Miraculous Powers

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

MIRACULOUS POWERS

1 Cor 12:7-11

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.   11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

NIV

It is time to look at the gift of miraculous powers, or the working of miracles, as would be a more wooden translation. Nevertheless, this is the power that is endowed by the Spirit, and thus it has nothing to do with our power, abilities, or strength either physical or spiritual. This is solely attributed to the Spirit as He manifests His gift of miraculous, supernatural power within whomever He determines so that it will be for the common good. There is some confusion among our known scholars of old. Some would want to join this gift of miraculous powers, with the gift of healing, whereas, if the disease or infirmity were of a particularly nasty sort, it would take more than a normal gift of healing thus it would take a miraculous healing. Others disagree, as do we because we cannot see any justification for those scholars of old to be right in this regard. The gift of healing is already from the Spirit and is thus it is a supernatural healing, with all the power of the same Spirit who gives wisdom, knowledge, and faith. But this gift of the working of miracles, although it could be seen as healing in some sense, it does not necessarily have anything to do with healing but is supernatural power to do that which is beyond human capability. It is true that we humans have developed through learning many different abilities and skills that some would say are extraordinary in nature, but they still would not be classified as miraculous. It is interesting that the Oxford Dictionary defines the word miraculous as occurring through divine or supernatural intervention or manifesting such power. We do wonder how this gift shows itself when the Spirit manifests it in someone. Once again, we turn to the Oxford dictionary to find its definition of a miracle, which is, “a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural of scientific laws and is therefore to be the work of a divine agency”. That pretty much sums it up, in that this gift of working miracles is nothing we can possibly do in the human realm, and therefore is completely the supernatural realm of the Spirit. Unless we have seen it happen, or had it happen to us, we would not be able to fully define exactly how being endowed with miraculous powers would be revealed or show itself for the benefit of the common good. We do note that Jesus demonstrated miraculous powers when he calmed the water and the wind when they were all in the boat and so afraid the boat was going to be swamped. Jesus controlled the weather and that is completely outside the human realm and totally in the spiritual realm. Could that be something the Spirit would do through us? It was also a demonstration of miraculous powers when Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb. Again, outside the realm of human abilities, but not outside the realm of the Spirit. But what would this look like today in our time and culture? We are not sure exactly how it would look, as to what miraculous power would the Spirit manifest in us. However, what we do know is that we are willing for the Spirit to move through us with miraculous powers.