The Other Half of the Gospel?: Few Issues Generate as Much Discussion—And Disagreement—As the Role of Miracles in Today’s Church

COLIN BROWNColin Brown is professor of systematic theology and associate dean and director of the Center for Advanced Theological Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. He is the author of two books on miracles: Miracles and the Critical Mind (Eerdmans) and That You May Believe (Eerdmans).

In our secular society, even Christians need to be reminded of the supernatural reality of God’s intervention in our lives. But when some Christian leaders teach that we should expect miracles—especially healing miracles—to attend the contemporary church, many Christians don’t know what to think.

In this essay, adapted from the book Tough Questions Christians Ask (Christianity Today/Victor Books), theologian Colin Brown treads the treacherous path between those who deny God’s miraculous activity today and those who shape their entire ministries around the supernatural.

“Should we go?” The question floored me. If she had asked me about the finer points of the Arian controversy or the date of the Exodus, I could have spoken for an hour or two. But the mother addressing me was not interested in such topics. She was worried about her daughter and her medical problem. She was asking whether she should take her to the healing service held in the church down the road.

Although this happened 30 years ago, the memory of it is fresh. I had been ordained barely a month before. Despite three years of cramming my head with answers to all kinds of intellectual questions in order to get my theological degree, the one question I was not ready for was “Should we expect miracles today?”

As the weeks went by, I began to think more deeply about healing and miracles. I read books. I attended meetings. I got to know the minister who held the healing services. “You are only preaching half the gospel,” he used to say, “if you are only preaching about forgiveness and salvation. When Jesus was on Earth, he healed as well as taught. He does the same today.”

Thirty years later, I keep hearing the same challenge. But now—as then—I keep running into the same problems.

Among Christians, two schools of thought have emerged in regard to miracles today. One says that the age of miracles is past. Miracles were given as divine attestation to the authority of Jesus and to the truth of the gospel. Once that proof was given, there was no need for it to be repeated.

But to the second school of thought this answer sounds almost like deism—as if God is no longer active in the world. Some members of this school go so far as to say that miracles are needed in the world today to convince people of the power of the gospel. Without “power encounters” that demonstrate the superior power of Christ, they believe the gospel would make little headway. But to members of the first school this seems to say that if miracles did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them. And to these observers, many of the present-day claims to miracles just do not ring true.

Which school is right? How should we go about making up our minds? There are two tests that we can apply: We can look at appeals to experience, and we can examine the teaching of Scripture.

Appeal To Experience

Unfortunately, many claims to miracles are open to criticism. Stories are published about answered prayer for healing, but the reader is rarely told of the relapses that followed. Testimonies are given to healings, but the role of medical treatment is often downplayed. In some circles, when healing occurs, the charismatic healer receives the credit. When it fails to happen, the failure is attributed to other factors.

For instance, the minister who held the healing services down the road from my first pastorate insisted that people were regularly being healed. But when I asked members of the staff of his church whether they had seen anything they would claim to be a miracle, they were more guarded. The only straight answers that I got were negative answers.

To say this is not to deny that God wonderfully answers prayer for healing today. Rather, it is to admit frankly that the church needs to do a better job of tracking and substantiating claims to miracles. We must recognize that when we claim miracles occur, we are putting God’s reputation on the line. As a charismatic friend of mine once said to me, “Integrity can get lost in the middle of excitement.”

One way to evaluate the claims of miraculous experience is to look at its frequency in the history of the church. Seventy years ago the great evangelical scholar B. B. Warfield wrote a book entitled Counterfeit Miracles (reprinted by Banner of Truth), which remains the most thorough examination of testimony to the miraculous from the early church down to Lourdes and Christian Science in Warfield’s own day. Based on the evidence presented by Warfield, and supported by others, we can draw two conclusions: On the one hand, God has not ceased to answer prayer for healing, sometimes in extraordinary ways, but most often not apart from loving care and proper medical treatment. On the other hand, there is a lack of solid documentation to support the claim that miracles of the kind found in the Bible have continued down the ages. There are no grounds in history for saying, “If only we had the faith, God would resume doing the miracles that he did in New Testament times.”

Three Mistakes

Does Scripture encourage us to expect miracles today like those depicted in the Gospels? In applying this second test we shall first note three common mistakes and then look at some passages that are often quoted by those who say we should expect biblical miracles today.

The first common mistake is to assume that certain passages of Scripture that have a specific application can be applied generally today. The classic case is Luke 4:18: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” Many see in these words a statement of the mission of the church. But when Jesus said them, he was reading Isaiah 61:1 in the synagogue at Nazareth. After he sat down, he declared, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). In its context we see that this prophecy applies to Jesus alone. It refers to his anointing by the Holy Spirit after his baptism. By reading from this Scripture and applying it to himself, Jesus was laying claim to be the Messiah, which means” anointed.” Jesus alone is the Christ, the Anointed One, and no one else may lay claim to this anointing and this role.

Other examples of misapplied texts are found in the Epistles. When Paul spoke of “the signs of an apostle” (2 Cor. 12:12), he was referring to his own ministry. The office of apostle ceased with the close of the first century. Another example is Hebrews 2:4, which says that God “bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will.” This refers to the ministry of Jesus and the founding of the church. The passage is not talking about what happens when the gospel is proclaimed in each and every age.

The second common mistake is to fail to distinguish between the different commands of Christ. Jesus instructed the Twelve to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Matt. 10:8). But this was a special mission. Jesus went on to say: “You received without pay, give without pay. Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the laborer deserves his food” (10:9–10). It is funny how some people appeal to the first part of these instructions and claim that they apply today, but ignore the rest. Even a cursory glance at this passage, however, shows that the disciples’ mission had limited goals. They were forbidden to go to the Gentiles and Samaritans and were charged with going to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:6).

When we turn to the Great Commission at the end of Matthew, we find no mention at all of miracles or healing. The commission of the risen Christ to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded, makes no mention of miracles (Matt. 28:19–20). Nor, for that matter, does Luke’s account (Luke 24:47). Both Luke and John stress forgiveness of sins (John 20:23). John mentions “signs,” but the signs that he is concerned with are those that Jesus performed in his earthly life. It is these signs that are the ground for faith (John 20:30–31).

The third common mistake we need to recognize is the claim that salvation means wholeness here and now: If the kingdom has come, we should expect to see the blessings of the kingdom. Various arguments are put forward in support of this claim. It is sometimes said that there is healing in the Atonement. It is sometimes argued that the privileges of the believer under the New Covenant are greater than those under the old. It is also argued that God’s concern is for our shalom, our peace, which includes our health and prosperity. None of these arguments, however, adds up to a promise that we can expect a continued succession of miracles today.

As a matter of fact, the Bible knows no single composite picture of wholeness consisting of health, wealth, and happiness as the birthright of every born-again Christian. The Beatitudes say nothing about material wealth, health, or ongoing miracles (Matt. 5:1–12; Luke 6:20–23), though they have much to say about hardships and the cost of discipleship.

Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7) is a further reminder that even an apostle who worked miracles (2 Cor. 12:12) could also suffer affliction. It is sometimes said that Paul is talking here about a “weakness” and not an illness, and that the “thorn in the flesh” was perhaps an opponent.

Though we will probably never know for sure what it was, some things are certain. One of them is that the word translated as “weakness” (astheneia) also means “sickness” or “infirmity” in numerous places (see Luke 5:15; 8:2; 13:11–12; John 5:5; 11:4; Acts 28:9; 1 Tim. 5:23; and Heb. 11:34). Of particular interest is its use in Galatians 4:13, where Paul says: “You know it was because of a bodily ailment [astheneia] that I preached the gospel to you at first.” Evidently his ailment compelled him to remain for a time in Galatia, where he took the opportunity to preach the gospel. The passage goes on, moreover, to suggest that the problem in question was something to do with Paul’s eyesight. For he recalls that they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him, if it would have done any good (Gal. 4:15). It is further supported by his reference to the large letters that he wrote with his own hand at the end of the letter to the Galatians (6:11), and it also fits with the fact that Paul’s letters were regularly taken down by companions who served as secretaries (for example, see Rom. 16:22; 1 Cor. 1:1; 16:21; Col. 4:18).

Although we cannot know with certainty what exactly was Paul’s “thorn in the flesh,” we do know that it did not go away. Paul made it a matter of persistent prayer. He received God’s answer. God did not remove the “thorn in the flesh” but told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).

The Promises Of God

The sufficiency of God’s grace is a central theme of Scripture. Failure to recognize this lies at the root of so many false expectations, misguided actions, spiritual depressions, and disillusionments. This failure is really a failure to appreciate and accept what God has promised.

So what about those passages in the New Testament that seem to promise that we can expect miracles today? Let us look at three: the promise concerning greater works, the saying that faith moves mountains, and the teaching in James about prayer for the sick.

John 14:12–14 contains the promise of Jesus: “He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.… If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” Does this mean that we should all expect to perform miracles? Perhaps the best clues to the meaning of the passage are provided by the other verses about the “work of God” in this Gospel. John 5:20 speaks of “greater works,” which are explained as the Son giving life to the dead and granting eternal life to those who believe. The “work of God” is described in John 6:28–29 as believing in him whom God has sent.

Not even the disciples did greater miracles than Jesus. Although they did astonishing things, not even the raising of Dorcas (Acts 9:36–43) could compare to the raising of Lazarus who had been in the tomb four days (John 11:39).

If we follow the thought of John 14:12 as it is worked out in the rest of the Gospel, we see that the disciples are given the promise and the charge to bear fruit (John 15:16), which again is linked with the invitation to ask the Father in Jesus’ name. The disciples are promised the Paraclete, who will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7–11). And finally, in John 20:22–23 they are given the Holy Spirit, with the authority to forgive and retain sins. These are the “greater works” we are called to do.

In other words, there is nothing in John 14 or in the rest of John to suggest that the “greater works” are greater physical miracles. Physical miracles are in fact lesser works compared with those that have to do with the conviction of sin, forgiveness, judgment, salvation, and eternal life.

The same must be said about the promise concerning the mountain being cast into the midst of the sea (Matt. 21:20–22; Mark 11:20–24). People often talk about faith moving mountains. Jesus was not talking about mountains ingeneral, however, but about “this mountain.” The saying was prompted by the disciples’ wonder at the withering of the fig tree that Jesus had cursed. The imagery in Jesus’ statement weaves together a number of Old Testament themes: the mountain of the Lord (Isa. 2; Mic. 4), the setting of God’s king on Zion, his holy hill (Ps. 2:6), the mountains shaking in the midst of the sea (Ps. 46:2). If “this mountain” refers to Mount Zion, the saying is a word of encouragement to the disciples in turbulent times. The old order, centered on Jerusalem as the mountain of the Lord, had rejected Jesus. It had failed to bear fruit in response to the coming of Jesus, and it was about to destroy him and threaten the lives of his followers. But the disciples are told that this seemingly insufferable threat will be overcome.

But what about James 5:13–16? The sick are instructed to summon the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. The assurance is given that “the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up.”

Two things are clear from this passage. First, if he is talking about healing at all, James is talking about prayer for healing in general and not about miracles as such. Second, James is not speaking about evangelistic healing services to which anybody may come. James is talking about sick people within the church and what the elders should do for church members who are sick. Even so, the promise cannot be regarded as absolute. For sooner or later everyone has to die.

In view of this, it is possible that James is not talking about the healing of the sick, but about ministry to the dying. This was the view that was widely held in the early church. The words save and raise up can be used to refer to healing and to raising from the sickbed. But they are also used to refer to healing from sin and death and to resurrection to eternal life. The word heal can mean restoration to health. But it can also mean healing from sin. Perhaps James’s statement that the prayer of faith will save the sick and that the Lord will raise him up is an assurance to the dying that those who are reconciled to God and the church will be raised in the resurrection and have their sins forgiven.

Simple Solutions

I think it was H. L. Mencken who observed that for every complex problem there is always a simple solution—which is almost invariably wrong. The same can be said about miracles and healing. The simplistic solutions of the extremists on both sides are attractive precisely because they are simple. But it is as wrong to say that the church has no part at all in the ministry of healing as it is to say that the only thing that prevents people from being healed today is their lack of faith in miracles.

A hard look at the evidence does not support the claim that miracles like those described in the Gospels are continually happening today. Nor does Scripture encourage us to expect that miracles will be part of everyday life.

But to say this is not the same as saying that gifts of healing have totally disappeared (1 Cor. 12:9–10; Gal. 3:5). There are those who have special ministries of prayer and healing of the sick in body and spirit. Such ministries today, however, are ministries that work in conjunction with the medical and healing professions. In the case of Jesus, his miracles were performed independently of those professions. Moreover, the “miracles” that people talk about today are primarily miracles of healing. They do not include nature miracles, like those of Jesus.

C. S. Lewis distinguished between two kinds of miracles: “miracles of the old creation” and “miracles of the new creation.” In a “miracle of the old creation,” God, drawing on the resources that are already present in nature, interferes with the present order of things. In a “miracle of the new creation,” the reality of the new order of the world to come breaks into our present reality. In the case of the resurrection of Jesus, his resurrection body, which belongs to the new order of the world to come, entered our order of space and time.

For this reason it is not surprising that such miracles do not occur in our everyday experience. The resurrection of Jesus gives us a glimpse into the world to come. But it is not part of our present reality. It is a mistake, therefore, to expect realities that belong to the world to happen with regularity in the here and now. Scripture encourages us to live by the promise of God. God has given his covenanted promise that those who turn to him for forgiveness of their sins will have their sins forgiven. But we do not have a similar, parallel promise of miracles here and now. We can say to all people that God will forgive them if they truly turn to him. But we cannot say to them that God will perform a miracle for them if only they believe. This does not mean that God cannot work miracles today or that he has not worked miracles since the days of the New Testament. But it does mean that we need to recognize the difference between God’s covenanted mercies and God’s uncovenanted mercies.

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