1 Corinthians 2:4-5 “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5) that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul highlights the necessity for the saints to be exposed to the tangible power of God. So why did Paul consider that to be important? The reason is because Paul understood that although the saints already had faith he needed to teach them to focus their faith on God’s power, and so in order to do that he demonstrated the reality of God’s power to them. In other words when Paul preached the gospel he would also demonstrate God’s power by performing various miracles and healings among the people. That is the same formula that Jesus prescribed when He sent the disciples out to preach the gospel, for He also instructed them to heal the sick and cast out demons in every town they entered (Luke 10:9-17). Clearly the New Testament pattern of preaching the gospel is to proclaim it while at the same time demonstrating the power of God by performing various miracles and healing the sick. And so we see that the reason for demonstrating God’s power is to educate believers to focus their faith on the very real power of God, for it becomes far easier for saints to exercise their faith in God’s power when they personally witness miracles and healings taking place among them. On the other hand it is much harder for saints to exercise their faith in God’s power when they have never witnessed a miracle or seen someone being healed by the supernatural power of God.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments