Biblical Miracles

Biblical Miracles

1. Old Testament

   • Demonstrates the glory of God and bring punishment on those who oppose God's people
   • Miracles from the O.T surround the Exodus from Egypt
     • Plagues/Burning Bush/Parting of the Red Sea

2. New Testament

   • Centre on Jesus
     • Healings
     • Exorcisms
     • Nature miracles
   • Miracles are recorded by the gospels demonstration of the Kingdom of God
     • Covenant: a binding agreement, in theology, it describes the agreements made between God and humans. Jesus is sen as bringing in a new convenant

3. Purpose of miracles

   • They demonstrate the love and goodness of God. God is compassionate and responds to prayers and demonstrations of faith
   • They demonstrate God's power over nature, illnesses and even death
   • THey show that God is continually involved and active in the world that he created
   • They are signs pointing to the person and message of Jesus, they demonstrate that he is from God

4. Understanding Miracles

   • Advances in science has led to many Christians abandoning belief in miracles
     • They now argue that the important thing about the stories is the message contained in them
   • Form Criticism
     • A theological movement that analysed biblical texts in order to discover what form they were originally used in
     • Gunkel
       • Argued the key to understanding miracle accounts was understanding the period where they were passed down
         • Word of mouth
         • What we see in the gospels is a 'form' of which they were told in the early Church
   • Demythologise
     • the process of removing the elements of the biblical accounts that are purely 1st century myth in order to discover the essential message of Jesus
       • Rudolf BULTMANN
         • Removed the supernatural elements of miracles from the New Test.
           • It is possible to get closer to the real message of Jesus rather than the miraculous interpretation of the early Church