Question Corner by Milton C. Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 5, 1915

Question Corner

By Milton C. Wilcox

Conducted by MILTON C. WILCOX

Professor of Biblical Exegesis of the Faculty of the College of Medical Evangelists

Loma Linda, 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 except 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 can not 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 Name and address must be given, not for publication, but as evidence of good faith and to insure reply by letter if thought best.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.

68—Making Things Right

One writes to us that he was once not always honest; but since he found Christ, he desires to make all things right. And this he has done so far as he knows, except a small sum which he names. But the two persons to whom this sum belongs he can not find. He asks what to do, inasmuch as he does not wish to keep the money, for it is not his.

Instruction regarding restoration of anything not belonging to us is given in Lev. 6: 2-5; Num. 5: 6-8, and elsewhere. The text in Numbers clearly shows that after the man to whom it belonged, it went to his kinsman; but if he had no kinsman, it was to be given to the Lord, for some purpose of the Lord's work. It might be used to feed the poor, sent to famine-stricken sufferers in China, or for some such purpose. Thank God for the tender conscience, the awakened desire, the holy, unswerving purpose to do right. Let our brother keep on. He will find it a way of blessing, as would thousands of others who have failed in similar ways. May God hear his prayer for His afflicted ones.

69—Days and Conscience, Rom. 14: 5; Col. 2: 16

If a man is satisfied in his mind that Sunday is all right, why is it not as much right as Saturday, a Jewish law? By the Times, all men will be lost unless they keep Saturday. Paul says, “Judge not.” Why not put more time and work on saving souls, instead of converting them to Saturday?

T. N.

We can not answer questions in “the next paper,” to our correspondents; for that is made up and oftentimes printed between the time when their letter is written and when it reaches us. Then, too, there are always many questions on hand.

Col. 2: 16 was explained in our issue of September 15, before T. N.’s letter reached us. But Rom. 14: 5 involves the same principle. We reply briefly:

1. This paper does not teach that all men will be lost unless they keep Saturday. God alone knows who will be lost and who saved. He judges justly by the light men follow or fail to follow.

2. We desire, above all things, that all whom we can reach shall be converted—not to us, but to God. It is against God that “all have sinned.” Rom. 3: 23. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6: 23. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” John 3: 4. “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7: 7. The last scripture quoted decidedly proves, as does also James 2: 8-12, that sin is the transgression of the Decalogue, commandments of which are quoted. To save man from death, God must save man from sin and sinning. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1: 21. “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity [law-breaking].” Titus 2: 14. Jesus therefore saves not only from past sins, but from present sinning. He pardons that we may be loyal. He cleanses that we may by His grace remain clean. Would our brother have the Lord forgive a thief, and would he then tell the thief to go back to stealing if in harmony with his mind? The faith that makes us a “new creature” is the “faith which worketh by love” (Gal. 5: 6); and love keeps all God’s commandments (1 John 5: 3).

3. We desire to convert no one to Saturday. The mere laying off from work twenty-four hours has in it no merit or witness. It is Sabbath-keeping that God calls for. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex. 20: 8-11)—not to make it holy, but to keep holy what God has made holy; and only a man whom God has cleansed can keep holy God’s holy Sabbath. We labor to bring souls to Christ, that in Him they may become in faith obedient followers of the Master. Needless were His grace if it did not make us loyal.

4. It is not our mind that we are to seek to satisfy, but God’s mind. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2: 5. Jesus kept all God’s commandments. John 15: 10. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2: 6. No one questions as to our Lord’s keeping the seventh day, the Sabbath. Have we any other example?

5. Sincerity will not save us. An honest man may unwittingly pass a counterfeit greenback or coin. The note is counterfeit still, so is the coin. But when it is revealed to the good man that the coin is counterfeit, he will not pass it. Sunday is a counterfeit of God’s Sabbath. The genuine is better.

6. The apostle is speaking to those in whose hearts faith has established God’s law. Rom. 3: 31. In Rom. 14: 5 he is speaking of the ceremonial days, like the Passover, the day of atonement, etc., which men might observe or not. Let every man do as seems good. Judge him not. But if he is transgressing God’s law, teach him the better way.

7. Conscience is good if it is regulated by God’s law. It is utterly unsafe otherwise. Keep it up to the standard by the grace of God. It will not then call “Jewish” that which the Bible calls “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” It is the law which shall judge us in the last day. James 2: 8-12; Eccl. 12: 13, 14. We plead with our correspondent to go with us in the good way of living faith.

70—“Look upon,” “Tread down,” Isa. 66: 24; Mal. 4: 3

In Isa. 66: 24 we read, “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me.” In Mal. 4: 3 we read, “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.” Do these two scriptures refer to the same condition? and how do they harmonize?

These scriptures in a general sense refer to the same period, at the end of the thousand years, the former preceding the latter. The final destruction of the wicked will be the glory of the Lord’s presence. And as the saints go forth from the holy city (Zech. 14: 4; Rev. 20: 9), they will see these carcasses before they are consumed. When they are consumed, they will mingle with the soil, of course, and will be trodden underfoot. Both scriptures clearly and strongly teach the destruction of all who are identified with sin. Both could be true in a short period, though not instantaneously occurring.

71—Repentance after Probation

If there is no repentance after probation ceases, and our fate is sealed before the plagues begin to fall, what difference is it going to make how we withstand those last trying ordeals? He has withdrawn His Spirit, and we stand alone. How will we be held responsible if the Judgment is over?

M. S.

When that time comes that there is no more true repentance, there will be no desire for true repentance. The heart has hardened itself against the mighty love of God and the most persuasive pleading of the Spirit, and has by choice identified itself with sin. Man may be sorry because of consequences and fruitage, but not sorry for the sin. God is not arbitrary. If the devil sincerely repented, God would forgive. His mercy endures forever. When plagues are poured out, God will not withdraw His Spirit from His people. They will be Spirit-filled. The Spirit will be withdrawn from the wicked because they have rejected it. Those who stand for God till the end, will find His supporting power through the plagues to the end. If we are true to Him now, we may leave all the rest to Him then. There will be no Mediator for sin, but there will be Spirit-kept souls.

72—“Lo Here! or, Lo There!” Luke 17: 21

Please explain Luke 17: 21.

M. S.

Our Lord seems to be talking of the work of grace in establishing God’s dominion over the heart. That kingdom within does not come with a “Lo here! or, lo there!” It does not come with pompous show. In our Lord’s day, the very One who could establish the kingdom was already “among” them (margin). See John 1: 26. It was not in those Pharisees. They wanted an outward show, but they needed the inward work, and He then among them could establish it.

73—Christmas and Easter

What is the significance of Christmas and Easter?

J. C. O.

It depends on who we are and whether they mean anything to us. To some persons, the former is the anniversary of the birth of Christ; and the latter, the anniversary of His resurrection. Biblically and historically the days have no religious meaning to a true Christian. Both were heathen festivals,—the former, one of the days of the old Saturnalia, the week closing about December 25. It was a day of feasting, gluttony, excesses; and it is such still. It is not required now; it never was. In all probability our Lord was not born on December 25.

The latter—Easter—has its origin in the worship of nature in the goddess Eastre, a spring goddess, worshiped with flowers, eggs, etc. God asks us to obey His commandments, walk in His ways, and not follow a multitude to sin.