p. 3 | Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 11, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 10.

Question Corner

“Enquire, and make search, and ask diligently.”

No. 502. Rebaptism.

IS IT wrong for one who has been baptized in some other denomination, to be rebaptized when he joins the Seventh-day Adventist Church? INQUIRER.

This is a question which can not be answered dogmatically, and which must be naturally left with the individual himself. Baptism is the outward symbol of putting on Christ. It is the marriage ceremony between Christ and the believer. “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Gal. 3:27. Now it would seem that if one had been baptized who understood the nature of baptism, who truly believed and accepted all that Christ had for him, and had so lived during his Christian experience, rebaptism would not be necessary. But it may have been true that his conception of Christ was such at the time of his baptism that later years revealed to him that at that time he did not really know Christ at all. He had no just conception of his truth or his duty. Such an one as he understands more of the truth of God, more of what it means to believe in Christ, may feel it his duty to publicly show again that he has united with Christ, but as to whether he does this or not is a matter for his own conscience to decide. When he who has been baptized has backslidden from the Lord, and turned away from him to serve himself and the world, it seems very proper and fitting indeed that if he return to the Lord, he be baptized again. We have a record in Acts 19: 2-5 of a rebaptism of disciples who were evidently sincere and faithful all through their experience. They were first baptized under John’s baptism, but John baptized in the name of Christ who was to come. The baptism of John was the baptism which our Lord himself received, at which time he said, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” However, later new truth came to them, new light, new conceptions of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit, and they were baptized again. Eph. 4:5 might seem to some to be opposed to this idea, but that is not the thought in the text. The thought in the text is that there are not many kinds or forms of baptism, but only one baptism, even as there is but one God. So it is truly with the believer who may have believed once and may have been baptized. That was the one baptism to him, but if he became entirely backslidden, and had turned away from God, and his baptism had become of no effect, if he believes again he would be received as one who never had believed, and his baptism would be counted as such. All such questions as these must be decided by the individual himself. Let him earnestly seek God, and decide for his glory.

No. 503. How Much in the Promise? Gen. 13:14, 15.

IN Gen. 13:14, 15 do we understand that the promise to Abraham refers to the new earth? If so, how could it be said in Acts 7:17 that the promise which God had made to Abraham was drawing nigh, nearly four thousand years ago? F. H. S.

The promise in Gen. 13:14-17, had a special reference to the promised land, which was also typical of the new earth. This promise was confirmed and enlarged in Gen. 22:17, 18. In Rom. 4:13 we are expressly told that Abraham was to be the heir of the world, and these promises of God to him include it in type. The later promise in Gen. 22:17, 18 included it in fact, for the promise contemplates that all that is or would be opposed to the true seed of Abraham should be submitted to him, and that Christ should rule wherever the opposition of sin had manifested itself. The promise in Acts 7:17 would seem to have more direct reference to Gen. 15:13-21, where God made a covenant with Abraham to give him the land of Canaan. The promise there recorded drew nigh at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, as indicated in Acts. Altho it is doubtless true that if Israel had fully accepted the Lord when he delivered them from Egypt, he would have wrought much greater things for them; they would have entered into a rest, which, as it was, they never knew.

No. 504. The Salvation of Children.

WHEN Christ comes to this earth to gather his people, the 144,000 who are sealed, what will become of little children, and will the little infant children of heathen nations who have lived in different ages of the world’s history, be saved? S.

Only those will be condemned and lost who have sinned against God. All who have not sinned will be saved by the virtue of Christ. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15:22. As the children have no sins of their own for which to suffer, the conclusion is that those who are innocent will be saved. The Lord does not reveal to us his truth to satisfy our curiosity. The Word of God does not come to children who can not understand it. The Lord does not tell us how he deals with those who are outside of conscious sinning and the conscious reception of his Gospel. To do that would be pandering to mere curiosity. The Word of God is addressed to those who are responsible. All those who are not responsible we can leave safely with that God who is infinite in love and wisdom, and who delights not even in the death of the sinner.

No. 505. Sodom and Gomorrah.

AS Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone from God out of heaven, will there be a resurrection of the wicked from those cities to suffer the second death? S.

We see no reason why there will not be. That was simply the first death, which they died in sin. It was a temporal judgment upon those cities because of great wickedness. Every one who was in the cities might have fled from the cities, had they heeded the warnings which God gave, but they chose the city and its sin, and perished with it. The case of each one as an individual will come before the Lord in the judgment, and each will there be rewarded according to his work. This is shown by the words of the Lord when he tells us “it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah” in the day of judgment than for other cities which he named.