Whether the Wicked Can Work Miracles?
Objection 1: It would seem that the wicked cannot work miracles. For
miracles are wrought through prayer, as stated above (A. 1, ad 1).
Now the prayer of a sinner is not granted, according to John 9:31,
"We know that God doth not hear sinners," and Prov. 28:9, "He that
turneth away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an
abomination." Therefore it would seem that the wicked cannot work
miracles.
Obj. 2: Further, miracles are ascribed to faith, according to Matt.
17:19, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you shall say to
this mountain: Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove." Now
"faith without works is dead," according to James 2:20, so that,
seemingly, it is devoid of its proper operation. Therefore it would
seem that the wicked, since they do not good works, cannot work
miracles.
Obj. 3: Further, miracles are divine attestations, according to Heb.
2:4, "God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders and divers
miracles": wherefore in the Church the canonization of certain
persons is based on the attestation of miracles. Now God cannot bear
witness to a falsehood. Therefore it would seem that wicked men
cannot work miracles.
Obj. 4: Further, the good are more closely united to God than the
wicked. But the good do not all work miracles. Much less therefore do
the wicked.
_On the contrary,_ The Apostle says (1 Cor. 13:2): "If I should have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I
am nothing." Now whosoever has not charity is wicked, because "this
gift alone of the Holy Ghost distinguishes the children of the
kingdom from the children of perdition," as Augustine says (De Trin.
xv, 18). Therefore it would seem that even the wicked can work
miracles.
_I answer that,_ Some miracles are not true but imaginary deeds,
because they delude man by the appearance of that which is not; while
others are true deeds, yet they have not the character of a true
miracle, because they are done by the power of some natural cause.
Both of these can be done by the demons, as stated above (A. 1, ad 2).
True miracles cannot be wrought save by the power of God, because God
works them for man's benefit, and this in two ways: in one way for
the confirmation of truth declared, in another way in proof of a
person's holiness, which God desires to propose as an example of
virtue. In the first way miracles can be wrought by any one who
preaches the true faith and calls upon Christ's name, as even the
wicked do sometimes. In this way even the wicked can work miracles.
Hence Jerome commenting on Matt. 7:22, "Have not we prophesied in Thy
name?" says: "Sometimes prophesying, the working of miracles, and the
casting out of demons are accorded not to the merit of those who do
these things, but to the invoking of Christ's name, that men may
honor God, by invoking Whom such great miracles are wrought."
In the second way miracles are not wrought except by the saints,
since it is in proof of their holiness that miracles are wrought
during their lifetime or after death, either by themselves or by
others. For we read (Acts 19:11, 12) that "God wrought by the hand of
Paul . . . miracles" and "even there were brought from his body to
the sick, handkerchiefs . . . and the diseases departed from them."
In this way indeed there is nothing to prevent a sinner from working
miracles by invoking a saint; but the miracle is ascribed not to him,
but to the one in proof of whose holiness such things are done.
Reply Obj. 1: As stated above (Q. 83, A. 16) when we were treating of
prayer, the prayer of impetration relies not on merit but on God's
mercy, which extends even to the wicked, wherefore the prayers even
of sinners are sometimes granted by God. Hence Augustine says (Tract.
xliv in Joan.) that "the blind man spoke these words before he was
anointed," that is, before he was perfectly enlightened; "since God
does hear sinners." When it is said that the prayer of one who hears
not the law is an abomination, this must be understood so far as the
sinner's merit is concerned; yet it is sometimes granted, either for
the spiritual welfare of the one who prays--as the publican was heard
(Luke 18:14)--or for the good of others and for God's glory.
Reply Obj. 2: Faith without works is said to be dead, as regards the
believer, who lives not, by faith, with the life of grace. But
nothing hinders a living thing from working through a dead
instrument, as a man through a stick. It is thus that God works while
employing instrumentally the faith of a sinner.
Reply Obj. 3: Miracles are always true witnesses to the purpose for
which they are wrought. Hence wicked men who teach a false doctrine
never work true miracles in confirmation of their teaching, although
sometimes they may do so in praise of Christ's name which they
invoke, and by the power of the sacraments which they administer. If
they teach a true doctrine, sometimes they work true miracles as
confirming their teaching, but not as an attestation of holiness.
Hence Augustine says (QQ. lxxxiii, qu. 79): "Magicians work miracles
in one way, good Christians in another, wicked Christians in another.
Magicians by private compact with the demons, good Christians by
their manifest righteousness, evil Christians by the outward signs of
righteousness."
Reply Obj. 4: As Augustine says (QQ. lxxxiii, qu. 79), "the reason
why these are not granted to all holy men is lest by a most baneful
error the weak be deceived into thinking such deeds to imply greater
gifts than the deeds of righteousness whereby eternal life is
obtained."
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