As modern unbelievers refuse to allow us to appeal to the Gospels as historical documents, it becomes a matter of the highest importance to ascertain what facts in connection with the origin of Christianity and the beliefs of the earliest followers of Jesus can be established with the aid of these letters. Unbelievers cannot dispute that they are the authentic writings of the most active agent in the propagation of Christianity, who has contributed more to its permanent establishment than any other of the disciples of Jesus. This being so, it is impossible to deny that they are contemporary historical records of the highest value. Our opponents demand contemporary testimony, and we present them with the Epistles of St. Paul. In pursuing this argument, it will be my duty to forget that we Christians consider that the man who wrote them had a supernatural guidance, and to use them as I would the letters of Cicero. I will proceed to examine their testimony.
First: It has been asserted, with a view of weakening [pg 409] the evidence of the supernatural portions of the New Testament, that although its writers have reported miracles as wrought by others, not one of them has affirmed that he himself ever performed one.
I reply that St. Paul distinctly affirms that he believed he wrought miracles. “Truly,” says he, “the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.” (2 Cor. xii. 12.) He here affirms that such a power was possessed not only by himself, but by other Apostles also. The power to perform “signs, wonders, and mighty deeds” was directly connected with the apostolic office.
Again, he says to the Galatians (iii. 5), “He that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you.” In this reference he evidently means himself, and affirms that he had performed miracles in Galatia.
In the Epistle to the Romans he makes the following affirmation: “For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ.” (Rom. xv. 18, 19.) Here then we have St. Paul's direct affirmation that in his own opinion, throughout the mission in question, he had been in the habit of performing “mighty signs and wonders.” After these passages it is needless to quote further. The Apostle deliberately affirms to the Corinthians and Galatians that he performed miracles, and the whole passage makes it clear that he supposed they would fully recognize the fact of his having done so. Of course this affirmation does not prove that they were real miracles; but it does prove that he [pg 410] and those to whom he wrote thought that they were so. Not less distinct is his affirmation to the Romans. These passages further distinctly prove that it was an accepted belief in the Churches when the Apostle wrote, and even at a much earlier period, that supernatural manifestations attended the early preaching of Christianity. It follows therefore that the invention of miraculous stories was not due to a later mythic and legendary spirit. This the statement made by the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans distinctly proves; for he evidently considered that he had been in the habit of performing miracles up to the very time when he wrote the letter, and during the whole course of his preceding ministry. Also the affirmation that miracles were the signs of an Apostle, and admitted to be such, is a strong corroboration of the statement made by the Synoptics that our Lord was supposed to have conferred such powers on the Apostles; and as it is simply incredible that any should have believed that He conferred on the Apostles powers which He did not exercise himself, it carries up the belief of the Church that Jesus was a professed worker of miracles to the very first years of Christianity. I am quite aware that these beliefs of the Church do not prove these miracles to have been real ones. But they do prove that the belief in their actual performance was contemporary with the birth of Christianity itself. They therefore could not have originated, as the opponents of Christianity are never weary of assuming, in a mythic or legendary spirit; for myths and legends require a considerable time to grow; and it is impossible that they can encircle an eminent character with an unreal halo till after those who witnessed his actions and personally know him are silent in the grave. But in the case before us we have affirmations of St. Paul [pg 411] respecting himself, which put the whole apparatus of myths and legends out of the question. If then this belief in the manifestation of a supernatural power in connection with Christianity dates thus early, there are only three modes in which it is possible to account for it, viz. that it was due to deliberate and conscious imposture; or that Jesus and His immediate followers laboured under a delusion when they thought that they performed miracles; or that they were really wrought. As no one now-a-days pretends to maintain the truth of the first alternative, we may dismiss it from further consideration.
But it will be asserted that St. Paul does not mention any specific miracles which he considered that he had performed, and that his statements are merely general. I reply that such a mode of statement is precisely what we should expect to find in a letter of this kind, and is just the one which would be adopted by a person who was satisfied that those to whom he was writing were as firmly convinced of the fact as he was himself.... A formal and distinct description of the miracles which he had performed would have been quite out of place in a reference of this kind, and would have implied that doubts respecting them existed on one side or the other. Besides, the words which he uses embrace all the different expressions by which the various kinds and aspects of miracles are designated in the New Testament.
Secondly: These letters also afford unquestionable evidence that at the time when they were written both the writer and those to whom he addressed them, were firmly convinced that there was then actively operating in the Church a number of supernatural manifestations of a very peculiar character, and widely different from any species of supernatural belief which has been current [pg 412] before or since. I allude to the gifts of the Spirit, to which the Apostle has so frequently alluded in these Epistles, and of the nature of which he has in those to the Corinthians given a distinct account, together with definite rules to regulate their use. The reason why he has given us a far more definite account of this class of manifestations than of the other is obvious. In the Church in question they had become the subjects of ambitious rivalry, and under its influence some of them had been perverted to pernicious uses. The whole subject is definitely treated of in the 12th, 13th, and 14th chapters of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, besides a number of distinct references to it in other portions of his writings. These assertions on the part of St. Paul that both he and those to whom he wrote were fully of opinion that supernatural powers were then manifested in the Church, are so clear that they require a most careful consideration. The following points respecting them are proved by this Epistle.
1. That St. Paul, and the various parties in the Corinthian Church, however much they might disagree on other points, fully believed that these supernatural powers were then and there manifesting themselves in the Church. This belief might have been a delusion, but the letter proves beyond doubt that it was entertained by the whole Church, including all its various parties.
2. That these gifts were earnestly coveted by the various members of this Church; that many of them made a very ostentatious use of them; and that stringent rules were required to prevent their use from degenerating into an abuse.
3. Nine of these supernatural endowments are enumerated by the Apostle. It is not clear whether the list is intended to be exhaustive. Probably it is not; [pg 413] but it is evident that the writer intended to enumerate the chief of them. They are as follows: the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith; gifts of healing (χαρίσματα ἰαμάτων); working of miracles (ἐνεργήματα δυναμέων); the gift of prophecy, those of discerning spirits; tongues and interpretation. This list of gifts in a slightly altered form is repeated no less than three times in the same chapter. They are affirmed to be supernatural endowments, qualifying the possessor for distinct functions in the Church. It is worthy of particular remark, as showing how free the Apostle was from contemplating the subject with the eye of a credulous enthusiast, that he distinctly asserts that they were designed for a definite purpose only, and that when that was effected they were to cease. A fanatic would certainly have considered that they were destined to continue for ever. This point is worthy of our deepest attention.