When it comes to explaining miracles, there are two extremes to avoid. The first is to explain them away. Many who claim to be Christian have embraced either the ethical teachings and/or the historical accuracy of the Bible, but have excluded the supernatural elements. Thomas Jefferson removed the miracles from the Bible and focused solely upon the honorable teachings of Jesus compiling his own, Jefferson Bible. In one of his many letters to John Adams, he affirmed, “And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable… But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding.”The other extreme is to believe that miracles are God’s normal and preferred way of doing things. Many have taught that one should simply expect and plan for miracles to happen and not be surprised when they do. This is definitely a safer association for evangelicals, but is still incorrect.
Before one can discuss how common or infrequent miracles are, he or she must be able to distinguish between a miracle and a natural occurrence. Wayne Grudem defines a miracle as, “A less common way of God’s working in the world.” Many believe and teach that miracles are more frequent because they categorize certain occurrences as miraculous that are not. Miracles are exceptions to the natural laws. That being said, events such as child birth, answered prayers, or coming back from way behind to win a ball game would not always be considered miraculous because they may not have taken place outside the realm of natural law.
However, there have been some key occurrences within history that do fall into this category. In fact, some of the most important events in Christian history are considered miraculous. God creating something from nothing, the incarnation, the resurrection, and Pentecost are miraculous events that one could not deny without rejecting the Christian faith altogether. According to R.C. Sproul, “Belief in the miraculous is integral to Christianity. Jesus’ incarnation and resurrection are the two supreme miracles of Scripture, defining the Christian faith. No one can refuse Jesus’ life or His resurrection without refusing the faith itself.”
To believe that God, who determined natural laws during his miraculous act of creating something from nothing, is bound by those laws and unable to work outside the bounds of those laws is truly illogical. According to Sproul, “There is nothing irrational about believing that God who made the world can intervene creatively in it at any time; in truth, it would be irrational to believe in any other God. Not faith in the Biblical miracles, but doubt about them, is unreasonable in the end.”
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 356.
Sproul, R.C. Miracles. The Reformation Study Bible. Orlando, Florida: Ligonier Ministries, 503.
