miracle Summary and Overview

an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use of means capable of being discerned by the senses, and designed to authenticate the divine commission of a religious teacher and the truth of his message (John 2:18; Matt. 12:38). It is an occurrence at once above nature and above man. It shows the intervention of a power that is not limited by the laws either of matter or of mind, a power interrupting the fixed laws which govern their movements, a supernatural power. "The suspension or violation of the laws of nature involved in miracles is nothing more than is constantly taking place around us. One force counteracts another: vital force keeps the chemical laws of matter in abeyance; and muscular force can control the action of physical force. When a man raises a weight from the ground, the law of gravity is neither suspended nor violated, but counteracted by a stronger force. The same is true as to the walking of Christ on the water and the swimming of iron at the command of the prophet. The simple and grand truth that the universe is not under the exclusive control of physical forces, but that everywhere and always there is above, separate from and superior to all else, an infinite personal will, not superseding, but directing and controlling all physical causes, acting with or without them." God ordinarily effects his purpose through the agency of second causes; but he has the power also of effecting his purpose immediately and without the intervention of second causes, i.e., of invading the fixed order, and thus of working miracles. Thus we affirm the possibility of miracles, the possibility of a higher hand intervening to control or reverse nature's ordinary movements. In the New Testament these four Greek words are principally used to designate miracles: (1.) Semeion, a "sign", i.e., an evidence of a divine commission; an attestation of a divine message (Matt. 12:38, 39; 16:1, 4; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16; 23:8; John 2:11, 18, 23; Acts 6:8, etc.); a token of the presence and working of God; the seal of a higher power. (2.) Terata, "wonders;" wonder-causing events; portents; producing astonishment in the beholder (Acts 2:19). (3.) Dunameis, "might works;" works of superhuman power (Acts 2:22; Rom. 15:19; 2 Thess. 2:9); of a new and higher power. (4.) Erga, "works;" the works of Him who is "wonderful in working" (John 5:20, 36). Miracles are seals of a divine mission. The sacred writers appealed to them as proofs that they were messengers of God. Our Lord also appealed to miracles as a conclusive proof of his divine mission (John 5:20, 36; 10:25, 38). Thus, being out of the common course of nature and beyond the power of man, they are fitted to convey the impression of the presence and power of God. Where miracles are there certainly God is. The man, therefore, who works a miracle affords thereby clear proof that he comes with the authority of God; they are his credentials that he is God's messenger. The teacher points to these credentials, and they are a proof that he speaks with the authority of God. He boldly says, "God bears me witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles." The credibility of miracles is established by the evidence of the senses on the part of those who are witnesses of them, and to all others by the testimony of such witnesses. The witnesses were competent, and their testimony is trustworthy. Unbelievers, following Hume, deny that any testimony can prove a miracle, because they say miracles are impossible. We have shown that miracles are possible, and surely they can be borne witness to. Surely they are credible when we have abundant and trustworthy evidence of their occurrence. They are credible just as any facts of history well authenticated are credible. Miracles, it is said, are contrary to experience. Of course they are contrary to our experience, but that does not prove that they were contrary to the experience of those who witnessed them. We believe a thousand facts, both of history and of science, that are contrary to our experience, but we believe them on the ground of competent testimony. An atheist or a pantheist must, as a matter of course, deny the possibility of miracles; but to one who believes in a personal God, who in his wisdom may see fit to interfere with the ordinary processes of nature, miracles are not impossible, nor are they incredible. (See LIST OF MIRACLES, Appendix.)

MIR'ACLE , an action or event produced by a supernatural or divine agency for the purpose of authenticating the divine mission of the person who performs the act or is the subject of the event. A true miracle is above nature, but not against nature; it is a temporary suspension of the operation of the laws of nature, but not a violation of the laws themselves; it is the manifestation of a higher order which the lower order obeys. We have an analogy in the power of our will over the body, as by raising our hand we suspend the operation of the law of gravity. God controls and directs, extends and contracts, the forces of nature which are his agents, God alone can work miracles or enable men to perform them. If we believe in an almighty personal God, we shall have no difficulty in believing the possibility of miracles. The first miracle was the creation of the universe out of nothing by his will. In the case of Christ his person is the great moral miracle, and his miracles are the natural manifestations of his divine-human person, or simply his "works," as John calls them. If we believe in Christ as the sinless Son of man and Son of God, we shall find no difficulty in believing his miracles. The devil (who is called God's ape) can perform only pseudo-miracles - "lying wonders," juggleries, and sorceries. Deut 13:1; Matt 24:24; 2 Thess 2:9; Rev 13:13-14; Rev 16:14; Rev 19:20. The N.T. (in Greek) uses three terms for miracles: (1) Sign, by which a divine power is made known and a divine messenger attested. Matt 12:38-39; Mark 16:1, Matt 16:6; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16; Luke 23:8; John 2:11, 1 Sam 30:18, Heb 12:23, etc.; Acts 6:8; 1 Cor 1:22; (2) Wonder or portent, with regard to their astounding character. John 4:48; Acts 2:22, Acts 2:43; Acts 7:36; Rom 15:19; usually in connection with "signs;" (3) Power or powers, mighty deeds, with reference to their effect. Matt 7:22; Matt 11:20-21, Ex 11:23; Luke 10:13; Rom 15:19. Miracles were necessary for the founding of religion as divine seals of revelation. Bishop Butler says: "Revelation itself is miraculous, and miracles are the proof of it." The miracles of Christ are appealed to as evidence of his divinity and Messiahship. Matt 9:6; Matt 11:4-5; John 10:47; John 20:29, John 20:31. They were wrought from the purest motives, for the glory of God and the benefit of the souls and bodies of men; they were wrought in open daylight, before great multitudes, in the face of his enemies, who did not deny them, but traced them to Beelzebub. Matt 12:24. Tested by external evidence and intrinsic propriety and conformity to his divine mission, they commend themselves to every honest and reasonable inquirer. The only alternative is truth or wilful fabrication, and the latter is a moral monstrosity in the case of Christ and the apostles. The power of miracles continued in the apostolic age, but with the establishment and triumph of Christianity their necessity ceased, as the primitive creation gave way to preservation. Our faith must now chiefly rely on the moral miracles and internal evidences which continue throughout Christendom. But God may at any time renew the miraculous gifts of the apostolic age. For a discussion of this subject see Mozley's Bampton Lectures on Miracles (delivered at Oxford, 1865), and Archbishop Trench's Notes on the Miracles of our Lord. The chief miracles recorded in the O.T. are the Creation, the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the birth of Isaac, the burning bush, the miracles of Moses in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the pillar of cloud and fire, the quails and manna, the water from the rock, Aaron's rod budding, healing by looking up to the brazen serpent (symbol of faith in the crucified Redeemer, see John 3:14), Balaam's ass speaking, the crossing of the Jordan divided, the taking of Jericho, the standing still of the sun (which, however, is taken by many only as a poetic hyperbole), Elijah fed by ravens, restores a dead child to life, brings rain from heaven by prayer, is taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire, miracles of Elisha, Jonah preserved by a whale or shark (a type of the resurrection, see Matt 12:40). No miracles are reported of John the Baptist, which is an indirect proof of the miracles of Christ and his apostles.