The Ohio Independent Baptist, September 1972

AND LOVE, BY MEN WHO KNOW THEIR GOD AND WHO HONOR HIS ONLY WRITTEN R EVELA- TION. Then, and then only, may we expect our deepest needs to be supplied, and God's purpose for His Church to be accomplished in our day. APPE~DIX THE TESTIMONY OF EARLY CHURCH FATHERS CONCERNING THE CESSATION OF MIRACLES AFTER THE APOSTOLIC P ERIOD (Quoting B. B. Warfield, MIRACLES: YESTERDAY AND TODAY. Grand Rapids : Eerdmans, reprinted, 1965) With regard to Justin Martyr and Irenaeus of the second century A .O ., Dr. Warfield states : "The writ– ings ~f the so-calle~ Ap~sto!ic Fathers contain no clear and certain allusions to miracle-working or to the ~xerc1se o~ the char1smat1c g1f~s, contemporaneous with themselves" (p. IO) . And after discussing the writ– ings of third century A.D. writers such as Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Origen, and Cyprian, he concludes : "A~d so ~e pass on to the fourth cen~ury in an ever-increasing stream, but without a single writer having claimed himself to have wrought a miracle of any kind or having ascribed miracle-working to any known name in the church, and without a sing]e instance having ben recorded in detail" ( p. 12). Beginning in the fourth century, however, Christian leaders apparently became so desperate for miracles to match the "miracles" they heard about from heretical and heathen sources, that they began to see "ecclesiastical miracles" everywhere. This trend increased into the Middle Ages, when nearly every "saint" in the Roman Catholic Church had to be supplied with a full display of miraculous powers! At the same time (and this point is exceedingly important for our discussion) , they as much as admitted that these miracles were on a much lower level than the great miracles of Christ and the apostles! For example, Augustine ( died 430 A.O. ), who in later life felt obliged to testify of many miraculous works going on in his day (though perplexed that no one was taking notice of them!- (p. 45 ), stated in earlier days that none were occurring! "Why do not these things take place now?", he asked about 392 A.D. His answer: "Because they would not move unless they were wonderful , and if they were customary 'they would not be wonderful ... God has dealt wisely with us, therefore, in sending his miracles once for all to convince the world , depending afterward on the authority of the multitudes thus convinced" (p. 41). Chrysostom ( 4th cent.), the most eloquent preacher of his day, stated: "Argue not because miracles do not happen now, that they did not happen then... In those times they were profitable, and now they are not... Of miraculous powers, not even a vestige is left" (pp. 46-47). Isodore of Pelusium ( 4th cent.) speculated: "Perhaps miracles would take place now, too, if the lives of the teachers rivalled the bearing of the Apostles" (p. 47). Gregory the Great ( 6th cent .), commenting on Mark 16: 17, asked: "Is it so, my brethren, that be– cause ye do not these signs, ye do not believe? On the contrary, they were necessary in the beginning of the church ; for, that faith might grow, it required miracles to cherish it ; just as when we plant shrubs we water them until we see them to thrive in the ground, and as soon as they are well rooted we cease our irrigation" (p. 47). lsodor o f Seville (7th cent .), in similar vein: "The reason why the church does not now do the mir– acles it did under the Apostles is, because miracles were necessary then to convince the world of the truth of Chri stianity; but now it becomes it, being so convinced, to shine forth in good work . .. Who– ever seek s to perform miracles now as a believer, seeks after vainglory and human applause ' ' (p . 47 ) . Bernard of Clairvaux ( 13th cent .), asks concerning Mark 16: 17, "For who is there that seem to have those signs of the faith, without which no one, according to thi Scripture, shall be saved?'' and an– swer s by saying that the greatest miracles are those of the regenerated life (p . 48). In struggling to expl a in thi s strange paradox in the thinking of early Chri ti an theologian , namely, the absence and at the same time the presence o f miracles, Dr . Warfield conclude : "The miracles of the first three centuries, if accepted a t a ll , must be accepted on the general a ertion that such thing, occurred - a gener al assertion which itself is wholly lacking until the middle of the econd century and which, when it does appear, concerns chiefly prophecy and healing , including ~ pec ially e orc is~1 , wh.ich w can scarcely be wrong in supposing a re precisely the classes of ma rvel with re pcc t to which e ·c1ten1ent most easily blinds the judgment and insufficently grounded rumors n1ost readily gr?w up" ( p. 12). And speaking of theologians of later centuries, he conc lud es: HN o doubt we must rc~ogn1ze that the c Fa thers realized tha t the ecclesia tical mir acles were of a lower order than tho c of Scripture. It look very n1uch as if, when they were not inflamed by e nthusiasm, t/1 ey c/i(l no t real/) 1 tJ, ink t/1ert1 to be 111iracles at t1l/'' (p. 48). Thus, chu rch history confirms the c lear inferences of Scriptt1re tha t sign-n1iracle of al l type cea eel wi th the death of the apos tl es. THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST SEPTEMBER, 1972 13