5 Smooth Stones

worldly perspective of judgment. Speci fi cally, that if some people could not even be satis fi ed with the miracles and signs which Jesus did, why would a present day apostle try to impress them or convince them of the validity of his or her ministry through signs and miracles? God doesn’t, so why should we? When Jesus left His commission with His apostles and disciples, He said in Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” The only requirement the Lord gave for these signs was to believe. Those who would have faith to accomplish these things in His name (his authority), would be known as believers 6 . Consider that these signs and wonders are not signs of apostleship according to Jesus, these are just the “regular kind of everyday signs.” The signs Paul was speaking of were of the same general variety, but they were accomplished in the course of his apostolic ministry. There is one thing to take notice of, which is often overlooked in 2 Corinthians 12:12. Paul began his list with patience, not with miracles. Now the word translated patience in this verse is translated perseverance in other translations. Nevertheless, it must be pointed out because it is an a tt ribute which Paul was using to set apart his apostleship from the everyday, garden variety, generally-willing to-be-martyred-at-a-moments-notice-testify-for-Jesus, for this was the fi rst century Christian a tt itude. Once, while speaking with a young man who was going through what you might call a “rebellious stage” and discovering that he had decided that he no longer believed in apostles and prophets because he was n’t seeing “enough miracles” to suit him, he referred to 2 Corinthians 12:12 as proof. Mark 16:17 and 18 were pointed out to him and he was reminded that all saints should manifest supernatural signs and wonders, and that a signi fi cant di ff erence in the two texts was that Paul pointed to his patience. The young man was then reminded, with a loving smile, that those around him were currently exercising great patience with him. He thought for a moment and then agreed and added that he knew he was only saved and alive because of the miracles of God. In short, Paul was pointing to apostolic character before signs (but not in place of those signs). If we look only for supernatural signs, fi rst and foremost, we may place ourselves in danger of eventually being deceived, led astray, or, in the least, hurt unnecessarily. This is not to imply that signs are unimportant, but simply that we should look for the character of Christ fi rst. After all, in the heart of every true 23