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Question 83 · The Holy Spirit and gifts

Did miracles continue after the apostles?

What the sources show

Justin Martyr c. 160 · Irenaeus of Lyons (quoted by Eusebius) c. 180 · Tertullian c. 197Continued

Second-century apologists claimed present miracles as evidence: exorcism in Jesus' name (Justin), healings and even raisings from the dead (Irenaeus), and a public test of demons before Roman judges (Tertullian). 123

John Chrysostom c. 392Ended

By the late fourth century, some said the great signs had ceased, as Chrysostom did of tongues. Augustine first agreed, then recorded many miracles at the martyrs' shrines (City of God 22.8). 5

The answers given:
ApostolicBefore NicaeaNicaea and afterMiddle AgesReformation to today

Scroll through the centuries, or tap a dot. J K move between witnesses.

Before Nicaea

150–325
160c. AD
Continued

Justin Martyr c. 100–c. 165 ADDialogue with Trypho 76.6

And now we who believe in Jesus our Lord, crucified under Pontius Pilate, exorcise all demons and evil spirits, and have them subject to us.

Exorcism in the name of Jesus was the most common claim of present miracles.

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180c. AD
Continued

Irenaeus of Lyons (quoted by Eusebius) c. 130–c. 202 ADAgainst Heresies 2.32.4 and 5.6.1, in Eusebius, Church History 5.7.4–6

Some drive out demons truly and certainly ... others heal the sick by laying on of hands and make them well. And already, as we said, even the dead have been raised and remained with us many years.

Irenaeus claims raisings from the dead in his own time.

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197c. AD
Continued

Tertullian c. 155–c. 220 ADApology 23.4–6

Let someone be brought before your tribunals who is plainly possessed by a demon. Ordered by any Christian to speak, that spirit will confess itself a demon as truly as elsewhere it falsely calls itself a god. ... Unless they confess themselves demons, not daring to lie to a Christian, then shed that impudent Christian's blood on the spot!

Tertullian offers a public test before Roman judges.

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Nicaea to Chalcedon

325–451
380c. AD
Continued

Gregory of Nyssa c. 335–c. 395 ADLife of Gregory the Wonderworker 17 (PG 46.932–933)

For immediately, not long after, the staff, rooted into the banks, became a tree. ... Such was the power of Gregory the Great, or rather of God working the wonders in him.

Gregory the Wonderworker (c. 213 to c. 270), bishop of Neocaesarea a century after the apostles, prays at the flooding river Lycus and plants his staff on the bank; it grows into a tree which, Gregory of Nyssa says, still turns the river back in flood. The Life presents his wonders, the dried lake, the moved rock and this river among them, as God's power working in a post-apostolic bishop.

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392c. AD
Ended

John Chrysostom c. 349–407 ADHomilies on 1 Corinthians 29.1, on 1 Corinthians 12:1

This whole passage is very obscure. The obscurity comes from our ignorance of the facts and from their absence, since they used to happen then but do not happen now. And why do they not happen now? ... Why did they happen then and no longer now? Let us put that off to another time. ... What then happened then? Whoever was baptized at once spoke in tongues.

Chrysostom elsewhere explains that miracles were needed at the beginning, to plant the faith, and are less needed now.

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Witnesses not in the library yet

These writers also matter for this question. Their texts will join the timeline above once they are translated.

  • 427
    Augustine of Hippo, City of God 22.8; Retractations 1.13.7

    His change of mind on present miracles.

  • 360
    Athanasius, Life of Antony

    Healings and exorcisms of the first monk.

How this page was made

Every early quote was read in its Greek or Latin and translated for this page by Claude (Opus 5.5) on 13 October 2026. Each line names the printed edition it was read from. A quote marked indirect does not state the answer outright; read its note. A writer's silence is never counted as an answer.