The miracles of Jesus

The Bible describes Jesus as doing miracles, in the sense of supernatural interventions into the natural world. They are sometimes called “signs” which confirm that He was who He said He was and to give credibility to His message and teaching. The existence of miracles in itself refutes physicalism and supports Theism. These specific miracles attest to who Jesus is.

Do we have evidence that Jesus did perform the miracles attributed to Him?

Some would claim that the Bible cannot be trusted because it describes miracles and they would claim that science shows that miracles cannot happen. However, as we have seen, science deals with what is repeatable and, by definition, miracles do not lie in that category. The question is not “are miracles possible?” but specifically, “did Jesus perform miracles?”.

If there is a God then there is no problem with the existence of miracles. For someone with a prior belief in physicalism, no amount of evidence will be sufficient to persuade them.  They would prefer alternative explanations no matter how improbable or outlandish.

There are many good reasons to believe that the miracle described in the Gospels did happen. These include.

• Multiple Attestation: Stories of Jesus’ miracles appear in multiple independent sources within a relatively short time after his life. These sources include the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, as well as the hypothetical “Q” source (a collection of sayings believed to have been shared by Matthew and Luke).
• Early Church Belief: The early Christian communities clearly believed that Jesus performed miracles. This belief is evident in the New Testament writings, which predate the formalisation of the Church. The rapid spread of Christianity could be partly attributed to the impact of these reported miraculous events.
• “Criterion of Embarrassment”: Some miracle accounts include details that might have been considered embarrassing or difficult for early Christians to explain or invent. For example, the initial disbelief of Jesus’ own family or the disciples’ lack of understanding. Such details are considered more likely to be authentic because they wouldn’t serve a propagandistic purpose.
• The Babylonian Talmud (Jewish writings compiled later, around 200AD): Sanhedrin 43a refers to “Jesus the Nazarene” as someone who practised “sorcery” and performed miraculous acts, although these are attributed to demonic power rather than divine authority. While they do not confirm the miracles themselves, they do confirm that miracle traditions about Jesus were widespread and acknowledged by even by his opponents.
• Celsus (Greek Pagan philosopher, c. 178 AD): In his critique of Christianity, entitled The True Word (Alēthēs Logos), Celsus refers to Jesus having performed miracles. Rather than denying the miracles, he attributes them to magic learned in Egypt. Celsus, assumed that Jesus existed, had followers, was crucified and was reputed to perform wonders which His followers interpreted as divine miracles
•  It is reported that “crowds” of people saw them. These weren’t acts performed behind closed doors. It would be very hard to delude a large number of people at the same time.
•  He attracted a huge following, often of people who wanted to receive a miracle. This would not have happened if He had not performed miracles.