Gang,
It’s been a few busy days.
A few days back isle and I had this exchange among a number of posts earlier in this thread.
If you want to join me in a conversation of the letters of Paul as a collection of ancient early Christian documents, I'd be overjoyed to do that with you. I am, at heart, a historian. I am trained as a historian and I have skills which I have honed over the years that allow me to handle texts with a fair amount of precision. And, I must admit, that I'm not always as patient with people not as accustomed as I am in dealing with ancient sources. -- pb
Can you give us an actual example of what you are claiming, chapter and verse? This way, we can examine it and we'll be able to more clearly see if and how it helps (or hinders) your case. – isle
I’m going to take a shot at taking a brief passage from the writings of Paul—a passage that scholars agree is genuinely the writing of Paul, the leader of the early leader of the Christian movement, in a letter written by Paul to a community of believers well known to him with whom he had a long personal history.
This is a letter. Letters are extremely important historical documents, especially when the person sending or receiving them are known figures. Letters are honest and forthright. When you read a letter you catch a person or people in conversation. You know that the content of the letter, when taken in context, must be taken at face value to be interpreted properly.
Close to the end of 2 Corinthians, the third longest letter of Paul known to us, Paul is defending his claim to be an apostle. In fact, approximately the last fourth of the letter is an extensive defense of his claim to be an apostle. Paul says this:
“I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the "super-apostles," even though I am nothing. The things that mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance. How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!†(2 Cor. 12:11-13)
There are several aspects of this brief passage that present a strong witness to the fact that miracles were undeniably a part of life in the early Christian movement.
1. There is the fact that, in conversation with each others in the Christian movement, Christians had developed a rather sophisticated vocabulary for what we call miracles. There’s a cliché that Eskimos have 26 different words for our word ‘snow.’ I don’t think that’s actually true.
But, what is undeniably true, based on this ancient passage in early Christian literature, is that there were three words among Christians for miracles: “signs, wonders and miracles.â€
From this it becomes clear that miracles were so common in the early Christian movement that there was a lexicon of miraculous events that differentiated between what we think of as miracles in the three categories of signs and wonders and miracles.
If you want to deny that miracles we common in the early Christian movement you have to explain how, in conversation, they had come to develop different categories for miracles. That sort of evolution of language takes place only of necessity, i.e., only when communication is made easier when vocabulary is expanded. Clearly, events deemed to be supernatural were so common that it became convenient to place the events in three different categories in order to facilitate communication. The mere fact that, in conversation, Paul differentiated signs from wonders and wonders from miracles testifies to the fact that these events happened frequently.
2. There is the fact that early in the Christian movement the ‘marks’ that separated a genuine apostle from a false apostle was the ability of the person claiming to be an apostle to perform signs, wonders and miracles.
Paul alludes to the fact that the ability to do signs, wonders and miracles was the accepted standard in the early Christian movement to authenticate a person’s claim to be an apostle.
Understand that there were more than twelve people acknowledge to be apostles among Christians. In fact, quite a few people beyond the Twelve acknowledged to be apostles in the early Christian movement. In Revelation 2, generally agreed with considerable confidence, to have been written in the 90s, there is this passage which the writer claims to have been dictated by Jesus in a vision, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.†(vs. 2) Dispute, if you like, that these are the words of Jesus given in a vision. Here’s what is undeniable: At the end of the first century, Christians were talking about who is a true and who is a false apostle.
In 2 Corinthians, we catch Paul in dialog with a local Christian community describing the standard that is shared among Christians. That is: In the early Christian community a true apostle was distinguished from a false apostle in that a true apostle was one who did signs, wonders and miracles.
It’s hard to argue that miracles were not common in the early Christian movement when the standard Christians used to separate a true apostle from a false apostle was whether or not that person performed signs, wonders and miracles. No such standard would have been developed unless signs, wonders and miracles were understood to be a mark of an apostle.
3. There is the fact that Paul wrote this letter to a community of people with he had a long personal history. His first letter to this church, also acknowledged to be authentic by virtually all scholars, makes it clear that Paul is actually the person who introduced Christianity to the city of Corinth. He actually personally brought this community of believers into existence. (1 Cor. 3:6)
So, when he writes about doing signs, wonders and miracles in their presence, there is no way that he can be doubted. Not only that, but he reminds these folks that, “signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance.†In that phrase Paul brings to the memory of these people that he did many signs, wonders and miracles in their presence and that he did them over an extended period of time.
Apparently, these people were skeptical about Paul’s claim to be an apostle. It became necessary for him to do signs, wonders and miracles over a lengthy period of time simply in order to convince them of his calling to be an apostle.
Because this letter is acknowledged to be authentic and because of the long history that Paul had with this church and because he is reminding them that they personally witnessed that he did miracles in their presence “with great perseverance,†it is unreasonable to suggest that miracles were not common in the early Christian community. No, it’s not unreasonable. It’s impossible.
4. There is the fact that Paul alludes to the larger community when he asks, “How were you inferior to the other churches…?†The subject at hand, of course, is the miracles he did in the presence of the people in Corinth. He’s alluding to the fact that he did more signs, wonders and miracles in their presence and over a longer period of time than he did in other local Christian communities. The fact that he did more in Corinth than in other places is also testimony to the fact that it was a normal thing for him to perform signs, wonders and miracles—the marks of an apostle—every place he went.
It’s hard to suggest that miracles were not a part of the early Christian community when Paul could suggest to the people in Corinth that, while he did signs, wonders and miracles in their presence in great numbers and over a long period of time, he did them everywhere he went.
Gang, the fact is that, when you read the New Testament as a collection of ancient historical documents you learn something about life in the early Christian movement. One thing you learn is that signs, wonders and miracles were so common that their appearance was not only expected, it was demanded from a person who claimed to be an apostle
It’s not possible, reading the New Testament documents, to doubt that miracles took place.
What you do with that is up to you.