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2.3.5 - A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age
Primitive Jewish Christianity
The Life of the Primitive Disciples - Miraculous Works
Besides the presence of the Holy Spirit, there were other supernatural manifestations in the life of the primitive Christians of Jerusalem of a very striking character. The early chapters of the Book of Acts contain many references to signs and wonders wrought by the disciples.
In addition to the apostles in general [Acts 2:43, 5:12 also 4:30, where the disciples pray that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Jesus, without specifying by whom] and Peter in particular [Acts 3:6, 5:15 sq., 9:34,40 – also 5:5,10, where Peter is represented as the mouthpiece of the Spirit in passing condemnation upon Ananias and Sapphira], Stephen [Acts 6:8], and Philip [Acts 8:7,13] are reported to have performed many miracles, and even Ananias, an otherwise unknown disciple, is represented as the agent in restoring Paul’s sight [Acts 9:17].
It is true that most of Luke’s statements are of a very general character, and sound like additions of his own [Acts 2:43, 5:12,15, 6:8, 8:7.13], but some specific cases are reported where it can hardly be doubted that he made use of earlier sources, either written or oral, [Acts 3:6, 5:5,10, 9:18,34,40, 7:7, possibly also 5:19]. Though signs and wonders may not have been as common as his account would seem to indicate, the fact that the early Christians believed that the miraculous posers which Jesus had exercised were still exhibited among them, is confirmed by Mark 16:17,18, where a prophecy of Christ’s is recorded [whether or not the words were actually spoken by Christ or not they are significant, for they show that the belief was held at the time the passage was written that miraculous posers existed among the followers of Jesus], by the Epistle to the Hebrews [Heb 2:4, also Jas. 5:15] and above all by Paul, who not merely claims to have wrought “signs and wonders and mighty works” himself [Rom. 15:18, 2Cor. 12:12, and Acts 28:8], but also implies that the other apostles or missionaries, of whom there were so many in the early church, possessed a like power [2 Cor. 12:12].
There is no reason to suppose that in this respect the primitive Christians of Jerusalem differed from other Christians in the world outside. Doubtless there was as vivid a sense of the presence and miraculous activity of the divine among them as among their brethren anywhere.
And yet it is a remarkable fact that, so far as our sources enable us to judge, the early disciples did not commonly connect such wonderful works with the Spirit of God. In the Gospels the agency or power by which Christ did his great works is not ordinarily specified, and only once is such a work brought into any connection with the Spirit, and the reference to the Spirit is probably and addition to the original source. [In Matt. 12:28, Christ says: “If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils”; but in the parallel passage in Luke (11:20), the phrase “finger of God” occurs in the place of “Spirit of God,” and is probably the original reading.]
In the Book of Acts Christ’s wonders are ascribed to the Spirit on one occasion by Peter [Acts 10:38], but nowhere else in the book is the Spirit brought into connection with any such works, and the signs wrought by the disciples are commonly represented as wrought in Jesus’ name or by his power. [Acts 3:6, 4:30, 9:17, 34, 16:18, also Mark 16:17,18].
Paul distinctly recognized the Spirit as the giver of the power to perform miracles, [1 Cor 12:9, Gal. 3:5], and the failure of the author of Acts to ascribe such wonders to him, when he mentions the wonders themselves so frequently, seems inexplicable, except on the assumption that he was following his sources, and that in them the marvelous works were not connected with the Spirit.
But such reticence on the part of the sources of which Luke made use, can hardly have been accidental. We may fairly see in it, in fact, the influence of the traditional conception of the Jews, who always thought of the Spirit primarily as the power which worked through the prophets, revealing to them the will and truth of God, and impelling them to declare that will and truth to others.
But we may perhaps go further and conclude that the wonderful works which are recorded in the early chapters of Acts were so exceptional and infrequent, that they were entirely overshadowed by the common but no less striking manifestations of the Spirit’s activity in other lines, and that they were consequently not thought of, like the latter, as characteristic signs of the Spirit’s presence in the disciples, but only as special deeds wrought through them under special circumstances by Jesus himself.
Paul’s advance upon the earlier conception at this point is of a piece with his general advance, in ascribing the entire Christian life in all its activities, the most common as well as the most uncommon, to the indwelling Spirit, whose abiding presence alone makes the Christian life possible.
Used by permission of the publisher.
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