Do miracles happen? Are they a fiction of a pre-scientific era? Should the Church still believe that miracles can happen now?
Among modern Neo-Calvinists, including luminaries like John MacArthur, a theological trend has taken root. It is called, cessationism, the belief that miracles ceased at the end of the Apostolic era. Drawing from the work of the Reformers, they argue miracles have ceased as a way to authenticate the Gospel. Miracles, God’s intervention in the created order, were normative during the period of the New Testament. One cannot read the New Testament and avoid seeing miracles as common among the earliest believers. While one would expect miracles during the life and ministry of Jesus, the presence of miracles is attested during the book of Acts and in many of the letters of Paul. In fact, Paul describes signs and miracles as testimonies of the power of God at work in the Church (Gal 3:5). The question cessationists put before us is not whether the Bible attests to miracles in its time, but whether the Bible teaches that miracles would cease after the close of the New Testament period.
New Testament Scholar Thomas Schreiner of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary argues in conjunction with the Protestant Reformers that gifts of miracles as they are described in the New Testament have ceased.[1]He argues since the New Testament is complete we have no reason for miraculous spiritual gift of apostleship. “. . .All we need to know for salvation and sanctification has been given through us through the teaching of the apostles and prophets, and that teaching is now found in the New Testament.”[2]In other words, we have evidence the spiritual gift of apostleship has come to a conclusion. Its absence makes it clear that it is no longer needed. Since we no longer need the gift of apostleship, it is possible we do not need other gifts as well. Schreiner specifically mentions prophecy as no longer needed. As far as healing, he argues the healings in the New Testament were sent to authenticate the Gospel. Those authentications are no longer needed. While healing does occur, the events are not the kind of miracles seen in the Bible.[3]
Others cessationists go further. Some of MacArthur’s followers argue that God no longer speaks except through Scripture. When someone like Beth Moore or Charles Stanley argue the Lord directly communicated to them to write something, MacArthur’s followers cry foul. On the basis of Hebrews 1, they argue God no longer communicates in that way. Those who claim this extra-Biblical communication must be either mistaken or dishonest.
I disagree with cessationism for some important reasons. First, reports of healing are too widespread and wondrous to be discounted. While I could say clearly I have seen multiple spontaneous healings that one could only call miraculous, I am only one person looking at my own pastoral experience. To rebut the idea that miracles have ceased, New Testament Scholar Craig Keener has written exhaustive compilations. He concludes millions of people have experienced miracles across a range of cultures and contexts. The evidence of the history of the Church is that miracles have been with the church since the beginning and remain so. This is particularly true in missionary settings.
I also disagree with cessationism’s denial of God’s communication to people. It is interesting to note the lineage of Neo-Calvinism. Neo-Calvinists draw inspiration from the Reformers and, as the name implies, John Calvin. Calvin and the other Reformers drew heavily from Augustine. In fact, Calvin himself quotes Augustine hundreds of times in his Institutes.Augustine, however, did not believe God had stopped talking to people or doing miracles. On the contrary, it was a miraculous voice that drew Augustine to God in the first place. Augustine is not on the level of Scripture, to be sure. So, appealing to him is of limited value. The simple issue is though, that the Bible neversays that God would stop speaking to people at the conclusion of the writing of Scripture. The Bible never says that the gifts of the Spirit are not for the current era. One should be very dubious of claims that cannot be definitively based on Scripture.
I also believe cessationists make a mistake about the nature of the world. God did not create a world that exists on its own. The universe is upheld by Jesus Christ. Because the universe was created and is upheld by God, existence itself is a miracle. I like the way former presidential speech writer Peggy Noonan puts it, “. . .I believe in miracles. The way I see it, life isn’t thin flat and ‘realistic,’ it is rich and full of mystery and surprise. I think miracles in part as clues that there is something beyond the flat world we see. I also think they happen every day, from the baby’s perfect shoulder in the sonogram to the saints performing wonders.”[4]
Cessationists do make an important point, however. Claims of miracles and claims of God speaking have been tied to abuse far too frequently. Some have claimed the power of God to heal and have made fortunes for themselves. Some have claimed God’s direct speech to them and used the claim to wield power over people for self-benefit. Just because someone makes a claim that God has healed or makes a claim that God has spoken does not mean that God has actually healed or spoken. Great care must be taken to evaluate such claims and those who make them. One clue for me is that if a person is using the miraculous to make a name for themselves or make advance their own cause, one should be very, very dubious. God is never one to be put on display like a cheap magician.
So yes, I believe miracles do occur, but they do so on occasion. God has made a world that is orderly and follows normative natural laws even if He sustains it. If, however, miracles always occurred, it would be tantamount to a lawless creation. Our experience teaches us that miracles do not always happen. Sometimes I have wished they would have happened and they did not. I’m sure that is the experience of most people as well. When and if God does the miraculous is God’s prerogative. I think in eternity we will see the manifold times God intervened in small ways that we did not even notice at the time. Until then, we can know that in every event God will work for the good of His people.
[1]https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/cessationist/
[2]Ibid
[3]Ibid
[4]Peggy Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution, 32.
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