Does modern science make miracles impossible?

What is a miracle? In the Bible, events variously described as miracles, signs, and wonders are performed by prophets and apostles, by Jesus, and in answer to the prayers of God’s people. Biblical miracles do not occur merely for the amazement of onlookers, but serve God’s kingdom purposes. They always occur within a theological context.

Some atheists view science itself as rescuing society from irrational ideas and harmful superstitions like miracles. They believe miracles are violations of natural law, and are by definition impossible. This idea goes back to the Scottish philosopher David Hume, who wrote, “A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature, and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined.”¹

These ideas are not unique to atheists; even some modern theists have believed that science disproves miracles. For example, Rudolph Bultmann, a theologian famous for his attempts to “de-mythologize” the New Testament, wrote in 1961 that, “It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles.”² By getting rid of the miracle stories in the Bible, Bultmann and his followers hoped to make Christianity more palatable to modern society.

Are Hume and Bultmann right? Do the “laws of nature” prove that miracles simply can’t happen? And if Christians accept mainstream science, must they also reject the miracles of the Bible? To address these questions, let’s first take a closer look at God’s action as described in the Bible.

As Christian thinkers throughout the Middle Ages wrestled with the questions of miracles and God’s action in the world, the following ideas emerged: if the regularities of nature are a manifestation of the sustenance of God then one would expect them to be trustworthy and consistent, rather than capricious. The regular behavior of nature could be viewed as the “customs of the Creator.” Scientists glorify God by studying these “laws of nature.” A strong case can be made that such theological realizations helped pave the way for the rise of modern science.⁴

In addition to God working through regular patterns, the Bible also describes miracles that defy description in terms of current science. At the heart of Christian belief is a stunning miracle: the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The more we know about the processes of decay that set in after death, the less likely it appears that Jesus could have risen from the dead by any natural means. Rather, science strengthens the case that if Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, the event must have occurred without, above, or against his ordinary providential working.

However, Evolutionary Creationists differ with other Christian positions on origins about the extent to which God performed miracles in natural history. Young Earth Creationists see God creating the Earth and life in six calendar days through a series of miracles. Old Earth creationists accept the much longer time-scales of mainstream science, but argue that God intervened miraculously at certain points in this long history to create certain features of the natural world. Supporters of Intelligent Design believe that natural laws are not enough to explain the development of life, and appeal to interventions into nature by an outside intelligence such as the God of the Bible.

Evolutionary Creationists, on the other hand, emphasize that God has created throughout natural history using regular patterns that can be described scientifically. This is not because we are opposed in principle to the concept of miracles, but because science has proved extraordinarily capable of filling in the gaps in our knowledge. Because scientific explanations do not replace God, but simply describe his regular activity, we are in no danger of “explaining away” God. Also, Evolutionary Creationists generally argue that the context of natural history is not fitting for a miracle: since there were no people living millions of years ago, the theological purpose of signs and wonders would be lost. Together, the biblical and scientific evidence points to a God who chose to use regular chains of cause and effect to bring about the world we see today.