Miracles

[Chad]

What is a biblical definition of 'miracle'?

The term "miracle" has lost much of its luster in our day. And it isn't because we see miracles taking place so often that we no longer are sensitive to their meaning. It's because our speech has evolved in such a way that today, if I got to work on time this morning, "It was a miracle that I made it, seeing that there was so much traffic on the freeway."

A biblical model and definition, on the other hand, for a miracle is another thing all together. Not everything hard to believe can be quantified as a miracle according to scriptural standards. Miracles are those acts that only God can perform; usually superceding natural laws. Baker's Dictionary of the Bible defines a miracle as "an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God." It goes on to add that a miracle occurs to show that the power behind it is not limited to the laws of matter or mind as it interrupts fixed natural laws. So the term supernatural applies quite accurately.

It's very interesting that a common word used for miracle in the New Testament can also be translated "sign." A miracle is a sign that God uses to point to Himself; the same way we follow signs to find a museum or an airport.

An interesting question may arise. Does something have to break a natural law for it to be a miracle? C.S. Lewis defines a "miracle" in his work by the same name as an interference with nature by a supernatural power. Obviously, to interfere with natural law may not necessarily mean to break the natural law. In fact, nature and "supernature" become interlocked after a miracle occurs and nature carries on according to the change wrought by that event. A science example: the law of inertia (Newton's first law of motion) states that an object will remain in rest until an external force is applied. Nature can only move from event to event through supernatural intervention.

Deists believe that it was only at creation that the supernatural and the natural related. But we Christian theists believe that God has intervened in nature by its inception, sustained it by His preserving power, and will redeem it through the final act of intervention. The creation and incarnation of Christ are the perfect examples of supernatural inertia (another way of referring to a miracle), not to mention their conclusion as well, in His second coming. God is still in the business of working miracles. And we wait eagerly for that greatest miracle of them all--the redemption of all creation.


Kris Samons
Probe Ministries

 

[DHC]

What is a biblical definition of 'miracle'?

The term "miracle" has lost much of its luster in our day. And it isn't because we see miracles taking place so often that we no longer are sensitive to their meaning. It's because our speech has evolved in such a way that today, if I got to work on time this morning, "It was a miracle that I made it, seeing that there was so much traffic on the freeway."

A biblical model and definition, on the other hand, for a miracle is another thing all together. Not everything hard to believe can be quantified as a miracle according to scriptural standards. Miracles are those acts that only God can perform; usually superceding natural laws. Baker's Dictionary of the Bible defines a miracle as "an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God." It goes on to add that a miracle occurs to show that the power behind it is not limited to the laws of matter or mind as it interrupts fixed natural laws. So the term supernatural applies quite accurately.

It's very interesting that a common word used for miracle in the New Testament can also be translated "sign." A miracle is a sign that God uses to point to Himself; the same way we follow signs to find a museum or an airport.

An interesting question may arise. Does something have to break a natural law for it to be a miracle? C.S. Lewis defines a "miracle" in his work by the same name as an interference with nature by a supernatural power. Obviously, to interfere with natural law may not necessarily mean to break the natural law. In fact, nature and "supernature" become interlocked after a miracle occurs and nature carries on according to the change wrought by that event. A science example: the law of inertia (Newton's first law of motion) states that an object will remain in rest until an external force is applied. Nature can only move from event to event through supernatural intervention.

Deists believe that it was only at creation that the supernatural and the natural related. But we Christian theists believe that God has intervened in nature by its inception, sustained it by His preserving power, and will redeem it through the final act of intervention. The creation and incarnation of Christ are the perfect examples of supernatural inertia (another way of referring to a miracle), not to mention their conclusion as well, in His second coming. God is still in the business of working miracles. And we wait eagerly for that greatest miracle of them all--the redemption of all creation.


Kris Samons
Probe Ministries

Hello Chad.

I find the topic of miracles, and the supernatural intervention of God within the natural universe to be wholly misunderstood by many.

Past philosophical and theological conjecture has corrupted the theological landscape over many centuries. So most folk without even
being aware of this corrupting influence, perceive the world as the "natural" and God as the "supernatural". Or even worse they consider
a miracle as a one off event which happened on special occasions in the distant past.

This artificial separation between the world and God is not the Biblical teaching, never was and never will be. Our Bible reveals God is
active and has always has been active in the very fabric of not only the universe but within the lives of each individual therein.
Effectively our universe and our lives are controlled by the sovereign power of God. This divine management is moment to moment,
at all levels through the created order. The heart of the universe beats with the very power of God.

Purge yourself of this deceptive philosophy that God's domain is not the very landscape that you travel. Nature is not the product
of a singular creative effort, creation is maintained continually by God's intervention. Nature has no scientific laws, creation is simply
God's expression of active love towards us. From the subatomic level to the greatest cosmic events, all processes are maintained and
transacted by God's sovereign power. Whether you believe or disbelieve in God does not alter your existence within His created realm.


Acts 17:28 (NASB)
for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’


Genesis 28:12
He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold,
the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.


Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers,
against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.


We live in a spiritual domain inhabited by spiritual beings, God's presence
is never absent from our lives. God is always active and so are His angels.

Probably one of the greatest miracles witnessed on a daily basis around the world.
Is the transformation from unbelief to a belief in Jesus, this is God's ever present activity
in our lives. Shed the carnal theologies of the past and dive into the spiritual
reality that you inhabit everyday.

 

[james1523]

According to the bible, other great mystery, or miracle, is how God can become a man (Jesus Christ) and how man can have God live inside him. Eph 5:31-32.