If the power of the Spirit over things of the material plane be an
impossibility, then by what power did Jesus perform his miracles? Either
you must deny his miracles, or you must admit the power of the Spirit
to work on the material plane--there is no way out of the dilemma.
Perhaps you may say: "Oh, but He was God in person!" Well, all the
promises affirm that it is God who does these things; so what it is
possible for God to do at one time, it is equally possible for Him to do
at all times. Or perhaps you hold other theological views, and will say
that Jesus was an exception to the rest of the race; but, on the
contrary, the whole Bible sets Him forth as the Example--an exception
certainly to men as we now know them, but the Example of what we all
have it in us to become--otherwise what use is He to us? But apart from
all argument on the subject we have his own words, telling us that those
who believe in Him, i.e., believe what He said about Himself--shall be
able to do works as great as His own, and even greater (John xiv, 12).
For these reasons it appears to me that on the authority of the Bible
itself, and also on metaphysical and scientific grounds we are justified
in taking such promises as those I have quoted in a perfectly literal
sense.
Then there are promises of the power that will attend our utterance of
the Word. "Thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established
unto thee" (Job xxii, 28). "All things are possible unto you" (Mark ix,
23). "Whosoever ... shall believe that what he sayeth cometh to pass, he
shall have whatsover he sayeth" (Mark xi, 23), and so on.
Other passages again promise peace of mind. "Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is staid on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee"
(Isaiah xxvi, 3). "Let him take hold of my strength that he may make
peace with me" (Isaiah xxvii, 5). St. Paul speaks of "The God of Peace"
in many passages, e.g., Rom. xv, 33; 2 Cor. xiii, 11; 1 Thess. v, 23,
and Hebr. xiii, 20; and Jesus, in his final discourse recorded in the
fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of St. John's Gospel, lays
peculiar stress on the gift of Peace.
And lastly there are many passages which promise the overcoming of death
itself; as for instance Job xix, 25-27; John viii, 51, and x, 28, and
xi, 25 and 26; Hebr. ii, 14 and 15; 1 Cor. xv, 50-57; 2 Tim. i, 10; Rom.
vi, 23 ("The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord").
"God commanded the blessing, even Life for evermore" (Ps. cxxxiii, 3).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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