To Correspondents

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 27, 1872

To Correspondents.

C. SEAWARD: In Acts 15: 13–17, James seems to be speaking of the results of the new covenant, or referring to the time when the gospel shall have accomplished its work among the Gentiles.

W. SHAW: We think John 14: 13 applies to the present dispensation, conditions, of course, being always implied.

E. A. SEWY: 1 Cor. 11: 14, 15, must be interpreted in the light of the customs that existed when it was written. Then long hair was a symbol of virtue, and short a sign of the opposite. For a woman then to have her hair cut, was a punishment for crime, and a badge of infamy. See Clarke on verse 5. That custom has passed away, and in no wise affects the wearing of the hair at the present day.

N. CANAROE: We understand the import of Luke 16: 8, 9, to be that we should use the mammon of unrighteousness, or our worldly property here, in such a manner as thereby to lay up treasure in Heaven, and so be at last received into everlasting habitations.

M. A. COLWELL: The language of Christ in Matt. 10: 28, means, Fear not those who can only deprive you of the present mortal life, but fear God who can deprive you of the life of the future world. The language of verse 34, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth,” is to be taken in an indirect sense. He came to preach the truth. Many would reject it and that would cause division. Some speak as though the preaching of the truth was the cause of strife and trouble. But those who embrace truth never cause trouble. That all comes from those who reject it. In John 5: 25–30 Christ speaks primarily of the resurrection of Lazarus, and remotely of the final resurrection of the righteous and wicked. For an exposition of the parable of Dives and Lazarus, see Bro. Andrews’ tract on the Wicked Dead.

R. B.: Seventh-day Adventists cannot consistently commune with those whom they regard as violators of the law of God.