Paper 1 – Christianity through a study of Luke and Acts

(a)        (i) Explain the term ‘miracle’.

        The Collins Concise Dictionary says that a miracle is an event contrary to the laws of nature and attributed to a supernatural cause. It also says that a miracle is any amazing or wonderful event or a marvellous example of something (e.g. a miracle of engineering).

The word miracle can be interpreted in many different ways though. In the New Testament people believed in miracles. They believed that there were forces of good and evil at work. In the Old Testament the Jews believed in the mighty miracles of God. For example the parting of the Red Sea was one of the mighty miracles the Jews believed in.

Even people today have different views and opinions of miracles. Christians believe that a miracle is an event where God’s work can be seen clearly. They also believe that miracles are a sign that God is at work. Atheists, however, say they don’t believe in God therefore they don’t believe in miracles. Another group called agnostics believe a miracle is just someone’s wishes coming true for once. They say they find the miracle stories powerful but they don’t understand them.

In Luke there are four types of miracle. These are healing miracles, exorcisms, nature miracles and miracles in which people are raised from the dead.

(a)        (ii) Describe how Jesus was presented as a worker of miracles, giving examples of Luke’s Gospel.

        Jesus performed miracles to show everyone that he had power and authority as the Son Of God and as the Messiah. Also, Jesus performed miracles to show the he cared about people and wanted them to be whole in mind, body and spirit.         

        The miracles were also performed so Jesus could fulfil the scriptures and prove he was the Jewish Messiah. The Jewish scriptures said that the Messiah would make the blind see again, the lame able to walk and the sick well again. When Jesus did these things, the Jewish people who knew about the Messianic Prophecies were given evidence that Jesus was the Messiah.

        Jesus also performed miracles to show his teachings in power and to show the power of faith. Jesus wanted to show that if you had faith and you trusted in his power as the Son of God then your faith would be rewarded.

        In the gospel of Luke, Jesus performs miracles for many people who were either not important or looked down on. He healed Jews (for example, the paralyzed man – Luke 5:18-25), Gentiles (The Centurion’s servant – Luke 7:1-10), men (the blind beggar – Luke 18:35-43), women (the woman with the haemorrhage – Luke 8:43-48) and children (Jairus’ daughter – Luke 8:41-42, 49-56). . This shows Jesus believed in universalism. He believed that prejudice was wrong and he knew that God loved all his people.

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The healing miracles in Luke show God’s love for the suffering. Jesus showed that forgiveness of sin is involved in healing. We see this in Luke 5:17-26 (Jesus heals a paralytic) where part of the cure was to let the man know he had been forgiven. Jesus came to bring wholeness (of body mind and spirit) to people. The teachers of the law got angry that Jesus was forgiving sins but he proved he was the Son of God by forgiving the man and therefore healing him.

        Another healing miracle in Luke is the faith of the centurion (Luke 7:1-10). ...

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