Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 1, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 47.

Question Corner

By Editor

A Word to Our Inquirers.—We wish to help you; help us to do it. (1) Write your question clear, plain, definite. (2) Do not ask for the explanation of a chapter or a book. State the point clearly upon which information is desired. (3) Avoid foolish questions. (4) We can not always answer questions at once. (5) We can not reply to the same question frequently. (6) If answer is desired by letter, members of the Bible Band will please enclose stamp; others will kindly enclose ten cents. Oftentimes this does not begin to meet expenses. (7) We answer no anonymous or unsigned correspondence. We will not publish the name, nor even the initials if we are requested not to do so.

2983.—The First Pope

Who was the first pope of Rome?

F. B.

If you were to ask the Roman Catholic, he would tell you at once, Simon Peter the apostle. But Peter did not so name himself. There is not a particle of evidence that he ever claimed to be pope in the sense in which the term is used now; or that he ever was the bishop of Rome. Dowling, in his “History of Romanism,” places Victor, the bishop of Rome, the first. He became bishop about the year 192. His term of office is marked by the dispute with the Eastern Christians about the time of observing Easter. Victor excommunicated them from fellowship with the church of Rome. This is the first instance on record of Romish tyranny and assumption; but his excommunication of the Eastern Christians was regarded by them as of no authority whatever. See Dowling’s “History of Romanism,” page 32. We quote:

“It is true that so early as before the conclusion of the second century, Victor, bishop of Rome, had attempted to lord it over his brethren of the East, by forcing them, by his pretended laws and decrees, to follow the rule which was observed by the Western churches, in relation to the time of keeping the paschal feast, to which, in later times, the name of ‘Easter’ was applied. The Asiatics did not observe this festival on the same day as the Western churches; and in order to make them conform to his wishes, Victor wrote an imperious letter to the churches in Asia, commanding them to observe it on the same day as he did. The Asiatics answered this lordly summons by the pen of Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, who declared, in their name, and that with great spirit and resolution, that they would by no means depart, in this matter, from the custom handed down to them by their ancestors. Upon this, the thunder of excommunication began to roar. Victor, exasperated by this resolute answer of the Asiatic bishops, broke communion with them, pronounced them unworthy of the name of his brethren, and excluded them from all fellowship with the church of Rome. This excommunication, indeed, extended no further; nor could it cut off the Asiatic bishops from communion with the other churches, whose bishops were far from approving the conduct of Victor.”

The “Historians’ History of the World,” volume 8, page 503, notes several of those who occupied the office of bishop of Rome down to Victor I, A.D. 193, and says:

“The bishop of Rome is beginning to assume supremacy over other bishops. This is resented in some quarters.”

In 325, it declares:

“The authority of the metropolitan is distinctly recognized. The idea has been developing since the primacy of Fabianus and Cornelius.”

This was at the time when Constantine came in and had such a molding power upon the church. Fabianus’s date is 236; Cornelius’s, 251. It may be stated that the assumption began with Victor, but was really considered of but little account in the church itself until 325, when the apostasy had really become established.

2984.—Forgiveness of Sin in the Future

Does Matt. 12:32, last part, teach that some sins may be forgiven after this life?

A. L. M.

We do not understand that it does, except in this sense: Human beings are continually committing sins of ignorance. That has been true through all the ages. These are sins even tho they are sins of ignorance. This has been true on the part of those who have at times had a plurality of wives; and of some who have kept slaves. The age in which they lived, the dim light which they had, did not bring home to their consciences the sinfulness of their course. This has also been true with those who have transgressed God’s holy Sabbath and have kept Sunday in its stead. We understand that when their sins come up in the judgment, their motive will be considered. Having faithfully served God according to the light which they had, the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ will avail for them in the sins which they have committed unwittingly in this life. But in the sense of the sinners’ sinning in that age to come and having their sins forgiven, we do not understand that the text applies. Our Lord is speaking of sins against the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to a man to enlighten him regarding his transgressions, to convict him of sin; and when man sins against that conviction, his sin can not be called a sin of ignorance. God has enlightened him regarding it, and he has sinned against the light.

2985.—Laying on of Hands

We profess to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. Acts 8:17, 18; 9:17; 1 Tim. 4:14; 5:22; 2 Tim. 1:6 seem to teach that the saints used the custom of laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost in connection with baptism.

C. B. W.

But these scriptures do not necessarily teach this. In the first scripture it was found that certain converts had not received the Holy Spirit when they were baptized. The apostles’ hands were laid upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

In the 10th chapter of Acts we read that the Holy Spirit was given before baptism, even while Peter was preaching. Verse 44. Verses 46-48 recite the fact that they were baptized after the Holy Spirit was given. Acts 9:17, 18 simply shows the miracle that was wrought upon the apostle Paul by Ananias in laying hands upon him. But it does not speak of his baptism until after this. The passages in Timothy evidently refer to the laying on of hands in the setting apart of elders in the church. So Timothy was set apart to the ministry of God. Timothy was also sent out to appoint elders, and ordain them for their work. We see nothing in the New Testament times which would indicate that laying on of hands was a general custom. In other words, it was practised only when the Spirit of God seemed to indicate. At the same time we see nothing whatever against it. Of this, however, we may be certain, that the mere carrying out of the form apart from faith will accomplish nothing, any more than the mechanical form of baptism, or the mere ceremony of the Lord’s Supper.

2986.—The Plagues of Revelation 16

Are the plagues of Revelation 16 being poured out now in those awful calamities and troubles which are coming upon the earth?

M. B.

No, they are not. The plagues of Revelation 16 are in a distinct class by themselves. There are other things called plagues as well as these. That is, judgments, persistent troubles, outgrowth of long transgression, and so on, may be truly called plagues. The consequences of long years of sin may be called judgments; but when the seven last plagues, mentioned in Revelation 15 and 16, are poured out, there will be no mercy mixed with them. Men have exhausted God’s mercy; nothing is left in that cup but wrath. We read in Ps. 75:8, “For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine foameth; it is full of mixture, and He poureth out of the same: surely the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall drain them, and drink them.” The dregs are what are left. It is to that that the third angel refers in Rev. 14:9-11. When men have utterly exhausted God’s mercy, there is nothing left them but wrath, justice; and the pouring out of the seven last plagues will be the beginning of the judgments of God, which will continue until sin is forever destroyed and God’s universe is clean. Those plagues begin with the close of probation and with the ushering in of the great day of God’s wrath. Their pouring out seems to occupy a year of time; “a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion,” as stated in Isa. 34:8. Rev. 18:8 calls it a “day,” a prophetic day. The effect will continue throughout the day of God’s wrath.