Big Healing Book - Jesus Healed and Did Miracles to Prove His Deity

Objection: Jesus Healed and Did Miracles to Prove His Deity

This is a half-truth. Some of Jesus’ miracles are called signs, implying that they were proofs of His claim to deity. While that was part of the purpose for His healings, it was certainly not the sole purpose. Even one healing of a blind man would have established that. Jesus healed primarily because God is compassionate and He wanted to heal the people! Jesus said that He always did what pleased God (John 8:29), so God was pleased to heal those people.

Jesus Was Moved with Compassion, Not Desire to Prove His Deity

Jesus did not put on a circus. He told many that He healed not to tell anyone what had happened. If His motive were proving His deity, He would have said, “Go tell JNN (Jerusalem News Network) to let everyone know that I just proved that I’m God!”

Jesus’ motive for healing the sick was compassion. Yes, the miracles did prove something, but His motivation was not publicity. At times, He wanted to be alone and get some rest. But because of His compassion, He healed the sick who came to Him anyway. For many Scriptures about the Lord’s compassion, see God’s Mercy and Compassion.

Jesus walked on water, turned water into wine, multiplied food, and did many other signs that had nothing to do with healing. Even one such event would have been sufficient to establish His credentials. Jesus did not need to continue to heal the sick everywhere to prove something. Healing “all who were sick” on a few occasions would be enough to prove that God was backing His claims of deity. Jesus continued to heal the sick throughout His ministry. When the sick came to Him, He healed them, even when He was tired and He must not have felt like ministering to the sick.

Many Who Came Were Healed by Their Own Faith

Jesus told many people, “According to your faith be it done unto you.” Many came to touch Him and receive healing. It was their faith, not Jesus’ faith, that produced the results. It was Jesus’ power coupled with their faith. This still works today. You can believe that Jesus is the Anointed One (the word Christ means Anointed, after all) and receive from His anointing. It was not up to Jesus who got healed. It depended on which people believed and went and touched His clothing and received from the anointing that was upon Him.

For a list of cases where Jesus attributed healings to the recipients’ faith, see According to YOUR FAITH Be It Done unto You!.

Jesus Did Not Minister as Deity

Jesus was not anointed because of His deity. (See the answer to the objection We Cannot Expect to Heal as Jesus Did because We Are Not the Son of God for a complete proof of this.) Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit just as any other human minister would have to be anointed. Before He was anointed, He could not do miracles. His first miracle was performed after the Holy Spirit came upon Him just after John had baptized Him (John 2:11). Jesus emptied Himself of every divine advantage and lived with the constraints common to man. (This concept is put forth in Philippians 2:5-8). Therefore, He did nothing at any time because of His deity, even though He still was and always will be the second Person of the Trinity.

Since Jesus ministered as a Man anointed by the Holy Spirit, His ministry is an example for ministers today. That is why we can do the works that He did, as He promised that we would (John 14:12).

It seems strange to some that “God could anoint God,” but the Bible is plain that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power (Acts 10:38). Jesus had to be anointed before He could do any miracles. That could not be true if Jesus ministered as deity, as deity would not need to be anointed.

Jesus Said He Could Do Nothing of Himself

If Jesus ministered as deity, the following statements He made would make no sense:

John 5:19:
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

John 5:30:
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

If Jesus ministered as God, He would have said, “I can of My own Self do everything because I’m God and I’m omnipotent!” His statements show that He accepted human limitations during His walk on the earth.

Did Jesus Prove He Was Not Deity at Nazareth?

If Jesus did His works to prove His deity, He proved that He was not deity when He went to Nazareth! His inability to do miracles there (Scripture says He could not do them – see Mark 6:1-6) would represent a failure to prove His deity. See the answer to the objection mentioned above (We Cannot Expect to Heal as Jesus Did because We Are Not the Son of God) for more on this matter.

Jesus Was Deity before His Ministry Started, Yet He Did No Miracles for Those Roughly 30 Years

Despite what some fairy-tale “lost books of the Bible” say (which never were in the real Bible and never should be in it because they contradict the real Bible), Jesus did NOT do any miracles before the Holy Spirit came upon Him after John baptized Him. John’s gospel is clear that Jesus’ first miracle was changing water into wine at a wedding celebration in Cana of Galilee (John 2:11). Any claim that He did a miracle before then must be false.

This leads to an obvious point. Jesus was deity throughout His life, including the part of it (over 90% of it!) before the Holy Spirit empowered Him to do miracles. If Jesus could do miracles because He was deity, He could have done miracles throughout His life. Therefore, simply being deity could not be the reason that He performed miracles.

Others Did and Will Do the Works Jesus Did Without Being Deity Themselves

Another solid proof that Jesus did not heal as deity is that He promised that those who believe in Him, who are NOT deity, will do the works that He did and greater (John 14:12). Thus, it is not even necessary to be deity to do the works of Jesus.

This played out in the gospels as Jesus anointed others who were not God to go out and duplicate His works. See Matthew 10:1, Mark 3:14-15, Mark 6:7 and Luke 9:1-2 for some examples.

I remember from my grammar school days when my well-meaning but ignorant Sunday school teacher said, “Jesus walked on water. Only GOD could do that. That shows that Jesus was God.” But if she were right, Peter would be God too, because Peter walked on water! There would be a Quadity instead of a Trinity – God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Peter. That’s ridiculous. Peter wasn’t God just because he was involved in a miracle. He wasn’t God when multitudes sought to get under his shadow to get healed in Jerusalem either. This makes it obvious that deity is not a prerequisite to doing miracles. And if deity is not a prerequisite to doing miracles, doing miracles does not prove anyone’s deity, so the objection at the head of this article has fallen apart.

Don’t People Still Need Proof Today?

Were the people of the apostles’ time any different from those in our time? If the people then needed proof that Jesus was God in the flesh, why shouldn’t God continue to prove Jesus’ deity today? God’s gospel plan has always included confirmation of the preached word with signs following. This is one reason why miracles still happen today. There is plenty of skepticism going around, with more people believing in God-less evolution than believing the Bible. The need for proofs of the resurrection today is as strong as it ever was.

Expedient or Not?

Jesus said that it was expedient for Him to go away so that He could send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). Here was the greatest healing minister who ever lived saying that it would be GOOD for Him to go away! How could that be “expedient” for humanity? The obvious conclusion is that by sending the Holy Spirit, His ministry could be multiplied through Spirit-filled believers doing His works. If Jesus had a monopoly on spectacular healings because of His deity, it is hard to see how it would be “expedient” for Him to leave humanity with no chance of ever seeing ministry the way He did it again.

This Objection Slanders God’s Character

What kind of God would do special healing miracles at a certain point in time for certain individuals in a certain country just to show off His power, but would then refuse to use that same unchanging omnipotence on behalf of sick people in other countries at other times? He would be nothing more than an egotist who wanted to show off but had no real concern for the suffering of people. To hear some talk, God is that way. They believe that God would make people sick and then heal them to show off His power. Be honest, would you make your children sick and then heal them to show off your power to their friends? No, you wouldn’t. God is nicer than you are, so why would you accuse Him of mean acts that not even you would do?

God is love (1 John 4:8). In His love, He has provided healing for all. Jesus loved us enough to take away our sicknesses and pains. These loving actions are the opposite of just wanting to show off.