Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 18, 1897

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

No. 488. Gal. 4:21-28. The Two Covenants.

We give the passage below:—

“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. . . . Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.”

1. “Under the law” means in a state of sin, not in harmony with the law. All who love sin and self hate God. And all who hate God’s ways love death. See Prov. 8:36. They do not desire condemnation of itself, but they desire the sin, which always leads to condemnation and the casting out of God’s kingdom.

2. Sarah was the freewoman, the lawful wife, and her child Isaac, born by the miraculous power of the Spirit of God, was the child of promise, the true and lawful heir.

3. Hagar (or Agar) was the bondwoman, whom Abraham, in fleshly wisdom and by fleshly works, thought to make the mother of the promised seed. But the son of Hagar, Ishmael, was a bondman, the child of the bondwoman.

4. Sarah represents the new covenant in Christ Jesus, made with Adam (Gen. 3:15), confirmed to Abraham (Gen. 22:17), and made sure by the death of Christ (Heb. 9:15, 24). This was the better covenant, established upon better promises, even the promises of God in Christ. These promises had power to change the heart, and write upon it God’s law, so that man might keep it. Heb. 8:8-12. The city of this new covenant is the New Jerusalem in heaven, which is free, even as all those born of God through faith in Christ are free. They are free because not under condemnation on account of sin. Their sins are forgiven, and they keep God’s law. 1 John 5:3. Like Isaac, the children of faith are the children of God’s promise.

5. Hagar represents the covenant made at Horeb, or Sinai (Ex. 19:3-8), in which the children of Israel promised to obey. They thought they could do it in their strength, even as Abraham thought God’s will could be accomplished through the son of Hagar. But in their own strength they failed. They did not have God’s power and promise and law in their heart, hence could not keep his law, and in their carnal hearts it brought them into deeper bondage to sin. And all who hope to be saved because they are Jews, or Abraham’s children according to the flesh, are children of bondage even as was Ishmael. The children of the old covenant are those who seek by their own works to do God’s will, hoping in themselves. This will always lead to the bondage of sin. And such doctrines will gender, or beget, children to bondage.

But to the righteous, “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:26. This is the “faith which worketh by love.” Gal. 5:6. “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” 1 John 5:3. But even as of old, those who hold to the old covenant of men’s doings will persecute those who believe in Christ, and do God’s will.

No. 489. Gal. 3:24, 25. Our Schoolmaster.

PLEASE explain Gal. 3:24, 25. J. M. B.

The text means, just what God has said over and over again, that the Spirit of God (John 16:8, 9) by means of the law convicts the sinner of sin (Rom. 3:20 and 7:7). But God does not convict of sin that the sinner may be discouraged or die, but to lead him to Christ. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [pedagog, an officer that took the boys to school] to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” It so shuts us up that the only way from its condemnation is through Jesus Christ. Verse 25. “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster,” no longer under the condemnation of the law. See Rom. 5:1 and 8:1. “Under the law” means under its condemnation.

No. 490. Heb. 7:12. What Law?

“For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” What law?—The law regulating the priesthood, and no other. According to the Levitical law the priesthood was vested in the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron. Heb. 7:11. Jesus being of the tribe of Judah (verse 14), it is evident that he could not serve as priest at the altar under the Levitical law. But as the time came when he was to be priest on his Father’s throne (Zech. 6:12, 13; Heb. 8:1), he must necessarily serve under a different law. Hence the law of the Levitical priesthood here terminated, and the law of the royal priesthood of Christ began. The expression has no reference to the moral law.

No. 491. 1 Peter 1:22.

We do not know how this verse may be made plainer, or on what special point explanation is desired. The apostle tells the disciples that as they had, by the power of the Spirit, purified their souls by obeying the truth of the Gospel, by faith, of course (Acts 15:9), learning in this way to truly love their brethren, they should continue to love one another with a pure heart fervently. This obedience is yielding to do in simple faith whatever God commands. It is by thus doing that the truth of God comes in and takes the place of sin and selfishness. He who pauses at any command of God and refuses to obey, by so doing shuts his heart against God’s blessed presence, and remains unpurified.

No. 492. The Correct Name.

PLEASE inform me which is the correct name of the Baptist who was compelled by the Puritans to leave Massachusetts, William Rogers or Roger Williams? W. F.

The correct name is Roger Williams. He was born about 1600, and died at Providence, Rhode Island, April, 1683. The exact time and place of birth are in dispute. He was educated in the Church of England, took his university course at Cambridge, probably, and served as a clergyman. He could not, with his ideas of religious liberty, belong to the national church, and was compelled to sail for America, arriving in Boston, February, 1631. In October, 1635, it was by the General Court of Plymouth “ordered that the said Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now next ensuing.” It was in 1639 that he became a Baptist. His views of religious liberty held previous to this were probably learned from that denomination.

No. 493. The Genealogies of Christ.

How do you harmonize the account of the genealogy of Jesus that Matthew gives with that of Luke? J. E. S.

Matthew is believed to give the genealogy of Joseph, Luke the genealogy of Mary. Heli is supposed to be the father of Mary, and the father-in-law of Joseph, and hence the grandfather of Jesus. Luke traces the pedigree back to the promise of the seed of the woman in the beginning, but through the males, as it was thus the genealogy was reckoned. Matthew traces the legal pedigree through Joseph.

No. 494. 1 Cor. 12:4-11. Gifts of the Spirit.

WILL you please explain 1 Cor. 12:4-11, concerning diversities of gifts, discerning of spirits, etc.? W. S. G.

We have not space in this column for this purpose. It will doubtless be considered in the SIGNS during the year. For a brief explanation see Bible Students’ Library No. 77, “The Talents,” price, 2 cents.