Definition of terms
Almost every word in every language has more than one meaning, and we must be sure that we are talking about the same thing; therefore definitions are crucial to good thinking. Otherwise, we will have to face the disapproval of Íñigo Montoya registered in “The Princess Bride”, which states: “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
We use the word “miracle” in a variety of ways. We can talk about the miracle of modern technology, which means—suppose—that we are impressed with the power of surgery and medication to cure diseases that would have claimed the lives of our ancestors. We can call a sudden cure from cancer a “miracle,” implying that we don’t know how it happened. At the 1980 Winter Olympics, the American ice hockey team—against all odds—defeated the superior Soviet team, prompting ABC sportscaster Al Michaels to ask viewers, “Do you think in miracles?
In “The Engaged Princess”, Íñigo and his friend Fezzik go to see a man named Milagro Max, because Westley, the Man in Black, is “almost” dead and they need to resurrect him. They want Max to do a “miracle.” What he does give them is a chocolate-coated pill that will revive Westley, but his work is more in the category of mysterious medical technology. This is made clear when Inigo and Fezzik take the Man in Black to give him the pill, and Max and his wife Valerie wish them luck entering the castle. Valerie says, “Do you think this will work?” Max replies, “It would take a miracle,” which we might call a miracle in the fullest sense, one that goes beyond his mysterious medical technology.
Some philosophers and theologians have proposed that a “miracle” is anything that impresses its audience with the presence and power of God. Some of them have suggested that we are wrong to suppose that created things have any causal power of their own; everything happens by the direct action of God. This has been called “occasionalism,” since what we call “events” are really just the “occasions” for God to exercise his power. Others suggest that the natural effects of created things are the whole story in God’s world, even if we don’t know how it all worked; for example, the crossing of the Red Sea was the fortuitous result of various forces such as the wind, at just the right time for Israel. This point of view can be called “providentialism”, since it affirms that everything happens as a result of God’s providential order in natural processes. Both perspectives would then say that what makes an event “special” is the way in which it makes God’s presence known; but effectively, they’re saying that everything (at least in principle) is a special event which, as Dash (from “The Incredibles”) muttered, is just another way of saying that nothing is.
However, if we follow what Christian (and Jewish) theologians have proposed, we will have a more solid way of thinking about these things.
natural and supernatural
First, I will summarize the traditional Christian (and Jewish) understanding of how God works in his creation, and then I will show how that work of God captures well what the biblical texts do. Traditional theologians have described things this way:
- Creationby which God made all things out of nothing and imparted natural properties to the things he made;
- preservation Y concurrenceby which God maintains his creatures in existence and confirms the interaction of their properties;
- government, by which God orders all things in his world according to his purposes; Y
- supernatural occurrences, in which the result goes beyond the natural properties of the components involved; these are “miracles” in the proper sense.
The Biblical presentation of nature is based on ordinary perceptions of the world, such as the way plants and animals reproduce after their own kinds; no one in Israel would have planted barley in the hope of reaping wheat (eg, Mt 13:24-30). Nobody tried to get camels from their goats! The Bible affirms this perception of natural properties with their causal powers and places it alongside the reliability and goodness of the world that God made (Gen 1).
This perspective also shows how God is directly active in every event, whether naturally or supernaturally. Genesis 30 tells of God giving or withholding children, also of Jacob and his wife spending the night together. Even in passages that emphasize God’s pervasive activity, such as in the Psalms, God makes grass grow to feed the cattle (Ps 104:14); we can say that God feeds the animals. God’s action and action on creatures are not a game of winners and losers.
The idea that God orders all events to fulfill his purposes runs throughout the Bible, but not in a way that would abolish creature responsibility (Is 10:5-7, 15-16). The biblical authors do not try to resolve this tension, but invite us to embrace it and trust that they are not contradictory.
Furthermore, this biblical image allows us to see the world as a web of cause and effect, without falling into the trap of thinking that the web is closed. That is, God is free to do with his creation whatever he wants; and God wants to continue having a relationship with human beings. If God—the benevolent creator and ruler—chooses to infuse his world with new energies in pursuit of these relationships, why should that surprise anyone? This is exactly what events such as the prophetic inspiration, the virgin conception and the resurrection of Jesus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the conversion of so many different peoples, the return of Jesus and the general judgment will be an additional exercise of freedom. of God to rule his world, unlimited by the properties He made it to have.
Finally, this perspective illuminates the practice of prayer. When Christians pray for something, they properly focus on the outcome and wait for God to decide what mixture of “ordinary providence” and “miracle” he will use. A healing is no less a gift from God for having come through the skill of a physician (1 Tim 5:23)!
special provisions
In this framework, all providences are “special”; because they reflect God’s particular interest in each of his creatures, but some of them make God’s rule especially clear, and some of them are undeniably supernatural (like the resurrection of Jesus). It is true that many of the biblical representations of God’s “great works” fail to distinguish between visible expressions of God’s presence of power that employ “ordinary providence” and those that include a “supernatural” component. However, some other of these representations do distinguish it. Many think that the plagues in Egypt made use of natural phenomena associated with the Nile River. The text of Exodus allows us to interpret it that way and also allows for a more “miraculous” scenario; If anything, God made sure the timing was right for Israel! Furthermore, the death of so many firstborns must have involved more than natural factors. Likewise, the strong east wind that parted the Red Sea was just the right thing to do (Ex 14:21).
It is natural and correct to ask God for confidence through special visible providences, when the world seems dark. This is just what the lament psalms do. At the same time, these psalms prepare the faithful for the possibility that God may choose to withhold such visible signs of his rule and yet equip them to hold on to his faith.
Miracles as signs
While these special events in the Bible often address crises of human need, they primarily play two roles: First, they authenticate divinely approved messengers, such as prophets and apostles (Deut 18:21-22; 2 Cor 12:12). ; and second, they make God interested in the corporate welfare of his people—Israel and the Church—in a very clear way (Ex 14:30-31). An additional role is to testify of God’s concern to those outside of his own people, with a view to leading them to faith (eg, Ex 15:14-16).
Jesus’ miracles in the Gospels certainly show his kindness toward human need and suffering (eg, Mr 1:41), building readers’ trust in the Savior they love and follow. They also credit Jesus as a divinely authorized spokesman for God, to whom all people must listen (Acts 2:22). They also reveal his unique person, with divine power over all creation (Mr 4:41) and even over demons (Mr 1:27), building readers’ confidence in the ultimate victory of the Lord’s purposes in the world. world. The resurrection serves as the vindication of Jesus before the world (1 Tim 3:16). Therefore, the miracles of Jesus are inseparable from his work.
Christians disagree on whether or not we should expect miracles today. Where they should agree, however, is that miracles, shall we say—of healing—cannot be the measure of our spirituality. After all, everyone eventually dies, even the most faithful, and therefore at least one miracle of healing is denied to everyone! Furthermore, we do not expect any canonical revelation to be added to the Bible and apply to all Christians everywhere, and therefore we do not view miracles as authenticating apostolic messengers.
A more important type of supernatural event is in the way the Holy Spirit changes people’s hearts to pay attention to the biblical message, strengthening them to live faithfully (Ez 36:25-27). This will continue and be open to all kinds of people!
Miracles, science and God of contrasts
Furthermore, this conventional approach points the way towards criteria by which we can discern some events as truly supernatural. An example of this discernment would be the resurrection of Jesus: bodies that are “all dead” (to use Miracle Max’s taxonomy) do not rise, unless some great power is infused into ordinary natural processes. For that, a miracle in the broadest sense would be necessary. To be sure, the event itself doesn’t answer the question of who supplied that power, but it certainly sets a lower limit on the power level needed. Most of us think it must be the Power that created life to begin with!
We are sometimes told that science has made the notion of a miracle obsolete; which has shown that the network of cause and effect is closed. But it has done no such thing, nor can it. That strong type of denial is a worldview perspective and not the result of an empirical study.
However, the advancement of science can help us frame our understanding of the miracle to…