Have miracles ceased? They have
if we are talking about the kind of miracles performed by Jesus, the apostles,
and those possessed of spiritual gifts in New Testament times. The purpose of those miracles was to confirm
that the word spoken was from God. Such
confirmation was needed. Put yourself in
the shoes of those living back then.
Here one comes into your midst claiming to speak for God. Is he delusional, a madman? Is he a charlatan? Why should I give him the time of day?
People speak of blind faith.
The kind of faith the Bible demands of men is not blind faith but faith
built upon reason, based on the word of God, confirmed by miracles. I believe not because I am naive and will
believe anything and will buy bridges in deserts but rather because God said,
"come now, and let us reason together." (Isa. 1:18 NKJV) I have done that--reasoning based on the word
of God confirmed by miracles.
Why was the tomb of Jesus empty on the third day? Why could the Romans not find the body of
Jesus? Why did they not even look for
it? What profit was there to be had in preaching
Jesus as did Peter and the other apostles if they knew they had stolen the body
and hidden it? Was there money in
it? Was there power? Was there security in doing so or danger? Why did those 12 men put their lives on the
line to preach the gospel? Faith built
on reasoning with the truth, a truth confirmed by the greatest miracle of all--the
resurrection of Christ, is not emotionalism.
The unbeliever cannot explain the empty tomb nor can they explain the
lives of the apostles.
The word spoken, however, would have little effect upon men in a day
and age when revelation was not yet completed, indeed was just beginning to be
given, without miracles accompanying it.
The people living in places like Asia (modern-day Turkey), Greece, and
other remote locations knew nothing of Jesus originally. His life, his death, his resurrection was not
broadcast over TV, all over the Internet, and was not in newspaper headlines. We have to put ourselves back in their time
to understand what their situation was.
When a man like Paul arrives in your village the question is who is this
man? What is he talking about?
The Bible thus says that after Jesus gave the Great Commission in Mark
16:15-16 the eleven, that soon became the twelve, "went out and preached
everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the
accompanying signs." (Mark 16:20 NKJV)
Paul spoke of the signs of an apostle.
He said in speaking to the Corinthians, "In nothing was I behind
the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing.
Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all
perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." (2 Cor. 12:11-12 NKJV) In his first letter to them, the Corinthians,
he says of his preaching that it was, "in demonstration of the Spirit and
of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power
of God." (1 Cor. 2:4-5 NKJV)
"Power" is a reference to the miraculous.
The writer of the book of Hebrews speaks of the same sort of thing
when in talking about the preaching of the gospel message by those who had
heard Jesus says, "God also bearing witness (with them--the speakers--DS)
both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit,
according to his own will." (Heb. 2:4 NKJV) So we clearly see the purpose behind
miracles, signs, wonders, gifts of the Holy Spirit, the miraculous in general,
when the word was being preached to people who knew it not.
The Bible also gives us a second reason or purpose for spiritual gifts
in the New Testament church. After a
person became convinced of the truth of the gospel and obeyed it what
then? He cannot order a Bible or New
Testament from Amazon or Abebooks or go to Wal-Mart and purchase one. Not only that but the New Testament has not
yet been given in its entirety.
The complete revelation of the New Testament, the Bible calls it the
new covenant, occurred over the course of a few decades in the first century,
not instantly in a year or two. The
books were in the process of being written and delivered. How do the members of the church know how to
live? How do they know right from
wrong? The answer was spiritual gifts
given by God for the purpose of instructing the church in righteous
living.
Paul says of these gifts, "the manifestation of the Spirit is
given to each one for the profit of all." (1 Cor. 12:7 NKJV) He is talking about spiritual gifts. Whatever your gift was (he gives a list of
them in 1 Cor. 12:8-10, see also verse 28) it was to be used to profit everyone,
not just yourself. "Even so you,
since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the
church that you seek to excel." (1 Cor. 14:12 NKJV) Edification means to build up
spiritually. "Let all things be
done for edification." (1 Cor. 14:26 NKJV)
Understanding the purpose behind miracles and spiritual gifts helps
one greatly in understanding a passage written by Paul found right in the
middle of his discussion of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14, a
passage where he declares that there will be an end to spiritual gifts not when
Christ comes again but before then. I
refer to 1 Cor. 13:8-13.
"Love never fails. But
whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they
will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then
that which is in part will be done away.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then
face to face. Now I know in part, but
then I shall know just as I also am known.
And now abide faith, hope, love,
these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:8-13 NKJV)
Let us note some things from this passage. Paul says plainly that prophecies will fail,
tongues will cease, and knowledge (talking about miraculously given knowledge)
will vanish. The question then becomes
when. Can we find out? Yes!
Something will abide after these spiritual gifts have ceased. What will that be? Faith, hope, and love. What does that mean? Well, for one thing it means that if hope
still abides after spiritual gifts are gone the spiritual gifts will be gone
before Jesus returns to earth. We still
"hope" after the gifts have vanished but why am I hoping if Christ
has already returned and I am now in possession of that for which I had been
hoping? Once you have received that
which you were hoping for you do not continue to hope for it--there is no
need. Do not let anyone tell you that
spiritual gifts are going to last until Jesus returns. This passage destroys that false doctrine. One must understand that prophecy, tongues,
and inspired knowledge as spiritual gifts were representative of all spiritual
gifts in that all were to vanish, not just those three.
That which "is perfect" in the passage is the final total
revealed will of Christ--the completed revelation of Christ--the New Testament
in its totality of inspired teaching. Again,
revelation was not all given in a single day or a single year. It was a matter of a gradual revealing of the
truth over a few decades in the first century until all was given that was to
be given. Perhaps reading 1 Cor. 13:10
will help you see this when read from another translation, "But when the
perfect comes, the partial will pass away." (1 Cor. 13:10 ESV) Spiritual gifts were the partial, completed
revelation was the "perfect."
One has to bear in mind that the word "perfect" often means "complete" in New Testament usage and this passage is an example of it. The International Standard Version of the Bible translates 1 Cor. 13:10, "But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with." (ISV) The New Living Translation has it as follows, "But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless." (NLT) Full understanding came when full revelation was complete.
Another passage teaching the same thing is Eph. 4:11-15, "And He
Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some
pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children,
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking
the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head - Christ."
(NKJV)
Note that apostles and prophets were to be only for a time--note the
word "till" in verse 13. When
would the "till" arrive? We
can figure that out. We have enough
information to do that. Note that when that
time arrives we will no longer be children tossed about by every wind of
doctrine. This tells us that when the
"till" comes ("we all attain to the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood" - Eph. 4:13 ESV) that
false doctrine will still be taught but we will no longer be carried about by
it. This means we are talking about a
time prior to the return of Christ for upon his return false doctrine becomes a
thing of the past. So again we prove
that miracles, spiritual gifts, etc., are not to last until the return of
Christ. They are gone before his return. So again do not let anyone tell you that
miracles and spiritual gifts are to last until Christ's return.
But one might object to this argument on the grounds that if this be
true then it would also eliminate evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Yes, it would--those miraculously qualified
to do the work by being the recipient of a spiritual gift. One needs to bear in mind, however, that with
the completed revelation of Christ to man one no longer needed spiritual gifts
to qualify or enable him for that work.
Also, beware lest you be led astray thinking that since what is called
Christendom today is divided that "the unity of the faith and the
knowledge of the Son of God" never arrived. Yes, that has been lost today but that does
not mean they never had it say back in 120 A.D. (just using that date as an
example). Believe it or not there was a
time when things were not like they are today.
The unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and how to
obtain to mature spiritual manhood in Christ are found in the pages of the
completed New Testament. Outside the New
Testament you can know nothing of or about Christ or of the faith aside from
some Old Testament prophetic utterances.
If you are carried about by false doctrine you need not be. That is what you have a New Testament for--so
you will not be led into false doctrine and can know the truth if you really
want to know it.
What are the implications of miracles having ceased? Let me say to start that the implications are
so great that some religious bodies will never accept it as fact for the simple
reason it would destroy them as a religious body. If a religious group's very existence is
dependent on the continuation of miracles that is an exceedingly strong
incentive to fight for them and argue for them and not accept New Testament
teaching on the subject.
Remember the purpose of miracles was to confirm the word. If you still want the world to believe you
are a source of revealed authoritative teaching and preaching, teaching that
cannot be found in the pages of the New Testament (emphasis here), received
directly from God, then you must have miracles to confirm the word. You cannot have the Catholic Church without
miracles can you? If they want to hand
down law and claim God's authority for it then they have to have God performing
miracles among them. No choice about it.
The Catholic Church claims authority and teaches many doctrines that
cannot be found in the pages of the New Testament (I think they will agree with
me on this). Why should any man believe
them? There is only one reason--miracles. They must make the claim of miracles being
performed among them and do their best to get people to believe they are
genuine. They will never accept that
miracles have ceased. If you are
Catholic logic requires that you believe in modern-day miracles. The miracles confirm that God is among them
approving of them and their teaching.
They must have miracles to maintain their authority. They will have their miracles with no New
Testament passages bothering them.
One must remember the Catholic Church believes authority resides with
them and not solely with the New Testament.
They are not willing to accept the New Testament alone as the final
authority in religion. This is not news
to anyone familiar with the Catholic Church.
Pentecostal groups have a different motivation. As far as I know they have not tried to get
humanity to think that God hands down law today through them, law not found in
the New Testament, but they have misunderstood the New Testament. Their existence does depend on the
continuation of miracles and spiritual gifts.
All know this who know anything about them. If miracles have ceased they are left high
and dry, out in the cold, and have taught false doctrine. They must fight against what has been taught in
this article. If miracles have ceased,
as I have been teaching, then where does that leave Pentecostalism?
One must remember that doctrine does not exist in a vacuum. Every doctrine has implications. As we all from time to time examine our
beliefs we would do well to see where our thinking leads. We must accept the implications for we really
have no choice unless we are to throw all logic and reason out the window.
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