Miracles are like tongues. Rightly understood, we see that speaking in tongues did not cease, but rather began in earnest with the closing of the Canon as the gospel – regenerate God talk — was translated (spoken and written) into foreign tongues (languages). Similarly, miracles did not cease with the closing of the Canon, either. Rather, the closing of the Canon provided the platform for the launching of new generations of miracles, new kinds of miracles previously unknown, miracles that could only be manifest in the light of the Trinitarian Christ. Indeed, the application of the Trinitarian understanding of God and the Trinitarian understanding of reality brought about the development of science and technology, which have utterly and miraculously changed the world.
Science & Technology
What we call science and technology today, Christians a course in miracles of the First Century would have called miracles. What we assume as commonplace today, would have been considered to be absolutely miraculous in any other period of human history. I’m talking about modern communications, transportation, media, agriculture, population increase, etc. Think about the transformation of the world from the time of Christ to the Twenty-First Century and it is nothing short of absolutely miraculous, particularly from a First Century perspective. This is the gift of miracles that was on Paul’s list.
The rest of the gifts on Paul’s list are lumped together as if the order is not significant, “then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues” (v. 21). The previous gifts on the list are in the order of importance. The most important was the apostolic, the writing of the New Testament. Second was the preaching of the New Testament gospel. And third was the teaching of the New Testament gospel. The direct result of that preaching and teaching would be — and were — miracles. The preaching and teaching of the Trinitarian gospel of Jesus Christ utterly changed the world for the better and forever.
For over 25 years Phillip A. Ross has been leading churches and writing many Christian books. He founded in 1998, which documents the church’s fall from historic Christianity. Demonstrating the Apostle Paul’s opposition to worldly Christianity, Ross captures the action his book, Arsy Varsy — Reclaiming the Gospel in First Corinthians.