When was the last time you heard people use the word “miracle” to describe things they don’t understand or can’t explain?  Perhaps they said something like “the miracle of birth,” “it's a miracle no one was hurt in the accident, God was watching out for so-and-so that time,” or “by a miracle we found a parking place close to the building.”  Or where have you heard some individuals or groups claim that with God’s help they perform miracles similar to the miracles we read about in the Bible, especially the miracles and miraculous abilities performed by Christians in the New Testament?
     How does the God-fearing believer put such claims to the test (as we are instructed to do in 2 Corinthians 13:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; and 1 John 4:1)?  Is it fairness toward God if people credit Him simply out of self-admitted ignorance or for lack of another explanation?  Are they being spiritual or considerate of Him by presuming His divine concern should fulfill some personal concern on their part?
     Have you ever wondered about God’s “management policy” on miracles?  What qualifies as His miracles and what motivates God to work them?  Must He perform genuine miracles every day to provide for the daily physical & spiritual needs of His followers?  Or does God accomplish His providence and His goals with a minimum of miracles?
     This short series of articles has two main goals concerning the claims of modern-day miracles .  One, we are going to examine the Bible, especially the New Testament, to learn about God’s miracles and His “management policy.”  Then two, from what we learn, we will identify some tests to determine God’s involvement in these claims.

Why study miracles?

     Developing a Bible-based understanding of miracles helps us in studying even more important issues.
     (1) We will get some useful practice letting the Bible interpret itself.
     (2) Our conclusions will have more merit because we double-check them against the Scriptures.
     (3) We will learn more about how God does things and grow in appreciation of both God’s character and God’s plans.
     (4) We will cultivate a habit of identifying and removing our misconceptions about God and His word.

What does the word mean?

     For starters, we need a working definition for the biblical miracle, a practical meaning we can build our growing understanding of miracles upon.
     Any school child can tell you … the first place to go discover a word’s meaning is the dictionary.  So let’s look there.  By the way, if you don’t already have a good dictionary, I urge you to go to your local bookstore and buy the best dictionary you can afford of the English language (or whatever language your Bible is printed in).  You will be glad you did.
     When I looked up “miracle” in my big dictionary, I found these two meanings:  a) an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs;  and b) an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment.
     Which meaning was used first?  I couldn’t be sure from my dictionary.  Perhaps “a” is a limited religious application of the “b” meaning.  Or maybe people started using the word “miracle” to describe “b”-type situations because they were reminded of the “a”-type miracles.

What does the meaning mean to us?

     What I did learn for certain is that whatever else a miracle is, it must be “extraordinary,” “extremely outstanding,” and “extremely unusual.”  If something is ordinary, normal, and usual, then it’s not a miracle.  (E.g., every day babies are born, accidents are survived, cars are parked, etc. ... therefore these very ordinary events do not qualify as miracles.)  Therefore, God’s miracles must be “extraordinary,” “extremely outstanding,” and “extremely unusual.”  That fact tells me something to expect about God — using miracles is outside of God’s normal, ordinary, usual, regular, repetitive, routine, habitual, common, customary, characteristic, established manner or system of doing things.  (Wow!)
     The realization that God has an established manner or system about anything suggests several other important considerations such as purpose, preferences, lifestyle, schedule, ability to organize, priorities, goals, plans, actions, procedures, decisions, discernments, and etc.  For the moment, it’s enough for us to understand that God’s manner reveals information about Himself and His character.

What does “miracle” mean in the Bible?

     As long as we’re digging up definitions, we should look at the words translated as “miracle” in the Bible.  To do that, I looked up “miracle” in An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W. E. Vine, a dictionary that lists only words used in the New Testament.  (You might want to consider adding this book to your bible-study library.)  Our English word “miracle” is used to translate two different Greek words “” and “” in the New Testament.
     The Greek word “” (dunamis) means “power, inherent ability, is used of works of a supernatural origin and character, such as could not be produced by natural agents and means.”  A couple of examples* of this word translated as “miracles” are found in the Book of Acts, chapter eight, verse thirteen and Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter three, verse five (i.e. Acts 8:13; Galatians 3:5).  Often this word may be translated as “mighty work” or “power” as it is in the gospel of Mark, chapter six, verse five (i.e. Mark 6:5).  This word tells us that human beings cannot perform biblical miracles by their own power or ability without supernatural help (i.e. God, Satan, angels, demons, etc).
     The Greek word “” (sehmeion) means “a sign, mark, token, is used of miracles and wonders as signs of Divine authority.”  This word may be translated “miracle” as in Luke 23:8 & Acts 4:16, 22 although more often it is translated “sign” or “signs” as in Matthew 12:38, 39.  What are man-made signs used for?  They communicate information either by pointing toward something or by identifying something.  Whatever a man-made sign points to or identifies (street, building, location, etc.) is always more important to the man who placed the sign than the sign itself is.  This word tells us to expect that God’s miracles point to or identify something more important than themselves.
     When I followed up on the “See also …”s mentioned in my New Testament dictionary, I found that the word “wonders” is commonly used to describe biblical events that were also described as “miracles” or “signs.”  Three quick examples of this are in the Book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 19, 22, and 43 (i.e. Acts 2:19, 22, 43).  This information is important because it tells us that miracles often attract attention, fill the observer(s) with awe, and make people wonder what’s going on.

Summary

     Let’s summarize what we’ve learned so far and establish our working definition of a miracle.
     A miracle is (1) an extraordinary, extremely unusual event that (2) requires supernatural intervention because it cannot occur within the natural abilities of human beings, that as a “wonder” (3) causes the observer to wonder or think, and that as a “sign” (4) points to or identifies some importance other than the miracle itself.
     Therefore, in God’s miracles, God leaves his usual routine to provide the required supernatural intervention and dictates what importance is indicated by the miracle.  Accordingly, God is the one who decides when, where, how, how much, why, and what kind of a miracle to perform.  In other words — each of God’s miracles, as recorded in the Bible, demonstrates or confirms God’s direct involvement or support of a specific priority or goal more important to God than the miracle itself.
     In part two, Lord willing, we will explore God’s purposes for His miracles.