The Supernatural in the New Testament, Possible, Credible, and Historical / Or, An Examination of the Validity of Some Recent Objections Against Christianity as a Divine Revelation

by C. A. Row

Having considered the direct assertions in the New Testament in reference to the supernatural, it will be necessary to take a brief view of the question in relation to modern difficulties and objections.

The following subjects present themselves for our consideration:—

1st. To what extent, and in what sense are miracles the proofs of a revelation?

2nd. Are supernatural occurrences devoid of all moral environment capable of affording such proof?

3rd. Can doctrinal statements or moral truths be proved by miracles?

4th. Are miracles objects of faith merely, or if not, how are they related to our reason; and if in any sense they are objects of faith, how can they be the media of proof?

It will be evident that these questions will immediately lay open a number of the most important considerations. They can only be adequately dealt with in the subsequent portions of this work. The natural place to discuss them will be when I come to consider the objections that can be urged against the possibility and credibility of miracles. A few preliminary observations, however, will be necessary for the purpose of putting the reader in possession of some of the most [pg 068] important points of debate and of the positions which I intend to assume respecting them. They will also help to clear the way for the solution of the various difficulties by which the subject has been attempted to be obscured.

The manner in which Christianity claims to be a divine revelation, as we have seen in the former chapter, in its most proper and distinctive sense is that the person of Jesus Christ constitutes that revelation. It is the manifestation of the divine character and perfections by means of the various acts and deeds of his earthly life and ministry. It is a revelation of the divine shining forth in the human. I have already adduced some of the affirmations of the sacred writers on this subject. It would be easy to multiply them indefinitely. Perhaps it would be impossible to express the position which they take on this subject in more distinct language than by citing two brief passages in St. Paul's epistle to the Colossians: “Who is,” says the Apostle, “the image of the invisible God;” “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Both passages affirm, as the writer's view, that all revelation is made in the person of Jesus Christ.

It follows, therefore, that the Christian revelation in its highest sense is not a body of abstract dogmas, but that it consists of an objective fact, the Incarnation. As God has manifested his eternal power and Godhead in the material creation, so he has manifested himself as a moral and spiritual being, 1st, imperfectly in the moral nature of man, and afterwards perfectly, in the perfect man who unites in himself the divine and human, Jesus Christ. God, when he effected the work of creation, made a manifestation of himself which chiefly revealed his power and wisdom. When he effected the Incarnation he made an additional manifestation [pg 069] of himself which chiefly revealed his moral character and perfections. The four Gospels contain the historical account of this manifestation, as made in the actions and teaching of Jesus Christ. As this revelation consists of a number of historical facts, all that was necessary was that his life and actions should be correctly reported. The remaining books of the New Testament are historical in character, with one exception, and as far as they treat of doctrines, they may be viewed as commentaries on the Divine fact of the Incarnation.

It follows, therefore, that the essence of Christianity consists of a superhuman or divine fact, the Incarnation. In this point of view the supernatural is not only a concomitant of Christianity, but it constitutes its essence. It is the manifestation of a supernatural and superhuman being appearing within the sphere of the natural and the human. It cannot be too carefully observed throughout this entire controversy that the character which is ascribed to Jesus Christ, while it embraces every perfection of man, is no less superhuman than the powers which are attributed to him are supernatural. In this sense the supernatural is not merely an evidence of revelation, but its essence.