p. 2 | Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 7, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 14.

Question Corner

[To Our Inquirers.— (1) The name and address of all who ask questions must accompany questions, not necessarily for publication, in token of good faith, and that we may reply by letter if thought best. All communications will be considered confidential if so desired, and no name will be published unless requested. But we have no time to give to anonymous or unsigned epistles or articles. (2) Let the questions be to the point. Do not say, “Explain Josh. 7:1-8,” but state the thing upon which help is desired. (3) Questions can not be answered immediately in this department. Sometimes it will mean a month or more of waiting. We can not reply to the same question frequently. Read answers to other questions; you may find reply to yours. (4) Members of the Bible Band will kindly enclose stamp if answer is desired by letter. Others will please enclose ten cents. This does not begin to meet expenses oftentimes. (5) “Foolish . . . questions avoid.”]

2797.— The Holy Spirit.

There is a tract in circulation here teaching that Gabriel is the Holy Ghost. Will you please tell us through the Question Corner what the Holy Ghost is? H. B. W.

First, the better term altogether, it seems to us, is the “Holy Spirit.” So is the American Standard Revised Version throughout. Some have been confused on account of the different rendering of the same Greek word, supposing that the Holy Spirit was one thing, and the Holy Ghost another; but the same word translated “Spirit” is the word translated “ghost,” and “Holy Spirit” is the better term.

Secondly. All the way through the Scriptures the Holy Spirit is represented as being the operating power of God. The Father stands for the great ruling power in the universe, the King upon the throne; the Son of God, Jesus, as the great sacrifice, the representation of the Father; one who emptied Himself that He might fill man and save him; and the Spirit, as the effectual working of God. So in the very beginning we read, “The Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters.” God brought cosmos out of chaos through His Spirit. Job tells us that “by His Spirit He garnished the heavens.” The psalmist tells us in speaking of the death of living creatures and their restoration, by His Spirit “they are created;” by His Spirit Christ was begotten, and by that same Spirit “He went about doing good;” and by the gift of that Spirit men are begotten again, regenerated; and by the gifts of that Spirit are they fitted for service. The Spirit, therefore, antedated all living created beings and therefore antedated the angel Gabriel. That mighty messenger of God comes filled and clothed with the Spirit of God. So among men God clothes and fills them with His Spirit. It is the Spirit that gives the message; Gabriel is the messenger that bears the message. As to the children of men, God baptizes men and fills them with His Spirit, to bear His Spirit-sent messages; but the messenger is not the Spirit, even tho he bears the message of the Spirit. The Spirit, therefore, is that element in the Godhead which carries the presence and power of God to all parts of His universe, and especially to those who have faith in God. It is the life of God—the power of God. Let us not try to define God or the Godhead too closely. Let us be content to know the great three-fold manifestation of Deity; to know that the great Jehovah is our Father; that Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son, is our Saviour and elder Brother; and that the Holy Spirit is our regenerator and the constant companion of every soul who believes in Christ Jesus. We are told to pray to the Father and pray to the Son, but we have nothing in Scripture regarding prayers to the Spirit; but we can pray to the Father or the Son; and He will send the Spirit, and is more willing to give it than earthly parents are to give good gifts unto their children.

2798.— Strivings about the Law.

Please explain “strivings about the law” in Titus 3:9. A. P.

The Revised Version reads: “But shun foolish questionings, and genealogies, and strifes, and fightings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.” Wherever Titus went as a young minister he would find Jews and half-converted Christians, perhaps, from the Jews, who were great sticklers for not only the law, but the traditions which had grown up around the law. These traditions were a source of endless controversy among the Jews. They were utterly unprofitable; had very little, if anything, to do with the meaning of the law itself, but were what some rabbi had said. Titus was admonished to leave all these things that were unprofitable and have nothing to do with them. The advice is good at the present time. “Preach the word” is the mission of the minister of God.

2799.— Polygamy. 2 Sam. 12:8.

Are we to understand from this that the Lord favored polygamy? J. M. J.

We are not. It is simply a general statement by the prophet that God gave him all that a king could possibly ask for, looking at it from the worldly viewpoint, and having all these things that a king of the world could ask for in the way of wives and concubines, still he went so far as to deprive a man of his only wife and be the means of the taking of the life of the man. There is nothing in the Scripture which would indicate that God favored polygamy. He did the best He could do with a people that were in darkness and surrounded by gross darkness on every side. We can read continually between the lines, so to speak, of the Scripture narrative, showing how that evil always grew out of departure from God’s original laws. Never did a man multiply wives to himself but what troubles of all sorts and kinds arose among his offspring. This reproof, however, of Nathan does not advocate anything of that sort; it simply shows that David had other things in his power that would be considered legitimate from the standpoint of a king, and there was no reason for his departing from what was right and just.

2800.— Irony. 1 Kings 22:15.

Did Micaiah in 1 Kings 22:15 speak irony when he said, “Go and prosper,” and what did he mean in verse 21 where an evil spirit said, “I will entice him”? J. M. J.

Yes, Micaiah spoke irony, that is shown by the very context. All the false prophets had prophesied prosperity. Micaiah comes and in a tone probably which imitated theirs, he tells the king, “Go up and prosper; and Jehovah will deliver it into the hand of the king.” The king knew it was irony, too, because he tells him that he wants him to say nothing but what God had said, and then the prophet tells the king just what will come to him, and the reason why it will come, because the king has set himself against God. Good spirits, good angels of God, had had no power to move the heart of the king; he had come to that place where the Lord could not win him to His truth, and so the evil spirit is permitted to go and entice him to his destruction. It were better for him and for Israel both that he should be out of the way, than to continually rebel against God and lead God’s children astray.

2801.— Death and Body of Moses.

I wish to ask for information regarding the death and resurrection of the body of Moses. J. W. C.

As intimated by our correspondent, the record of Moses’ death is given in Deut. 34:5, 6, a death at which only spiritual beings were present. The old warrior lay down and went to sleep. Those who are in a condition of death are counted as the prisoners of Satan inasmuch as death is the result of sin. Of Satan, or Lucifer, it is said that he “let not loose his prisoners to their home.” Isa. 14:17. In Jude 9 we read that there was a dispute between Michael the Archangel and the devil about the body of Moses. Michael (the meaning of which is “Who is Like God”), the Archangel (meaning the “Chief of all the Angels”), was none other than the Son of God. This we would learn by comparing Dan. 10:13, 21 with Jude 9; John 5:28; 1 Thess. 4:16. It will be seen by comparison of these texts that it is the voice of the Son of God that wakes the dead, and that this is the voice of the Archangel. The Archangel, Michael, the great Prince that stands for the children of God’s people, must therefore be Christ the Son of God. We could conceive of no reason as to why there should be a dispute over the body of Moses unless it was over its resurrection from the dead. It is Satan’s ambition to keep forever dead all those who are the children of God. It is God’s gracious promise that they shall live again. We can also readily understand that at that dispute between the devil and Michael, Michael came off conqueror, and therefore, the body of Moses was raised from the dead. As evidence of this see Mark 9:4: “And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus.” Now Elijah was translated without seeing death. He and Moses were on the Mount of Transfiguration; the one representing that class at Christ’s coming who would be raised from the dead; and the other, those who will be translated without seeing death when Christ comes. Therefore, Moses was raised from the dead,—a pledge of the resurrection for all time. Our correspondent has concluded rightly that Moses was taken to heaven. There is absolutely no proof that God gave his body to the devil as some have affirmed to you. All this is pure supposition.

2802.— The Ordaining of Elders and Deacons.

Ought elders and deacons to be ordained who do not pay tithes and contribute to the affairs of the church? A. F. A.

Tithing, of course, is not a matter of payment as entrance to a church or to office, but it is one of the ordained means which God has for supporting His cause and ought always to be voluntary; but when a whole denomination has accepted that plan for the support of its cause, surely the church officers ought to be in perfect harmony with it, and if they are not, they ought not to serve. Consistently they ought to refuse to serve, but if their conscience does not lead them to this resolve, is not sufficiently quick and active, then certainly the members of the church ought to have something to say in regard to the matter. The proper place to ordain elders and deacons is before the church itself, so that all can take part in the service and receive a blessing which always comes by right ordination.

2803.— The Creation of Man.

Is David speaking about Adam in Ps. 8:4-8? Did Adam and Eve have access to the river of the water of life? A. K.

The psalmist is speaking of man. Of course that carries us back to Adam, the first man, made a little lower than angels, crowned with glory and honor. This, of course, was before he sinned. He had access to the river that flowed out from the Garden of Eden. That must have been the River of Life. Just so long of course as he could have drunk of that River of Life before sin entered and eaten of the Tree of Life he would have lived, but he was cut off from access to both. Then, too, he was fed by the very life of God.

2804.— The Lord’s Supper.

A. K.— The Lord’s Supper will be simply celebrated in the new earth as the antitype as indicated by Matt. 26:29, just the same as the sacrifices of old were met in the fulfilment of Christ’s death on the cross. Then Jesus in the great, glorious supper of the Lamb will come forth and serve His children. Not in the same way, of course, that the supper is celebrated here,—looking forward to Christ’s coming,—but as the glorious fulfilment of all the promises of the past.

2805.— New Moon. Isa. 66:23.

The expression is there used evidently for month and is so translated in some Scriptures, that from one Sabbath to another, and from one month to another shall all flesh go up to worship the Lord of Hosts. By reference to Rev. 22:1, 2 we find that the Tree of Life bore its twelve manner of fruits every month. The children of God will come up to the city and partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life from month to month, and from Sabbath to Sabbath come before Him in spiritual worship.