p. 8 | Quickened by What?

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 9, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 48.

Quickened by What?

No. 673. Quickened by What?

In Rom. 8:11 we read that it is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the Christian that will quicken his mortal body in the resurrection. Now, the sinner not having the Spirit in him, what will quicken or make him alive in the resurrection? J. M.

God's Word is power and life. “All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28, 29. Rom. 8:11 does not state or imply that the Spirit will dwell in the dead bodies of the righteous. It dwells in their mortal bodies in this life. It quickens the mortal body now in this life; and it will raise up that body even tho the believer dies; but nevertheless it will be done by the voice of Jesus Christ.

No. 674. “Sons of God.”

WHO were the “sons of God” mentioned in Gen. 6:1, 2? Kindly explain. E. Z.

The “sons of God” were the righteous seed of Seth. See Gen. 4:26, margin: “Then began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord.” The “sons of God” are those who bear his character. See Mark 3:35; Matt. 7:21. Gen. 6:1, 2 is a record of how these sons of God were led astray and corrupted by uniting with the “daughters of men,” evidently of the seed of Cain, those whose love was of the earth. Such in general has always been the effect of intermarriage between the church and the world.

No. 675. Rom. 14:5.

TO WHAT day does Rom. 14:5 refer? SEEKER OF THE TRUTH.

In its local application to the condition of affairs in the church at Rome when Paul wrote, we believe it refers to Jewish feasts and festivals, like the Passover, the observance of which was a matter of indifference, concerning which there should have been no controversy. Of course, the principle can be given a broader application.

No. 676. The Two Witnesses.

WHAT is the meaning of Rev. 11:3, and who are the two witnesses? CONSTANT READER.

God's law of witness is that there shall at least be two witnessing to the same thing. Deut. 19:15; Matt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1. The two witnesses of Jesus Christ was God's Word in the Scriptures, and God's Word in the life and works of Christ. John 5:36, 39. Thus the Father and Son witnessed to the same thing. John 8:17, 18. Thus the Old Testament, the Scriptures which went before on Christ, and the New Testament, in which are recorded the life and works of Christ, are God's witnesses of the ages. In a still broader sense, the two witnesses of God are his written Word and the living epistle of his true church, in whom that Word is inwrought and revealed. It was dimly revealed during the 1,260 days of Rev. 11:3. This was prophetic of the Dark Ages, of the union of Church and State—A. D. 538 to 1798—when the enemy through an apostate church endeavored to destroy the witnesses of God's Word. They prophesied in sackcloth, in mourning, in persecution, but they were not destroyed. Their power is in God, and the oil of the grace of his Spirit supplies the power so that every word will prove effectual, every prophecy will be fulfilled. See “Great Controversy,” chapter 15.

No. 677. 1 Cor. 14:34, 35.

WILL you please explain 1 Cor. 14:34, 35? M. M. D.

The instruction of the apostle doubtless had reference to abuses which had crept into the church at Corinth. There was confusion, discord, etc. His instruction was given to correct this. That the apostle or the Word of God does not enjoin silence upon women in any proper sphere is shown by such texts as Acts 2:17; 21:9; 1 Cor. 11:5, 13–15. In the last scripture the apostle points out what the manner of women ought to be who pray or prophesy in public.

No. 678. Josephus' Discourse on Hades.

(a) Is “Josephus' Discourse Concerning Hades” genuine? (b) Is there any other Jewish writing in which Hades is pictured as he describes it there? If so, will you give the quotation? W. H. S.

(a) There are scholars on both sides of the question of its genuineness. (b) There is the parable in Luke 16:19–31; and Doddridge says (quoted by the Emphatic Diaglott): “Dr. Lightfoot and others have shown that the Jews in their Gemara have a parable much to the same purpose.”