Dabney,
We hold. . .that Christ by his Spirit bestowed these supernatural powers on his apostles and certain others for a temporary purpose. That purpose cannot be more accurately stated than in the language of Paul (1 Cor. xiv. 22) : ” Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.” Compare Mark xvi. 15-18 : ” Go ye into all the world, and. preach the gospel to every creature. . . . And these signs shall follow them that believe : in my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues,” etc. (See also 1 Cor. xiv. 14, 19; Acts. iv. 29, 30; v. 12 ; Heb. ii. 4.) The fact of the resurrection is the corner-stone of the whole gospel promise. But the credence of an unbelieving world to that most surprising event was to be gained by the testimony of the apostles as eye-witnesses. The world was invited to commit its immortal interests to the “say-so ” of twelve men, who were…unlearned and obscure in the main, asserting a most extraordinary fact! Manifestly, when they first stood up before an unprepared and unbelieving world, it was absolutely essential that God should sustain their credibility by some supernatural attestations. He did this accordingly by enabling them, from the day of Pentecost onward, to exhibit manifestations of divine power, palpable to the senses and of indisputable force. The legitimate effect on men’s reason was seen in the conversion of the three thousand.
But twelve men could not preach everywhere. Therefore it was desirable that others should be endued with the power of exhibiting these divine “signs.” Notice now the consistency and wisdom of the divine plan here. If any human agency was employed to communicate to others than the twelve these powers, that agency was the twelve themselves, and they were appointed to do it by an obvious, visible action. To this agree the best expositors, ancient and modern. . .And the reason why the power of working “signs ” was derived by others only from the twelve was, that they were the appointed witnesses to the resurrection whose testimony needed support, and received support from the signs. Thus, through Peter’s agency, the power of speaking with new tongues came to the family of Cornelius. (Acts x. 44.) Let us represent to ourselves a young child of the centurion exercising indisputably before us this supernatural gift. It demonstrates the fact that God has here intervened But for what ? That boy is no competent eye-witness to the resurrection! But he can say that it was through Peter’s agency he was enabled to exhibit this sign, and Peter is one of those eye-witnesses. Thus the endowment of the boy reflects back its evidence upon Peter the witness, whose credibility is all-important to the propagation of the gospel. Again, let us suppose the young evangelist Timothy endued with this ????µa by the laying on of Paul’s hands, going forth to a heathen village to proclaim the resurrection of Christ and to exhibit his ”signs.” The question immediately arises, To what does this divine attestation bear relation? Timothy answers, To Christ’s resurrection. But was Timothy an authentic eye-witness of the fact? No; he does not pretend to be. But he can testify that it was Paul who bestowed this power of working “signs,” and Paul claimed to have actually seen the Lord in glory after his resurrection. Thus, in a word, it was best that the ability of others to exhibit the “signs ” should visibly proceed from the twelve, because it was to sustain the testimony of the twelve that the ” signs ” were needed.
But the necessity was temporary. By the time that the last of the apostles and their converts had passed off the stage of life the attitude of the new dispensation before the world was greatly changed. The civilized world was now dotted over with churches. See, for instance, Rom. xv. 19. The canon of Scripture was complete. The effects of the gospel in the renewal and sanctification of souls were now visible to every nation. When at first the twelve unknown men stood up before a world all unbelieving to claim belief for the astounding fact, a miraculous support of their credibility was absolutely needed. Without it the credence of mankind could not have been reasonably or justly claimed. But now this species of support to the great central facts was no longer necessary. The world now had, in place of the few original eye-witnesses, a countless multitude of witnesses at second hand, but still honest witnesses. It had the historical attestations of the recent past to a multitude of miracles, the authenticity of all of which could not be impugned. Mankind now had the completed Scriptures, with all their self-evidencing light, and the witness of the Spirit in the called. And above all, they had the divine results of the gospel in paganism overthrown and souls sanctified under their own inspection — a kind of evidence whose stream has widened and deepened to our day. The same necessity for supernatural “signs” now no longer existed, and God, who is never wasteful in his expedients, withdrew them. Henceforward the church was to conquer the belief of the world by its example and teachings alone, energized by the illumination of the Holy Ghost.
Finally, miracles, if they became ordinary, would cease to be miracles, and would be referred by men to customary law.
Dabney, R. L. Discussions: Evangelical and Theological, Vol. 2. 1891. Harrisonburg: Sprinkle, 1982. pp. 234-237.
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