What is a “miracle”? We use the term in a variety of ways. We use it sarcastically to indicate something utterly unbelievable. Like saying, “David Dunham camped all night in a tent in the woods, it’s a miracle!” Or to imply that I accomplished some amazing athletic feat, or willingly got in the ocean. We also use the term to speak of something extraordinary. We say a person whose cancer was “miraculously” healed, or that a man who should have died in a car crash was saved by a miracle. We apply it to the amazing act of childbirth – the miracle of childbirth. And we use it too to describe the supernatural acts of Jesus in walking on water and raising the dead, these are miracles. These uses do not, of course, all describe the same thing. We must properly define our term if we’re going to safeguard ourselves from poor theology.
To define the term we must begin with what we know. We have outlined some of the uses of the term above, but why do we apply this term so broadly? In each instance above we may conclude that there is an element of the extraordinary. It is not what we expect or what we can conceive. Even with the “miracle of childbirth” we note that something amazing is happening. We may be able to explain the process of conception and growth and development, but the very act of creating human life inside the womb is still astounding and, at some level, beyond comprehension. But if we want to safeguard our theology we need a more thorough definition and we need that definition to be grounded in the revealed Word of God. So, as John Frame writes, when it comes to defining our theological terms “We start with whatever concept we already have and try to refine it on the basis of Scripture” (The Doctrine of God, 245).
In the Scriptures the term “miracle” is applied generally speaking to describe events caused by God that are so extraordinary that we would usually consider them to be impossible. We could look to a number of different events in Scripture commonly called miracles: the flood, the birth of Isaac, the turning of Moses’ staff into a serpent, the parting of the Red Sea, the crumbling of the walls of Jericho, etc. But how do these events differ from “natural events.” After all the “miracle of birth” is quite different than the miracle of resurrection. One is a “natural” event the other is most assuredly not. So more must be said of this definition to clarify it. John Frame helps us, he writes:
Theological definitions of miracle tend to focus on “nature” and/or “immediacy”: a miracle is supernatural as opposed to natural, and/or it is accomplished by the “immediate” power of God. (246)
These two ideas are key parts to a Biblical definition of miracles. The two elements will help us avoid misunderstanding the nature of miracles and God’s relationship to the world. Next week we will begin by looking at “nature”.
Human language is so dynamic and versatile that we can say a variety of things. We may use the term “miracle” to speak of vastly different things, and yet when we come to speak of a theology of “miracles” it is of paramount importance that we specify clearly what we mean. Clear definitions are important for sound doctrine. If I go camping in the woods it would indeed be a “miracle,” but that’s not what I mean when I develop a theology of miracles.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 