Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 13, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 11.

[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]

1133. A. S. Sprinkling, When Introduced.—In the early church, baptism meant nothing else save immersion, dipping, submersion, whelming. Sprinkling came in gradually, as did Sunday observance, the latter, Expediency, the murderer of Truth and Duty, suggesting it as of easier performance and more adapted to fashionable congregations. A writer in the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, article “Baptism,” says of immersion: “There is not a dissenting voice in all the literature of the Christian church for twelve hundred years. Only in case of great sickness was any other act allowed, and then only as a quasi-baptism. The many ancient baptistries now remaining in Asia, Africa, and Europe, were built and used for the purpose of immersion. The Oriental churches, Greek, Russian, Armenian, Nestorian, Coptic, and others, have always practised baptism, and allow nothing else for baptism. The Western churches also preserved the baptism of the New Testament for 1,300 years, and then gradually introduced sprinkling. . . . Calvin was the first to assert that immersion was of no importance.” Authorities are cited for these statements.

1134. C. K. What Was in the Ark?—First of all, only the tables of the testimony (Ex. 25:21); afterward laid up “before the testimony” the pot of manna (Ex. 16:33) and Aaron’s rod that budded (Num. 17:10). See Heb. 9:4. These seem to have been removed when the account in 1 Kings 8:9 was written. The passage in “Early Writings” refers to the time when those things were therein.

1135. Is She Free?—“If the husband breaks the marriage covenant and proves untrue to his wife, does that not set her free? In other words, does she not commit adultery if she live with him as a wife?” W. I. S.

She is not free legally, and so not scripturally. She may cast him off; but she is not free to marry without a legal divorce. If a wife knew that her husband was living in violation of his marriage vow, she would be justified in separating from him. To continue to live with him while he was living with a harlot would be doing both parties a wrong. She could not be partaker with such deeds if she were a pure woman. But if that husband repented, the wife could take him back without the violation of the seventh commandment. So God deals with His people. Read Jeremiah, chapters 2 and 3.

1136. Body, Soul, and Spirit.—“What do our writers mean when they say ‘body, soul, and spirit’? I did not have an idea there were three entities.” W. I. S.

We suppose they mean the same as expressed in 1 Thess. 5:23 (“spirit and soul and body”), or as implied in Heb. 4:12 (“even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit”). But this does not mean three entities, but three component and essential parts to one entity. When we speak of “air,” it is of one thing, but it is made up of two essential gases, oxygen and nitrogen. The body is the flesh, the material; the soul, the intellectual part, the mind, the affections, the animal life; the spirit, the life. Sometimes soul refers to the whole man; sometimes it means life. Sometimes spirits refer to a whole being; sometimes, to life.

1137. J. W. S. Who Gave the Law on Mt. Sinai?—“God gave the law, both the Father and the Son. Ex. 20:1, 2, 19; 23:20, 21; Acts 7:38.”

1138. Forsaking Sins.—“Do we have to forsake our sins to be saved, or can we continue in our sins and still be saved?” J. W. S.

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Prov. 28:13. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21. “He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.” 1 John 3:5. Whosoever clings to known sin identifies himself with the sin, and with it will be destroyed.