Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 28, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 42.

"IF YE WILL INQUIRE, INQUIRE YE."

This Inquirer's Department is conducted for the purpose of helping those who are studying the Bible. The answers are oftentimes only suggestive. They are never to be considered infallible, only as they agree with the infallible Word. The writer who may answer these questions does not consider that his opinion is infallible. He will simply give the best that he has, and plead with the inquirer to search the Word. Such questions only will be answered as, to the editors, seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. We can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same subject. The name and address must accompany questions, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. No letters are answered which do not contain the name of the writer. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply.

4209 — Catholic Version of the Bible

I would like to know where a person can get hold of the “Vatican version” of the Bible, or how a person can find out what it says on certain scriptures. I would like especially to know how it translates Matt. 28:19. A. D. F.

There were numerous Latin versions of the Scriptures in the early centuries, and some of them were not considered satisfactory reproductions of the original text; so in the latter part of the fourth century and the first part of the fifth, Jerome, who was reckoned as an accomplished scholar, undertook the careful translation of the Scriptures into the Latin. His first translations of the Old Testament were from the Septuagint; but these met with criticism, and he finally undertook the work of making a careful translation into the Latin from the original Hebrew Scriptures. Jerome's Vulgate translation came to be the standard of the Catholic Church, having been finally adopted by the Council of Trent. Some of the earliest English translations were made from this Latin text. When the Reformation was at its height, the Catholic Church concluded that it was necessary for them to make a translation of the Scriptures into the English. This was begun at the college in Douai, in Flanders. The college for a time was driven from Douai to Reims, and while at Reims the New Testament was published; hence the name, “the Reims New Testament.” The college finally returned to Douai, and the complete Bible was published. The Douai is the authoritative Catholic version of the English Bible. It may be purchased at almost any large bookstore. The copy that we have is published with the approbation of James Cardinal Gibbons, by John Murphy Company, Baltimore and New York.

In the Douai Version, Matt. 28:19 reads: “Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” It will be seen that that text does not materially differ from the translation in our authorized version; and the same is true, in the main, throughout the Bible.

4210 — The Bride of Christ and His Body

There are people in our neighborhood who say that there is a difference between the bride of Christ and His body. They teach that the bride is taken away first, and that the world at large will not see it. Among the texts they quote is Luke 17:34-36. A. D. F.

This text reads: “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed: the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

There is nothing difficult about this scripture when we come to understand the subject of the judgment as it is clearly taught in the Bible. To give a setting forth of the doctrine of the judgment would require much more space than we can give in this department. The inquirer is invited to consult our books on the subject. But, briefly stated, the doctrine is this: The judgment of the righteous takes place before the first resurrection. Paul says that “there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Acts 24:15. Revelation 20 shows in very plain language that the blessed and holy have part in the first resurrection, and they live and reign with Christ a thousand years; but the rest of the dead, or the wicked, “lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” The judgment of the righteous must precede their resurrection, and that work is carried on in the sanctuary in heaven. The prophecy of the eighth chapter of Daniel shows that this mighty judgment work began at the end of the two thousand three hundred prophetic days, in 1844. The voice of prophecy is clear in showing that this judgment work is now going on. But that work is in heaven, entirely removed from the eyes of men, so that they are unable to see the work as it is progressing. Only by faith in the prophetic Word can they know that the great court presided over by the Judge of the universe is now in session. That judgment work would naturally take up the cases of the first righteous persons that ever lived upon the earth. It would come down through the centuries, and finally reach those who are living; and when it comes to those who are living, they will be carrying on their ordinary occupations in life. As the text in Luke says, there will be two in one bed: one will be taken, and the other left. Two will be grinding together: one will be taken, and the other left. Two will be in the field together: one will be taken, and the other left. But they are not taken away from this earth at that time; they are chosen for immortality and eternal life.

The theory that individuals will be mysteriously taken away from this earth, one after another, before Christ comes, is not only unscriptural, but there is no case on record of any such thing having been done. No one pretends to offer satisfactory or conclusive evidence for any such cases. If men were willing to study the Bible as a whole, and to see its harmonious, consistent teachings, they would be saved from many of their difficulties.

4211 — The Number 24

“Four and twenty” seems to be a great number in the Bible. It is used in Haggai and many places with only a literal meaning. There are twenty-four hours in a day, and it is twice the number of the disciples; the six wings on the beast of Revelation 4 make twenty-four. This number “four and twenty” is found in a great many more texts. Will you please look them up for me and send a list of the places, and tell what you think of them? O. H. A.

Bible studies of this kind are almost wholly speculative. The individual is following his fancy, and not following the teaching of what the Word says. There have been a great many fanciful interpretations of the Bible based upon such methods. Following methods of this sort, definite time, again and again during recent years, has been set for the coming of the Lord. True Bible study consists of taking God's words as they read, and placing upon those words no interpretation that can not be read from the words themselves. We have no right from God to get any fanciful meaning from the number 24, or from any other number. If His direct Word places a meaning in a number, it is there because He says it, and not because we find it out by some fancy. There is so much in the Word itself to be studied and known, that we should not take our time for these fanciful interpretations.

4212 — The “Middle Wall” and the “Enmity”

Please explain Eph. 2:14, 15. The “middle wall of partition” was between whom? What is meant by the “enmity”? B. W.

The selfishness of the carnally minded in the Jewish nation built up a strong barrier between the Jew and the Gentile race. Paul shows that everything that had been done to make these distinctions was broken down in Christ, but the individual must actually possess Christ and have an experience in His plan of salvation in order for these barriers and partition walls to be broken down. Through Him, we both, Jew and Gentile, “have access by one Spirit unto the Father,” and are therefore “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,” being “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone.” The eleventh verse of this chapter shows that Paul was talking to those who had been brought into the Christian faith from the Gentile world, and he was showing them that they were brought into all of the fullness of the promises of God. Everything that had ever been given by the divine Father was their inheritance and for them to enjoy. God had given laws concerning ordinances and sacrifices that pointed forward to Christ. These were designed to teach the true faith in Him, to surround His church with a protection against the wickedness of the heathen world. But His church then, as now, was to stand as a light, and to draw others into His fold and give them the blessings of the promises of God. But instead of following this divine plan, and allowing God's ordinances to shine as a light to draw the Gentiles, their carnal minds had built these things into a wall of partition to separate the Jews from the Gentile world; but now everything of that character is swept away, because the Christ Himself has come and has put an end to all of those sacrifices and ordinances, and the middle wall of partition is entirely gone with those who accept Christ and His fulness. But if we do not accept Christ in His fulness, we may still manufacture separating partition walls.

4213 — Preachers Playing Games

Is it right for ministers of the gospel to play games, such as chess, checkers, and the like? G. W. S.

There is so much that needs to be known of the word of God, and the subjects with which it deals, and there is so much work to be done for dying humanity, that the true minister of the gospel who has a keen, realizing sense of the importance of the work in which he is engaged, will feel the necessity of using his time in more profitable ways.