This argument is historically and biblically untenable. While we do find passages where Jesus prays before acting (e.g., John 11:41–42 before the raising of Lazarus), the decisive point is this: Jesus performs his miracles in his own name and by his own authority, not like a prophet who asks God for a miracle.
Moses or Elijah always had to plead with God (cf. 1 Kings 17:20–21; Ex 15:25). But Jesus simply says, “Get up, take your mat, and walk!” (John 5:8). He commands with divine authority—and it happens. In the healing of the leper, he does not say, “God heal you,” but: “I will—be clean!” (Mark 1:41). During the storm, he speaks with creative power: “Quiet! Be still!” (Mark 4:39)—and nature obeys him. No prophet ever dared to command wind and waves.
The New Testament emphasizes precisely this difference. People recognize: “He teaches with authority, not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22). Even the demons obey him immediately (Mark 1:27). And Jesus makes it clear: “Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). He is not merely a petitioner, but the divine Lord who acts by his own power.
The early Church Fathers testify to the same. Ignatius of Antioch calls Christ “the physician of body and soul, born and unborn, God in the flesh” (Letter to the Ephesians 7.2, around 107). Irenaeus of Lyon emphasizes in Adversus Haereses (II,32, around 180) that Jesus performed miracles “not like magicians or prophets by another’s power, but by his own divine power.”
Counterargument of the Opposing Side
“Jesus healed only by God’s power—just like the prophets.”
Brief Refutation:
The prophets never spoke in their own name. Jesus, on the other hand, consistently speaks in the imperative: “I say to you, arise!” (Luke 7:14). He claims divine authority himself. That is why people were astonished and said, “We have never seen anything like this” (Mark 2:12).