A gift of the Spirit

The Gift of Miracles

The nine gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 · 1 Corinthians 12:10

The working of miracles is a Spirit given act of God's power through a believer, a work beyond the ordinary course of nature that reveals God's mercy and confirms His word. Paul lists it among the gifts of the Spirit, and like all of them it is given for the good of the body and the glory of God, never for the honor of the one through whom it comes.

To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:1 Corinthians 12:10 (KJV)

What the gift is

Paul names the working of miracles among the manifestations of the Spirit. The phrase in the original speaks of works of power, acts in which God does through a person what nature alone cannot do. A miracle in Scripture is never a magic trick or a display of human ability; it is God acting, and the believer is only the hand He uses. The power is wholly His, given as He wills.

Miracles in the Bible are signs. They point beyond themselves to the God who works them and to the good news they confirm. They are acts of mercy, feeding the hungry, calming the storm, raising the dead, and they are also witnesses, so that people would believe. The gift is never presented as a power a person keeps in their pocket, but as God stepping in, in His own freedom, for His own purposes.

How it appears in the New Testament

Jesus worked miracles that no one could deny, and even His enemies acknowledged them while disputing their source. He turned water to wine, stilled the sea, multiplied bread for thousands, and called Lazarus out of the grave. He gave His disciples authority to do such works in His name, and the book of Acts records them: Peter raising Dorcas, Paul on Malta unharmed by the viper, the gospel advancing with wonders that turned hearts to Christ.

Yet even in the New Testament the miraculous is not constant or automatic. It comes at God's initiative, clustered around the great turning points of the gospel's advance, always confirming the word rather than replacing it. And Jesus warned that miracles alone prove nothing about a person's heart, for some will say, we did many wonderful works, and hear, I never knew you. The gift is real; it is not a measure of righteousness.

How it builds up the body of Christ

When God works a genuine miracle among His people, faith is strengthened, His mercy is revealed, and hearts are drawn to Christ. Such moments remind the whole church that the God of the Bible is living and near, not a distant idea. The gift, when it is truly from God, always serves the gospel and the good of others, never the platform of the worker.

Because miracles draw attention, they are also easily counterfeited and abused, and Scripture warns of false wonders meant to deceive. So the church tests every claim by the Word and by its fruit. A true work of God's power humbles the worker, points to Christ, and blesses the body; a wonder that exalts a man or contradicts the gospel is not from God, however impressive it seems.

How to recognize and use it

No one works a miracle by technique, for the power belongs to God alone; so the posture of anyone God uses this way is deep humility and prayer. If God chooses to work through you, take no credit, seek no fame, and turn every eye to Christ, as Peter did at the temple gate when he cried, why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power we had made this man to walk.

For most believers, the call is simpler: to pray with faith, to leave the outcome to a good and sovereign God, and to test every claimed wonder by Scripture. Whether or not we ever witness a miracle, we serve the same God who parted seas and emptied a tomb, and His greatest work, the raising of Christ, is the ground of all our hope.

Where Christians differ, held honestly. Because the working of miracles is the most visibly supernatural of the gifts, it is one of the most discussed among Christians. Here sincere, Bible loving Christians genuinely differ, and it is worth saying so plainly. Cessationists hold that the more visibly miraculous gifts were tied to the foundational age of the apostles and to confirming the gospel before the New Testament was complete, and that they have therefore ceased, or greatly quieted, now that we have the finished Scripture. Continuationists hold that the Spirit never withdrew any gift, that the same God still gives as He wills, and that we should earnestly desire the gifts while testing everything by the Word. Godly, careful believers stand on both sides. The Living Bread takes no side in this. What every faithful reading agrees on is the purpose: the gifts are given by one Spirit to build up the church, never to exalt the person who carries them, never to rival or add to God's revealed Word, and never to be pursued apart from love.

How this gift points to Christ

The wonders of this gift are His works, not ours, and they point to Christ, whose greatest miracle is His own rising from the dead. The signs Jesus did revealed His glory and led men to believe on Him, and the works done in His name still say what they always said: that the living God has drawn near in Jesus. No true miracle exalts the worker; it turns every eye to the Lord of power, as Peter cried, why look ye so earnestly on us. And the wonder that undergirds all our hope is not a healing or a sign but an empty grave, the resurrection of Christ, by which death itself was undone.

The more excellent way

Whatever place the gift of Miracles holds, Paul sets one thing above every gift. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, he says, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal; and though I have all knowledge, and all faith, and have not charity, I am nothing. The gifts will one day pass away, but now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; and the greatest of these is charity.

So this gift, like all the rest, is given by one Spirit for the common good, to build up the one body of Christ, and it is nothing at all apart from love. The gifts are not for our standing but for our serving, and they all belong to Him whose body the church is. Use whatever you have been given to love one another, and to point every eye to Jesus, from whom every good gift comes and to whom every gift returns its praise.

The Giver calls you

Every gift of the Spirit comes from the risen Christ and points back to Him. The same Lord who pours out gifts on His church calls you by name to know Him, to be filled with His Spirit, and to take your place in His body. Read the Word, pray, and gather with the family of God on The Living Bread. Free, with no ads, for all people.

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Questions people ask

What is the gift of the working of miracles?

It is a Spirit given act of God's power through a believer, a work beyond the ordinary course of nature that reveals God's mercy and confirms His word. Paul names it in 1 Corinthians 12:10. The power is God's alone; the believer is only the instrument.

Do miracles still happen today?

Christians agree God is able to work miracles and still answers prayer with wonders. They differ on whether a distinct gift of miracles continues as in the apostolic age. Both sides test every claim by Scripture and agree that true miracles glorify Christ, never a human worker.

Are all reported miracles from God?

No. Jesus and the apostles warned that false signs and lying wonders would come to deceive. Every claimed miracle must be weighed by the Word and by its fruit. A true work of God humbles the worker and points to Christ.