Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 14, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 27.

WE can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same scripture. The name and address must accompany question. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply.

4325 — WHAT WAS DONE AWAY

It seems from verses 7 and 11 of 2 Corinthians 3 that that which was “written and engraven in stones” was done away. Also please note verses 13-17.

D. T. S.

Study these scriptures closely, and you will see that the apostle is not talking about the Ten Commandments, which were written on stone, as having been done away, but he is discussing ministrations—“the ministration of death” and “the ministration of the Spirit.”

He speaks of the ministration of death (verse 7) as “written and engraven in stones,” and says that it was glorious, and that “the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away,” or, as in the Revised Version, “which glory was passing away.”

Reference is here made to the glory that shone forth from Moses’ countenance after he had been in the presence of God on Mount Sinai for forty days while he was receiving the Ten Commandment law. Read the record in Exodus 34. The language of the text confines this glory that was passing away to the glory that shone in the face of Moses. But after speaking of the ministration of death and its glory, he calls attention to the ministration of the Spirit (verse 8), which is “rather glorious.” And then again (verse 9), “If the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.”

Of this ministration of the Spirit under the new covenant relation, the letter to the Hebrews states, “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.” In both the old dispensation and the new, there have ever been those who never got any farther in their Christian experience than to know the law of God as written upon the tables of stone; but in the new covenant relation, God’s divine law is written upon the heart.

To show that this heart work was what the apostle was talking about in the third chapter of 2 Corinthians, under consideration, note these words as recorded in the third verse: “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”

It is God’s power that thus writes upon the human heart the principles of righteousness that are expressed in His divine law, and so the apostle says (verse 5), “Our sufficiency is of God.”

The apostle who wrote this letter to the Corinthians, says in his letter to the Romans, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3:31. And again he says: “Is the law sin? God forbid. 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. In this verse, Paul shows that he still recognizes the binding claims of the law against covetousness. Then again he says: “I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Verses 9-14. And again in verse 22, he says, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.”

Since the commandment was “ordained to life,” and since “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good,” and since “the law is spiritual,” and since Paul found “delight” in this same law, we can not follow the teaching of God’s word if we say that that law was abolished.

The whole tenor of God’s sacred word shows that the Ten Commandments are of eternal duration. And the leading Protestant churches have ever taught that the Ten Commandments are God’s law, and binding. You will find it in their catechisms. You will find it in their teachings everywhere.

But there is a growing tendency to clutch at a few texts like these under consideration in 2 Corinthians 3, and by wresting them from their connection and throwing them out of harmony with other plain scriptures, the effort is made to show that the law of the great Jehovah has been abolished. A greater absurdity could never have entered the minds of men.

The Ten Commandments are the only part of the Bible that was spoken upon earth directly by the voice of God. The Ten Commandments are the only part of the Bible that was written by the hand of God Himself. The Ten Commandments are the only part of the Bible that when given were engraved upon the enduring tablets of stone. All other portions of the Scripture were given by inspiration through the prophets, and were written by the hand of man. They were written upon parchments. Now does it not seem passing strange that men should have thought to suggest the doctrine that the only portion of the Scripture that Jehovah Himself had spoken and written in person, should be the part that would be done away? Let us be admonished by the words of James, “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2:12.

4326 — FOUR BEASTS OF REV. 19:4

Please explain Rev. 19:4. What are the four beasts spoken of in this verse?

This word “beasts” should read “living creatures.” It is so translated in the Revised Version. These living creatures were undoubtedly companies of angels who assumed the form of these various animals—the lion, symbolical of great power and majesty; the ox, of patience and perseverance; the man, of intelligence and reason; and the eagle, of swiftness and glory.

These represent the standards under which the twelve tribes were ranged,—the lion, the standard of Judah; the ox, the standard of Ephraim; the eagle, the standard of Dan; and the man, the standard of Reuben. These living creatures were engaged in continually singing praises to God, ever ascribing to Him glory and honor and power for His love and majesty and righteousness.