Topic(s):  Bible Infallibility, Miracles

Todd Clippard

According to the Bible, why were miracles performed? First and foremost, God performed miracles through His servants to confirm the word He commanded them to preach. A verse commonly cited in defense of this truth is Mark 16:20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs” (NKJV). However, examples of this are also seen throughout the Old Testament, most notably Exodus 3-4 and 1 Kings 18.

Beginning in Exodus 3, God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. Moses was reluctant to go, and offered to God a number of excuses. In Exodus 4:1, Moses said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’” The Lord responded by turning Moses’ rod into a snake, giving this reason for so doing, “That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee” (4:5).

God then gave Moses the second sign of the leprous hand saying, “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign” (4:6-8). Exodus 4:29-31 tells us of Moses and Aaron’s encounter with the people, “Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people and the people believed.”

In 1 Kings 18:21, Elijah set himself against the prophets of Baal. He challenged Israel to follow the Lord, saying, “‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered him not a word.” After Baal failed to answer the prayer of his prophets, note of the words of Elijah as he prayed to God before the people; “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again” (1 Kings 18:36-37). After the fire of the LORD fell and consumed Elijah’s burnt sacrifice, and the wood, the stones, the dust, and licked up the water that in the trench, the people responded by falling on their faces crying “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:40).

The Bible teaches the purpose of miracles was to confirm the word of God’s messengers (Exodus 4, 1 Kings 18:36-39, Mark 16:20, . The Hebrew writer wrote, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” (Hebrews 2:3-4).

As miracles were performed then to produce faith in the hearts of the hearers, so the Bible is given for that purpose today, “And truly many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in His name” (John 20:30-31). Also, “For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Additionally, Paul speaks of the limited span of the miraculous manifestation of the Holy Spirit; “Love never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:8-10). Though some identify “that which is perfect” as Jesus, claiming miracles were to continue until the Jesus’ second coming, the text will not allow for this interpretation. “Perfect” comes from the Greek teleios, meaning “complete” or “mature.” It appears 19 times and never refers to Jesus. In addition, it is neuter in gender, that is, it refers to neither a male nor female, but to an object without gender, here, the Scriptures. James described the New Testament of Jesus Christ as “the perfect (teleios) law of liberty” (James 1:25).

Paul wrote of the all-sufficiency of the scriptures, “For all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Peter affirmed the all-sufficiency of the scriptures when he wrote, “According as His divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,” (2 Peter 1:3). The Bible is all we need today to produce faith, and to know how to live before God and our fellow men. It is the means by which “we walk by faith, and not by sight”
(2 Corinthians 5:7).