Q/A Friday: What Is the Greatest Miracle Recorded in the Bible?

I did an informal poll on Twitter and Facebook with this question, and the results were interesting.

• 32% said the greatest miracle was creation.

• Another 32% said the greatest miracle is salvation.

• 26% say the resurrection of Jesus is the greatest miracle.

• 5% say the incarnation of Jesus was the greatest miracle.

• And finally, another 5% said the birth of Jesus was the greatest miracle.

My answer to the above question is opinion, because there is no verse in the Bible that answers the question directly.

I tend to think that the greatest miracle was the 1st miracle. (And by miracle, I mean “an event that doesn’t have a natural explanation and draws attention to God himself.”) Any of the above answers have a case for why they would be the most important.

I am going to venture to say that the greatest miracle recorded in the Bible is the one that came first – creation. Why? Here are 2 reasons.

First, if you don’t interpret the event of creation as literal, then you establish a hermeneutic of taking Scripture non-literally and will truly have reason to question any so-called miraculous work in the Bible. The foundation of interpreting Scripture literally in Genesis 1-2 is of vast importance to how we interpret the rest of the Bible.

Believing that God literally created the universe will make all other miracles literally possible.

Second, God created all of it out of nothing. The Latin phrase is ex nihilo. There was no substance to work with. He made it all from nothing.

With the incarnation – God and man – there was God. God has something to work with in the incarnation.

The same is true with the birth of Christ. The same is also true with salvation. Salvation is a miracle but God had something to work with for salvation – us and our sin.

With creation, God had nothing to work with. He created it all out of nothing. And that is why I think the greatest miracle recorded in the Bible is creation.

Again, this is simply opinion and I could be persuaded to choose another miracle. But for now, that is what I believe.

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