Part I
INTRODUCING MIRACLES
The Reality of the Miracles of Jesus
In the Bible, the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John—record miracles that Jesus worked when he was on the earth. He healed
leprosy, blindness, and many other diseases. He multiplied five loaves and two
fish. He cast out demons. He walked on water. He raised the dead.
Questions about Miracles
It is an extraordinary record, but it raises many questions. For
many modern people, at the top of the list of questions is whether the miracles
really took place. And then, if they did take place, what is their meaning? How
did they happen? Why did they happen? Why did the Gospels record them? And what
are we supposed to make of them? How are they relevant to us?
We want primarily to address the questions about the meaning and relevance of miracles.
But it is also important to address the question of whether the miracles really
happened. Miracles confront us with the question of what kind of world we live
in. Does the nature of the world allow for miracles, or is the world closed to
them? Is the world just a self-sufficient mechanism that allows no deviation
from its regularities? Questions about the world quickly lead to questions
about God. Does God exist? If he does exist, is he the kind of God who would work
miracles? And why would he do so? Who is Jesus, the one through whom the
miracles took place?
Did
Jesus’s Miracles Really Happen?
People have debated the reality of miracles for centuries. Whole
books have been written. Since we are focusing on the meaning of miracles, we will not
cover in detail the longstanding debates about the existence of miracles. For a
thorough discussion of the debates,
I would recommend two recent books, which include references to many earlier
books: C. John Collins, The God of
Miracles; and Craig Keener, Miracles. Rather than have a thorough discussion here, we content ourselves
with a brief look at the main issues that arise about the reality of miracles.
The
existence of God. The first issue concerns
the existence of God. At the foundation of the debate lies the issue of whether
God exists, and what kind of God he is. Miracles as the Bible describes them
are not merely unusual events or events for which people have not yet found a
scientific explanation. They are acts of God, which dramatically indicate his
power at work. If God does not exist, clearly miracles also do not exist.
What
kind of God. A second issue concerns
what kind of God exists. Deism
pictures God as a God who created everything but afterward is not involved in
the day-to-day operation of the world. He is distant. In general, deists believe
that God set up the world so that it is a perfect mechanism and needs no
“intervention” from him. A miracle would be like admitting that the mechanism
has a defect. Accordingly, most deists maintain that miracles do not occur.
A modern materialistic worldview, influenced by science, believes that the
world consists most basically in matter and motion, governed by inviolable
mechanistic laws.
Most materialists do not believe in the existence of God. But even if he
exists, he is irrelevant to the day-to-day functioning of the world. His status
is similar to that within deism.
So which is true? We may observe briefly that God, as he is described in the
Bible, is a God who acts both to create the world initially and afterward to
sustain the world that he has created. The Bible indicates not only that God’s
existence is displayed through the things he has made, but that he has made
himself known to all human beings through what he has made. All people know God, but they suppress this
knowledge and make themselves substitutes for the true God:
For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For
what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things
that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God,
they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in
their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise,
they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images
resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Rom. 1:18–23)
Arguments about the existence of God may be useful as a kind of tool for
reminding people of what they already know. But the value of such arguments is
limited because no one is religiously neutral. Human beings are in flight from
God. According to Scripture, God is continually active in the regularities of
the world as well as in any unusual events. His governing word is the real
source of what scientists call scientific law. He is the
King and Lord over both the regularities and the exceptions. The regularities
in God’s rule are what make science possible. Far from being in tension with science, God is the foundation for science.
In addition, God is a personal God, not a mechanical system. So he can also
bring about exceptions to the regularities when he wishes. Miracles are not
only possible but are understandable and natural, given the fact that at times
God may have special purposes that lead to special actions. For example,
Christ’s resurrection from the dead was exceedingly unusual, but it makes sense
when we understand that in this event God the Father vindicated Christ and
rewarded him for his obedience. Through Christ he now brings salvation to those
who are united with Christ. The resurrection of Christ makes sense within a
world governed by God. It does not make sense if the world is governed by impersonal,
mechanistic laws.
Credibility
of the miracles in the Gospels. Third, we have the question
of whether the testimony about miracles found in the Gospels is credible. Once
again, whole books have been written on this. The testimony will never be
credible to a modern person if he has already decided that God does not exist
or that miracles are impossible. But if he believes that God exists and that
miracles are possible, the issue still remains as to whether particular
miracles actually took place. For example, what about Jesus’s casting out demons
(Matt. 8:28–34) or his healing the centurion’s slave (Matt. 8:5–13)? Did these particular
events really take place, and did they take place in the manner described in
the Gospels?
There are three sub-questions involved here. One is whether the human beings
who wrote the Gospels intended to claim that the events really happened. Even a
naive reading suggests that they did. And this naive impression is confirmed by
an explicit statement in Luke 1:1–4 concerning Luke’s historical investigation.
He says that he wrote his Gospel in order that “you may have certainty concerning
the things you have been taught” (v. 4). The Gospel of John indicates that it has recorded “things that Jesus did” (21:25).
It provides this record “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31). This
purpose presupposes the claim that John is not just providing fiction.
Second, were the writers of the Gospels actually successful? Are
the Gospels historically reliable, at least as reliable as reports from other human
historians? It is helpful to look at the book of Acts, which was written by the
same human author as the Gospel of Luke (see Acts 1:1). Some of the information
in Acts about the Roman Empire can be cross-checked using information about
Rome from other sources, and this checking confirms the reliability of Acts.
Modern defenses of reliability go into this kind of information. Again, because of our focus,
we will leave this discussion to other books.
Third, do the Gospels have not merely human authority but also divine authority
in what they say? If so, then they are completely true and trustworthy in what
they say about miracles. They are not just more or less reliable, as a human
historical writing might be, but are thoroughly reliable, because of the trustworthiness
of God. Once again, whole books are devoted to the question. I believe that the Gospels are indeed God’s words, not merely human words. In my discussion of the Gospels, I accept the divine
authority of what they say.
Who
is Jesus? What we think about the
miracles in the Gospels also depends on what we think about Jesus. If Jesus is
the Messiah, the Son of God, promised by Old Testament prophecies, the miracles
make sense as a fitting accompaniment to his work. If, on the other hand, a
person does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that person may also be skeptical
about the reports of miracles. The issue of Jesus’s identity may also have an influence
on the earlier questions about God and about the nature of Scripture. If the Bible’s
view is correct, Jesus is the way to God (John 14:6), and beliefs about him may
radically influence a person’s belief in God. Because Jesus testifies to the
divine authority of the Old Testament, a decision about Jesus also affects
one’s decision about the character of Scripture.
Searching for Truth
All of these questions about God, miracles, and the identity of
Jesus are important. As we have observed, we can find whole books that discuss
the issues. But in this book we focus instead on the meaning of the miracles.
So we provide only very short answers to all the preliminary questions.
If a person is plagued by questions, I could say that he should consult books
such as those that I have cited above in footnotes. But he might also begin
simply by reading the four Gospels, again and again. As he reads, he asks who
Jesus is. And, since there is always sinful human resistance to accepting who
Jesus really is, and his claims on our lives, I recommend asking God to reveal
what is the truth and to overcome our own resistance. A person uncertain about
whether God exists can ask, “God, if you exist, please reveal the truth as I read.”
Before they begin reading, some people might want to try to find out whether
the Gospels are historically reliable, at least on the level of human writings.
So they would read some of the books discussing the question of historical
reliability. But it would also be possible to start with the Gospels
themselves. A person may find, when reading, that Jesus makes claims on his
life that he cannot evade. So the theoretical question of historical
reliability, which otherwise a person might want to debate in a vacuum, turns
out not to be as important as it initially appeared to be. Jesus is unique.
There is no one like him, among the founders or leaders of other religions or even among the other
persons mentioned in the Bible. What he said and did is unique. It is so
striking—and so convicting—that a person may realize that no human being could
have invented what is found in the Gospels.
If a person comes to see that Jesus is who he claims to be, many things follow.
Our own lives have to change, because Jesus calls us to be his disciples. And
when we become his disciples, we accept what he says. What he says about the
Old Testament confirms its divine authorship and authority. And then
that same authority extends to the New Testament, which is an addition to the
Old Testament, commissioned by Jesus himself.
The consequence is that the person who encounters Jesus and who travels down
the route to becoming his disciple gets his fundamental questions answered. The
Bible contains clear answers to his questions. The answers include the
following:
- God exists. There is only one God.
- God created the world and continues to rule over it (in “providence”).
- God can work miracles when he wishes.
- God does work miracles at times when miracles further his purposes.
- We know that the Gospels present trustworthy historical accounts, because the Gospels are writings not only with human authors but with God as their divine author. What they say is God’s word.
- The miracles in the Gospels actually took place in time and space, in the way in which the Gospels describe them.
- Jesus is who the Gospels say he is. He is both God and man, and he became incarnate (took on human nature) in order to bring salvation and to fulfill the promises made in the Old Testament concerning the coming of the Messiah in the line of David.
The Meaning of Miracles
Granted that the miracles in the Gospels really happened, what do
they show? Why were they done? Why did God bring them about? Those are the
questions on which we will focus.
To be
continued…
No comments:
Post a Comment