Are the Early Church Miracles for Today?

The charismatics will tell you “Yes,” while the Baptists and Presbos say “No.” Who’s right?

While I was reading Acts 2 on my own, I came across a verse that might offer some insight:

“Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs* were taking place through the apostles.”

—Acts 2:43, NASB (most accurate word-for-word translation)

The word “signs” has an asterisk next to it, because the NASB footnotes say that in this verse, the word means “attesting miracles.” (To “attest” something is to confirm it as true, credible, or genuine.) In the original Greek, the word is “semeion,” which is used 69 times throughout the New Testament—sometimes this footnote is included, while other times it is not. The fact that the NASB includes this footnote here makes it seem like God chose to do these supernatural things in order to give the apostles His stamp of credibility. 

Also, when considering this verse as a whole, it seems like God chose to do the flashy miracles “through the apostles” rather than through the average church member. The apostles were a group of 12 specific people who Jesus assigned on mission to be eyewitnesses and take the good news to the entire world. It makes sense that God would want to attest to their message since so many people were skeptical of them.

Conclusion

It seems like God did supernatural things through the apostles more than normal in order to give their message an extra dose of credibility. It doesn’t seem like we should look at those miracles and expect that to be the norm for today. I don’t think we should look at their miracles and feel guilty for not seeing that today. However, God cannot be put into a box, and He offers us His same Holy Spirit that animated the apostles. We should always be hungry for Him and keep an open mind to whatever He wants to do through us.