Rom 15:19

“I have learned that certain of the ministers of Satan have wished to disturb you, some of them asserting that Jesus was born [only ] in appearance, was crucified in appearance, and died in appearance; others that He is not the Son the Creator, and others that He is Himself God over all. Others, again, hold that He is a mere man, and others that this flesh is not to rise again, so that our proper course is to live and partake of a life of pleasure, for that this is the chief good to beings who are in a little while to perish. A swarm of such evils has burst in upon us. But ye have not "given place by subjection to them, no, not for one hour." For ye are the fellow-citizens as well as the disciples of Paul, who "fully preached the Gospel from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum," and bare about "the marks of Christ" in his flesh.”

“And there is a difference between a sign and a wonder. A sign is something that is accomplished in accordance with nature, only in an extraordinary manner. Such was the sudden healing of Peter's mother-in-law, who was sick with a fever. Here the healing of the fever is a deed in accordance with nature, but it was accomplished in an extraordinary manner: as soon as Christ touched her, the fever left (Matt. 8:14-15). But a wonder is an action performed upon that which does not occur in accordance with nature. Such was the healing of the man blind from birth (John 9:1-7). But since signs and wonders can also be performed by the power of demons, he added: "by the power of the Spirit of God." Here the dignity of the Spirit is also shown, Who is able to perform true signs and wonders. Do you want, he says, to have proof of what I am speaking about? Behold the multitude of my disciples from Jerusalem even unto Illyricum, which constitutes the borders of present-day Bulgaria. He did not say: I preached, but: I have fully preached the gospel, in order to show that his word was not fruitless, but effective. When you hear: "from Jerusalem unto Illyricum," do not think that the apostle traveled by a straight and main road. "And the surrounding regions," he says, that is, I went around the nations with preaching both to the north and to the south.”

“Hence he adds: by the power of signs, i.e., of minor miracles, such as healing the sick, and wonders, i.e., major miracles, which portend or manifest something great from their grandeur. But all this would be insufficient, unless the Holy Spirit stirred the hearts of their hearers to believe. Hence, it says in Acts that while Peter was speaking the words of faith, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word (Acts 10:44). Therefore, he adds: by the power of the Holy Spirit: while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will (Heb 2:4). Then when he says, so that from Jerusalem, he shows the magnitude of the fruit by the multitude of places in which he preached, saying: so that beginning from Jerusalem, where at the commencement of his conversion he preached in the Jewish synagogues, as it says in Acts 9:28. Thus, he fulfilled the word in Isaiah: out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the law from Jerusalem (Isa 2:30), as far as unto Illyricum, which is on the Adriatic Sea across from Italy, I have replenished the Gospel of Christ, i.e., I filled all those places with the preaching of the Gospel. But lest anyone suppose that he followed a straight path from Jerusalem to Illyricum to preach the Gospel, he adds: from Jerusalem through the circumference of Illyricum, namely, because he preached to the gentiles in every direction around him and converted them to the faith: who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain? (Job 38:25).”