New Testament Miracles.
Another feature which distinguishes the new from the old dispensation is the preponderance of miracles of healing. With the prophets and seers of the olden time cosmic miracles were more numerous than healing miracles. In New Testament times the reverse is. true. Taking as a basis the number of occasions on which Jesus exercised miracle working power we find that more than 72 per cent, of them were of healing. If we take into account the many expressions such as : He healed "all that were sick", "all that were diseased", "them that were possessed with demons", "them that had need of healing", "many", "multitudes", "all manner of diseases", and others of like import the relative number of cosmic miracles accredited to Jesus sinks into comparative insignificance. His statement to the disciples that by faith they might remove mountains may be taken as evidencing His belief in their ability to perform cosmic miracles, but so far as we are informed only a few of them ever performed even miracles of healing.

Both Jesus and some of His disciples are said to have cured all manner of disease, and so far as the record goes Jesus never failed in any attempt to cure although the disciples did in at least one case. Among the recorded cures of Jesus where details are given the common diseases rank as to numbers cured in the following order: leprosy, demon possession, blindness with several others in about equal numbers. In the general statements the writers speak of the sick, diseased, tormented, possessed with demons, lunatic, palsied, leprous, blind, deaf, dumb, lame, maimed, halt, and those afflicted with the plague as having been cured and the dead raised to life by the Great Physician.

The methods used by all the miracle workers of the New Testament were not radically different from those with which we have already become familiar among other peoples. There was no hesitancy in making use of such traditional means as saliva, the touch of the hand of the wonder worker, baths ; the Levitical regulations were observed in the healing of lepers ;Peter's shadow cured any sick upon which it chanced to fall ; handkerchiefs or aprons rendered potent by contact with the body of Paul cured diseases and expelled demons (Acts 19:I2); the WORD of power was used by all. Exorcism, here as with all other peoples of antiquity, was the almost universal means for the casting out of evil spirits.

As in Moses's time it was admitted that the difference between the wonders of the Egyptian magicians and those performed by the Lord through Moses was only one of degree, demonstrating the greater power of the true God, so Jesus seems to have believed that others were able to use the power of exorcism. To the Pharisees He said (Math. 12:27) "If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out?" At another time He rebuked the disciples for forbidding one who followed not with them to cast out evil spirits in His name.

The almost universal requirement which was insisted upon as a condition of cure was the faith of the patient. Where this was weak He strengthened it and on at least one occasion He intimated that He would not, or perhaps could not, do anything without it. Unbelievers were sometimes excluded, certain traditional methods were used, in every way the patient was stimulated to do all he could for himself, and it should be noted that whether purposely or not the laws of mental medicine as we now know them were conformed to in almost every detail. For a detailed development of this point one may consult Hudson (44).

Some modern critics make much of the genetic order of Jesus' miracles, seeking thereby to show that not only did His own feeling of His power grow by exercise, but that the miracles which He performed make increasing demands upon our faith. So, too, they maintain that the publicity with which He did His work increases as His ministry advances.

In His earlier miracles they find that the initiative was usually taken by the patient, whereas later from pity and a sense of duty He often relieved those who had not sought His aid. The nature of the records, their meagreness and the conditions under which they were written make it difficult to maintain this point satisfactorily, and if it were true that the miracles manifested increasing power it might be accounted for by the increasing faith of the people as they became more acquainted with His work. The genetic view is not an unreasonable one, however, and in a psychological study of the life of Jesus it yields some very helpful conceptions. It is beyond our purpose to pursue such a discussion in detail.

The fact of most significance for our study is the great power of personality manifested in Jesus. Even the extremists in criticism admit that no life has ever had crowded into three brief years such an amount of wise teaching, deep insight into life, and such manifestations of the power of personality as this life. It is no disparagement whatever to this life that the mighty works which were done in it do not differ radically from those of other great minds. It is enough to know that in it were revealed depths of insight into the great fundamental laws of life the significance of which we have scarcely glimpsed as yet. Compared with the therapeutic methods of His time, His methods were simplicity itself. They were, in short, psychic and were based on an understanding of the ultimate relation between mind and body such as that toward which medical science is now more and more tending. The miracle workers among His followers were Peter and Paul, the two strongest personalities of apostolic times and the two men who understood most fully the import of Jesus' life and teaching.

Miracles of Healing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

By Charles W. Waddle (1909)

Primitive Christian Worship
Hereditary genius