a few questions regarding the purpose of sign gifts

[bpkantor]

I have a question regarding the following text...

Heb 2.3-4
"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which was at first declared by the Lord, and was attested to us by those who heard him, while God was also bearing them witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will"

I think from this and other scriptures that one purpose of various gifts and miracles was to attest the message of the gospel. I have a few questions though, and if someone could bring other texts to help with this point I would appreciate it...

1) What was the ultimate purpose, according to the text of scripture for these miracles? (was this purpose multifaceted?)
2) For whom did God intend this attestation to be? (in other words, the gospel message was attested as true by means of these miracles, verified as authoritative/true for/to whom?)
3) How (by what means) was God pleased to have this attestation succeed? (in other words, how did these miracles attest/verify the truth of the message? was it by people experiencing them personally? seeing them? hearing about them?)

A few questions I've been thinking about. I appreciate any help.

Thanks and God bless,
--Ben

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Ben,

In the context of Hebrews, the author is clearly trying to demonstrate that the miracles and gifts spoken of were given to bear witness to the apex of Revelation, which is Christ. First the signs of Christ (the works He performed, His fulfillment of everything His Messiahship demanded, etc) bore witness that He was the Christ, the Son of God. His entire life was a blaze of Redemptive significance pointing to His Sonship, Kingship, Prophethood, and Priesthood. The most significant sign, which authenticated His claim to Deity, was His resurrection from the dead. God declared Christ Lord by raising Him from the dead.

As we follow the Acts of the Apostles, then, the beginning of the Book lays out that this will be the Acts of Christ as He sends the Spirit to empower the Church to announce the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The refrain "...the Word grew..." unlocks the real Actor in the Book of Acts: the Holy Spirit empowering the Apostolic message that always pointed to the work of Christ.

In fact, some call Acts a collection of Sermons with some signs and stories intermixed. Every time there is a sign, the Apostle does not stop to talk about the sign or wonder but it is usedas a springboard from which to declare the work of Christ and His authority and that all men are called to repent and believe.

In short, there is no sense of "sign" or "gift" that is not directly "supportive" of the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. It is the pattern of idolatry that seeks signs and gifts apart from this end. It is the worship of the effects of the Creator rather than the Creator Himself. Hebrews makes plain that Christ is the apex of Revelation (attested to by signs and wonders) and we have every reason to press in in belief with full confidence.

 

[Scott1]

I have a question regarding the following text...

Heb 2.3-4
"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which was at first declared by the Lord, and was attested to us by those who heard him, while God was also bearing them witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will"

I think from this and other scriptures that one purpose of various gifts and miracles was to attest the message of the gospel. I have a few questions though, and if someone could bring other texts to help with this point I would appreciate it...

Glad to see there are reformed baptists in Jerusalem.

Comment below.

1) What was the ultimate purpose, according to the text of scripture for these miracles? (was this purpose multifaceted?)
Remember, Scripture interprets scripture for "context." The miracles attested to the authenticity of Christ's message, which including the appointing of the apostles to their office.

2) For whom did God intend this attestation to be? (in other words, the gospel message was attested as true by means of these miracles, verified as authoritative/true for/to whom?)
All creation.

3) How (by what means) was God pleased to have this attestation succeed? (in other words, how did these miracles attest/verify the truth of the message? was it by people experiencing them personally? seeing them? hearing about them?)
Because our Lord said they would, the apostles within their authority of office claimed them, they bore witness to that authority. It bears witness to the Word by the Holy Spirit.

A few questions I've been thinking about. I appreciate any help.

Thanks and God bless,
--Ben

.

 

[Peairtach]

"If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. (Deut 13:1-5, ESV)

One of the main purposes of true signs, wonders and miracles, apart from e.g. healing the particular people that were healed, etc, was to attest to new or renewed prophetical revelation.

Thus we have lots of signs and wonders and miracles associated with Moses and the giving of the law, lots of signs and wonders and miracles associated with Elijah and Elishah at the head of the prophets, and lots of signs and wonders and miracles associated with Christ and His apostles.

We shouldn't imagine that miracles were happening throughout Israel's history and among all classes of people, any more than we should expect miracles throughout Church history from the time of the apostles to today.

 

[KMK]

In short, there is no sense of "sign" or "gift" that is not directly "supportive" of the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ.

Very helpful and insightful, Rich. Thanks.

 

[MW]

As Rich has pointed out, Hebrews 2:1-4 must be understood as an extension and application of the first chapter, which has taught that the revelation of God's Son is the finale of redemptive history. That to which the Hebrews are to give the more earnest heed is this final revelation which has been once and for all given by the Lord Himself and attested once and for all by those who heard Him. The signs and wonders were a part of this once and for all attestation. Not only the context but the very way in which the signs are described makes it apparent that these were a part of the history of redemption itself. It would be a serious error to imagine that anything which belongs to "redemption accomplished" is to be repeated in the process which we call "redemption applied." What has been done FOR us is unique and distinct from what is done TO and IN us.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

With respect to 'tongues' (languages), the same basic rule applies, the sign is a witness to Christ. Signs lead people out of unbelief and immaturity into faith and maturity (and further from the sign to the reality).

1Co 14:20-22, "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, "By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord." Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers."

Prophecy, strictly speaking, is a way to get God's Word to his people when the Scriptures are not complete. This was the condition even down to the early church, when the apostolic witness was not yet complete. Now that prophecy and tongues have ceased, 1Cor.13:8, and the perfected Word is in our hands, the "partial" has dwindled in its utility. We now have "a more sure Word of prophecy" in hand. The extraordinary labors prophets of old have been replaced by the ordinary labors of the pastors and teachers.