Does God Still Do Miracles? A Biblical and Contemporary Look at Divine Intervention

The question "does God still do miracles?" is asked from two opposite directions. Skeptics ask it hoping the answer is "no" — that miraculous claims can be explained naturally. Cessationists (those who believe miraculous gifts ended with the apostles) ask it and answer "no" theologically. Charismatics and Pentecostals answer with an enthusiastic "yes." Many Christians fall somewhere in the middle, genuinely uncertain.

A theologically honest answer requires examining what miracles are, what Scripture promises, and what credible testimony suggests.

What Miracles Are

A miracle, in the theological tradition, is an event that cannot be explained by natural causes alone — an act of divine intervention in the created order. Miracles are not violations of natural law but the personal action of the God who created natural law and can act within, around, or through it.

Scripture's miracles are diverse: healings, nature miracles (parting of the Red Sea), resurrections, provision miracles (the multiplication of loaves and fish), and prophetic fulfillment. They share the characteristic of being extraordinary acts that point toward who God is and what he is doing.

What the New Testament Promises

John 14:12: "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." Jesus explicitly promises that his followers will continue doing works like his — including healings and other miraculous signs.

James 5:14-15: "Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up." This instruction to the church — not just the apostles — assumes that healing prayer remains a feature of church life.

Mark 16:17-18: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." The signs are associated with "those who believe" — not restricted to the apostolic generation.

The cessationist argument — that miracles ended with the closing of the apostolic age — requires reading things into the text that aren't explicitly there. It is a theological inference, not a direct biblical claim.

Credible Contemporary Testimony

The global church — particularly in the majority world — consistently reports miraculous healings, answered prayer, and supernatural events. Craig Keener's monumental work Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts (2011) documents hundreds of contemporary accounts with careful attention to credibility.

Neither dismissing all such reports as wish-fulfillment nor accepting all of them uncritically is intellectually honest. Many reports come from credible witnesses in varied cultural contexts, often without access to medical care that would provide an alternative explanation.

Medical literature has documented cases of unexplained remissions — healings that medicine cannot account for — in settings of prayer.

The Honest Middle Ground

The theologically honest position:

1. God can and sometimes does work miraculously. The New Testament promises continued miraculous activity, and credible testimony suggests this continues.

2. Miracles are not automatic or manipulable. They are acts of divine grace and sovereignty, not the result of sufficient technique, faith level, or formula. The God who heals Paul's companion but allows Paul's thorn is a God who heals by sovereign choice, not by demand.

3. Medicine and miracles are not in competition. God works through natural means (medicine, the body's healing processes) as well as extraordinary ones. Both are his provision.

4. Not every claim of miracle is genuine. Discernment is necessary. Some claims are wish-fulfillment; others involve psychological phenomena; others may be genuine miraculous intervention.

5. The absence of a miracle is not evidence of God's absence or your faithlessness. Paul's thorn remained. Trophimus was left sick. Many faithful Christians have suffered and died without miraculous intervention.

Seeking Miracles Wisely

Pray for healing and miraculous intervention with faith and honesty: "I believe you can do this, and I ask you to." Receive the answer — whether yes, no, or not yet — with trust in God's character. Use all available means (including medicine and therapy). Be honest when miracles don't come, rather than manufacturing an account of healing that didn't actually happen.

The God who is faithful is the same God who heals miraculously and who doesn't always heal miraculously. Both responses are his.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are miracles still happening today?
Yes, by credible testimony from around the world. The theological basis for continued miraculous activity is present in the New Testament. Whether specific claimed miracles are genuine requires discernment.

What is cessationism?
The theological position that certain spiritual gifts (including tongues, prophecy, and miraculous healing) ended with the closing of the New Testament canon or the death of the apostles. This view is held by many Reformed Protestants but is not the universal position of the church.

Why doesn't God work miracles more often?
This is a genuine theological question without a complete answer. Scripture shows God working miraculously in some situations and not others without providing a formula for predicting when. Divine sovereignty and purposes that we can't fully see are typically offered as partial explanation.

Should I pray for a miracle?
Yes. Jesus instructs persistent prayer. James instructs prayer for healing. Praying for miraculous intervention is completely biblical. Hold the prayer with an open hand, trusting that God's answer — whatever it is — comes from his wisdom and love.

How do I discern a genuine miracle from natural coincidence or fabrication?
Look for: documentation of the condition before and after, multiple credible witnesses, no plausible natural explanation, and the character of the reporting (genuine humility vs. self-promotion). Perfect certainty is often not available, but some cases are substantially more credible than others.