Were the Miracles that Jesus Performed Real?

 

There is evidence that the miracles Jesus performed were real. Many people are familiar with the Biblical information about the miracles of Jesus. However, what is less well known is that there is also information from the Talmud and other rabbinic sources that the miracles of Jesus were real.

In the gospel of John, the Jewish leaders are depicted as acknowledging the miracles of Jesus:

John 11:47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin, and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him...”

The Bible isn’t the only document that depicts the Jewish leaders discussing the miracles of Jesus. Rabbinic sources depict Jewish leaders surmising how Jesus accomplished his miracles. However, they don’t question that the miracles were real. There are also discussions concerning healing miracles wrought by early Christians and whether it is lawful for a Jew to seek out a Christian to be healed. Once again, there was no doubt that the healing miracles were real. The Jewish polemists hypothesized that somehow Jesus possibly learned how to magically heal people during his stay in Egypt. Interestingly enough, this also provides extra biblical evidence of Jesus’ being in Egypt at one point. The Jewish polemists also decided that it would be better to live with a malady than to be healed by a Christian. What this means is that both Christians and Jewish leaders believed that the miracles of Jesus and early Christians were real based on the evidence that they and those they trusted personally witnessed. Christians believed that this was accomplished through the power of God while Jews weren't sure how this was accomplished even though they knew it was real.

Dr. J. Clontz – Editor, The Comprehensive New Testament