Should we routinely be performing miracles today like Jesus
did? Some “word of faith” (WOF) preachers claim that we should. Do they have a
Scriptural basis for this? They often cite:
·
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever [of you
Apostles?] believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works
than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12; ESV)
Well, why aren’t we performing “greater works” today? The
WOF preachers claim that we just don’t believe the promises of Jesus – a
serious indictment.
However, there are many reasons to conclude that Jesus’
promise was only intended for His Apostles. Elsewhere, He promised that it was
only the Apostles, those who had been with Him from the beginning, who would be
supernaturally equipped by the Spirit to carry forth His Word:
·
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your
remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:12-15)
“Bring all things to your remembrance” could only refer to
those who had been with Him. Likewise, “teach you all things!” If this promise
only has an application to the Apostles,
perhaps also John 14:12?
The Apostles had been uniquely equipped and validated by our
Lord. It was the Apostles alone who would perform “signs and wonders”:
·
And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders
and signs were being done through the apostles. (Acts 2:43; 4:33)
·
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done
among the people by the hands of the apostles. (Acts 5:12)
In this way, God had established the fact that the Apostles
were His ordained ones to spread His teachings. Consequently, after the
Apostles had heard that the Samaritans had come to faith, they sent Peter and
John to lay hands for them to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-15).
Paul too had been designated as an Apostle. How would the
Church know this? Only through “signs and wonders”:
·
For I was not at all inferior to these
super-apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were
performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty
works. (2 Corinthians 12:11-12)
If all Christians were expected to produce signs and
wonders, Paul would have had no way to prove to the Church that He had been
called to be an Apostle. Instead, Paul had taught that not everyone was given
this supernatural gift.
For the early church, there was no guess-work regarding who
bore the Gospel of Jesus. Had all believers been performing miracles, there
would have been lots of confusion:
·
And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the
hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin
were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil
spirits came out of them. (Acts 19:11-12)
·
So they remained for a long time, speaking
boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs
and wonders to be done by their [Barnabas and Paul] hands. (Acts 14:3)
God sent miracles to prove that it was the Apostles who had
been commissioned to carry His Word:
·
Now we have received not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things
freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom
but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are
spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:12-13)
·
For since the message declared by angels proved
to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just
retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was
declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by
gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:2-4)
Consequently, when the early Church received a letter from
the Apostles, they received it as the Word of God:
·
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the
traditions that you were taught by us [Apostles], either by our spoken word or
by our letter. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
·
When you read this, you can perceive my insight
into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in
other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit. (Ephesians 3:4-5; 2:19-20))
·
And we also thank God constantly for this, that
when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not
as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work
in you believers. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
·
For I will not venture to speak of anything
except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to
obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of
the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I
have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; (Romans 15:18-19)
Against this WOF idea that we should all be performing
miracles if we believe Jesus, it seems that instead, our Lord has purposed for
us a miracle-lean diet. This leanness compels us to walk by faith instead of a
constant flow of miracles:
·
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is
seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do
not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:24-25)
·
For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2
Corinthians 5:7)
Instead of relying upon a miracle-rich diet, our Lord wants
us to live by faith, the unseen, and to even persevere in suffering:
·
Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live
are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus
also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:10-11)
To walk in perpetual miraculous healings is not to “Always
carry in the body the death of Jesus.” Perpetual miracles would make us
spiritually lazy. We would not learn patience, faith, or how to meditate on the
Word day and night.
How then do we interpret John 14:12? Jesus did not give us a
blank check, as the WOF preachers suggest. Instead, in the next verse, Jesus
taught that our request had to be according to the will of the Father:
·
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13)
Asking had to be in His “name.” This wasn’t a matter of
merely pronouncing the “name,” “Jesus.” It was also a matter of asking according
to His will so that the Father would be glorified. (See Matthew 28:19 where the
“name” is applied equally to all the members of the Trinity, suggesting that
they each shared the same Essence.)
I think that the context is key. In John 14:12, Jesus had
been addressing His Apostles. Therefore,
I think that it makes best sense of this and the above to understand this verse
this way:
·
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever [of you Apostles] believes in me will
also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I
am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)
I have attended numerous WOF churches without seeing the
lame walk, the blind see, or the dead raised. However, I know that we serve a
miracle-working God. I know this because I have experienced them. But perhaps
these miracles are intended only as a rarity among us today.
I too do not want to miss anything my Savior might have for
me. I also admit that I do not know even what to pray for. However, He assures
me that, even if I don’t, His Holy Spirit does, and He is intervening for us
(Romans 8:26).
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