which some pretend to have been worked by Christ in His
childhood are untrue and fictitious. For had Christ worked miracles
from His early years, John would by no means have been unacquainted
with Him, nor would the rest of the people have stood in need of a
teacher to point Him out to them."

Reply Obj. 2: What the Divine power achieved in Christ was in
proportion to the needs of the salvation of mankind, the achievement
of which was the purpose of His taking flesh. Consequently He so
worked miracles by the Divine power as not to prejudice our belief in
the reality of His flesh.

Reply Obj. 3: The disciples were to be commended precisely because
they followed Christ "without having seen Him work any miracles," as
Gregory says in a homily (Hom. v in Evang.). And, as Chrysostom says
(Hom. xxiii in Joan.), "the need for working miracles arose then,
especially when the disciples were already gathered around and
attached to Him, and attentive to what was going on around them.
Hence it is added: 'And His disciples believed in Him,'" not because
they then believed in Him for the first time, but because then "they
believed with greater discernment and perfection." Or they are called
"disciples" because "they were to be disciples later on," as
Augustine observes (De Consensu Evang. ii).
_______________________

FOURTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 43, Art. 4]

Whether the Miracles Which Christ Worked Were a Sufficient Proof of
His Godhead?

Objection 1: It would seem that the miracles which Christ worked were
not a sufficient proof of His Godhead. For it is proper to Christ to
be both God and man. But the miracles which Christ worked have been
done by others also. Therefore they were not a sufficient proof of
His Godhead.

Obj. 2: Further, no power surpasses that of the Godhead. But some
have worked greater miracles than Christ, for it is written (John
14:12): "He that believeth in Me, the works that I do, he also shall
do, and greater than these shall he do." Therefore it seems that the
miracles which Christ worked are not sufficient proof of His Godhead.

Obj. 3: Further, the particular is not a sufficient proof of the
universal. But any one of Christ's miracles was one particular work.
Therefore none of them was a sufficient proof of His Godhead, by
reason of which He had universal power over all things.

_On the contrary,_ our Lord said (John 5:36): "The works which the
Father hath given Me to perfect . . . themselves . . .