My Anglican Clergy Brother Father Sean Major-Campbell could not possibly think that I need to be educated on the difference between magic and miracle re events in the biblical texts. If he does not believe in miracles (despite the abundance of such in the Bible), I do.
As a trained philosopher, I have wrestled with the philosophical problem of ‘miracle’ and still maintain that a miracle is a phenomenon that goes beyond the natural, normal operation of our cause and effect or laws of nature world and thus is “a supernatural or transnatural [i.e. beyond natural] phenomenon” like the virginal conception of Jesus or his resurrection.
Let’s focus on the virginal conception and the texts of Scripture (English and Greek) pertaining to this phenomenon. Three key texts for analysis are 1. The annunciation by the angel (Lk.1.26-31,35,37) 2. Mary’s astonishment at the annunciation (Lk. 1.34) and 3. Joseph’s action-plan re his engaged girlfriend and his dream (Mt. 1.18-20).
- The Annunciation (NASB)
28 And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.”
35“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.”
There is nothing natural or normal about this annunciation. The transnormal, the miraculous is patent in the announcement in the mysterious “you will conceive…the Holy Spirit will come upon you…the power of the Most High will overshadow you”.
Not “your betrothed will have sex with you. etc..”, the expected natural/normal!
- Mary’s Astonishment (NKJV)
“How can this be, since I do not know [Greek, ou ginōskō) a man?”
Mary’s puzzled response is quite normal/natural since, as she says, she has never had sexual intercourse. The verb ‘to know’ in Greek as well as in Hebrew has a dual nuance, either head knowledge/’awareness of’ or sexual knowledge. In context here, the latter, since she was engaged to a man. The prophesied miracle prompted her astonishment. Luke mentions in 1.26-27 that the angel Gabriel was sent to “a virgin [Greek, parthenos] engaged to a man whose name was Joseph”
Matthew corroborates Mary’s premarital status in 1.18 thus: “18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew mentions Jesus’ virginal conception as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and quotes from the Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament (The Septuagint/LXX) which has parthenos for the Hebrew almah. (see my column in Christmas Day’s Gleaner which, it seems, attracted Father Major-Campbell’s side-swipe.
- Joseph’s Action-Plan and Dream (NKJV)
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”
Joseph was minded to quietly divorce Mary since he knew that he had not slept with her, yet she was pregnant. Jewish betrothal [engagement] was a veritable marriage minus access to body and required a formal ceremony to break it.
Joseph did not wish to disgrace Mary (thus reducing or eliminating her potential for another engagement) but neither was he comfortable in Jamaican terms with getting ‘a jacket’.
Notice the consolation as well from the angel, ‘she is not giving you a ‘jacket’ Joseph’, “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Nothing natural or sinfully normal is happening here. This is a miracle from God.
Two Philosophers of worldwide repute, one ancient the other modern, have launched formidable attacks on the concept and credibility of miracles. These were the 18th century Scottish Philosopher David Hume and the 21st century British Philosopher Antony Flew. I strongly doubt that Flew would have maintained his position against miracles had he lived long enough to revisit his earlier works, since, in 2004 he abandoned atheism though he still did not believe in a personal God. His last book (2007) was titled There is a God. Flew died in April 2010.