[341] Matt. 13. 58; Mark 6. 5-6; Luke 18. 42.
And what shall we say of Christ's frequent commands to keep His miracles secret?[342] There were doubtless reasons for this in every case; but Christ's followers, who presumably recorded the miracles in order to get them known, are not likely to have invented, and put into His mouth the command to keep them secret. Nor is Christ likely to have given it, had there been no miracles to keep secret. Nor again is anyone likely to have added, unless it was the case, that the command was generally disobeyed. This seems surprising, yet it is very true to human nature that a man who had been suddenly cured of a long complaint, should insist on talking about it.
[342] E.g., Mark 3. 12; 5. 43; 7. 36.
In the same way the discussions about working miracles on the Sabbath Day have a very genuine tone about them and it is difficult to imagine them to be inventions.[343] Yet such discussions could not have arisen, if there had been no miracles on the Sabbath, or any other day.
[343] Mark 3. 1-5; Luke 13. 10-17; John 5. 9-16; 9. 14-16.
Then there is the striking passage where Christ warned His hearers that even working miracles in His name, without a good life, would not ensure their salvation.[344] This occurs in one of His most characteristic discourses, the Sermon on the Mount, and it is hard to doubt its genuineness. But even if we do, it is not likely that Christ's followers would have invented such a warning, if as a matter of fact no one ever did work miracles in His name.
[344] Matt. 7. 22.
And much the same may be said of another passage where Christ is recorded as saying that all believers would be able to work miracles.[345] If He said so, He must surely have been able to work them Himself; and if He did not say so, His followers must have been able to work them, or their inventing such a promise would merely have shown that they were not believers. On the whole, then, as said before, the accounts of the New Testament miracles have every appearance of being thoroughly truthful.
[345] Mark 16. 17.