Chapter 11.1

The Biblical Attributes of Miracle Working

Table of Topics

A) Introduction: Faith, Healing, & Miracle Working

B) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked with a Command, Not a Prayer: Miracles vs. Miracle Working

C) Miracle Working Gifts Always Required Miracle Faith from God

D) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked Powerfully, Not Partially

E) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked Convincingly, Not Suspiciously

F) A Biblical “Healing Ministry” Always Worked to Authenticate a Divine “Revealing Ministry”

Extras & Endnotes

Primary Points

• “Gifts of healing,” and “miraculous powers” were abilities granted to Prophets and Apostles enabling them to perform miracles on command.
• The difference between praying for a cure and commanding a cure is the difference between the direct miracles all Christians can request God to do today, and the human miracle working only those with the real gift of healing could do.
• Those with gifts of healing in Scripture healed perfectly, completely, instantly, and powerfully on command 100% of the time. None of those claiming such gifts today can, which is why it is fraud to do so.
• Biblical miracle workers convinced their enemies of their divine power. Modern “miracle” workers cannot even convince most Christians.
• The conspicuous absence of miracles over Nature is best explained by the fact that “healings” of humans is much easier to fake, or procure through natural means such as the power of suggestion.
• If modern “miracle workers” want any biblical support for their claims today, they must admit to one of the following: 1) they are a source of new extra-biblical divine revelation that has the authority of Scripture, or 2) they really do not perform miracles at all, or 3) their miracles are demonically empowered.

A) Introduction: Faith, Healing, & Miracle Working

The Apostle Paul mentions the miracle working gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 when he writes:

To one there is given through the Spirit . . . [miracle] faith . . . to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers. (1 Cor 12:7, 9-10)

There are three supernatural gifts or abilities listed here that are especially related to one another: miracle “faith,” “healing,” and “miraculous powers.” We will briefly state our understanding of these gifts here, and defend our perspective in the remainder of the chapter.

“Gifts of healing,” and “miraculous powers” were supernatural abilities granted to Prophets and Apostles enabling them to perform miracles on command. The Apostle’s distinction between “healing” and “miraculous powers” is best understood as the latter referring specifically to miracles over Nature as well, such as Christ’s multiplication of bread and fish (cf. Matt 8:24-26; 15:36-37), or Elisha’s ability to make an iron axe head float on water (cf. 2 Kings 6:5-7). “Healing,” of course, always involved people. ^[1]

As noted, the Apostle Paul also mentions “faith” among these miraculous gifts. We will demonstrate below that this is miracle faith which is given by God to miracle workers or recipients of miracles so that there is complete confidence a miracle will occur. Accordingly, Jesus said if a person has just a “mustard seed” amount of miracle faith, they can literally command a “mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matt 17:20). Therefore the miracle faith is as miraculous as the miracle working itself. It was the miracle faith that accompanied the gifts of healing and miracle working that enabled the miracle worker to command a miracle that immediately, and without fail occurred. This is in contrast to the right of all Christians to pray for healing or a miracle which may or may not occur.

Obviously there is a great deal of controversy on the miracle working gifts today due to the teachings and claims of super-supernaturalism. ^[2] Throughout this section of Knowing Our God (KOG) we have made the claim that God is no longer granting the miracle working gifts to His Church because their purpose of authenticating messengers of new extra-biblical divine revelation has ceased. Here we wish to support that claim by taking a closer look at the biblical attributes of these gifts and comparing them with how they operate in modern super-supernaturalism. Our conclusion is that no one today has the right to claim these gifts because they cannot demonstrate their biblical attributes. ^[3]

In order to illustrate the biblical attributes of miracle working gifts, we will use the Apostle Peter’s healing of the paralytic in Acts chapter three as it would seem to involve all of these characteristics. Luke writes:

Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.

Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. (Acts 3:2-8)

B) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked with a Command, Not Merely a Prayer: Miracles vs. Miracle Working

The paralytic in Acts 3 was healed by the Apostle Peter, not a prayer, and on his command to “walk.” This healing did not simply involve a request to God to heal, but God worked through the gift of healing he had given to the Apostle. This difference between praying for a cure and commanding a cure is the difference between what all Christians can do today and what only those with the real gift of healing can do. The method of healing performed by Christ and the Apostles was by command or touch, never merely prayer. ^[4]

Some might also object to our claim that those with miracle working gifts never healed merely by prayer by citing the example of the Apostle Paul on the island of Malta. There Luke records that a man “was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery,” and “Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him” (Acts 28:7-8). Obviously here the healing involved prayer, but not merely prayer, as the Apostle then healed with a touch. Our point here is that there is an important difference between the ability to heal by command or touch which the gift of healing invariably provided, and the kind of healing occurring today by prayer, but rather rarely. ^[5]

This fact reflects the important distinction between direct miracles performed by God and delegated miracle working performed by human miracle workers. Accordingly, the Apostle Paul refers to the latter as workers of miracles” (1 Cor 12:28 NASB). ^[6] More specifically, we have written:

In general, we can say that direct miracles can occur in response to the simple prayer of anyone, but such requests are often not granted. On the other hand, delegated miracles occur by the command or touch of a person and never fail, as we have no record in Scripture of a God-appointed miracle worker commanding or attempting to perform a miracle that did not occur. Accordingly, direct miracles authenticate and glorify God alone. Delegated miracle working intentionally authenticates and unavoidably glorifies the human as well.

The distinction between direct miracles and delegated miracle working is not merely a theological one, but important in the modern debate regarding miracles. Super-supernaturalism, which is the belief that divine miracles of all kinds are quite common today and that God-ordained miracle workers abound, often fails to make the biblical distinction between direct miracles of God and delegated human miracle working, with some unfortunate consequences.

For example, because many Christians deny that delegated human miracle working is operating today according to its biblical attributes and purposes, super-supernaturalism routinely insinuates that they are also denying God is doing miracles today. On the contrary, of course God is still doing miracles! But this is far different from saying that God is still empowering human miracle workers as super-supernaturalism claims, but which we demonstrate elsewhere is a false claim. We believe in miracles, not miracle workers, and by not distinguishing between them, super-supernaturalism has falsely accused others of believing in miracles less than they do.

In addition, super-supernaturalism bolsters its claims to miracle working gifts by suggesting that miracles or healings occurring in response to prayer are examples of these gifts operating. On the contrary, as we demonstrate elsewhere, no biblical character with miracle working gifts ever healed people with merely a prayer. Biblical Prophets and Apostles, and Christ healed without fail through their command and/or touch of a person.

This is the important difference between the direct divine miracles God may, but not always do in response to the prayers of any Christian, and the delegated human miracle working through miraculous sign gifts that, in Scripture, were only given to those who were also sources of new divine revelation from God. ^[7]

We distinguish human miracle working through God-given gifts from the direct kind in that the former occurred in the context of a man commanding a miracle that occurred immediately. This is significantly different from miracles we may pray for and ask God to do directly. “Be healed!” is the common language of a biblical miracle worker, and may or may not include any request to God for the miracle.

Such is illustrated when we read of Philip: “The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing” (Acts 8:6). Likewise, we note that those truly with such gifts could even pronounce miraculous judgment and have it immediately executed (cf. Acts 5:3-11; 13:10, 1 Cor.5:3-5; 1 Tim.1:20). Our distinction between miracles and miracle working gifts was also recognized by ancient Jewish rabbis of which David Garland notes, “the difference between rabbinic miracles and Jesus’ miracles: Jesus heals by a word, at a distance; Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa only prays for healing and waits for God to grant fluency to his requests.” ^[8]

Along these lines, the respected Evangelical theologian E. J. Carnell (1919–1967) writes:

Lest an unnecessary confusion result, it is vastly important that one comprehend the true meaning of the gift of miracle working. When one is endowed with the power to work miracles (such as in raising the dead), he performs these wonders according to his own personal discretion and by a power which, through God, is resident within him. His working of miracles is systematic, nonchalant, and sure. When Paul healed Eutychus (Acts 20:9ff.), he prefaced it with no extravagant emotional ritual; by powers residing within him he leaned over and brought life back. ^[9]

A good illustration of the difference between a direct miracle of God and a delegated miracle working through the miracle working gifts is the difference between how Hezekiah and Tabitha were healed. The former “became ill and was at the point of death” but prayed to God Who responded, “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life” (Isa 38:1, 5). There was no human intermediary performing the miracle, but rather, God performed it directly, and on this occasion, in response to a prayer.

On the other hand, Tabitha’s life was restored at the discretion of the Apostle Peter who simply commanded, “Tabitha, get up” (Acts 9:40), and she did. ^[10] In fact, we have no record in Scripture of a person with God-given miracle working gifts, commanding or attempting to perform a miracle that did not occur. This is how the real gifts of miracle working work.

The commanding nature, as opposed to the praying nature, of the miracle working gifts is clearly illustrated in the ministry of Christ. He did not pray for miracles, but commanded them or performed them by touch. For example in Matthew chapters 8-9 we read that because Jesus was “willing,” He “reached out His hand and touched” a “man” with “leprosy” and “said, ‘Be clean!’” and “immediately he was cured” (Matt 8:3).

“When Jesus came into Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her” (Matt 8:14-15). Then, “When evening came” He “healed all the sick” “with [only] a word” (Matt 8:16). When a severe storm occurred, Jesus “got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm” (Matt 8:26). When He met a “paralytic” He simply commanded “’Get up, take your mat and go home.’ And the man got up and went home” (Matt 9:6).

Without any fanfare, He simply “took [a dead] girl by the hand, and she got up” (Matt 9:25). A “woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak. . . . And the woman was healed from that moment” (Matt 9:20-22). The “sight” of two blind men “was restored” when “He touched their eyes” (Matt 9:29). This is not how Jesus healed in just these two chapters, but this is the way He always healed—by command or touch, not prayer.

And this is the way the Apostles healed. Accordingly, Jesus tells them, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt 10:8). Therefore, we are not surprised to see that every recorded healing of the Apostles in the NT was by command or touch, not prayer. Why? Because as Christ said, they had “received” the spiritual gifts of healing and miracle working which gave men the ability to command miracles, not just ask for them. Accordingly, we read that when the Apostle Peter “found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years . . . Peter said to him, ‘Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.’ [and] immediately Aeneas got up” (Acts 9:33-4).

The reason that those with gifts of healing or miracle working could command miracles, instead of merely pray for them, is that miracle faith, which provided a supernatural knowledge of God’s will to heal, was present. This will be discussed further below. Nonetheless, miracle faith accompanied the miracle working gifts so that the miracle worker could command the miracles.

Therefore, when the Apostle Paul encountered, “a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked . . . Paul looked directly at him . . . and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ [and] at that, the man jumped up and began to walk” (Acts 14:8-10). And when a “young man” died from falling asleep during one of the Apostle’s sermons, Luke records Paul merely laid on him and brought him back to life (Acts 20:9-10). ^[11] Finally, because he had the gift of miracle working, the Apostle “looked straight at Elymas and said, ‘You are . . . an enemy of everything that is right! . . . Now . . . you are going to be blind” and he immediately was (Acts 13:9-11). Clearly, then, a biblical attribute of the miracle working gifts was that they enabled a person to command a miracle, not merely pray for one. ^[12]

It is therefore unbiblical and misleading for super-supernaturalism to commonly claim that effectively praying for the healing of someone once in a while is the spiritual gift of healing. Of course God has answered some of our prayers to miraculously heal someone, but this is not the gift of healing which gave those who possessed it the ability to command a healing. Let someone today command healing after healing and never have that command denied, and then they can claim the biblical gift of healing.

A primary difficulty with interpreting super-supernaturalistic literature is its failure to make the important distinction between the direct miracles that God may do simply in answer to prayer, and those that He would do through the spiritual gifts of healing or miracle working through the command or touch of a person. The popular super-supernaturalistic author Jack Deere is especially guilty of such a distortion throughout his book, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit.

For example, in the introduction to the book he is relating a phone conversation that he had before his conversion to super-supernaturalism. At the time he was speaking with a leader of the movement and trying to argue that the gift of healing does not operate today. Mr. Deere tells the man, “Surely you know that God’s not healing any more and that all the miraculous gifts of the Spirit passed away.” ^[13] Even then, it would appear that Mr. Deere completely misunderstood, or chose to ignore, the difference between the fact that God still heals people today in response to prayer (and even without it), but the “miraculous gifts” enabling people to heal on command are not operating.

Likewise, consider the title of Chapter 8 of Mr. Deere’s book: “Were Miracles Meant to be Temporary?” How many Christians would argue that miracles were meant to be temporary?! What we are claiming is that human miracle-workers were meant to be temporary. Even in the last paragraph of the book Mr. Deere says, “Healing gifts are given to the whole church, and the elders of the church are to have a regular healing ministry (James 5:14-16).” ^[14] Again, such a statement confuses the difference between what Mr. Deere claims is the restoration of the NT gift of healing on command, and the ability for any Christian to pray for someone’s healing. We will address the proper interpretation of James 5:14-16 in the next chapter. ^[15]

Likewise, Dr. Wayne Grudem, Research Professor of Bible and Theology at Phoenix Seminary, does not distinguish between these methods of healing in his discussion of the NT gift of healing. ^[16] The majority of his thoughts throughout his seven page section on the gift of healing in his Systematic Theology have nothing to do with the miraculous gifts of healing and miracle working, but rather, praying for healing. This error, whether intentional or unintentional, only serves to unfortunately obscure the issue, and would seem to further expose the shortage of real biblical evidence that the NT gift of healing is operating today.

Dr. Grudem’s attempt to actually redefine the NT gift of healing is evident in the following remarks:

Those with “gifts of healing” will be those people who find that their prayers [not commands or touch?] for healing are answered more frequently and more thoroughly than others. When that becomes evident, a church would be wise to encourage them in this ministry and give them more opportunity to pray for others who are ill. We should realize that gifts of healing could include ministry not only in terms of physical healing, but also in terms of emotional healing. . . . Perhaps the gifts of being able to pray effectively in different kinds of situations and for different kinds of needs are what Paul referred to when he used the plural expression, “gifts of healings.” ^[17]

We would ask again, were “prayers for healing” characteristic of the gift of healing that operated in Scripture? No, healings occurred with a command or touch. Always. Dr. Grudem’s attempt here to define a person with the NT gift of healing as someone who’s “prayers for healing are answered more frequently and more thoroughly than others” is completely without biblical support. Also, there was no need to hope that the authentic NT gift of healing would work “more frequently and more thoroughly” than it did at other times. It worked perfectly and completely every time, as demonstrated below.

Dr. Grudem’s appeal to “emotional healing” would seem to be an effort to lend support to the majority of healing claims that involve very subjective, psychosomatic symptoms, things that are difficult to verify. Did Jesus or the Apostles ever use their gift of healing to only heal someone emotionally? The reason they didn’t is that such a healing is too subjective to be a convincing, authenticating miracle.

It would seem that there is a consistent attempt to present instances of people being healed directly by God through the prayers of Christians, and then to use these instances as proof that the gift of healing has been restored to the Church. It is obvious that such healings have nothing to do with these gifts. No right-minded Christian would deny that God heals today in answer to prayer, or that we should be praying for people’s physical illnesses. And it is this proper conviction that super-supernaturalism attempts to appeal to. However, it is both reasonable and biblical to insist that the spiritual gifts of healing and miracle working no longer operate.

The apparently deliberate confusion in super-supernaturalism between miracles and miracle working has some unfortunate results. Surely there are healings that God has performed through the faithful and secret prayers of humble Christians that some egotistical “faith healer” has publicly taken the credit for. In fact, if this distinction between miracles that are prayed for, and the gift of miracle working on command, were applied to the claims of healings today in super-supernaturalism, those thought to be a result of the operation of the gift of healing would be virtually eliminated. No one today is healing on command, because no one has the biblical gift of healing and miracle working.

This is even true of those places where the Gospel is being newly introduced and we would expect more miracles, as noted elsewhere. ^[18] Brother Yun’s ministry in underground China, for example, is certainly miraculous, but does not reflect the biblical attribute of the gifts of healing or miracle working which operated on command.

Accordingly, in one imprisonment, a fellow prisoner who was spying on the Christians became very ill. Yun and another Christian leader prayed for the man and Yun says, “the Lord totally healed that man.” ^[19] In another time of imprisonment, Yun met an old man who had suffered a stroke and half his body was paralyzed. Yun shared the Gospel with him and he and his wife asked Christ into their hearts. Yun writes:

The next morning before dawn, the old man suddenly felt someone strike him on his neck and back. For the first time in months he could easily move his head. He exclaimed, “It feels as if a rope around me has snapped!” . . . . The old man’s health recovered and soon he was able to walk up and down the stairs. This was remarkable for a man who’d been paralyzed by a stroke! He witnessed to all his old friends and sought forgiveness from people he’d wronged in the past. ^[20]

Remarkable? Yes! The biblical gift of healing? No. Such a miracle is probably explained by the potentially powerful physical effects of conversion discussed elsewhere. ^[21] And those attempting to use such examples to claim the gift of healing has been restored to the Church should repent and cease to distort the Word of God and mislead God’s people in that manner.

The biblical balance then is this: Let us embrace miracles as blessings of God, but evaluate miracle workers with the word of God. We have stated from the beginning that our critique of modern miracle workers is not a disparagement of miracles that God is clearly still doing. Accordingly, the Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield (1851-1921) summed up his masterful study of physical miracle working, Counterfeit Miracles, by saying that, “We believe in a wonderworking God, but not in a wonder-working church.” ^[22]

Likewise, John MacArthur, in his book, Charismatic Chaos, rightly recognizes the difference between miracles and miracle working and sums up our own view of them when he writes:

Does God heal? I believe He does. I do not automatically discount all claims of supernatural healings just because some are false. But I am convinced that dramatic, miraculous, immediate intervention by God is quite rare—never dependent on some supposedly gifted person who acts as an agent of healing.

Genuine healings may come as a result of prayer and most often involve simple natural processes. Other times, God speeds up the recovery mechanisms and restores a sick person to health in a way that medicine cannot explain. Sometimes he overrules a medical prognosis and allows someone to recover from a normally debilitating disease.

Healings like that come in response to prayer and the sovereign will of God and can happen at any time. But the gift of healing, the ability to heal others, special annointings for healing ministry, healings that can be “claimed,” and other typical faith-healing techniques have no biblical sanction in the post-apostolic era. ^[23]

C) Miracle Working Gifts Always Required Miracle Faith from God

Because the miracle working gifts operated on the confident command or touch of those possessing them, miracle faith was always present as well to provide such confidence. Below we explain the biblical topic of miracle faith further, but as we noted above, “[M]iracle faith . . . is given by God to miracle workers or recipients of miracles so that there is complete confidence a miracle will occur.” When miracle working occurs through the miracle working gifts there are no doubts that the miracle will occur because a supernatural miracle faith always accompanies either the commanding or the claiming of the miracle.

This is why we have no record in Scripture of a God-appointed miracle worker commanding or attempting to perform a miracle that did not occur. It was because God revealed His will to heal in a particular instance through the miracle faith He granted, that the miracle working gifts worked perfectly every time.

Not only was miracle faith granted to enable the unfailing commanding or claiming of a miracle, but it was as God-given and supernatural as the miraculous deed itself. It is not a type of faith that can be produced by humans through positive thinking or any other human exercise, but rather, must be graciously and supernaturally given by God.

The “gift” nature of miracle faith is certainly demonstrated in the Apostle Peter’s healing of the paralytic, as he is careful to explain:

By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see” (v. 16).

Yes, it was “By faith in the name of Jesus” that the man was healed, but it was a miracle faith that was granted to the Apostle by God to command his healing. As we point out elsewhere, some kinds of biblical faith are dependent on us, and others are completely a gift of God. ^[24] Miracle faith is the kind of faith that humans are not at all capable of because it requires belief in a miracle without any doubt at all (cf. Matt 21:21). Therefore, the kind of faith that must accompany miracle working has to come from God just as much as the miracle itself.

Understanding the nature of miracle faith is very helpful in properly understanding the relationship between faith and miracles and correcting several errors particularly in super-supernaturalism, which we discuss in the next chapter. ^[25]

D) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked Powerfully, Not Partially

Another obvious attribute of the biblical gifts of miracle working was that they worked powerfully. This is demonstrated in several ways. First, the miracles worked by those possessing these gifts were 100% effective 100% of the time. As we’ve already noted, we have no record in Scripture of a God-appointed miracle worker commanding or attempting to perform a miracle that did not occur. Such was the case of the Apostle Peter’s healing of the paralytic in Acts 3. Neither the nature of the man’s illness, nor the lack of his faith hindered his healing in any way.

In every instance where the gift of healing is recorded as operating, every single person ministered to was healed. If you were there and wanted and needed healing, you were healed, completely, immediately, and convincingly. This was certainly true of Christ as Matthew records, “great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all” (12:15). Luke likewise records that at another time:

He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of His disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch Him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. (Luke 6:17-19; cf. Acts 10:38)

The Apostles experienced nothing less. We read in Acts 5:

People brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed. (Acts 5:15-16)

The gift of healing always operated at this very level of power and consistency and there is not a single verse of Scripture that would indicate otherwise. We read of the gift operating through the Apostle Paul on the island of Malta. After healing the father of the chief official Publius, “the rest of the sick on the [whole] island came and were cured” (Acts 28:7-9), indicating that there wasn’t a single sick person on the island that wasn’t cured in the three months the Apostle spent there.

The power of the real gifts of healing and miracle working are also demonstrated in the complete nature of the miracles commanded. The Apostle Peter describes the paralytic’s healing as follows, “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see” (Acts 3:16). When someone was ministered to with the gift of healing, they did not leave the experience with a cure in one leg and a limp in the other.

Likewise, we read of the King:

On another Sabbath He went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. . . . He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. (Luke 6:6, 10)

The power of the real gifts of healing and miracle working are also demonstrated in the immediate nature of the miracles commanded. Accordingly, in the above instance of healing recorded in Acts 3, the gift of healing worked “instantly” (v. 7) on the paralytic and there are no exceptions to this in the Scriptures. Likewise, the King touched a man and commanded, “Be clean!” and “Immediately he was cured of his leprosy” (Matt 8:3), and when He touched two blind men, it is recorded that, “Immediately they received their sight” (Matt 20:34).

Finally, the power of these God-given miracle working gifts is demonstrated in the nature of their effect. They deny natural explanations. The paralytic in Acts 3 was a “man crippled from birth” (v. 2). When the Apostle commanded his healing, “instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk” (vs. 7-8). Actual structural changes, not merely psychological manipulations, had occurred in the bone structure of the man’s “feet and ankles” such that the results astounded all who witnessed it.

Scripture clearly portrays the God-given miracle working gifts as working perfectly, completely, and instantly. Therefore, the reasonable and necessary conclusion is that anyone claiming these same gifts should have the same abilities. It is right here that super-supernaturalism most clearly fails in its unique claims to the biblical gifts of healing and miracle working. Their “miracle workers” simply do not heal perfectly, completely, instantly, and powerfully on command. Never. Accordingly, it is agreed even within super-supernaturalism that the power of those claiming these gifts today is rather dismal compared to how they are recorded to have worked in Scripture. Nevertheless, super-supernaturalism would still have us believe that God has given them these biblical gifts.

For example, former Associate Professor of Theology at Wheaton, C. Samuel Storms, writes:

It is repeatedly argued that the extent and intensity of apostolic signs, wonders and miracles has not continued unchanged throughout church history. I agree. But this would only prove that the Apostles operated at a level of supernatural power unknown to other Christians, something virtually everyone concedes. It has no bearing, however, on the question of whether the miraculous gifts of I Corinthians 12:7-10 are designed by God for the church in every age. ^[26]

On the contrary, the relatively pathetic power of those claiming the biblical gifts of miracle working today has significant bearing on whether they are operating today, or at any time since the Apostles.

Likewise, Dr. Grudem, in another unfortunate attempt to degrade the authentic biblical gift of healing in order to legitimize present day “faith healing,” claims that Christ’s “two-step” healing of a blind man in Mark 8:22-25 suggests that “it may also be his intention to heal people in two stages today—or in three or four or more stages.” ^[27] This very able and gifted brother is scraping the bottom of the barrel to find biblical precedence for the merely temporary psychological healing that occurs at the hands of faith “healers” today.

Along the same lines, the super-supernaturalist Evangelical Free Pastor Bannister writes:

Healing ministries are often set back by the false demand [how about biblical?] that they be exactly like the healing ministry of Jesus and the Apostles. Healings that are partial or gradual in nature are dismissed as false because “that’s not like they did it in the book of Acts.” I am not aware of any healing ministry in the history of the church that rivals in power and drama the healing ministry of the Apostles. There was something unique and foundational about their ministry (Eph. 2:20). The often-heard charge is true: Nobody does healing today like the Apostle Paul. But must we conclude from that that God is done with his healing ministry? . . .

There does seem to be a distinction between the apostolic gift of healing and the gifts of healing mentioned in I Corinthians 12:8-10. These gifts of healing may be of lesser intensity, which would account for the difference between apostolic and modern miracles. ^[28]

Several misunderstandings would seem to be evident here. Again, like many super-supernaturalist teachers, Pastor Bannister has confused the denial of the operation of the gift of healing with a denial “that God is done with his healing ministry.” We have already demonstrated that they are not the same thing. God has, of course, continued His healing ministry, but not through the biblical gift of healing that worked perfectly, powerfully, and on command.

Accordingly, we read in Brother Yun’s biography that he lead one of the prison wardens to Christ. This warden had “a terrible throat infection that made him cough day and night.” Upon receiving Christ, Yun prayed for the warden and “he was gradually restored to full health.” ^[29] We praise God for what may have been a miracle, but it is not an instance of the biblical gift of healing that always worked instantly in Scripture.

The second mistake that Pastor Bannister makes is expecting us to believe people possess the biblical versions of the miracle working gifts even when they cannot produce the same attributes. Actually, if modern miracle workers cannot claim the power of biblical miracle workers then it is both arrogant and absurd for them to claim these biblical gifts.

While Pastor Bannister says, “I am not aware of any healing ministry in the history of the church that rivals in power and drama the healing ministry of the Apostles,” we are. As we document elsewhere, Bishop Irenaeus (c. 180), almost a hundred years after the Apostles, wrote that in his day those with the gift of healing had raised people from the dead. ^[30] He did not call them Apostles. Contrary to Pastor Bannister then, there is historical evidence that we can indeed hold those who claim the gift of healing to the standard set by those who possessed it in Scripture.

Thirdly, Pastor Bannister falls into reading his experience into his exegesis of Scripture when he conveniently claims there is a difference, “between the apostolic gift of healing and the gifts of healing mentioned in I Corinthians 12:8-10.” While such an interpretation fits the experience and claims of super-supernaturalism it does not reflect a face value interpretation of Scripture. Here we have encountered yet one more significant doctrine and practice of this movement that is simply unbiblical.

Finally, super-supernaturalism cannot even claim partial healings on command, let alone complete ones as demonstrated in Scripture. In other words, their effort to define the gift of healing as working haltingly, incompletely, and in a much delayed fashion is evidently based on a claim that this is how it is operating among them. But even these kinds of real physical healings among them are rather non-existent. They cannot even authenticate the instant but partial healing of any organic ^[31] disease, let alone the complete healing of such a thing. Which leads us to our next topic.

E) Miracle Working Gifts Always Worked Convincingly, Not Suspiciously

The gift of healing worked convincingly, partly because it worked perfectly, immediately, and completely, but also because it worked undeniably miraculously. The paralytic in Acts 3 was a “man crippled from birth” and many others knew it because for many years they had carried him around. This man’s condition was not recent or known only to him. It was not just a pain, or temporary limp, or some other ailment that can either be faked, simply imagined, or produced psychologically. ^[32] All could verify that this man had never walked in his entire life.

Accordingly, the miraculous nature of the Apostle’s healing of the paralytic was undeniable, even for the enemies of the Christian faith. Luke records:

The next day [after the healing] the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest’s family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?” (Acts 4:5-7)

The men evaluating the authenticity of this miracle were among the most public and devout enemies of Christianity. And yet, they admitted that the healing of the paralytic was a demonstration of miraculous “power.” Luke adds, “They could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say” (v. 14). Accordingly, they remarked amongst themselves “What are we going to do with these men? . . . Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it” (v. 16), even though they would have greatly desired to do so.

Healings today that occur through supposed healing ministries are quite often very subjective in nature, have not been diagnosed by a medical professional, and are difficult to independently verify. The paralytic in Acts 3 did not have a subjective or self-diagnosed condition, his physical defect was plain for all to see. If this one criteria for real miracle working were applied to modern faith healing, it would eliminate a vast majority of the claims to a miracle working gift.

Elsewhere we have written that one biblical attribute of miracles in general is their awe-inspiring effect. ^[33] Of course, for them to have this effect, they must be convincing. This was never a problem with the biblical characters who possessed the miracle working gifts. It is a big problem for “faith healers” today. Accordingly, we have written:

It is because of our confidence that God will supply what is needed in order for a miracle to be recognized among regenerated believers, that we are not impressed with the claims particularly in super-supernaturalism to an abundance of miraculous deeds and communication. “Healed” headaches and “prophetic” declarations by people who cannot foretell the future inspire little of the wonder and awe that biblical miracles did. Simply put, such claims only serve to remind us just how far we are removed from “the good ole days” in the early Church when a miracle really was a miracle! ^[34]

Those possessing the miracle working gifts in Scripture convinced even their enemies, while those claiming them today cannot even convince their friends and brothers in Christ. Accordingly, Max Turner, a respected theologian who enthusiastically supports super-supernaturalist doctrine and practice, nonetheless admits that:

While the claims [of John Wimber (1934-1997), founder of Vineyard] are many, the substantiating evidence is somewhat thinner on the ground. As Andrew Walker [himself sympathetic to the super-supernaturalist movement] warns: “It is precisely at the level of rigorous investigation into the miraculous that the Pentecostal movements, since their earliest days, have let themselves down. In the euphoria and excitement of [supposed] revival, miracles have been testified to in abundance, but rarely verified. Testimonies are [a] direct, successful, and personal means of communication, but they are by definition prone to exaggeration or capable of incorrect assessment. Congregations awash with the emotion of enthusiasm feed off rumor, conjecture, and hearsay. . . .

For those at an inspiring healing service, some change of feeling in the part of the body affected, combined with a conviction that God is healing, may be enough. For the investigating doctor with a professional reputation to maintain [or the discerning and sincere Christian!], however, there needs to be a competent and documented medical history of the condition before the healing, and clear evidence of change that cannot simply be accounted for in terms of temporary or spontaneous remission. Though we could wish otherwise, it needs to be said, in all honesty, that there are relatively very few occasions that stand up to such rigorous medical analysis. ^[35]

Referring again specifically to what the founders of the Vineyard Churches have claimed as miracles, Professor Thomas R. Edgar of Capital Seminary has written:

[John] Wimber refers to a man who fell, hit his head, was apparently unconscious for three minutes, and “came to” with a bump on his head. After Wimber and others prayed the bump eventually went away. This is incredible, not as a miracle, but that anyone would consider this as a possible raising of the dead. Would anyone have been convinced by such a “miracle” that Jesus was the Son of God or that the Apostles represented God? ^[36]

Accordingly, we discuss elsewhere, the great deal of fraud in super-supernaturalism and its claims to miracles. ^[37] It is because modern miracle workers cannot be miraculous enough to produce convincing medical evidence for their claims that they suggest they shouldn’t be held to such a standard. Accordingly, Dr. Ronald Kydd, Research Professor of Church History at Tyndale Seminary writes, “The question is, How much weight ought one to place on scientific observation as a means of validating the miraculous?” ^[38] To the contrary, there is no question at all.

What Dr. Kydd seems to disparagingly refer to as “scientific observation” is nothing more than using our God-given reason to wisely assess someone’s very significant claim that they possess a divine gift of heal people. “Scientific observation” is precisely what every human does to even recognize the miracle of Creation. It seems to us that the only reason that such a question is even being asked is that “scientific observation” of past and present claims regarding the return of miracle working gifts exposes Dr. Kydd’s super-supernaturalist doctrine as a fraud.

Likewise, the super-supernaturalist Christian apologist J. P. Moreland writes in his effort to insist that the biblical gifts of miracle working are operating today:

Limiting our focus to assessing the credibility of contemporary miracles, I have two things to say. First, it is simply not true that there is no medical evidence for miracles. . . . But second and more importantly, this standard of evidence is too high to guide the belief selection of a rational person because it would justify rejecting beliefs that have enough rational support to make them intellectually obligatory to believe. ^[39]

First, notice again the apparent confusion between divine miracles and human miracle working. Of course there is scientific evidence that God has done miracles, but this does nothing to prove He is empowering humans to perform them which is the effect of the miracle working gifts Dr. Moreland thinks still operate. Nonetheless, Dr. Moreland wishes to claim that “medical evidence” should not be a part of “the belief selection of a rational person” on whether or not a miracle has occurred. An apologist of Dr. Moreland’s stature should know better. Why would claims to the biblical gift of healing be “intellectually obligatory to believe” without medical evidence?

Several suggestions are necessary at this point. First of all, if someone wants to believe that God did a miracle for them, one that exceeds the abilities He has placed within Nature or humanity, it would usually seem both unwise and unnecessary to deny them their right to believe such a thing. Whatever evidence they believe they have “may be enough” as Dr. Turner says, not only in their own mind, but God’s as well. In fact, it is suggested that God may perform a private miracle intended only for the private experience and belief of an individual, and will, therefore, only provide evidence sufficient to convince that individual. Others may call such evidence too subjective, but again, the possibility of such a miracle must be kept in mind.

A problem occurs however when others are also expected to believe that a miracle has occurred and is being used as proof that the biblical miracle working gifts are operating. In this case it must be said that if that is God’s intention, then He will provide sufficient evidence to convince others as well. While an anti-supernaturalist attitude is unbiblical, so is the undiscerning acceptance of any and all claims to miracles. Not even God expects His people to believe He has miraculously intervened without sufficient evidence.

What is sufficient? The miracles and miracle working recorded in the Bible set a standard by which all modern claims to miracles and miracle working must be judged. If a modern claim does not match the magnitude, certainty, consistency, and durability under prolonged scrutiny of biblical miracles and miracle working, than no one is obligated by God to believe such a miracle has occurred.

The miracles and miracle working recorded in Scripture were intended by God to be recognized by any reasonable human being, and He provided sufficient evidence to accomplish that purpose. God used the gifts of healing and miracle working to fulfill His desire to undeniably authenticate His new divine revelation of nothing less than how humanity was to escape eternal Hell. The message was critical enough that God designed these gifts to leave no possible excuses for rejecting it except outright rebellion and hatred for everything Christian. God knew that the burden of proof lay with Him to convince people of the authenticity of His messengers and these gifts worked in such a way that it completely fulfilled that responsibility. Therefore, if and when He desires to do the same today, the evidence will be the same kind as well. Unfortunately, what suffices for many today for a miracle or miracle working, pales in comparison to the biblical and real kind.

This is precisely why modern “miracles” are more open to alternative explanations than biblical miracles. The magnitude, character, and effect of biblical miracles make it unreasonable to accept anti-supernaturalists explanations for them. The same cannot be said for the claims of the modern “miracle” movement. In fact, elsewhere we demonstrate that many other explanations account for such claims including lying, exaggeration, faking, and the power of suggestion. ^[40]

Accordingly, if super-supernaturalists’ claims are to be believed, why isn’t there any miracles over Nature claimed among them? When is the last time you heard of someone claiming the biblical miracle working gifts to have instantly withered a tree or calmed a storm on command? The conspicuous absence of such miracles over Nature is best explained by the fact that “healings” of humans is much easier to fake, or procure through natural means such as the power of suggestion, as we demonstrate elsewhere. ^[41]

Modern “faith healers,” (the ministries of which are often not worthy of the biblical meaning of either “faith” or “healing”), are in a constant struggle to defend the authenticity of their own “miracle working.” Instead of admitting the fact that their ministries simply are not that miraculous, they have reverted to several dishonest tactics.

For example, in an effort to give biblical precedent for the pathetic record of those claiming miracle working gifts today, Dr. Grudem claims such gifts may fail at times because they “vary in strength or degree of intensity.” ^[42] Dr. Grudem bases such a statement on the obvious fact that gifts that we might categorize as serving gifts, such as teaching or leading, may vary in strength depending on its use and development. But he and anyone else is sadly mistaken to apply this to gifts that God gives for the miraculous reception, recording, and authentication of His perfect revelation.

As we discuss further below, the purpose of the sign gifts was to miraculously prove that a person was speaking for God. Accordingly, we can readily see the difficulties with the super-supernaturalist attempt to downgrade these biblical gifts in order to justify modern claims to these gifts. How convincing is an authenticating gift that “may vary in strength and intensity” and even fail? This is precisely why supposed faith healers today are not convincing, because their healing efforts do not match the 100% effectiveness of the authentic biblical gifts. The fact remains that the miraculous Scripture and Sign gifts always accomplished precisely what they were intended to, and by definition they could not “vary in strength or degree of intensity.”

Another tactic used in super-supernaturalism to divert attention from the unmiraculous nature of their ministries is to blame their critics for some sort of spiritual problem on their part. The constant mantra within the super-supernaturalist camp is that the rest of us need to be more “open-minded” and “believing,” and if we were then their pathetic ministries would be recognized as more miraculous. We have given examples of such accusations elsewhere. ^[43]

On the contrary, it should be noticed that at no time did the King or the Apostles ever have to encourage even their enemies to be more “open” to their claims of miracle working. The credibility of those who possessed the gift of healing never depended one iota on the amount of “openness,” gullibility, or even the attitude toward Christianity of those who witnessed their miracle working.

Along these lines, one thinks of Simon the Sorcerer of whom we read:

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.

But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon . . . followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. (Acts 8:9-13)

We demonstrate elsewhere that Simon was not a true believer, ^[44] and here we see that he was a powerful magician, probably knowledgeable of all sorts of tricks and illusions, and he stood to lose a lot of popularity by accepting the fact that the Apostles were performing real miracles in his territory. Yet neither his knowledge of magic, nor his desire to protect his reputation could move him to offer another explanation.

The reason so many godly people are suspicious of the claims of modern faith “healers” is not because we have a natural aversion to miracles. In fact, we like miracles just as much as any human being. But rather, our suspicions regarding modern faith “healers” arise because their “healings” are often through the faithful prayers of others, not the “healers” touch or command. The “healings” are not in the context of a Scripture-quality “revealing” ministry as all miracle workers in the Bible were. And faith “healers” today do not heal instantly, completely, and convincingly like those with these gifts did in the Bible. If we are not convinced of the abilities of supposed “miracle” workers today, it is their fault, not ours, and it can be suggested that if they want the recognition they seek, then the burden is upon them to be more miraculous and biblical.

Instead, modern “miracle workers” and their supporters are increasingly tiring of the struggle to convince their fellow Christians that God is uniquely working among them. Instead, they now most often resort to laying the burden of proof on those who would question the effects of their supposed “miracles” and “miracle working.” They no longer feel they have to prove anything, but rather, expect the rest of us to prove that a miracle didn’t happen. As we’ve said elsewhere, such a response only serves to remind us just how far we are removed from “the good ole days” in the early Church when a miracle really was a miracle!

F) Biblical “Healing Ministries” Always Worked to Authenticate a Divine “Revealing Ministry”

The Apostle Peter, like every other God-empowered miracle worker in Scripture, was a messenger of new extra-biblical divine revelation to be believed and obeyed by all. Therefore, immediately after the healing in Acts 3 is performed (cf. vs. 2-8), the Apostle communicates nothing less than the changing of the covenant between God and humans. Imagine the revolutionary nature of the Apostle’s words when he proclaims:

Men of Israel . . . the God of our fathers has glorified His servant Jesus. . . . You killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. . . . Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what He had foretold through all the Prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer.

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in Heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through His holy Prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among His people.’ (vs. 12-13, 15, 17-23).

Clearly, the Apostle is speaking new, extra-biblical divine revelation from God that must be believed and obeyed by all. Accordingly, as we have discussed at length elsewhere, such supernatural revelation needs to be miraculously authenticated. ^[45] Along these lines we have written elsewhere:

The purpose of such direct, divine communication through Scripture gifts and miraculous authentication through sign gifts becomes obvious when we recognize that during these unique periods of human history God was radically and forever changing the answer to the most critical question for any human being: How can I be accepted by the holy God and escape His eternal judgment? Such a monumental purpose calls for extraordinary divine revelation accompanied by extraordinary supernatural authentication. . . .

When Christ’s ministry was completed, the source of these New Covenant truths passed to the Apostles and Prophets in the early Church. This is why Paul tells us that the New Covenant Church was “built on the foundation of the Apostles and [NT] Prophets (i.e. Agabus, cf. Acts 13:1-3), with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone” (Eph 2:20; see also 3:5). Because the message of the NT Apostles and Prophets with Scripture gifts was both unprecedented and revolutionary, God provided undeniably miraculous sign gifts such as healing, in order that the revolutionary New Covenant revelation might be divinely authenticated. ^[46]

Equally clear in Acts 3 is that the purpose of the Apostle Peter’s ability to heal was God’s desire to authenticate him as a divine messenger. Accordingly, we have written elsewhere:

In Scripture, you will not find a single divine miracle worker who was not also a messenger of new extra-biblical divine revelation from God that must be believed and obeyed by all. You will find men who prayed for miracles and received them (e.g. Joshua, Gideon, Hezekiah). You will find divine messengers who were apparently not authenticated with miracles (e.g. John the Baptist). But you will not find a divine miracle worker in Scripture who did not also receive and communicate extra biblical direct revelation from God that had to be unconditionally believed and obeyed like Scripture. ^[47]

These supernatural abilities possessed by messengers of authoritative extra-biblical divine revelation were God’s signature on such revelation. How else could the people of God recognize and properly respond to a person claiming to be an Apostle or Prophet of God? Just because they said so? Accordingly, God has ordained that God-like deeds are the required authentication of anyone or anything claiming God-like authority. While this is denied or ignored by super-supernaturalists today in order that they too may claim “miracle workers,” it is one of the clearest teachings of Scripture. Even the super-supernatural apologist J. P. Moreland writes:

In Scripture, God does not call people to trust in him or some truth he reveals without first revealing himself to those people or providing tests for the truth he reveals (e.g., fulfilled prophecy, a public manifestation of his power, or a manifestation of his presence in New Testament times and subsequently up to the present). In this way, God provides knowledge of himself and attesting credentials for revealed truth. ^[48]

For example, in the OT God told Moses to perform miracles “so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers . . . has appeared to you” (Exod 4:5). Moses’ miraculous abilities obviously authenticated him as a messenger of extra-biblical divine revelation. Likewise, when Elijah raised a boy from the dead, the mother’s response was: “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth” (1 Kgs 17:24). ^[49] God’s people knew that if someone truly spoke for Him, that God would authenticate that person with miraculous abilities.

Long ago, when God instituted human spokesmen for Himself, He clearly instructed the Israelites in one important way they would know that such a man spoke for God, and therefore possessed God-like authority. After telling the Israelites that He would speak and exercise His authority through Prophets, God said:

[A] Prophet who presumes to speak in My name anything I have not commanded him to say . . . must be put to death. You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?” If [a prediction] a Prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not [miraculously] take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That Prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him [or give him authority]. (Deut 18:20-22)

Again, it is clear that God ordained that the gift of miracle working would specifically authenticate those who were His messengers. In the case of His Prophets, they were given the ability to predict the future with perfect accuracy in ways that normally only God could do. This was not only true of OT Prophets, but NT Prophets as well, such as Agabus, who is recorded twice as having miraculously predicted the future in order to authenticate himself as a God-sent Prophet (cf. Acts 11:28; 21:10-11, 27ff).

Accordingly, Christ plainly described His God-like credentials when He said:

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just My own. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, Who is doing His work.  Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me [and that He possessed the Father’s authority]; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. . . .

Do not believe Me unless I do what My Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe Me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.  (John 14:10-11, 37-38).

The first Christians believed that Christ’s God-like deeds authenticated His God-like authority, as demonstrated when the Apostle Peter says, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know” (Acts 2:22).

This passage reveals several things about the gifts of miracle working. First of all, as we noted above, the gifts of miracle working worked through a person, like Christ or an Apostle. It did not involve the occurrence of a miracle apart from the specific ministry of a person. This distinguishes it from other miracles that God may do. A miracle occurring through these gifts could always be identified with the supernatural ability of a specific person.

We also notice in Acts 2:22 that the purpose of Christ’s miracle working was to authenticate His words as having divine authority. Christ claimed to be speaking for the Creator and Judge of all humanity and to ignore, disbelieve, or disobey what He said could cost you an eternity in Hell. God knows that such authority needs to be authenticated and He therefore provides it.

Christ’s miraculous abilities were specifically to authenticate His divine authority to God’s people. Nicodemus told Christ, “Rabbi, we know You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs You are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2). When Jesus was asked if He was the Christ, and worthy of God-like authority, He said, “The miracles I do in My Father’s name speak for Me” (John 10:25). When the Pharisees questioned the magnitude and source of Christ’s authority He replied, “so that you may know that the Son of Man has [God-like] authority on earth to forgive sins . . .” Then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home” (Matt 9:6). When John the Baptist began to question Christ’s identity, Christ responded: “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised” (Luke 7:22).

The Apostle John especially focuses on the fact that Christ’s miracle working was for the purpose of authenticating Him as a messenger of new extra-biblical divine revelation (cf. John 2:11, 18, 23, 4:48, 54; 6:2, 14, 30, 5:20-27,30-47; 7:27-31; 8:28f.; 9:30-33; 10:25; 11:41-45; 14:10f.; 15:24; 17:2-4, 21). Accordingly, the Apostle concludes his Gospel with:

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

Accordingly, the NT scholar Leon Morris writes concerning John’s conspicuous use of the word “sign”:

A sign is more and means more than a miracle, for it does not stand alone [like the “miracles” being claimed today], but is a token and indication of something else. Thus John’s word shows that our Lord’s works had a definite purpose. They were not wrought at random, but were intended for a special object. . . .

What is said above is enough to explain the reason why John so constantly used the term [simeion: “sign”] to express our Lord’s miracles. The water changed into wine at Cana he calls “the beginning of signs” (John 2:11), and the healing of the centurion’s son is “the second sign” (John 4:54), as being the first and second indications of Christ’s wielding those powers which belong to God as the Creator and Author of nature, and which therefore pledged the God of nature, as the sole possessor of these powers, to the truth of any one’s teaching who came armed with them. ^[50]

Because God has ordained to uniquely authenticate His messengers with the gift of miracle working, Jesus told His disciples, “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons” (Matt 10:7-8; cf. Mark 6:12; Luke 9:1, 6; 10:8). This, again, is extra-biblical divine revelation that must be believed and obeyed and it was to be authenticated with miracle working.

Along the same lines, we read in Acts:

Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there [in Iconium], speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of His grace [new divine revelation] by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. (Acts 14:3; cf. 15:12; 19:10-12) ^[51]

An important statement concerning the biblical purpose of miracle working was written by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians:

Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent Apostles, even though I am a nobody. The [authenticating] signs of a true Apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles. (2 Cor 12:11-12 NASB; cf. Rom. 15:18-19). ^[52]

The immediate context of Paul’s statement is the fact that some in the Corinthian church were doubting his authenticity and authority as an Apostle of Jesus Christ. There were also “false Apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as Apostles of Christ” (2 Cor 11:13) that the real Apostle was contending with. Paul tells the Corinthians that he deserves the apostolic authority he claims because he is a “true Apostle.” “The signs of a true Apostle” are clearly defined as “signs and wonders and miracles.” Accordingly, we read in Acts that, “many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the Apostles” and “The Apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people” (2:43; 5:12).

Miracle working was a unique, authenticating signature of an Apostle of Jesus Christ carrying and proclaiming His extra-biblical divinely authoritative message of the New Covenant. Therefore, Paul’s immediate defense of his being a real Apostle is to point out his God-given ability to perform miracles, something that not only the “false Apostles” could not do, but other “non-apostolic” Christians were not doing either.

Accordingly, NT scholar Paul Barnett writes concerning 2 Corinthians 12:11-12:

“The signs,” which are miracles pointing to God as their author, are the demonstration that Paul was precisely that, one of the select group of the Apostles. He is exactly what the professed “Apostles of Christ” now come to Corinth are not. They are “pseudo,” false Apostles (11:13); he truly is an Apostle. “The signs” establish that.

His present reference to “signs, wonders and miracles” in Corinth was not, apparently, a point of superiority claimed by the “superlative” [false] Apostles [or Paul would not have used such a defense]. Rather, Paul, having denied any “inferiority” to them (12:11), can merely point to his apostolic miracles at the time he first came to Corinth to clinch outright, and without further argument, his claim to apostolicity. On this understanding, Paul’s miracles – and the “superlative” Apostles’ lack of them -were an indisputable demonstration of his authentic Apostleship.

The suggestion that “the signs of the Apostle” [merely] include, e.g., missionary conversions or a Christlike life is overturned by the explicatory triad that follows: “signs, wonders, miracles.” ^[53]

It is obvious that Paul’s appeal to miracle working is worthless, if in fact, many “non apostolic” Christians were also performing miracles as super-supernaturalists claim. Because Paul’s words here deliver such a crushing blow to their idea that miracle working was common in the early Church and should be common today, there has been a great deal of effort to reinterpret the Apostle.

For example, Gordon Fee’s usual objectivity would seem to be obscured by his super-supernatural beliefs when he writes concerning 2 Corinthians 12:11-12:

Paul’s affirmations about miracles are not the statements of one who is trying to prove anything. That is, not only does he not point to miracles as grounds for accepting either his gospel or his ministry, but on the contrary he rejected such criteria as authenticating ministry of any kind. The cross, with the subsequent resurrection, and the present gift of the Spirit was all the authentication he ever appealed to. ^[54]

Likewise, Dr. Grudem claims in his Systematic Theology that the Apostle Paul says nothing here that communicates that miracle working was an authenticating sign of genuine Apostleship. However, he would seem to be splitting hairs when he admits, “Miracles of course had a significant function in confirming the truth of Paul’s message.” ^[55] Surely he does not expect us to believe that miracle working authenticated an Apostle’s message, but did nothing to prove an Apostle’s ministry. The NT simply does not separate the two as Dr. Grudem and other super-supernaturalists are so anxious to do. When we read that, “Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3), we do not conclude that God intended to only authenticate the message but not the messengers (cf. Acts 2:43; 5:12).

Dr. Grudem also argues that Paul’s claim to miracle working is not to differentiate himself from other Christians, but rather false Apostles. ^[56] However, he seemingly ignores the fact that Paul is additionally, and possibly primarily, wanting to support his right to have authority in the Corinthian church, not just to claim his superiority over false Apostles (cf. 1 Cor 4:1-3, 18-19; 9:1-3; 2 Cor. 2:9; 3:1-3; 5:12; 6:3; 7:2; 10:1-12). Particularly Paul’s immediate statement that he “should have been commended” by the Corinthians has much more to do with how the Corinthians viewed his authority than his superiority over false Apostles. It is obvious that Paul’s miracle working ability might distinguish him from false Apostles, but this fact does nothing to disprove the fact that the early Church recognized miracle working as a unique authentication of true Apostles.

Additionally, Dr. Grudem claims that the “signs of a true Apostle” have nothing to do with the “signs and wonders and miracles” that Paul mentions, but rather are merely nonmiraculous things such as “suffering and hardship endured for Christ.” ^[57] Jack Deere presents the same argument, ^[58] and it is one that is fairly popular in particularly liberal Christian literature. Indeed, we have argued elsewhere that supernatural virtue is the ultimate divine authentication of a divine messenger. ^[59] However, Christ and the Apostles also pointed to their physical miracle working as an additional essential authentication of their ministries.

Nonetheless, super-supernaturalists ignore the plain meaning of the text in 2 Corinthians 12:11-12 simply to justify their claim that miracle workers were abundant then, and are today. Let’s look at it again:

Actually I should have been commended by you [Christians as an Apostle of Jesus Christ], for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent Apostles, even though I am a nobody. The signs [sēmeia] of a true Apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs [sēmeiois] and wonders [terasin] and miracles [dynamesin].

The apparent desperation to find biblical support for their doctrine and practices is evidenced when Dr. Grudem claims that while the word “signs” in the latter part of the sentence “must refer to miracles,” Paul’s reference to “signs” in the first part of the sentence refers to “suffering and hardship.” ^[60] All of this to deny the obvious biblical fact that the gifts of miracle working were unique enough to the first century Apostles, that Paul could refer to them as “the signs of a true Apostle,” which again, makes the super-supernaturalists claim to the ordinary nature of these gifts then and today an absurd and unbiblical one.

Finally, the writer to the Hebrews summarizes our point in this section when we read:

This salvation [the revelation of the New Covenant], which was first announced by the Lord, was [miraculously] confirmed to us by those who heard Him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. (Heb 2:3-4).

The need for miraculous authentication for new divine revelation was precisely the reason the King told the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem “for the gift [of] “the Holy Spirit” so they could “receive [miracle working] power” in order to be His messengers of new divine revelation (Acts 1:4-5, 8). They already had the revelation they needed after Christ had, “appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (v. 3). But new divine revelation is not enough, these messengers needed divine authentication as well which came with the ability to miraculously speak in tongues (cf. Acts 2:1-12) and perform miracles (cf. Acts 2:43).

And such miraculous gifts for authentication were not just granted to Apostles, but to anyone given the responsibility of communicating new divine revelation. Accordingly, we read of Philip: “When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said” (Acts 8:6) which was the new divine revelation of the New Covenant.

With this in mind, it is alarming that the vast majority of modern “miracle workers” in the Church will not even dare to claim that they are sources of divine extra-biblical revelation that all must believe and obey. Yet that is precisely what every God-sent miracle worker in the Bible was and there are no exceptions. In other words, such “miracle workers” in the Church today do not have a single biblical example or teaching of Scripture that they can point to in order to support their “ministries” unless it is Simon the Sorcerer. ^[61] There simply were no miracle workers or faith healers who did not also receive direct, divine revelation from God that needed to be believed and obeyed by all.

It is true that some “miracle workers” today may claim a “gift of knowledge” or “prophecy” which grants them extra-biblical and divinely authoritative direction for another individual. Accordingly, a self-proclaimed “prophet” may claim God has told them it is “God’s will” for a particular person seeking their counsel, to move to a particular place, take a particular job, or other extra-biblical matters. But none of this fits the pattern of Scripture. The kind of divine revelation that biblical miracle workers received was not the kind that would primarily apply to just an individual, but was applicable to all Christians, in the same way Scripture is. ^[62]

Contrary then to super-supernaturalism, God has always granted sign and Scripture gifts together, because their purposes are interdependent. ^[63] Perhaps, then, we can be forgiven one verse out of context when we say, “Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Matt 19:6). Modern “miracle workers” will simply find no biblical support for their claims to God-sent miracle working unless they are willing to also claim that they speak with the God-given and conscience-binding authority of a Moses, Elijah, Jesus, Peter, or Paul. It is the God-like authentication of the Prophets and Apostles that grants their writings in the Scriptures God-like authority. We are not expected to give such authority to documents written merely by good men. ^[64]

One reason that modern “miracle workers” do not claim to possess extra-biblical revelation that is to be believed and obeyed by all Christians is that they know their ministries would come under greater scrutiny and be exposed as the frauds they are. As long as they are just being nice “miracle workers” supposedly doing people good, they are unfortunately left alone.

However, the habitual severing of the God-ordained relationship between Scripture and sign gifts is serious business because it has undermined the foundation of what the authority of Scripture is based upon. Contrary to beliefs in super-supernaturalism, the miracle-working abilities of God’s Prophets and Apostles were not meant to be imitated, but were meant to be His unique signature on such men as His messengers. Their exclusive possession of gifts of healing and miracle working is the foundation of our confidence that what these men wrote was divine revelation instead of human invention.

Accordingly, the reason we believe that Moses, Jesus, Paul, and Peter were unique sources of divinely authoritative revelation is that they uniquely performed miracles. If modern so-called “Prophets” and “miracle workers” possess the same gifts as those who supernaturally revealed and authenticated the covenants recorded in Scripture, then what authoritative superiority do Moses, Christ, and Paul have over them? None, if the modern claims to the same gifts are true. To whatever degree you dilute the superiority of their miracle working, as the doctrine and practice of super-supernaturalism does, you dilute the divine authority of their writings.

Accordingly, Peter Jensen, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney writes, “The constant recourse to claims for miracles today diminishes the revelatory significance of those recorded in the New Testament.” ^[65] Likewise, in this context, Christian apologist Norman Geisler warns:

The issue has significance for apologetics. First, existence of apostolic, sign gift-type miracles today raises the issue of whether the New Testament miracles uniquely confirmed the truth claims of Christ and the Apostles, as recorded in Scripture. Second, if miracles that confirm divine truth claims exist today, are truth claims they accompany to be accepted on par with those of Scripture? ^[66]

The fact that super-supernaturalism separates miracle working from its biblical purpose not only undermines the authority of Scripture, but makes the source of any real miracles in their midst suspect. The reason God sends miracle workers is to authenticate a new covenant or a messenger of extra-biblical divine revelation that God’s people must believe and obey. If this is not God’s plan today, then who might send miracle workers? satan, who sends them to deceive. ^[67]

Therefore, if modern “miracle workers” want any biblical support for their claims today, they must admit to one of the following: 1) they are a source of new extra-biblical divine revelation that has the authority of Scripture, or 2) they really do not perform miracles at all, or 3) their miracles are demonically empowered. These are the only options the Bible will offer someone who claims to be a miracle worker. And if number 1 is not true, then they had best flee to the humbling but forgivable concession of number 2, if they do not wish to be accused of number 3.

Extras & Endnotes

A Devotion to Dad

Our Father, we thank you that the greatest miracle working occurring today is the supernatural regeneration of the Holy Spirit which resurrects the spiritually dead to spiritual life! Forgive the Church for any misplaced emphasis on physical miracle working that has distracted from the real miracles occurring today. We pray that your Church would love and see You more than the mere healing of the body.

Gauging Your Grasp

1) How do we define the essence and purpose of “gifts of healing,” and “miraculous powers” (1 Cor 12:9-10).

2) What is the essential difference between the direct miracles all Christians can request God to do today, and the human miracle working only those with the real gift of healing could do?

3) What are the biblical attributes of those with the real gift of healing? Do you agree or disagree that modern “faith healers” match these attributes?

4) What is the significance of the fact that biblical miracle workers even convinced their enemies of their divine power?

5) What is our explanation for the conspicuous absence of miracles over Nature in modern super-supernaturalism?

6) Do you agree or disagree with the conclusion of this study: If modern “miracle workers” want any biblical support for their claims today, they must admit to one of the following: 1) they are a source of new extra-biblical divine revelation that has the authority of Scripture, or 2) they really do not perform miracles at all, or 3) their miracles are demonically empowered.

Recommended Reading

• Books 10 and 11 of Knowing Our God: Diving Miracles and Human Miracle Working.

Publications & Particulars

1. NT scholar Anthony Thiselton offers supporting evidence for our distinction between the gifts of healing and miracle working when he writes:

   On these matters patristic evidence and arguments deserve serious attention. Chrysostom [c. 347-407] perceives both overlap and contrast with healings: “He who had a gift of healing used only to do cures; but he who possessed [miracle working] used to punish also . . . even as Paul imposed blindness and Peter brought death” (Acts 13:11; 5:1-11) [I Cor. Homily 29:5]. So miracle working includes healing, but also whatever human healing does not include. Thomas Aquinas [1225-1274] also referred the latter to miracles over nature like Moses’ dividing the Red Sea and Joshua stopping the sun. (The First Epistle to the Corinthians [Eerdmans, 2000], 954)

   We also believe it is a mistake to confuse the gifts of healing and miracle working with exorcism, as we discuss in section 11.10.B ↑

2. For an introduction to super-supernaturalism see chapters 10.13-16. ↑

3. According to Nave’s Topical Bible, all of the healings in the NT are described in the following references: Mt. chs. 8-9; 12:9-13, 22; 15:22-28; 17:14-21; 20:29-34; Mk. 7:31-37; Lk. 7:11-16; 13:10-13, 14:1-6; 17:12-14; 22:49-51 Jn. 4:46-53; 5:2-9; 9:1-7; 11:1-46; Acts 3:2-10; 5:15-16; 9:34; 9:40; 14:8-10; 19:11-12; 20:9-12; 28:8-9 (John R. Kohlenberger, ed., [Zondervan, 1992], 414, 684). Reading them will help a person understand how miraculously superior these healings were compared to those claimed today. They will also confirm, without exception, the biblical characteristics of the gifts of miracle working that are presented here. ↑

4. The only clear exception is the record of people being healed by “handkerchiefs and aprons that [Paul] had touched” (Acts 19:12). But even here we would point to the fact that such healings involved the touch of the one having the gift, not a simple prayer. Luke also reports that, “people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by,” and while they might have received healing, the text does not say this. ↑

5. The proper interpretation of James 5:14-16 will be taken up at section 11.5.E ↑

6. It is true that “workers” is not in the Greek text of 1 Corinthians 12:28, which simply has dynameis (“miracles”). The idea of workers of miracles as opposed to direct divine miracles seems demanded by the text. For example, the literal translation of verse 29 would be “all are not miracles?” Because it appears in a list of gifts attached to people, even the rather literal NASB renders this, “workers of miracles.” ↑

7. Excerpted from section 10.5.A.1. ↑

8. David Garland, Reading Matthew: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the First Gospel (Crossroad, 1993), 94-97. ↑

9. E. J. Carnell, An Introduction to Christian Apologetics (Eerdmans, 1956), 273. Yet, just a page earlier, Dr. Carnell himself would seem to confuse direct miracles with delegated miracle working when he writes:

   The doctrine that miracles no longer occur is one of those fundamental canons which separate Protestantism from Roman Catholicism. . . . Miracles are a seal and sign of special, covenantal revelation; but revelation has ceased. There cannot, therefore, be new miracles. (Ibid., 272)

   It is, of course, just this kind of inaccuracy that super-supernaturalists take advantage of in order to accuse historicists of not believing in modern miracles ↑

10. Regarding our first characteristic, that the gift worked through the command or touch of a person, rather than simply an answer to prayer, it might be objected that Peter’s raising Tabitha from the dead is an exception (Acts 9:36-41). Luke records that before he commanded Tabitha to “get up,” he had gotten “down on his knees and prayed.” Still, Peter’s command to “get up” was certainly involved in the healing. Our point here is to distinguish between the ability of any Christian to ask God to heal someone, and the miraculous ability for a person to command a healing. Tabitha is no exception ↑

11. A study of the OT prophets reveals a similar pattern. However, unlike the NT, Moses and Aaron performed their miracles with the raising of a rod (cf. Exod 7:19; 8:5; 8:16; etc.), and Elijah divided the Jordan river by striking it with a cloak (cf. 2 Kgs 2:14). ↑

12. We would suggest, for example, that D. M. Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) ignores this distinction when he writes:

    We must never use the word ‘claim’ [in regards to miracles]. It is incompatible with sovereignty. People say, ‘Claim this gift claim healing.’ You cannot claim healing. The Apostle himself claimed healing three times and did not get it. Never claim; never even use the word. We are to submit ourselves -it is the Spirit who gives. The claiming of gifts is clearly incompatible with the whole of the New Testament emphasis. No, no, he is Lord, he controls and he gives. You can supplicate but you must never claim. Never! (The Sovereign Spirit: Discerning the Gifts [Harold Shaw, 1985], 48-9

    On the contrary, if someone has been given the gift of miracle working and the accompanying miracle faith to command or claim a miracle, they certainly can do so. Lloyd-Jones’ thoughts, however, apply very well to situations where the gift of miracle faith is absent and people are still “claiming” a miracle instead of asking for one. ↑

13. Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit Power (Zondervan, 1993), 18. ↑

14. Ibid. ↑

15. For a discussion of James 5:15-16 see section 11.5.E ↑

16. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Zondervan, 1994), 1063-1069. ↑

17. Ibid., 1067 (italics in the original). ↑

18. For further discussion of the proper expectation of miracles as illustrated in China’s underground Church see section 10.3.C.3-5. ↑

19. Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway, The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun (Monarch Books, 2002), 247. ↑

20. Ibid., 207-8. ↑

21. For further discussion of the powerful healing effects of spiritual conversion see section 11.10.A. ↑

22. B. B. Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles (Banner of Truth Trust, 1972), 58. ↑

23. John MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos (Zondervan, 1992), 256-257. ↑

24. For an introduction to the different kinds of biblical faith see section 6.1.D-E. ↑

25. For further discussion of miracle faith see chapters 11.4-5 ↑

26. Wayne Grudem in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?, Wayne Grudem ed. (Zondervan, 1996), 159 ↑

27. Grudem, Theology, 366. ↑

28. Doug Bannister, The Word and Power Church (Zondervan, 1999), 156, 193. ↑

29. Yun, 173-4. ↑

30. For further discussion of Bishop Irenaeus’ testimony concerning the gift of healing see section 11.7.B.2. ↑

31. There is an important distinction between functional [psychological] disease and [physical] organic disease: A functional disease is one in which a perfectly good organ does not function properly [because of psychological ailments]. An organic disease is one in which the organ is diseased, maimed, physically impaired, or even defunct. “Faith healers” can affect the former, but not the latter. See section 11.9.A. ↑

32. For further discussion regarding the rather amazing illnesses that can be caused by psychological problems, and the natural cures that can be provided through psychological means see chapter 11.9 ↑

33. For further discussion of the awe-inspiring effect of miracles see section 10.2.C. ↑

34. Excerpt from 10.2.C.3 ↑

35. Max Turner, The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts (Hendrickson, 1998), 332-333, 335. ↑

36. Thomas R. Edgar, “The Cessation of the Sign Gifts” BSac 145 (1988), 378. ↑

37. For further discussion regarding the fraud in super-supernaturalism see chapter 11.8 ↑

38. Ronald Kydd, Healing Through the Centuries: Models for Understanding (Hendrickson, 1998), xxvi. ↑

39. J. P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle (Zondervan, 2007), 185. ↑

40. For other legitimate explanations for super-supernatural claims to miracles see chapters 11.8-12. ↑

41. For further discussion regarding the rather amazing illnesses that can be caused by psychological problems, and the natural cures that can be provided through psychological means see chapter 11.9 ↑

42. Grudem, 1022-25. ↑

43. For examples of the habit in the super-supernaturalist camp to claim the rest of us need to be more “open-minded” and “believing,” and if we were then their pathetic ministries would be recognized as more miraculous, see section 10.16.G ↑

44. For further discussion of Simon the Sorcerer’s spiritual state see section 6.6.C. While here we suggest he may have been a mere magician, at section 11.12.A we admit that his abilities may have been demonically empowered as well. ↑

45. For further discussion regarding divine authentication of divine revelation see sections 3.1.D and 7.1.B.5 and 7.6.F ↑

46. Excerpted from section 7.3.C.3. ↑

47. Excerpted from section 7.6.F. For further discussion regarding divine authentication of divine revelation see sections 3.1.D, 7.1.B.5 and 7.6.F. ↑

48. J. P. Moreland and Klaus Issler, In Search of a Confident Faith (Intervarsity, 2008), 18-19 ↑

49. Many Evangelicals suggest the significance of Elijah’s miracle working was that it occurred during a time of apostasy, therefore, apparently offering biblical evidence that such circumstances could bring more Elijah’s.

    For example, the long time Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster, Sinclair B. Ferguson writes:

    Outbreaks of the miraculous sign-gifts in the Old Testament were, generally speaking, limited to those periods of redemptive history in which a new stage of covenantal revelation was reached and during which the kingdom of God required special defense against the danger of annihilation by the powers of darkness: the days of the Exodus, the entry into the promised land, and the establishment of the people there; the time of Elijah and Elisha and the establishing of the prophetic ministry; and the days of the Exile. (The Holy Spirit [Intervarsity, 1996], 224)

    We sympathize with Dr. Ferguson’s attempt to demonstrate the uniqueness of the sign gifts, but when he fails to note that every God-sent miracle worker was a messenger of extra-biblical divine revelation, and instead highlights the miracle working of Elijah and Elisha when “the kingdom of God required special defense against the danger of annihilation by the powers of darkness,” he leaves open the possibility that non-revelational miracle workers may be sent by God in such circumstances today. Such a view would not reflect the full teaching of Scripture ↑

50. Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John (NICNT) (Eerdmans, 1995), 608 ↑

51. This episode in Acts 14 is just one occasion where an Apostle performs miracles in order to authenticate new revelation in the presence of Gentiles. This refutes the idea that when Paul said, “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom” (1 Cor 1:22), that such miraculous authentication was somehow confined to the Jews. The apostles elsewhere performed miracles among Gentiles (cf. Acts 15:12; 20:6-12; 28:7-10). The Jewish demand for supernatural authentication of supernatural revelation was not cultural, but creational and biblical ↑

52. Super-supernaturalist Wayne Grudem suggests that 2 Corinthians 12:12 is not biblical evidence for the purpose of miracle working. For further discussion see section 8.4.B.2 ↑

53. Paul Barnett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Eerdmans, 1997), 580. Barnett lists K. H. Rengstorf in the TDNT 7.258-60 as supportive of his view.

    Nonetheless, even a respected NT scholar such as C. K. Barrett dismisses the obvious and contends:

    Paul’s rivals, originally standing on a Jewish-Christian platform, had no difficulty in accommodating themselves to the requirement [of working miracles] (and thus in some respects give the impression of claiming to be ‘divine men’. (The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (BNTC) [Henddrickson, 1997], 321, cf. 29).

    In other words, Barrett suggests there were an abundance of bona fide miracle workers in the pagan religions, and for example lists Apollonius of Tyana. Elsewhere we have noted the very sketchy and questionable data on Apollonius (cf. section 11.8.C) and more liberal scholars such as Barrett do not have the enough evidence for real pagan miracle workers in the apostolic age. If an abundance of such people existed, again, Paul would not have offered the evidence of his miracle working as a defense ↑

54. Gordon Fee, God’s Empowering Presence (Hendrickson, 1994), 888 ↑

55. Grudem, 364 (Underlining added for emphasis). ↑

56. Ibid., 362. ↑

57. Ibid., 363-364. ↑

58. Deere attempts the same arguments, no doubt, based on Grudem’s work. (Power, 104-105). Carson disagrees with both Grudem, Deere, and, he says, Turner, and rightly points out that, “The expression signs of an apostle or the like occurs in a few crucial passages (Acts 2:43; 5:12; 2 Cor. 12:12), and it teaches us not to avoid the link [between “the miraculous gifts” and the “role of attestation”] altogether.” (Spirit, 156). ↑

59. For our claim that virtue is the ultimate test for a divine messenger see especially sections 9.12.D and chapter 11.13. ↑

60. Grudem, 363. ↑

61. See section 11.12.A regarding Simon the Sorcerer. ↑

62. Some may object that Ananias (cf. Acts 9:10-18) is a miracle worker that does not fit our claim that every God-sent miracle worker was also a source of new extra-biblical divine revelation that was to be believed and obeyed by all. We discuss his special case in the next chapter at 11.2.B.3 ↑

63. For further discussion of the definition and purpose of Scripture and sign gifts see sections 3.1.D, 7.1.B, 7.6.F. ↑

64. This divine method of miraculous authentication is especially important for doctrinal revelation. This is because our New Nature by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit through our regeneration is also a powerful source of divine authentication regarding the moral directional revelation in Scripture (see section 3.5.A). However, how could we be assured that, for example, God the Father:

    chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons . . . having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. (Eph 1:4-5, 11)

    While we could know we are saved through the Gospel by its supernatural effects in our lives, we still would not know we got saved because God “chose us” and “predestined us” to be so. These are incredibly weighty truths, and the only reason we can know that they are from God is because the apostle Paul who penned them was a man of both supernatural virtue and power to perform miracles. ↑

65. Peter Jensen, The Revelation of God (InterVarsity, 2002), 272. ↑

66. Norm Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Baker, 1999), 468. ↑

67. For further discussion of demonic miracle working see chapters 10.6 and 11.11-13. ↑