They were filled with amazement when they saw the loaves and fishes multiplied before their very eyes. These people had seen, touched, tasted, smelled they had eaten of the loaves, and their hunger had been appeased. That the miracle was “an event in the external world” is obvious that it took place “in the sphere of the observation of the senses” is also clear. Here we are told two things the feeding was intended as a sign or attestation and the multitude that partook of the material tokens of divine power failed utterly to understand and profit by their real significance. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you …” (John 6:26, 27). When they found him, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. We read that the next day the multitude that had been fed took boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. So much for the event itself now for its meaning. “They did all eat, and were filled.” So gratifying was this repast to the multitude that Jesus withdrew from them because they were about to “come and take him by force, to make him a king.” But it was also and just as much an act that directly affected a multitude of men, both mentally and physically, and they were fully competent to judge its occurrence. 14:19).Īll that we can say is that this was an immediate act of God, an act inexplicable by natural laws. Jesus “took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude” (Matt.

How this took place is very simply stated. With this Jesus fed five thousand men, and twelve baskets of fragments were taken up afterwards. When evening came they were hungry, and the only food available was five barley loaves and two small fishes that a young boy had with him. On this occasion the people had sought him out in a desert place. Jesus had gone through Galilee preaching, and the common people had heard him gladly. It had a definite occasion and was connected with preceding events. It was an event that five thousand men both witnessed and benefited from. The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle performed by Jesus that is recorded in all four Gospels. It can be observed by men and should be recognized as significant by them.Ĭonsider a notable example.

Its occurrence in the external or phenomenal world has evidential value for the human beings who witness it. (3) It is intended as a sign or attestation. It is an act of divine power and cannot be accounted for by the ordinary laws of nature. (2) Its occurrence results from “the immediate power of God” it is not the necessary consequence of prior events, however closely it may be connected with them.

As such it is a phenomenon that takes place “in the sphere of the observation of the senses” and is cognizable by them. It forms an integral part of the stream of history. In the narrow sense, then, a miracle has three characteristics: (1) It is an event, not an isolated phenomenon. When the writer was a seminary student, he was given this definition: “In the narrowest biblical sense, miracles are events in the external world, wrought by the immediate power of God and intended as a sign or attestation.” The words, “in the narrowest biblical sense,” are intended to exclude from the definition such spiritual experiences as regeneration, sanctification, faith, and prayer, which are all miraculous in the broad sense of supernatural. The debate deals also with such words as historical, Historic, Geschichte, suprahistorical, metahistorical, myth and legend, kerygma, and existential but the key word is miracle. The issue centers about the word “miracle.” This word, which has been precious to Christians from the earliest times, has been called in question for a century or more and is now the subject of vigorous debate. But this battle is not “to no profit” it concerns the very essence of our Christian faith. In writing to Timothy the Apostle Paul counsels him to exhort the Christians under his care “that they strive not about words ( logomachein) to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.” With this exhortation in mind, we observe that rarely if ever in the history of the Christian Church has there been a more important battle of words going on than at present.

Supernatural element definition