Rising from the dead, multiplying food, healing the blind, sick and lame; can we trust the claims of the Bible?
Many Athiests and Agnostics point to biblical miracles as a weak spot in order to categorize the faith as fiction or fantasy. Some saying so more vehemently and anger filled than others.
Other groups of people are willing to accept everything else(or somethings at least) about the Bible except for the miracles and larger than life narratives. These groups tend to try to explain things away as symbolism, mythical teaching or even in a naturalistic way where nature some how aligned at the given time and no laws of physics were broken. A prime example of this is the Disney+ show “Buried Secrets of The Bible” where the miraculous stories all have a naturalistic explanation in nature.
Whether someone is a denier or explainer is neither here nor there. YAHWEH aka, God, poses an important rhetorical question to the Israelites through the prophet Jeremiah that we too must contemplate:
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”
Jeremiah 32:27 ESV
The God of the Bible asks rhetorically of the people if there is anything that He can’t do? Obviously implying He can do what He please with the created realm. That is a primary pillar for understanding miracles: God is not limited in His power. Why couldn’t God decide to work a miracle to prove a point or to give authenticity to His message?
As is our nature, we try to make sense of things. Nothing wrong with that. However, miracles are never the normal, they’re the exception. They're not supposed to make sense (in the physical). Miracles were not a wishy washy thing that sometimes worked sometimes didn’t. Scripture shows that miracles serve a unique purpose and have a specific purpose to those who’ve witnessed or experienced them.
For example, in the Gospel of John, the following is said about Jesus after His first miracle of turning water into wine:
This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
John 2:11 ESV
This miracle was referred to as a sign… what did it signal? It signaled God's manisfestation of glory, power and authority in Jesus, so that the disciples would believe in Him. Later, the New Testament writers go on to show how Jesus’s miracles(signs) were also used to fulfill Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah(Jesus).
Jesus did miracles in fulfillment of prophecy and to demonstrate His power and authority over nature so that the people would believe in Him. Quite a simple concept. The disciples, after living with Christ before and after His death, burial and resurrection, wrote these things down so that others would also believe.
John sums up the purpose of him writing his gospel as such:
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:30-31 ESV
In addition, the Bible teaches that the Apostles also did many miracles that validated their gospel message (as commanded in Matthew 28:18-20, leading to the conversion of thousands and growing a strong foundation for the early Church.
Miracles in the Bible were never “just because", they were used as signs to point people to God; to understand and recognize the message from God that was before them.
Obviously, for those who question miracles in the Bible, odds are they also probably question God and the Bible as well.
Now, we can't go back in a time machine in history and fact check the miracles.
So what shall we say? Take it or leave it? Not yet…
Show Me The Manuscripts
The standard Christian Bible is comprised of 66 books split into the Old and New Testament. These 66 books do not all read the same… the books of the Bible feature a range of literary styles from poetry to prophecy; addressed letters to historical narratives, with various God-inspired authors over the span of 1000+ years.
Fortunately, manuscripts were copied over many centuries by many scribes in many languages, in an effort to preserve and spread the original message. As one can imagine, the original manuscripts of the Biblical scriptures no longer exist as time, weather, book burning, wars, civilization, regime changes and everything else that happens in life, have taken their toll.
The Center For The Study of New Testament Manuscripts is an excellent resource for viewing and learning about the earliest and specific manuscripts that do exist. They detail who found them, when, where and how as well as who translated them.
Some dissenters like to suggest that because of the manual method of scribes copying manuscripts that there are likely errors or distortions to the original texts. While the “whisper down the lane” argument is a valid one to raise, majority of the discrepancies between manuscripts(across various languages) are spelling or other minor wordings that do not jeopardize the integrity of the text's message. The manuscripts that do deviate from the 99% are easy to filter out. If anything, this indicates a strong commitment to getting the message right and an overwhelming determination in preserving and delivering the New Testament writings for future readers.
The overwhelming number of manuscripts, and agreement among them, suggest a strong foundation for the reliability and integrity of the New Testament scriptures.
*Here is an interesting article that discusses some these points as well as some of the earliest New Testament Manuscripts. Enjoy.*
In addition to the canonized scriptures, there are writings from early church fathers that also affirm the integrity of the scriptures and their message as well as many other early church happenings... If you’re interested in those writings go here: https://www.biblestudytools.com/history/early-church-fathers/
All of this to say, briefly, that there is a strong foundation for the reliability of scripture and that the Bible message has been painstakingly preserved, not by coincidence.
In summation, the data shows that the New Testament manuscripts offer a strong foundation for the integrity of the Bible that exists today and the miracles depicted therein were unique, purposeful and demonstrative of Christ’s power and central message of the Gospel.
To read why its critical to have Christ as the cornerstone in your life, see the most recent publication.
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Grace and peace!