Your ShelfYour Projects

Concerning Miracles

4%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 17, 1904

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 46.

Read the full edition

Concerning Miracles

By Editor

A READER of the REVIEW writes as follows about the article in our issue of November 3 with the title “Discrediting Miracles:” —
I have read the editorial in the REVIEW of yesterday’s date, and am much perplexed at it. It appears to me that some mistake has been made.
Can there be a number of classes of miracles? Is it not just as great a miracle for the Lord to keep me alive as it was for the Lord to create me, or to create Adam, for that matter?
Is the whole subject of the wonders in nature simply a matter of course? The farmer plants his seed, and of course reaps his crop; has not the power of God anything to do with it?
Did it take any more of the power of God to create Adam than it does to make any man, to clothe the earth with green in the spring, or to keep the planets in their respective courses?
If more people would study histology or physiology, and find out a little more about themselves, they would certainly exclaim as did David in Psalm 139. Is this simply a matter of course just because it is an every-day occurrence?
Your statement, “The claim, therefore, that all the operations of nature are miracles, just as much as the original creation, is simply evolution in disguise,” is surely rather strange. I can not understand it, neither can I find any Biblical ground to stand upon and believe it.
The chief question, to sum up, is this: Do we live by the power of God, and was Adam created by the power of God? If these questions are answered in the affirmative, is there any difference in the power? I had always supposed that it took just as much power to make a mouse and keep it alive as it does to keep the whole universe from falling to pieces.
We are glad that these questions have been asked. They indicate that the subject needs further consideration in order to meet and counteract the confusion of thought and terms brought in by a false philosophy which claims to be the newest thought in Christianity. We are assured by our correspondent that there are others besides himself who are perplexed over this subject, and we are sure that this is true. The seeds of this false philosophy have been planted in many minds. For this reason we deem it advisable to deal with these questions in the columns of the paper rather than in private correspondence.
As a fundamental proposition let ustake the statement of the psalmist: “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this, That power belongeth unto God.” There are no exceptions to this truth. There is no being in the universe who has power independent of God. This follows, without direct assertion, from the revealed truth that Jehovah is God alone, and besides him there is none else. If there was another being in the universe who had power independent of the God of heaven, there would be another God besides Jehovah. Let us, then, regard it as settled beyond question that all power belongs to God. “Thine . . . is the power.”
This power of God is revealed in many ways. The creative work was accomplished by it. “He hath made the earth by his power.” This power was the power of his word, for “by the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. . . . For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”
The same power that created the universe maintains the heavenly bodies in their courses. “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, who bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking.” “Upholding all things by the word of his power.”
The same power is manifested in all the operations of nature. “He stirreth up the sea by his power.” “For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity.” “The same creative energy that brought the world into existence is still exerted in upholding the universe and continuing the operations of nature. The hand of God guides the planets in their orderly march through the heavens. It is not because of inherent power that year by year the earth continues her motion round the sun, and produces her bounties. The word of God controls the elements. . . . It is through his power that vegetation flourishes; that the leaves appear, and the flowers bloom.”
The same power of God which has created all things, and which upholds all things, is the power in the gospel for redemption. “I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” This same power raised Christ from the dead and quickens the believer. “That ye may know what is . . . the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead. . . . And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins. . . . For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” “He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength.” We are therefore exhorted, “Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.” And in our experience we are to be “strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and long-suffering with joy.”
It was by this same power of God that the wonderful works of Christ were wrought. “And it came to pass on one of those days, that he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who were come out of every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.” On another occasion he was with “a great multitude of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; and they that were troubled with unclean spirits were healed. And all the multitude sought to touch him; for power came forth from him, and healed them all.”
This same power of God was with the apostles in their ministry. “With great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” That they claimed no power for themselves is evident from the question of Peter after the healing of the lame man: “Why marvel ye at this man? or why fasten ye your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him to walk? The God of Abraham . . . hath glorified his servant Jesus.” They acknowledged God as the source of all power, as is plain from Peter’s answer to Simon the sorcerer: “Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money.”
These statements of the Scripture are simple and clear. There is no difficulty in understanding them. They cover the whole field of manifested power, and teach us that it is the one power of God which has created all things, which has sustained and does sustain all things, and which saves from sin. This will be a sufficient answer to several of the questions of our correspondent. It is certainly true that we live by the power of God, and it is equally true that Adam was created by the power of God, and that the reproduction of the seed in the annual harvest is wholly due to the power of God. Furthermore, we heartily agree with our correspondent that “if more people would study histology or physiology, and find out a little more about themselves, they would certainly exclaim as did David in Psalm 139.”
What, then, is the real point at issue? It is this: Is it proper to designate all these manifestations of the power of God as miracles? When we answer this question in the negative, we do not thereby deny that it is the power of God which is revealed in all these cases. Our correspondent seems to think that if we do not call every corn field a miracle, we make the growth of the corn “simply a matter of course,” and shut out the power of God altogether. So also if we do not regard the beating of the heart and the digestion of the food as miracles, it is intimated that we are in conflict with David’s views concerning the human body. We are in full accord with David’s statement that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” but neither David nor any other writer of the Bible applies the term “miracle” either to the birth or growth of a human being or to any of the operations going forward in the body. And nowhere in the Bible are the ordinary operations of God in nature spoken of as miracles. Jesus called attention to the growth of the lily, but he said nothing about the miracle of growth. He told of the sower who “went forth to sow,” and said that the seed “yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty,” but he said nothing about the miracle of the corn field. This is a modern and confusing application of this word.
In order that we may have a clearer apprehension of the correct use of the term “miracle” as applied to the revealing of God’s power, let us note some of the miracles mentioned in the Bible. Those remarkable displays of the power of God which were seen in the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt and in caring for them in the wilderness were miracles, and they were such unusual evidences of God’s presence and power that they constituted a special ground for faith and obedience. To doubt God after seeing these miracles was the climax of unbelief. “Because all these men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not harkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore unto their fathers.” These men had seen the ordinary working of the power of God during the whole period of their lives,but these miracles were a different thing altogether, and they were held accountable for seeing these special revelations of God’s working.
Jesus wrought many miracles while he was here upon earth. Peter on the day of Pentecost spoke of him as “a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.” His wonderful works are cited as proof that he is the Son of God, the Saviour from death. After recording a selected list of these miracles the apostle John wrote: “And many other signs truly 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 through his name.” It is the power of God which is revealed in restoring any person who is sick with a fever, but if there is no difference between the ordinary experience of applying the usual remedies and the healing of Peter’s wife’s mother, how could that work of Jesus be any special evidence of his divinity? The common people certainly observed a difference between the work of Jesus in restoring the afflicted and the usual experience in such cases. Note these instances: To the sick of the palsy Jesus said, “Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house. And he arose, and straightway took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.” Again: “And as they went forth, behold, there was brought to him a dumb man possessed with a demon. And when the demon was cast out, the dumb man spake: and the multitude marveled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.” And yet many people in Israel had recovered from sickness by the application of remedies.
There is an experience of the great apostle to the Gentiles which is worth noting in this connection. When he was at Ephesus, “God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: insomuch that unto the sick were carried away from his body handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out.” Ephesus was the home of magic. “No city in the world had so many magicians in it as Ephesus. Astrology, sorcery, charms, exorcism, and the black art constituted one of the liberal professions,—practised, not by wandering gipsies merely, but by men and women of all classes, from the lowest to the highest.” Even such miracles as Paul had wrought in other places would not meet the demands of this situation. Special miracles were therefore wrought. These and the failure of some of the exorcists to accomplish similar results by using the name of Jesus made such an impression upon the people that “fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” Those who practised magical arts were convinced of the reality of the miracle-working power, acknowledged their own trickery, and burned their books. Why did not Paul give the Ephesians a discourse on the miracle of the corn field, or on the miracles of physiology? The answer is easy enough. The circumstances demanded real miracles, and not the modern philosophy concerning miracles.
Our correspondent is especially troubled about our statement that the indiscriminate application of the term “miracle” to all the operations of nature is evolution in disguise, and thinks it is contrary to the teaching of the Scripture. We hope that what we have already stated will help to clear up this matter in his mind. There are not several kinds of power working in the things that are made, neither are there “a number of classes of miracles.” There is only one power, the power of God, and there is only one class of miracles, but it will certainly lead to a wrong conception of God when we make no distinction between the ordinary and the extraordinary revelations of his power.
Modern scientists are now acknowledging an Infinite Power working in nature, but always under established laws. Some modern theologians have lost the true conception of God as a personal Being to such an extent that they accept this acknowledgment of the scientists as a confession of belief in the God of the Bible. It is really heathenism under the appearance of Christianity. Ancient heathenism regarded every revelation of power in nature as a god, and had many gods; this modern heathenism has one Power (with a capital P) in nature, and one God (with a capital G), but the difference is one of number and not of kind. Both are merely human conceptions of deity based upon observation, and not upon revelation. Both shut out the personality of God in any proper sense of that term. Science professes to believe in personality, but makes its own definition as follows: “Wherever there is manifested a plan, a design, a purposive movement, this fact alone is evidence of a personality behind the plan, a power behind the movement.” Such a personality is simply Power under established law, and not necessarily a personal being who is the source of both power and law. With this view of deity, and divine power, and personality, both scientists and theologians believe in evolution, and interpret the Bible on this basis. There must therefore be no miracles, or all the operations of this Power must be miracles, otherwise the orderly working of this Power under established law is interfered with. Some adopt the former view, and are seeking to discredit all the miracles of the Bible; some adopt the latter view, and claim that all the workings of this Power are miracles. Either view is in harmony with the essential idea of evolution. He who accepts the revelation of God as given in the Scriptures, and accords to him the privilege of working in such a way as will best reveal his glory, will not adopt either of these views about miracles.
This use of the term “miracle” as properly applying to the ordinary working of an infinite power in nature is one link in the argument to prove that the god of science is the same as the God of the Bible. This is one of the deceptions of the last days, against which the people of God need to be on their guard. In its present form this teaching seems plausible, and appears to give special honor to God and to make us better acquainted with him. In the end it will be found that it leads away from the true God, and gives us the false god of human speculation in his place. With such a god there is no barrier against sin, no salvation from sin. It is preparing the way for the revelation of Satan as the coming of Christ.
We have taken considerable space in which to present the teaching of the Scriptures concerning this question of the power of God and the proper use of the term “miracle,” rather than to give categorical answers to the questions of our correspondent. Human opinions are of little value, but the truth is revealed in the Word of God. We hope this study of the subject may make the truth clear to any whose minds have been confused by this new philosophy.