Question: Do we have to perform miracles all the time in order to serve Christ? | thebereancall.org

TBC Staff

Question: My friend keeps emphasizing miracles to me, quoting John:14:12 and claiming that if we aren’t doing miracles all the time we’re not serving Christ. He cites this passage as evidence: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John:14:12).”

Response: Certainly John:14:12 has been misused by those who think that miracles are the big thing. The disciples could hardly do any miracle greater in kind than raising the dead—or in greater quantity, considering that John said that the world itself could not contain the books that should be written concerning the things Jesus did in His earthly ministry.

The key to the meaning of this passage is, of course, Christ’s statement, “…because I go unto my Father.” And John explains what that means. He tells us that when “He the Spirit of truth is come, He will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of the judgment to come.”

So, the greater works were the winning of far more souls to Christ than even He had accomplished, and this would be through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, who would be given when Christ went to the Father, having finished the work of our redemption and having risen from the dead. On the day of Pentecost, in one sermon Peter brought more into the church than Christ had in three and one-half years of His miracles and preaching.

Of course, this is not to the credit or glory of any of us, nor does it make us better than Christ, since it is in Christ himself indwelling the believer since Pentecost, through the Holy Spirit, who does the work, just as He did nothing of Himself while upon earth but it was the Father in Him who did the works.