WHAT DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT SAY ABOUT… The Ceasing of Miracles?

This short series of lessons is not only for the purpose of learning what the Scripture says about different topics, but also how we can do honest Bible study to insure we understand it correctly. With that in mind, please give attention to the following.

KEY WORDS AND PHRASES: 

Here are some of the key words that can be searched in a concordance to see what is said about our subject for today: miracles, signs, hands, prophecies, tongues, Holy Spirit, gifts, cease, perfect.  Incidentally, the more familiar you are with the NT, the easier it will be to come up with key words and phrases pertaining to this or any other subject.

GOOGLE “HAVE MIRACLES CEASED?”

Doing such a search will bring up articles on this subject that you can use to help identify other relevant passages. (I do this all the time. I rarely take the time to see what they say about the subject, but simply use it to identify passages I have forgotten to include.) Using this procedure, here is what we find…

WHAT THE NEW TESTAMENT SAYS

  1. Mark 16:20 – “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.”
  2. John 20:30-31 – “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.”
  3. Acts 2:4 – “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
  4. Acts 2:22 – “while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”
  5. Acts 8:18 – “Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,”
  6. Acts 19:6 – “And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.”
  7. 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 – “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
  8. Ephesians 4:7-13 – “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’ (In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth.  He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
  9. Hebrews 2:4 – “while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”
  10. James 1:25 – “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
  11. Jude 3 – “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

OBSERVATIONS:

  1. The main purpose of God using miracles was to create belief and confirm His message (see Mk. 16:20; Jn. 20:30-31; Acts 2:22; Heb. 2:4).
  2. These miracles began with the apostles being filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.
  3. The apostles could pass this ability on to others through the laying on of their hands (see Acts 8:18; 19:6), yet we have no indication that anyone else could do that.
  4. It is clear that God’s design for miracles was not for them to be a continuing part of the church but to cease after the entirety of God’s will was revealed and confirmed (see 1 Cor. 13:8-12; Eph. 4:7-13; Jam. 1:25; Jude 3).
  1. These miracles would have naturally come to an end after the death of the apostles, as they would not be able to be passed on any further.

It is amazing how Bible study is simplified by using the right procedures!

Daren Schroeder