I once heard a Pentecostal preacher say that what we read on the pages of the Book of Acts is just “normal Christianity”. As he explained it: “If Christians were just being who God wants us to be, what we see happening in Acts would be happening in and through us today just the same as it was then. We need to believe what we read and see there is just normal Christianity for God’s spirit-filled people.” Sounds cool, but I think he was wrong– not only about the purpose of the Book of Acts– but even more so his suggestion that it is something lacking in us, some failure in us, some deficiency in our faith, that is preventing God from doing the extraordinary things today that He did through Peter, Paul, and other Apostles we read about on the pages of Acts, the history of the early church for the first three decades.
Taking a long view of biblical history, I believe what we see happening during Jesus’ ministry and into the Book of Acts is highly abnormal. In fact looking back throughout the centuries in which the Bible’s writings are set, I only see three pretty brief periods of time when extraordinary, miraculous gifts were being given to men— and even then, only to a small number of people. Have you noticed that the generation of Moses and Joshua saw God do extraordinary miracles as He was in the process of bringing his people out of bondage in Egypt and into their “Promised Land”? Before then however we do not see any men or women working miracles or given supernatural powers, do we? And after Moses and Joshua’s time we also do not see it again until the generation of the prophets Elijah and Elisha many centuries later. During those two men’s ministries spent trying to call Israel back from growing apostasy before divine judgment fell, God was pointedly authenticating their message and putting his “stamp of approval” on them by giving them the ability to do “signs and wonders”. But again, after their era, for another several hundred years we have no record of such things happening. Centuries passed until the advent of the Messiah who, true to prophecies about Him, opened blind men’s eyes, made the deaf hear, and did the miraculous like feeding 500+ people from one kid’s lunch. Those things were definitely NOT “normal” in prior generations. That’s one big reason people should have recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah because He did a lot of abnormal supernatural signs proving that He was. That generation, from the launching of Jesus’ public ministry until the early days of the “Church Age”, from roughly 30—60 AD, people in Israel and where the apostles went (who Jesus commissioned and sent out with a measure of his divine power) witnessed some incredible miraculous signs. I believe again it was because God was doing something new, shining a spotlight on them and saying in effect, “My special power and anointing is on these men. Listen to them!”
Think about this: When the Apostle Paul was defending his inclusion as a true apostle in 2 Corinthians, what else could he have meant when he said: “I demonstrated among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders, and miracles.” (12:12) If the supernatural ability to work miracles, heal diseases, etc. was “normal”—even in the apostolic era much less in all times—why would Paul point to that as specific proof he’d been given by Christ the distinctive office of Apostle? It’s the same question as: Why was it that miracles and healings were to be distinctive signs identifying the Messiah when He arrived? The answer to these questions isà because those things are not normal!
Someone I read years ago pointed out—I can’t think of his name but I do not want to take credit for this insight– that it’s probably no coincidence that those three brief periods when God gave to a few people the ability to do miraculous things, those generations, maybe 30—60 years each time, also coincided with the main periods when God was introducing new revelation, i.e. the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the New Testament. I doubt if that is coincidence. So if we are honest, surveying the history we have recorded for us in the Bible, the periods when God was doing miraculous things through special representatives of his may have been at most roughly 150 total years confined to three specific generations; while all the rest of the time we are told about, like the epoch from Adam to Noah, the patriarchal period, the days of the judges, the early kingdom period, the post-exilic period— in other words ALL the rest of the time covered in biblical history, around 5000 years or more— we’re told of no such things occurring through men. And keep in mind, even in those three special periods, the miraculous seems to be limited to only a handful of people, i.e. Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, and Jesus and his apostles. So, which situation is really “normal”? The answer is obvious.
In light of this reality, is it reasonable to say that only this small group we read about doing signs and wonder, healing people etc. were doing so because they had more faith than all others—as Pentecostals like to imply about people who question their claims? Then consider: Did Moses have any more faith than Abraham? Did Elijah have any more faith than Nehemiah? Or for that matter did Peter and Paul have any more faith than other great Christians of the early centuries who died for their faith without seeing the proofs the apostles witnessed? I think the answer to that question is obvious too. I think the more reasonable and biblically demonstrable position regarding supernatural gifts given to men is that God has chosen to do miraculous things at special times for His own reasons. That means too that He could choose to do so again before Jesus returns, and I pray He will. But let’s not say that it’s “normal” and try and conjure up “miracles”, healings, and other sign gifts like too many con men have done in our generation! Many of them have been exposed as frauds who have shamefully taken advantage of naïve and desperate people who, when healing fails to come about, or some prophecy fails to come about, are left with the consuming lie that it is their lack of faith that keeps them sick or in bondage! I’ve personally seen people of great faith crushed by this! Turn away from this dangerous nonsense! The apostolic age was, to use Paul’s visual illustration, “foundational” and unique. Buildings don’t have many foundations after all. (Eph. 2: 20). There was one foundation laid, the NT apostles and prophets, with Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. Isn’t it possible, even likely, that God was doing special things during the foundational era of the church to ensure its success? Isn’t it more likely and consistent with reality that Acts is in fact a history of that special era, rather than a blueprint for the whole church age? This certainly seems to be the case if we look honestly over the whole sweep of biblical history, early church history, the age of the “church fathers”, to our own time.
All this so far is by way of observation, but maybe the NT gives us other indications that the supernatural things of the apostolic, “foundational” period we read about in Acts were not meant to continue. Remember, logically we can say since Paul argued that it was “signs, wonders, and miracles” that marked him as a true apostle, and that he also wrote that the apostles were at the foundation of the church, that these extraordinary gifts passed off the scene as the apostles did, when the foundational (special) era gave way to the superstructure (the normal) era. Unless you believe that the apostolic office continued (as Roman Catholicism claims), then this is a logical conclusion. *This view—often called “cessationism”– also seems in sync with the fact that even later in the first century we read things that sound very different than the miraculously charged early chapters’ accounts. In the early chapters we read things like: “The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. . . people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.” (Acts 5:12—16) And, “In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet’! At that, the man jumped up and began to walk!” (Acts 14: 8—10). But merely a couple decades later near the end of his life we read things from that same Apostle Paul like this: “Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. Do your best to get here before winter.” (2 Tim. 4:20—21) Is it because Paul’s associate Trophimus had less faith than the crippled man who listened to him preach at Lystra twenty years earlier? I seriously doubt that. I think it’s far more likely by the end of Paul’s life the era of “signs, wonders, and miracles” was already passing away because the foundation had now been laid. Paul’s special apostolic powers/gifts had already diminished.
Another interesting consideration comes from the section in 1 Corinthians where Paul is rebuking the misuse of gifts in that early church. Those early Christians were clearly too enamored with the “sign gifts”, the supernatural gifts, rather than with the things Paul told them were more important. In chapter 13, right in the midst of the section where Paul is correcting them, there may be a telling insight about this question. (Chapter 13 is not in the first place about marriage and true love as most have only heard it applied, but rather in the very context where the misuse of gifts is being confronted/corrected by Paul). When he tells those believers that godly love is far more valuable than giftedness, he makes this statement: “Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away”. (1 Cor. 13: 8-10) It sounds to me like Paul was arguing that these “sign gifts”, i.e. prophecy, tongues, and word of knowledge were coming to an end. Why does he mention these three and not others like miracles and healing? Perhaps these three were of particular fascination among the Corinthians or being more abused by them. These were considered the greater more spiritual gifts by them possibly. About tongues in particular Paul says, “they will cease”. The verb construction indicates that that gift will cease in and of itself, as when something wears out or comes to an end of usefulness. The gift of knowledge and prophecy he wrote will be “done away with”, and the construction in that case suggests caused by something outside themselves. That “something” is what Paul termed “that which is perfect”, and what that refers to is a matter of debate. Personally, I tend to believe he was using the term “perfect”, or “complete” over against what we mentioned earlier as the temporariness of the foundational era. In other words, once the church age had matured into the superstructure period, i.e. moved past the apostolic era (in our terms reached its “normal” state) and the NT revelation had been completed, then these sign gifts would “come to an end”. To me this is theologically important because during the apostolic era, as I understand it, prophets served the specific purpose of sharing NT truth with churches before the NT was fully written or widely circulated. The gift of knowledge was likely also associated with that, i.e. the supernatural revelation and interpretation of NT truth, and its proper application, by gifted people in the congregations of the first century. Unless you believe that God is still giving new revelation today, then prophecy has indeed ceased. Tongues of course was a miraculous sign to unbelievers. It showed—along with healing and miracles—God’s supernatural power, as on the day of Pentecost. This gift of being able to speak in a language you had not learned accompanied the apostles being baptized into the body of Christ, i.e. the church, and was a sign to the unbelievers who heard Peter preach on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Thousands witnessed a miracle by hearing the apostles praising God in their own languages. It showed that God’s hand was on them. But tongues was a temporary gift too, a miraculous sign God used during the foundational years. Once the fledgling church came to a place of maturity, a more “normal” order took hold and the gift of tongues passed away like something whose purpose was now over with.
For those who hold another view I believe the challenge is to demonstrate otherwise. Reading the early chapters of Acts, miracles, healings, etc. were commonplace among the Apostles just as during the ministry of Jesus. But by the late first and 2ndcenturies (and thereafter as well) there is almost no serious mention of such phenomena. And in our day, although there is a lot of talk and claims, serious follow-up studies show the claims to be bogus over and over. Take a look at the extensively researched expose on Benny Hinn by Mike Winger available online for example. People like Hinn who have claimed to have the gifts of healing and miracles or to be prophets to whom God is revealing the future are exposed as frauds over and over. It’s usually just a way to enrich themselves as it almost always goes hand in hand with the false “prosperity theology” they peddle. If the miraculous gifts were being given by God to men today, why aren’t those who claim to have them visiting hospitals and “healing all that are brought to them” as it was with the Apostles early in Acts? Tongues, looking at the only place in the NT where we can clearly define what that gift was (Acts 2), was the supernatural ability to speak in a language you never learned. If that gift was being given in our time, wouldn’t God be giving it to missionaries who badly want to share the good news with people of language groups they can’t reach without years of language study? So my point is, if the “normal state” of the church vis-à-vis supernatural gifts is the ministry of Jesus and his apostles, where is it? For example, the church I am a member of has many people gifted with leadership, with teaching, with hospitality, with mercy, etc., but if the miraculous, supernatural sign gifts are still active today as some claim, why hasn’t the Holy Spirit distributed them in our church?
I always feel the need to say when on this topic that God can do whatever He chooses, whenever He chooses. He certainly heals people today, but that is very different than a man among us having the spiritual power to point to a cripple in our meeting or at an outreach event and say: “You there, rise up and be whole!” In the same way, God certainly answers prayers and sometimes we use the word “miraculous” when He changes seemingly impossible circumstances, but who today can work true (contrary to the laws of nature) miracles? i.e. walk on water, feed 500 people from a lunch, etc.? As you can tell, I am a realist. I don’t think it helps our cause to claim things that we cannot back up—quite the contrary I’m afraid. Smart people can see through the false claims and get discouraged in their faith when what they hear doesn’t match what they actually see. And just as bad, scoffing unbelievers mock Christians’ claims about miracles without any real evidence to back them up, which turns sincere seekers away from the true gospel of Christ.
One final note: since God is sovereign, i.e. can do whatever He chooses, are there exceptional situations? Quite possibly. I hear such claims but have never seen them with my own two eyes. However, in this post, we are talking about what is “normal”. Some theologians believe that in the future, before the return of Jesus, God may again pour out his power very demonstrably in supernatural ways as he has a few times in the past to produce one last harvest of souls. I think some OT prophets may suggest this. I for one not only hope that happens but hope that time is soon! In the meanwhile, at Share the Word, we will be careful in our explanation and application of Scripture to keep it real. And we urge our listeners to “test all things and hold onto what is authentic”. (1 Thess. 5:21)
