That the New Testament records miraculous signs and wonders performed by Chris-tians, who were under the influence of the Spirit, there can be no doubt. Miracles were very prevalent in apostolic times. God even foretold this by His Old Testament prophets (Joel 2:28-30). Peter referred to the miraculous events of Acts 2 as a fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Acts 2:14-21). In Acts 3, Peter healed a man who had been lame from birth (Acts 3:1-9). In Acts 4, after Peter and John were released from jail, they went back to the believers in Jerusalem and told them what had happened (Acts 4:23). At that time, they uttered a prayer to God, a part of which was a petition for the Lord to grant them the opportunity to perform miracles by the authority of Christ (Acts 4:29, 30). The apostles clearly under-stood that miracles would be a vital part of their ministry. And not just an important part of the apostle’s work, but the presence of miraculous power would be a necessity in all local churches where the work of the Lord was going forward.

Why Miracles Were Needed

The reason miracles were needed in the first century was because the New Testament was not complete at that time. The will of God was not in written form as it now is; therefore, one could not turn to book, chapter, and verse to learn how to worship God according to His will. Furthermore, one could not simply turn to the Bible to teach a babe in Christ the way of God more perfectly or to verify that he was truly a Christian. Those things were proven by miraculous demonstrations of the Spirit. The church was able to be edified because there were those who received gifts of knowledge and wisdom, etc., that enabled members in the church to be taught properly (1 Corinthians 12:8). Brethren were able to expose false teachers because some in the church had the ability to discern spirits or identify false teachers or prophets (1 Corinthians 12:10). Also, the preaching of the gospel could be confirmed by the miraculous signs of the one doing the teaching, which would be critical when dealing with an unbeliever (Mark 16:19, 20; Hebrews 2:3, 4). All of these things would have been impossible without miracles. How could one confirm the word without them? Were unbelievers supposed to accept that Christ had been raised from the dead just because someone preached it? Do you think you would have? How could a local church grow in knowledge if there was not an apostle present and no miraculous power? Who would do the teaching? Were members of the church supposed to simply accept everything every uninspired teacher taught? For the church to function without the miraculous in the first century would be the same as a local church trying to function today without any Bibles. We should all be able to see the need for miracles in the first century.

Are Miracles Needed Today?

When we understand why miracles were needed in the first century, we can better see why they are not needed today. Today we have God’s complete revelation in written form. We do not need miracles to verify our discipleship. We have the word of God for that. If someone wants to know if I am a child of God, I merely need to tell them what I have done in obeying the gospel and show them that it is in accordance with the written word of God. When I preach the gospel, I do not need to perform a miracle to prove I am speaking the truth. I simply need to pull out my New Testament and allow the word to confirm itself. We do not need signs and wonders to be edified today. The word takes care of that too. All of the reasons that made miracles necessary in the first century in the absence of the written word, now make miracles unnecessary in the presence of the written word. 

Miracles Have Ceased

The scriptures themselves reveal that miracles were only meant to be temporary and that they have now ceased. One way of seeing this is by observing the fact that the average Christian could only receive miraculous powers by the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:5-20). Since this is so, when the last person who had the apostles’ hands laid on him died, miracles ceased, and in truth, they probably ceased before that with the completion of the written word.

True Miracles Are Undeniable

There are some who still claim to have miraculous power today. However, the differences between the pseudo miracles performed by some today and the true miracles of the first century are abundant. In the first century, when a miracle was performed, it was clear and obvious and undeniable. Even those who did not want to accept them, had no choice. In Acts 4, when the Jewish leaders discussed the miraculous healing of a lame man, they said, “…for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and WE CANNOT DENY IT” (Acts 4:16). That was the nature of all the miracles of that day. Today however, we hear of partial healings or of people having some kind of inner illness healed and so forth. They are extremely deniable. In fact, if someone ever performed a true, undeniable miracle, it would be on the front page of every newspaper, all over the internet, and would be the opening report on every news program. So far, though, there have only been “so-called” miracles that really do not change unbelief to belief.