Correcting Anglocostalistictractaholics: Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) F.N. Lee If irreformable, bye-bye and if reformable, hello.
We say with Zachary Ursinus, "Friend, entering here: be short and leave…or else stay and assist me in my work."
Now for corrections from Mr. Lee. Of note, we used [ ] to indicate Hebrew/Greek words which did not survive from pdf to Word to this forum.
A theological study about the nature of miracles and their cessation at inscripturation but the continuation of pseudo-miracles according to revealed religion from the fall of the first Adam till the second coming of the Second Adam.
[ ] plural ('doings'), is used to describe miracles. See First Chronicles 16:8 and Psalms 9:11 & 66:5 & 77:12 & 103:1-7 and Isaiah 12:4.
The word erga (or 'works') can sometimes mean miracles. It clearly does so in John 5:20 & 5:36 and Acts 2:12 etc.
Finally, the word praxis (or 'doing') may perhaps include also miracles. It seems to do so in Romans 12:4.
So then, the Bible's words sometimes rendered "miracle(s)" or "wonder(s)" in translations of the Old Testament, are: [ ]
New Testament wordssometimes thus translated, are: dunamis ("a power"), erga ("works"), praxis ("a doing"), [ ], semeion ("a sign"), and teras ("a prodigy").
2. None of the above Biblical words always means 'miracle'
It should be noted that these same (above) Hebrew and Greek Bible words, are also often used to describe dissimilar kinds of remarkable phenomena which are clearly NON-miraculous.
This we will now demonstrate, before proceeding.
Thus, [ ] is employed in Deuteronomy 28:46 to means the natural curses God would put upon an apostate people. In Psalm 71:7 it describes the afflicted psalmist himself. In Psalm 105:5f (cf. 77:11), it means God's remarkable works in general.
In Isaiah 8:18, [ ] describes a Prophet's (hardly miraculous!) walking barefoot for three years -- as a 'sign' and a 'wonder.' In Ezekiel 12:6f & 24:24-27, it describes the non-miraculous 'sign' of Ezekiel himself.
In Joel 2:30 (cf. Luke 21:11), it describes natural earthquakes and possibly also comets and other rather unusual (but non-miraculous) occurrences in nature. And in Zechariah 3:9, it is used to describe the way the high priest Joshua and his fellows were wondered at.
[ ] too is variously used (non-miraculously). In Deuteronomy 28:59, it describes the long-enduring plagues imposed upon covenant-breakers. In Second Samuel 1:26, it describes Jonathan's steadfast affection for David.
In First Chronicles 16:9-24f, the word [ ] describes God's wondrous and marvellous works from past times. In Second Chronicles 2:9, it describes the "wonderfully great" temple Solomon was to build; and at Second Chronicles 26:15, even the providential help given to Uzziah is called 'marvellous.'
In Job 5:9f, non-miraculous natural rain and also ordinary providential actions among men are called "marvellous things." Job 29:5-10 describes dramatic yet non-miraculous operations of God in nature, such as major earthquakes and the tidal movements of the waves.
Who could fairly describe the constant tidal movements as miracles? To do so, would be to stretch the very word 'miracle' to encompass also the ordinary – and thus to obliterate the very distinction between the regular and the miraculous.
Job 10:16-18 describes God's marvellous and sustained trials of that ancient patriarch.
Job 37:5-16 describes the non-miraculous yet wondrous work of God in the thunder and in the clouds. And Job 42:3 describes the disobedient and ignorant complaints of that patriarch, as being too "wonderful" for him.
Psalms 9:1 & 98:1 describe God's regular vindications of His people in history, as "marvellous works." Psalms 17:7 & 31:21 both describe how David praised God for His "marvellous" kindness. And Psalm 40:5f describes as "wonderful" the works and thoughts which God had revealed to David.
Psalm 88:10-12 questions whether God's wonders will be shown to the dead. Psalm 89:5 says that the Heavens would praise God's wonders. Psalm 96:5-12f apparently describes the natural works of God among the heathen, as "wonders."
Psalm 105:2:-9f refers to God's "wondrous" but non-miraculous dealings with Abraham. Indeed, Psalm 107:7-39 similarly describes God's providential deliverances from hunger and from storms at sea.
Psalm 111:2-7 describes God's wonderful working in history. Psalm 119:18, 27 describes the psalmist's petition -- to behold wondrous things out of God's Law. And Psalm 119:129 calls also God's testimonies "wonderful."
Psalm 139:6 declares that God's total control of David was too wonderful for the latter to understand. And Psalm 139:14 says that David's having been made by God fearfully and wonderfully, is "marvellous" [ ]). Yet even the remarkable pre-natal formation of all human embryos here implied, is not a miracle but rather a natural event (then not observable by humans) rightly provoking human admiration.
Proverbs 30:18 says Agur found the natural movements of the eagle and the serpent to be "wonderful." Isaiah 25:1 speaks of God's wonderful counsels. And Isaiah 29:14 calls the predicted destruction of the city of David (at the hands of its human enemies) "a marvelous work and a wonder."
Lamentations 1:9 describes the "wonderful" destruction of Jerusalem -- not by divine miracle, but from attacks launched by the Babylonians. Daniel 8:24 predicts a fierce king would destroy "wonderfully." And Daniel 12:6 refers to the end of the "wonders" of then-predicted future history.
To express non-miraculous amazement -- and sometimes (after humanly witnessing them) even true miracles -- the neat word [ ] is used in Genesis 43:33 & Psalm 48:5 & Ecclesiastes 5:8 & Habakkuk 1:5. Also the related word thambos describes non- miraculous amazement (or "marvelling") in Acts 3:10f.
The cognate word thaumaz (and/or thaumastos) occurs at: Matthew 8:10,27 & 9:8,33 & 15:31 & 21:20,42 & 22:22 & 27:14 (cf. the parallels at Mark 5:20 & 6:6,51 & 12:11,17 & 15:5,44 and Luke 1:21,63 & 2:18,33 & 4:22 & 7:9 & 8:25 & 9:43 & 11:14,38 & 20:16 & 24:12,41 and John 3:7 & 4:27 & 5:20,28 & 7:15,21 & 9:30). Similarly, also at: Acts 2:7 & 3:12 & 4:13 & 7:31 & 13:41; Galatians 1:6; First Peter 2:9; First John 3:13; and Revelation 13:3 & 15:1-3 & 17:6-8. Its various usages are so plastic, as to require the context itself to determine whether it case by case refers to a miracle (or to a non-miracle).
It should further be noted that even the word dunamis (and its cognates) is translated "miracle" only nine times. Yet it is elsewhere fully 77 times translated "power"; and fully 17 times rendered "might(y)." In many of these cases, it clearly means a 'non-miraculous power.'
For example, in: Luke 1:52; Acts 18:24; Romans 1:16 & 8:28 & 9:17; First Corinthians 1:18,26 & 5:4; Second Corinthians 8:3; First Peter 3:22; and Revelation 13:2 & 17:3.
In the Old Testament, the B.C. 270 Greek Septuagint usually employs the word dunamis to translate the Hebrew word [ ]. That word is translated as "might" 27 times; as "strength" 17 times; as "power" 8 times; as "mighty" 4 times; and as "force" and "mastery" and "mighty power" and "mighty" only once.
In only some of these cases could it mean 'miracle.' Yet in many other cases, it could not. For see: Exodus 32:18; Judges 5:31; 8:21; First Kings 15:23 & 16:5,45; Second Kings 10:34 & 13:8,12 & 14:15,28 & 18:20 & 20:20; First Chronicles 29:30; Esther 10:2; Job 21:7 & 39:19; Psalms 90:10 & 147:10; Ecclesiastes 9:16 & 10:17; Isaiah 3:25 & 36:5; Jeremiah 23:10 & 49:35 & 51:30; Ezekiel 32:29-30; and Micah 7:16.
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