Does Anyone in the Bible Teleport?

The Bible is filled with some hard-to-believe stories. But for those who believe in a God, the breaking of natural laws doesn’t appear difficult for the One who wrote them. If you’re wondering, “does anyone in the bible teleport?” The answer is yes! In the book of Acts, Philip is teleported. If you don’t believe me, it’s time to pull out your Bible to Acts chapter 8.

As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Acts 8:36–40

Is this real? Did Philip just teleport?

It’s really hard to read the Bible and remain persistent in the rejection of miracles. This is not the first strange occurrence in the Bible, and it’s certainly not the last. So, yes, if anyone reads this passage honestly, it’s pretty clear that Philip just transported. Is that crazy? Yes, but it’s also not the craziest thing in the Bible.

Underneath the question of whether these miracles happened within history is the question of whether God takes direct part in the history of this world. When one looks around and sees the difficulty and suffering and lack of miracles, it’s easy to impose this personal experience on all of human history. But the Bible, which should inform Christian philosophy, is clear that God takes an active role in human history, so much so that He inhabited a human body for 30 years. If God is capable of inhabiting a human body, then it doesn’t seem very difficult for Him to move people around His creation.

Does anyone else teleport in the Bible?

There are other stories in the Bible where teleportation may have taken place, but one place where some think the disciples teleported, I think they traveled through time. Many times in the Old Testament, the prophets are carried places in the Spirit. It’s not clear if these are visions or physical locations, and I lean towards them being visions.

Elijah is taken into heaven in a chariot of fire, and he overtakes a chariot in a foot race, but both of these are slightly distinct from teleportation, so Philip appears to be the only obvious example, at least in my opinion.

Conclusion

There are some arguments online that Christians should still teleport through gifts of the Spirit. I have yet to teleport, and I’m not all that hopeful that I will anytime soon. I would argue that the greatest miracle in the New Testament is Love. Obsession with speaking in tongues or teleportation or healings are ultimately a false focus. They place the temporal over the eternal. Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 13 that he would give up all the wild miracles for Love.

And so even though it would be fun to teleport, it may be something only Philip will experience. If you have other questions about Christianity or the crazy things that happen in the Bible, please reach out. I love talking about these things and I don’t want this to end as simply an interesting article.