QUESTION CORNER by Milton C. Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 22, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 25.

QUESTION CORNER

By Milton C. Wilcox

CONDUCTED BY MILTON C. WILCOX, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA

NOTE.—This department is for the purpose of helping Bible students. Answers must of necessity be brief, often only suggestive, never exhaustive, never infallible only as they agree with the infallible Word. Such questions only will be answered as seem to the editors to minister to the mission of the paper. Questions of the same import cannot be answered repeatedly in the same volume. Name and address must be given, not for publication, but as evidence of good faith and to insure reply by letter if thought best. It is well always to inclose stamp, not stamped envelope, unless answer is desired by letter alone.

138 — VARIOUS SCRIPTURES

Please explain the difference between Matt. 27: 32; Mark 15: 21; Luke 23: 26; and John 19: 17. L. F.

The difference between the first three texts and the last can be readily understood if we will remember this,—that not all the particulars are given in the Scriptures. Some of the writers give some events, and others give others. None of them may give all. When Jesus first started out, He bore His own cross. It was placed upon Him, but its weight was crushing; and as He fell under it, they laid it upon this Simon from Cyrene, and compelled him to bear it after Jesus. This would involve no contradiction, and is very reasonable.

139 — THE TRANSLATION OF GAL. 2: 16

Please state which translation of Gal. 2: 16 is the better. What is really meant to be conveyed? A. C.

The Revised Version reads: “Yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” The Revised Version is perhaps a little more literal, but the meaning is the same in both. That is, no mortal man can be justified by the works of the law, because he falls short. The only way he can be justified is by faith in Christ. See Rom. 3:20-22. Then the apostle declares that “we,” that is, the believers, “believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law.” This is our only hope; for “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” The thought is the same in each.

The English Revised Version has the same thought. “But by the faith of Jesus Christ” is the same as “save through faith in Jesus Christ,” or only “through faith in Jesus Christ.” We like the American Revised Version best.

None of the versions, however, would bear that which our correspondent places upon it, “Except as through the outgrowth of faith.” It is not an outgrowth. It does not wait for that. It is the immediate response of God to faith. The man who believes is justified, and he does not have to wait any length of time for it. It comes in immediate response to faith. But being justified is one thing, and living by faith is another. Justified pertains to the past; living, to the constant present. This the apostle makes clear in Romans 8. Justification is set forth in the first verse: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” God has forgiven all the sins of the past. But He does more than that. He gives us His Spirit, that “the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8: 4. See the American Revised Version. “Walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” does not belong to verse 1, and it is not there in the best Greek copies. God takes away the condemnation of the past immediately; but He does that in order that we may keep His law. His righteousness for the sins of the past is imputed, but His life and righteousness for the future is imparted, and becomes a vital power in the Christian life. Therefore “faith without works is dead.” It is not a working for faith, or for life; but it is faith working, it is life fruiting.

140 — WILLFUL SIN, HEB. 10: 26

Please explain Heb. 10: 26. J. W. R.

The text reads, “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” Read the three verses that follow. Verse 29 tells us what it means to sin willfully, or to continue so to sin. The man who does this, treads underfoot the Son of God; counts the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing; and does despite to the Spirit of grace.

The only means that God has of saving men are the blood of Christ—the sacrifice of our Lord—and the life power of the Holy Spirit. The man who sins willfully, turns against both of these divine agencies; and when he does this, there is nothing else by which God can save him. There is no more sacrifice for sins, no other sacrifice save that of Jesus, no other life power to overcome sin save that of the Spirit of God. Compare this with verses 19-22.

Notice that it is by the blood of Jesus that we enter into the holy place; that it is by the new and living way, which is given in the flesh of Jesus, in which lives the Spirit; and He Himself a great High Priest ministering that Spirit to God’s children. That is the way God saves us. Rejecting these things, there is nothing left for us but a certain fearful expectation of judgment.

The text does not mean, however, that the man who has sinned against God stubbornly, and even with a certain degree of willfulness, has no forgiveness. There are many men who become discouraged and fall after they have received more or less knowledge of the truth of God; but God pleads with them. They have not utterly rejected God’s plan of salvation. They still hope in Him in some way, and God even invites them back. There is always hope as long as the Spirit of God pleads with us.

141 — HOW MADE CHOICE, ACTS 15: 7

Please explain Acts 15: 7, how or why God made choice; and is it the law of circumcision that is spoken of in this chapter? A. D. K.

The matter of choice was for some one first to preach the gospel to the gentiles. It does not mean that Peter was chosen to salvation, and somebody else rejected. God had to choose some one of His disciples to preach the gospel first; and for His own good reasons, He chose Peter. That is all. Peter preached this gospel to the gentiles, as recorded in Acts 10. God had to choose some one to bring about the restoration of Israel from the Babylonian captivity, as He had promised in Jeremiah; and He chose Cyrus. That does not mean that Cyrus was necessarily saved, or anybody else necessarily rejected. Our Lord simply chose him to do a work. God has work for every man; and every man who will yield to the Lord, will be chosen to do the work that God has for him to do.

The law referred to in Acts 15 doubtless is the whole Jewish law, including circumcision. The Jewish converts contended for certain ceremonial observances which God did not ask of the gentile Christians; but where essential morality was concerned, there was no difference.

142 — TO-DAY IN PARADISE, LUKE 23: 43

Please answer what is meant by “to-day in Paradise” in Luke 23: 43. M. A. P.

This question was answered quite fully just recently. We will simply remark, on this, that it is not, “to-day in Paradise,” but, “I say to thee to-day.” Jesus did not say, “Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise this day,” but, “Verily I say unto thee to-day, Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise” in the day of My coming. Of course it is given, “shalt thou be with Me in Paradise”—an old form of affirmation. We have the same in Rev. 2: 7, 26, “Will I give,” meaning, “I will give.” For fuller explanation, see the SIGNS of May 25.

143 — DAMAGE, 2 COR. 7: 9

Please explain 2 Cor. 7: 9, the last clause, “that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.” K.

The apostle did not want the blood of souls in Corinth to rest upon his garments. Therefore he sent the letter reproving them because of their sins, in order that he might be clear in the matter, and that they might understand all that God asked of them. Hence he rejoiced not simply that they were made sorry, but that they were made sorry after a godly sort. If they had simply been made sorry, and not after the godly sort, it would have done them no good—rather injury; and that is what the apostle did not want. He wanted his letter to do them good, and that was the effect it had.

144 — THE HEART

Why does the Scripture always mention the heart? Is it the mind that is meant? K.

By the term “heart” used in a moral sense in the Scriptures is not meant that particular organ in our body that is the center of the circulatory system. That is used as a figure for the affections, the emotions. The Lord uses “heart” instead of “mind,” because He wants the affections of mankind set upon Himself. Sometimes the word “mind” is used. That of course would include man’s intellectuality. But one may be ever so intellectual, yet if he does not love God, he will not truly serve God. The heart loves. The term is used in that sense in literature. It is love that God desires, for it is love that controls the moral individual.