Introduction
The Bible is full of documented miracles, supernatural acts of God, claimed to be witnessed by the authors.
The purpose of God’s miracles were not only to demonstrate his glory, but also to guide and take care of his people, and also, to prove both his existence, and that he was the one true God.
Hence, the importance of the miracles recorded in scripture, serve both a historical and apologetic purpose, in being historic testimony of God’s activity concerning Israel, and of course, Christianity.
It is one thing to ‘claim’ a miraculous event, however, and actually having evidence or proof of such things. There are many religious texts, after all, that claim accounts of supernatural events. Be they real or just the imaginations or propaganda of the writers is another matter all of itself.
This brings us to the matter of miracles in the New Testament, specifically of those amongst the Christians themselves, who were said to have the “gifts of the spirit”:
- “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.” – Acts 5:12-16
- “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” – Acts 2:1-4
Just as in the Old Testament, one of the purposes of early Christian miracles was to lay a foundation of proof for what they were preaching. If they could demonstrate the power of God, then they could draw others to the Gospel, and then set a historical record for those of us reading in the future to look back upon, to see that the faith we have isn’t a mere fantasy.
According to the New Testament, early Christianity experienced many miracles amongst their members, the Apostles, and several others whom the spirit came upon.
Of course, simply “claiming” miracles happening, and such accounts being true stories, are two different things. In this respect, whether or not to believe these miracles happened, is a greater subject of faith, as we can’t “reproduce” the miracles, or see these people for ourselves, or watch footage of such happening. All we have are these written records which act as our historical testimony.
However, there is a form of potential proof of the authenticity of these miracles, in light of the early Christian writings and letters we have. Primarily, the epistles and pastoral letters sent to the congregations.
Testimony of the Epistles
The “epistles” and “pastoral letters” make up a great deal of the New Testament, and are simply written letters from various Apostles and Elders to the Christian congregations scattered about the ancient world, either teaching, advising them, or just giving general social greetings.
These letters were not intended to be seen as “religious texts”, “liturgies”, “lore”, “histories”, or “stories” of the Christian faith in the manner that the Gospels, Acts, or some of the structured stories of the Old Testament are, but are everyday historic greetings and communications from Christian Elders to their communities that were aimed in addressing real time events and situations.
It’s in this respect that we find a very strong case of proof that the miracles of the 1st Century were real, in how they are spoken about in these said letters.
For example:
- “…each man has the Spirit revealed and given [to him] in order to help him. Therefore, via the same Spirit, one person is given words of wisdom, while someone else is given words of knowledge. It gives words of faith to some, while others get the gift of healing, or the ability to perform powerful deeds, or of prophesying, or of distinguishing different spirits, or of speaking different languages, or of interpreting the languages… God has designated each of your places in the congregation… First the Apostles, second the Prophets, and third the teachers. Then come [those with] powerful works, or the gifts of healing, or performing helpful services, or the ability to direct, or speaking different languages. Not all are Apostles, are they? Not all are Prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all can perform powerful works, can they? And not all have the gift of healing, or can speak different languages, or can serve as translators. However, zealously keep seeking the greater gifts… Love never fails! But the [gift of] prophesying will be done away with, The [gift of] speaking [in foreign] languages will end, And the [gift of miraculous] knowledge will pass away. Because we now have just a partial knowledge, and we can only prophesy partially. However, when the perfect thing arrives, the partial thing will be done away with… ” – 1 Corinthians 12:7-10, 28-31, 13:8-10
- “…Let the one who speaks in [foreign] tongues pray that he can also translate! …If the whole congregation is speaking in [foreign] tongues when some ordinary person or unbeliever comes into your meeting place, won’t he just think you’re crazy? However, if everyone is prophesying when an unbeliever or ordinary person enters, he’s corrected and judged by them all. Then, as the secrets in his heart are revealed, he will fall to his face before God and say: ‘God is truly among you!’ Therefore, what should happen, brothers? When you’re meeting, one should have a psalm, another should have a teaching, another should have a revelation, and another should speak in a foreign language (that is, as long as someone else interprets it)… So if some are speaking in [foreign] tongues, limit it to two or three at the most, and do it in turns, and then have someone do the translating. However, if no one can translate it, such people should be silent in the congregation, speaking just to themselves and to God. Let two or three prophets speak instead, and allow the rest to judge the meaning of what they’re saying. Then if someone else has a revelation while he’s sitting there, the first one should [yield to him]. This way, when each of them prophesy in turns, everyone can learn and be encouraged“. – 1 Corinthians 14:1-3, 13, 23-30
The nature of this letter is very revealing.
We see here how Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians, amongst the many topics he addressed them on, he dives straight into instructing the congregation on how to handle their miracles and special gifts.
This is of note because, as it’s a real letter to a real community of people, it means he’s addressing real events and activities. Paul isn’t trying to ‘prove’ miracles are happening, but is casually talking about miracles as if it’s an everyday occurrence to his audience. His letter only makes sense and works in context of a situation where miracles were ‘already’ happening amongst the Christian community.
For example, if today one was to write to any one of us a letter, instructing us on how to use our divine powers, even though we may never have performed a miracle in our lives, we’d most likely scratch our heads or just think the writer was a lunatic. But Paul writes in familiarity here, and it means not only that he is a genuine believer in all these vernacular miracles, but that he expects his audience to be. Furthermore, we should pay attention to the fact that these miracles are happening ‘in absence’ of the Apostles, amongst the community independently.
We should pay attention that Paul is telling the congregation on how to “organise” their miracle performing, and also in such details that speak of genuineness.
For example, he is quite adamant concerning the speaking of tongues, that being, the ability to miraculously speak in another language one has never learned. He tells the community not to be all speaking at once in different languages, in order that people can take the time to listen to one another, and to give space for the people with the ability to translate and interpret what they are saying.
Likewise, he tells the prophets to speak in turns, and allow the congregation to judge their words to test if it is ‘genuine’ prophecy or not, encouraging not only common sense and order, but also critical thinking and examination.
Divine or Delusional?
Of course, whilst we can say with certainty, that both the Apostles and the Christian community here, genuinely believed in the reality of these miracles, it is reasonable for a sceptic to ask; “how do we know this isn’t all just in their heads?”.
For instance, we’ve seen many great examples of modern day Charismatic Pentecostal movements, of people claiming to be able to speak in tongues, or receive revelation, heal people, and so on.
Most often in such churches it’s common to find people running around the isles, or rolling about on the floor and shouting gibberish, and people even ‘seemingly’ being healed from diseases. But in most of these cases, deeper investigation from both Christians and non-believers, has shown that usually these churches are engaging merely in some kind of delusional thought, overexcitement, or are being deceived by stage performers who make money out of them.
For example, we see after being hyped up for the miracle, some wheelchair bound believers suddenly stand up and start walking around, praising God after the Charasmatic Preacher touches them and prays or yells over them, only for them to be bound to their chair again after an hour or so. There are those who are told their back pain is removed, but they only think it’s removed from suggestibility or some form of stage hypnosis, for it to eventually come back again with a vengeance.
So how can we be certain that these 1st Century Christians were not merely in some ecstatic state? Or were experiencing some kind of placebo effect making them feel better from their sicknesses? Or speaking complete gibberish when claiming to speak in the tongues of angels?
The key in knowing is taking note of the ‘differences’ between the acts and definitions of 1st Century gifts, and modern day pseudo-miracles, as well as the attitude toward both.
For example, prophecy.
Prophecy in many modern day Charismatic and Pentecostal cults, tends to be simply the words or statements from an individual who simply says “I feel the spirit telling me to say this!” But in actuality, often is nothing more than can be shown to be someones emotional feelings, or perhaps an instrusive thought. Such modern movements teach their members that “prophecy” means to believe one’s own “intutions” or “gut feelings”, which we all have, are some how “divine messages” from God.
Historical Biblical prophecy, however, was defined as to be truly speaking by the Spirit of God, being able to truly attain divine knowledge, or secrets, or to know what a person was thinking, to know the unwitnessed past, or being able to legitimately foretell the exact future in a way that was humanely impossible (John 1:48, Acts 11:27-28), whereas, those who had deluded themselves into thinking they were prophets, were condemned (Isaiah 30:10, Ezekiel 13:3, Jeremiah 23:16, Deuteronomy 18:21-22).
In this respect, we should take note that Paul encouraged those with gifts, to focus more so on prophecy when preaching to others to convince them of the Gospel, as ‘opposed’ to something like speaking in tongues or languages they couldn’t understand, which he stated would be more likely to frighten people away from the faith if they didn’t know what was going on (lest the tongue speaking was for the purposes of preaching in foreign lands).
He states that by means of prophecy, people would be able to more likely to praise and say “God is surely with you!”, this being because the 1st century definition of prophecy was to be able to speak knowledge that would be normally impossible for any human to speak, be it reading someone’s mind, knowing where the had been and what they had done alone in private, or telling them the future in detail which then proceeds to hapen, and so on. And it is this ability which is being spoken of so casually to his audience which he asserts he knows they have amongst themselves. And as aforementioned, he, along with other Apostles, encourages the community to have, not blind faith, but critical thought and examination toward the prophets to test if they are truthful or not (1 John 4:1, 1 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Corinthians 14:29).
Likewise, the 1st Century definition of speaking in tongues.
It was not speaking in gibberish, but we are told, speaking in another legitimate language (Acts 2:8). This is radically different to the modern day definition of tongues. And furthermore, Paul tells the congregation ‘not’ to be all speaking in different languages at once for the sake of not confusing new comers or visitors amongst their congregation. Meaning it wasn’t something he regarded as some kind of “proof” of inspiration from God to others, as is so often portrayed in certain Charismatic or Pentecostal groups today.
Again, healing.
As defined by the 1st century culture, it was not merely getting overexicted, working on a placebo effect, or some other form of trickery, but to be “healed” was understood to be something truly tangible, amazing, and non-temporary. Such as people born blind being able to see, people cured of chronic diseases, cancers, tumours, leprosy, and so on. Something modern Charasmatics do not do.
An even greater gift of healing that was also known, were those who could raise the dead amongst the Apostles and the early Christians. Of course, one would ask; how do we know the dead people raised were actually “dead” are not just unconcious or in a coma?
The answer to this is that ancient people were not stupid. They knew, just as much as we do, what a dead body was, and what an unconcious one was. Ancient people would have surely experienced things such as comas, people playing dead, or sleeping just as us. We see for example, when Yeshua told people a dead little girl was just “sleeping” before he raised her, the crowed actually ‘laughed’ at him (Matthew 9:24). So indeed, people knew well enough the differences between the dead, comatose, and the sleeping.
The miracle of raising the dead came from the immediate standing up of a person declared dead, after prayer over the body or laying of hands, not from mere coincidence, or, praying over someone who only appeared to be dead, then waiting a few hours or weeks until they woke up again from their illness and claiming the credit.
The Christians didn’t need the Apostles
Another feature to point out, is that we’re told the Christians themselves locally were performing miracles by themselves, without the need of the Apostles present. And that it applied to many of them, that ‘all’ the Christians should go on seeking such gifts.
According to the accounts of Acts, some Christians had this power come upon them via their faith by themselves, and not by any Apostle or Elder passing it on to them.
We thus can see that this isn’t the case of some con artist or stage performer pulling the wool over people’s eyes to take advantage of them. With modern miracle working cults and cons, they build up a following via their “miracle” performances, because they often if not always want to make money out of them. The modern day Prosperity Gospel preachers are a prime example of this.
The Apostles in fact, ‘rejected’ all offers of money for such power, and Paul himself informs Corinth in his second letter to them, when they evidently begin to start doubting him, that they are free to abandon him, and any Apostle, for they still would have the Lord within them, and the works of the Spirit so long as they remained in faith to Yeshua:
- “But when [Peter and John] laid their hands on them, they each started receiving Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that the Apostles could give the Spirit by just touching people, he offered them money, saying: ‘Give me the power so that anyone I lay my hands on can receive Holy Spirit!’ But Peter said: ‘May your silver be destroyed along with you!‘ Since you think that you can buy the gift that God gives freely, you aren’t going to have any part in this, nor will you share in it… For God sees that your heart is crooked!”. – Acts 8:17-21
- “What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel” – 1 Corinthians 9:18
- “…here you are, searching for the proofs that the Anointed One is speaking through me! Realize that [Yeshua] isn’t weak towards you… [in fact], he’s very powerful among you! …Now, we keep praying to God that you don’t do anything wrong. And we aren’t doing this to make ourselves look like we’re approved, but so that you may be doing what’s better even if that makes us look disapproved. For we’re unable to do anything against the truth – only for the truth.” – 2 Corinthians 13:3
So we see both a lack of leadership reliance, and lack of materialistic motivation for this to be some kind of con game, for cult followings always put the power in the hands of the leaders, not the people.
Paul Foretells Gifts Would Cease
Paul also states that he’s well aware that not all Christians have these gifts universally, and that they wouldn’t last forever, though he wanted the community to keep on seeking them whilst they were availible.
He was foretelling a time where Christians for the most part, would not experience the gifts of miracle performing, as ‘opposed’ to the common culture of that time in which he was writing toward, something today we can attest to be true.
He wrote such a thing telling them that what they were currently experiencing, would go away in some time in the far future. This not only means that clearly, the miracles were at that time currently “active”, but by their nature, they were not maintainable by means of a carried over tradition of techniques, trickery or performance, for to claim they would later vanish, they’d have to be spectacular and not so easily passed on, repeatable or imitable.
But in a case of placebos, emotional highs, stage tricks and the like, such a thing would be easily carried over generation to generation without ceasing, and they’d be no reason to claim that such a thing could or would ever stop. Just as we see with the modern Charismatic and Pentecostal cult movements. Their “gifts and works” never ever cease, because they are techniques of scam and emotional manipulation that are so easily passed on.
Christian Patristic Writings
This continued tradition of the mention of miracles amongst the Christian community, continued into the 2nd-3rd Centuries, as can be seen in various Christian writings:
- “Therefore his [Lord Yeshua’s] real disciples have received grace from him and use it in his name for the benefit of other men, as each has received the gift from him. Some really and truly drive out demons, so that often those who have been cleansed of evil spirits believe and are in the Congregation, and some have foreknowledge of the future, and visions and prophetic speech, and others lay their hands on the sick and make them well, and as we said, even the dead have been raised and have remained with us for many years. Why should I say more? It is impossible to tell the number of the gifts which the Congregation throughout the world received from God in the name of Yeshua [the] Anointed…”. – Ireneaus, Against Heresies, Book 2, Chapter 32 (2nd Century A.D)
- “We speak wisdom among… those… who have received the Spirit of God, and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as he [Paul] used himself also to speak. In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Congregation, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit, the hidden things of men, and declare the mysteries of God…”. – Ireneaus, Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 6 (2nd Century A.D)
- “If somebody appears to have received the gift of healing or revelation…the facts of the matter will reveal whether he has spoken the truth“. – Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, Chapter 14 (3rd Century A.D)
We see here, from the 2nd to 3rd century, the continuation of the mention of the common taking place of great and powerful miracles, and also the continued culture of critical thinking and careful scepticism toward those who claim to have power from God, and the need for testing such things.
Divine or Delusional?
Again, as before we ask the same question, were these delusions, fantasies, superstitions or flights of ecstasy? How do we know these Christians were not just being carried away by stories and traditions of old, seeing themselves as partakers of such things when in reality it was perhaps just their imaginations?
Well, for one, the standard of miracles remained the same, they had to be demonstrated to be real, and as mentioned, there was a process for testing such things. And we see Christians like Irenaeus are pleading to the Christian community at large as his evidence for his critics to go and check and witness for themselves miracles such as these and others, to be convinced by. This included, again, prophecy, healing, and even raising the dead.
Likewise, the standard of speaking in tongues remained the same, the ability to speak many languages by miracle, no gibberish being spoken of here… However, this does also segway us into a very interesting and “new” movement that arose in this time period, leading into the 3rd century, known as the “New Prophecy Movement”, or otherwise known as the “Montanists”, who resided in Phrygia, and called their city of Pepuza, the “New Jerusalem” based upon the words of the book of Revelation.
The 3rd century Montanists were started by a man named Montanus who used to pay his followers to carry out his work, and can be said to resemble the modern day Charismatic Pentecostal movement. Though the Christian community at large were open to and accepting of miracles amongst themselves (as seen above), they soon came to regard the Montanist movement to be strange and not at all like the kinds of miracles or gifts of the Spirit they were used to. The members of New Prophecy movement were reported to “speak nonsensical gibberish” calling it tongues, declaring false prophecy, and to be out of their minds, and in states of over-excitement and disorder, ‘in contrast’ to what was the typical Christian spiritual gift and miracle performing culture.
“As the name “New Prophecy” implied, Montanism was a movement focused around prophecy, specifically the prophecies of the movement’s founders which were believed to contain the Holy Spirit’s revelation for the present age. Prophecy itself was not controversial within 2nd-century Christian communities. However, the New Prophecy, as described by Eusebius of Caesarea, departed from Church tradition:
“And he [Montanus] became beside himself, and being suddenly in a sort of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to babble and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the constant custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning“. – Eusebius of Caesarea”. – Montanism, Wikipedia
“Montanus (/mɒnˈteɪnəs/; Greek: Μοντανός) as the second century founder of Montanism and a self proclaimed prophet. Montanus emphasized the work of the Holy Spirit, in a manner which set him apart from the Great Church… Montanus was assisted by two women, Prisca and Maximilla, who also claimed to have prophecies…
The teachings of Montanism include: 1. That a new age of prosperity would come, and New Jerusalem will soon be established in Pepuza…
The influence of Montanus and Marcion helped to spur the early church to begin the process of developing the New Testament canon. Montanus was heavily attacked by other early church theologians and seen as a heretic“. – Montanus, Wikipedia
We see that the reactions of the other Christians of this time, was not a positive one for the most part, though some well known apologetic figures such as Tertullian were thought to possibly become part of the movement, and attempted to defend the kind of “prophecy and gifts” they were displaying contrary to the norm.
Of this kind of hyperactive, ecstatic, raving and babbling form of the “gifts of the Spirit”, which is so comparable to the modern day Charasmatic cults and scams we see, it departed from the sensibleness of the faith and its gifts that the Christians had always known, and in fact, was regarded as even to be potentially demonic:
- “[Peter said,] ‘let us make three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias’ But he knew not what he said. How knew not? Was his ignorance the result of simple error? Or was it on the principle which we maintain in the cause of the new prophecy, that to grace ecstasy or rapture is incident. For when a man is rapt in the Spirit, especially when he beholds the glory of God, or when God speaks through him, he necessarily loses his sensation, because he is overshadowed with the power of God, a point concerning which there is a question between us and the carnally- minded.” – Tertullian, Against Marcion, Chapter 4 (3rd Century)
- “If the Pythian priestess is out of her senses and has not control of her faculties when she prophesies, what sort of spirit must we think it which poured darkness upon her mind and rational thinking? Its character must be like that of the race of demons which many Christians drive out of people who suffer from them…”. – Origen, Against Celsus, Chapter 7 (3rd Century)
- “And he [Montanus] became beside himself, and being suddenly in a sort of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to babble and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the constant custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning“. – Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History (4th Century)
This clear contrast between the gifts of the Spirit Christians long had since the 1st Century, and this “new kind” of spirituality, we see was very striking, and disturbed the Christian community.
We then can reason that the ancient Christians who first had the gift of miracles, were not the kinds of people who were merely carried away by emotions, performances, imagination, or delusion.
The Ceasing of Gifts
By the 4th to 5th centuries, after the official State Romanisation of the faith, we eventually see the gifts of the Spirit cease.
- “This whole place [1 Corinthians 12] is very obscure, but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place. And why do they not happen now? Why look now, the cause too of the obscurity have produced us again another question, namely; why did they then happen, and now do so no more?” – John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Corinthians 29 (4th Century A.D)
- “In the earliest times, ‘the Holy Spirit fell upon them that believed: and they spake with tongues’, which they had not learned, ‘as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ These were signs adapted to the time. For there behooved to be that betokening of the Holy Spirit in all tongues, to show that the Gospel of God was to run through all tongues over the whole earth. That thing was done for a betokening, and it passed away…”. – Augustine, Homilies on 1 John 6 (5th Century A.D)
This ceasing may have happened for numerous reasons we could muse upon, be it God being displeased with the Church at this time, or, simply, to fulfill what Paul had spoken of concerning the future ceasing of spiritual gifts.
What this shows us in regards to evidence, however, is that the Christians ‘noticed’ the gifts stopped, and it’s the contrast of the noticing which tells us at one time there once ‘was’. And that the time where there once was, it was not mere delusion, fantasy, or superstition, for there is no reason why they could not have continued onward into the 4th and 5th centuries amongst the Christian communities, especially amongst a culture that was still open to notions of spirituality, magic, or any kind of superstitions.
If something such as these miracles ‘orginated’ as mere nonsense of the minds of men, and continued to be as such for three centuries, then there is little reason for it to just stop without warning.
Thus, we see this sudden and noticable ceasing of the individual gifts of the Spirit amongst the Christian populace, is an important marker in history, telling us, that something had changed, and that prior to this, we have reason to believe there ‘truly’ were miracles happening amongst the early bretheren.
Conclusion
So in conclusion, do we have reasons to believe the early Christian miracles were not just stories?
The kinds of gifts spoken of, were not mere placebos, or emotionally based experiences, but claims of great acts, such as the permanent removing of chronic diseases that all could see, curing of the blind, deaf, mute, lepors, disabled, and even raising the dead.
We see that many of these great and fantastic miracles were said to be common place amongst the early congregations. The earliest Apostles and Elders wrote not just stories, but sent real letters to real people and communities acknowledging such gifts and advising on how to handle them, showing us how it was seen to be a reality for everyone involved.
These gifts were not just in the leadership of the faith, but could be gifted to anyone, and the congregation members were not reliant upon such leading figures to attain such gifts, nor did they have to pay money for them, and the community were told to have a critical eye in regard to testing people who claimed to have such ability, showing it was not a system of blind faith, deception, or some form of con for gain.
We see this pattern continued for two more centuries, and when a new kind of spiritual movement came along, one that was described to be of an ecstatic, emotional, unstable, raving, and delusional kind, resembling the Charismatic, Pentecostal, and Prosperity cults we so often see today, the majority of Christians, whom still claimed to have miracles amongst them in those days, rejected such things, and regarded them to be unorthodox, strange, disturbing, and even demonic.
We then finally see, by the 4th century period and onward, the gifts of the Spirit amongst the congregations, suddenly vanish, showing us the Christians noticed what once was, no longer was with them, demonstrating it was not likely to be a mere human tradition or illusion that was being carried over the centuries founded by superstitions and coincidences. Rather, fulfilling the prophecy that Apostle Paul spoke of, when he said one day, such things would cease.
Hence, we have good reason to believe the early Christian miracles were real, and in turn, we then have more reason to believe in the one who gave them the ability to do these miracles. Yeshua of Nazareth, Son of God.
Proselyte of Yah 