no reason we should accept it.

Among modern commentators on 2 Corinthians, I found only three who understand the phrase “signs of an apostle” in 2 Corinthians 12:12 to mean miracles.¹⁷  None of these commentators gives any argument to support this view. By contrast, the majority of commentators understand “signs of an apostle” to have a much broader meaning, including the qualities of Paul’s life and the character and results of his ministry.¹⁸  Some of these commentators think that these life and ministry qualities were accompanied by miracles or included miracles as one component among many, but none understand the phrase to refer primarily or exclusively to miracles.

The meaning of the word “sign” in Greek (semeion) is consistent with this. Although the word often refers to miracles, it has a much broader range of meaning than just “miracle”: semeion simply means “something which indicates or refers to something else.” Many nonmiraculous things are called “signs.” For example, Paul’s handwritten signature is his “sign” (2 Thessalonians 3:17); circumcision is a “sign” of Abraham’s imputed righteousness (Romans 4:11); Judas’ kiss is a “sign” to the Jewish leaders (Matthew 26:48); the rainbow is a “sign” of the covenant (Genesis 9:12); eating unleavened bread during Passover every year is a “sign” of the Lord’s deliverance (Exodus 13:9); Rahab’s scarlet cord is a “sign” that the spies told her to hang in her window (Joshua 2:21).

Therefore, we cannot just assume that the phrase “signs of an apostle” means “miracles”. We must rather look to the context to see what sense the word “signs” has in Paul’s argument at this point.

B. The grammar of this verse requires that the “signs of an apostle” are something other than miracles. At the end of 2 Corinthians 12:12, Paul uses a different phrase, which piles up terms in such a way that miracles are unmistakably in view: He says,

The signs of a true apostle were performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.¹⁹ The last phrase, “with signs and wonders and mighty works,” contains a collection of all three terms used for miracles, and similar collections of terms elsewhere clearly are used to refer to miracles (note “signs and wonders” in Acts 4:30; 5:12; 14:3; 15:12; Romans 15:19; Hebrews 2:4). But if this last phrase means “with miracles,” then Paul is saying, in effect,

The signs of a true apostle were performed among you in all patience, with miracles. This means that the “signs of an apostle” must be something different from miracles—the signs of an apostle were not themselves miracles, but they were done with miracles.

C. Paul tells elsewhere in 2 Corinthians what the “signs of an apostle” are. This is not the only verse in 2 Corinthians in which Paul is concerned to defend his apostleship. The main theme of chapters 10-13 is Paul’s defense of his true apostolic authority in opposition to the false apostles who were troubling the Corinthian church. If we want to know, then, what “signs” Paul pointed to when he wanted to establish his genuine apostleship, we need only look at the things he mentions in 2 Corinthians 10-13. In several verses Paul tells what marked him as a true apostle:

1. Spiritual power in conflict with evil (10:3, 4, 8-11; 13:2-4, 10).
2. Jealous care for the welfare of the churches (11:1-6).
3. True knowledge of Jesus and His gospel plan (11:6).
4. Self-support (selflessness) 11:7-11).
5. Not taking advantage of churches; not striking them physically 11:20-21).
6. Suffering and hardship endured for Christ (11:23-29).
7. Being caught up into heaven (12:1-6).
8. Contentment and faith to endure a thorn in the flesh (12:7-9).
9. Gaining strength out of weakness (12:10).

The first item may have implied miraculous power in conflict with evil, but even that is not stated. The important thing is that Paul pointed not to miracles but to indications of his personal character and Christlike ministry when he wanted to show what marked a true apostle in contrast to self-seeking pretenders to that office (cf. 2 Peter 2:1, 22).

Another evidence that the “signs of a true apostle” in 2 Corinthians 12:12 were all these things and not simply miracles is that Paul says, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you in all patience.” Now it would make little sense to say that miracles were performed “in all patience,” for many miracles happen quite quickly. But it would make sense to say that Paul’s Christlike ministry, his selflessness, his contentment, and his endurance of hardship for the sake of the Corinthians were performed “in all patience.”

D. The New Testament never says that miracles proved someone to be an apostle. We should note that nowhere in this list does Paul claim miracles to prove his genuine apostleship. No verse in the New Testament says that miracles distinguished the apostles from other Christians.²⁰ Miracles could not be used to distinguish apostles from nonapostles, because many people who were not apostles also worked miracles—Stephen (Acts 6:8), Philip (Acts 8:6-7), Ananias (Acts 9:17, 18, 22:13), Christians in the churches in Galatia (Galatians 3:5), and those with gifts of “miracles” in the Body of Christ generally (1 Corinthians 12:10, 28). “Workers of miracles” and “healers” are actually distinguished from “apostles” in 1 Corinthians 12:28: “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers.”

But the character traits Paul does mention—self-sacrifice for the churches, endurance of hardship and so on—clearly distinguish him from servants of Satan, false apostles who are not Christians at all: Their lives will not be marked by humility, but pride; not by selflessness, but selfishness; not by generosity, but greed; not by seeking the advantage of others, but by taking advantage of others; not by spiritual power in physical weakness, but by confidence in their natural strength; not by enduring suffering and hardship, but by seeking their own comfort and ease.

When Paul acted in a Christlike manner among them, his actions were “signs” that his claim to be an apostle was a true claim: thus, these things were “signs of a true apostle.”²¹  In this context, the “signs” that mark a true apostle need not be things that showed an absolute difference between him and other Christians, but rather things that showed his ministry to be genuine, in distinction from false ministries.

Therefore, here Paul is not telling the Corinthians how to distinguish an apostle from other Christians (he did that in 1 Corinthians 9:1-2; 15:7-11; Galatians 1:1, 11-24, mentioning seeing the risen Christ and being commissioned by Him as an apostle), but here he is telling how to recognize what a genuine, Christ-approved ministry is.

Why then does he add that all these signs of a true apostle were done among the Corinthians “with signs and wonders and mighty works”? He is simply adding one additional factor to all the previous marks of his genuine apostleship. Miracles, of course, had a significant function in confirming the truth of Paul’s message, and Paul here makes explicit what the Corinthians may or may not have assumed to be one of the many factors included in the phrase “signs of a true apostle”: in addition to all these other signs of a true apostle, his ministry also showed miraculous demonstrations of God’s power.²²

E. Those who use 2 Corinthians 12:12 to argue against miracles today fail to understand the context of this verse. The argument that the “signs of an apostle” are miracles does not fit the purpose of the context. In 2 Corinthians 12:12, Paul is not attempting to prove that he is an apostle distinct from other Christians who are not apostles. Rather, he is attempting to prove that he is a true representative of Christ distinct from others who are “false apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:33). It is clear that these people are not even Christians, for Paul says about them:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). These false apostles are Satan’s “servants” who are disguising themselves as “servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). In short, the contrast is not between apostles who could work miracles and ordinary Christians who could not, but between genuine Christian apostles through whom the Holy Spirit worked and non-Christian pretenders to the apostolic office, through whom the Holy Spirit did not work at all.

Therefore, those who use this passage to distinguish Paul from other Christians and who argue that miracles cannot be done through Christians today are taking the phrase “signs of an apostle” out of its context and using it in a way that Paul never intended. Paul is distinguishing himself from non-Christians, not distinguishing himself from other Christians.

PR

Wayne Grudem Answers these Objections in the Next Issue: 8. Doesn’t Hebrews 2:3 tell us that miracles were restricted to the apostles, “those who heard him?” 9. When Paul says, “Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ and him crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23), doesn’t he warn us against seeking signs and say that we should just preach the gospel of Christ? 10. When Paul talks about “power,” doesn’t he mean the power of the gospel to change lives? In fact, he says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith” (Romans 1:16). Doesn’t this mean it is wrong to use the term “power evangelism” to refer to God’s power to work miracles in connection with evangelism? 11. I have heard stories of people who spoke in tongues and later found out that it was a demonic counterfeit—a demon was speaking through them and uttering blasphemies against Christ in an unknown language. Shouldn’t this danger warn us not to speak in tongues today? 12. In 1 Corinthians 14:22 we read, “Tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.” Doesn’t Paul mean here that tongues are a sign of a covenant curse by God against the unbelieving Jews? And shouldn’t that warn us not to use tongues today? 13. Since Paul says that a person who speaks in tongues “edifies himself” (1 Corinthians 14:4), isn’t it better to avoid tongues and seek other gifts that edify the Church? 14. Doesn’t Jude 9 warn us not to rebuke demons? Then is it that people today think they can speak directly to demons and cast them out?

Notes

1. See John Wimber Power Evangelism (San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1986); Power Healing (San Francisco, CA. HarperSanFrancisco 1987); Power Healing (San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991); C. Peter Wagner, The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant, 1988); John White, When the Spirit Comes with Power (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1988).

2. All Scripture quotations in this series are taken from the RSV unless otherwise noted.

3. This objection is made by D.A. Carson, “The Purpose of Signs and Wonders in the New Testament,” in Power Religion: The Selling Out of the Evangelical Church?, edited by Michael Scott Horton (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1992), pp. 89-118; see esp. p. 97.

4. Acts 3:6, 12ff.; 5:12-16, 20, 21, 28, 42; 9:34, 35 10:44-46

5. Acts 14:3, 8-10, 15ff.; 15:12, 36; 16:13, 14, 16-18; 18:5, 11 (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:12; 1 Corinthians 2:4,5); 19:8-12; Romans 15:18,19; 1 Corinthians 1:6, 7; 2:4, 5; 2 Corinthians 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:5.

6. Matthew 4:23; 9:35, 9:36; (cf. 10:1, 7, 8); 11:5; 12:15, 18; 15:30; 19:2 (cf. Mark 10:1); 21:14 (cf. Luke 21:37; Mark 1:38, 39; 2:2, 11; 3:14, 15; 6:12, 13; 10:1 (cf. Matthew 19:2); Luke 4:18; 5:17, 24; 6:6-11, 17 18; 7:22; (cf. 9:1, 2; 10:9, 13); 13:10-13, 22, 32; 14:4, 7ff.; 21:37 (cf. Matthew 21:14; 16:15-18, 20; John 3:2; 7:14, 15, 21-23, 31, 38; 10:25, 32, 38, 12:37, 49; 14:10.

7. James Montgomery Boice, “A Better Way: The Power of the Word and Spirit,” in Horton, ed., Power Religion, pp. 127-128.

8. In neither case should these events be thought of as some kind of “magic” that came automatically through Peter’s shadow or handkerchiefs Paul had touched. But rather as an indication that the Holy Spirit was pleased to give such a full and remarkable empowering to the ministry of these men that on occasion He extended His work beyond their individual bodily presence even to things they came near or touched.

9. The manuscript evidence and considerations of style suggest that these verses were not originally part of the Gospel that Mark wrote.

10. It is included in several manuscripts of Tateno’s Diatessaron (A.D. 170), and is quoted by Irenaeus (died A.D. 202) and Tertullian (died A.D. 220).

11. Though it is not found in many of the earliest and best Greek manuscripts, the longer ending of Mark 16:9-20 is nevertheless found in a majority of the extant Greek manuscripts of the New Testament (K. Aland and B. Aland, The Text of the New Testament. An Introduction to the Critical Editions [Grand Rapids, Nil and Leiden, Netherlands: Eerdmans and E. J. Brill, 1989, p. 292-293; W. L. Lane, Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, NICNT [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974], pp. 603-604).

12. I am grateful to Professor Harold Hoehner of Dallas Theological Seminary for suggesting some of the arguments here regarding 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Mark 16:17-18 (though he may disagree with my conclusion in this section).

13. See Walter J. Chantry, Signs of the Apostles: Observations on Pentecostalism Old and New (Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth, 1976), pp. 19-21.

14. See question 7, below, on the phrase “signs of an apostle” in 2 Corinthians 12:12.

15. The word “true” is not actually in the Greek text, which simply says, “the signs of an apostle.” The RSV (which is quoted here) and NASB have added “true” to give the sense: Paul is contrasting his ministry with that of the false apostles.

16. See Chantry, Signs of the Apostles, especially pages 17-21; B. B. Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles (London, England: Banner of Truth, 1972; first published 1918); Norman Geisler, Signs and Wonders (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1988).

17. Colin Kruse, The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, TNTC (Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press, and Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), p. 209; Jean Hering, The Second Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, trans. by A. W. Heathoote and P. L. Allcock (London, England: Epworth, 1967), pp. 95-96; and Murray Harris, “2 Corinthians,” EBC, vol. 10, p. 398. Harris notes an alternative view where the “signs” are the changed lives of the Corinthians and the Christlike character of Paul.

18. The most extensive discussion in support of this view is found in Ralph P. Martin, II Corinthians, WSC (Dallas, TX: WORD, 1986), pp. 434-438; see also Philip E. Hughes, Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians, NIC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962), pp. 456-458 (following Chrysostom and Calvin); Alfred Plummer, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, ICC (Edinburgh, Scotland: T. & T. Clark, 1915), p. 359; R. V. G. Tasker, 2 Corinthians, TNTC (London, England: Tyndale Press, 1958), p. 180; Charles Hodge, An Exposition of 1 and 2 Corinthians (Wilmington, DE: Sovereign Grace, 1972 [reprint]), pp. 359-360; John Calvin, The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, trans. by T. A. Smail, edited by D. W. Torrance and T. F. Torrance (Edinburgh, Scotland: Oliver and Boyd, and Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964), pp. 163-164; see also J. B. Lightfoot, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1957), p. 99.

19. The grammar of the Greek text forces us to this distinction, since “the signs of an apostle” is in the nominative case, while “signs and wonders and mighty works” is in the dative, and cannot therefore be simply a restatement of “signs of an apostle” in apposition to it: Nouns in apposition in Greek must be in the same case. (The NIV ignores the grammar here and translates the two phrases as if they were in apposition; the RSV and NASB are more precise.)

20. Some interpreters assume that the false apostles were working miracles and claiming revelations from God so that Paul would have to claim greater miracles and revelations. But this is an assumption unsupported by evidence in the text. Nothing in 2 Corinthians says that the false apostles claimed miracles or revelations.

21. It is as if today a former pastor wrote to a church that had been taken over by an unbelieving pastor. He might say, “The signs of a true pastor were done among you.” In such a case, he would point to his own character and conduct—not because these distinguished him from other Christians in the congregation, but because they distinguished him from the self-seeking manner of an impostor.

22. The following verse also confirms this interpretation. Paul says, “For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches?” (2 Corinthians 12:13). Here Paul refers to his personal care for them. The fact that they were not lacking in any of Paul’s care and attention would prove to them that the “signs of a true apostle” were performed among them only if these “signs” included all of Paul’s ministry to them. But Paul’s care for them would not prove his point if the “signs of the apostle” were just miracles.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. ©Copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

Quotations from the KJV—King James Version are public domain.

This four-part series is taken from Gary S. Greig and Kevin N. Springer, eds., The Kingdom and the Power: Are Healing and the Spiritual Gifts Used by Jesus and the Early Church Meant for the Church Today? A Biblical Look at How to Bring the Gospel to the World with Power (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1993). Used with permission.