Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 6, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 31.

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

No. 388. Man and Angels.

WAS man equal unto the angels before he sinned? Z. T. G.

“Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels.” Ps. 8:5.

No. 389. Isa. 65:23; Eze. 37:25.

WILL you please explain Isa. 65:23 and Eze. 37:25? How will they be multiplied? Will there be children born in the new earth? Z. T. G.

To reply to the latter question first, we do not think there will be children born in the new earth; for they “neither marry, nor are given in marriage.” Luke 20:35. Neither text speaks of their being multiplied. Eze. 37:26 says that God will multiply his people; but he will do that in the resurrection, as he has multiplied through all the past by regeneration. Boothroyd renders Isa. 65:23: “My chosen shall not labor in vain; they shall not generate a short-lived race.” It may refer to the seed—the only true seed—the children of promise, which Christ and his church are continually begetting and conceiving, all of whom will then be manifested as the sons of God, children and children’s children to all generations. In that sense the children of faith are children of Abraham (Gal. 3:7), and of Isaac (Gal. 4:28; Rom. 9:7), and men of faith of all ages, but all children of Christ. All thus begotten through the word are not a short-lived race, but shall live forever.

No. 390. Cutting off the Right Hand.

WHAT are the members referred to in Matt. 18:8, 9 as the “hand,” “foot,” and “eye”? Do they refer to church membership, or to the literal body? And if the latter, should we understand that we shall really cut off the offending hand or foot, or pluck out the eye? A. H.

In an individual sense, they would apply to anything which would be as dear to us as the hand or the foot or the eye, if that thing caused us to stumble. It matters not how valuable it seemed, or how necessary to our success, if it caused us to stumble, cut it off, or pluck it out. Physically if one of these members were hopelessly diseased, and would not

obey the law of our being, to save the body, we cut it off. The text doubtless has fuller application to the church, or body of Christ. A member may seem to be as necessary to the church as a hand or a foot or an eye is to a man; but if that member proves a stumbling-block, if he causes others to offend, if he is so spiritually diseased that not only will he not obey the law of his Head, Christ, but will poison others, he should, after proper effort to correct and heal, be cut off, or plucked out. See verses 16, 17; 1 Cor. 5:2, 11–13.

No. 391. The Allegory of Gal. 4:22–31.

WILL you please explain the allegory Paul uses in Gal. 4:22–31, especially what is represented by the bondwoman and her son? T. A. M.

The free woman was Sarah, she who was the lawful wife of Abraham. Her child was Isaac, born by the miraculous power of God, yet according to lawful wedlock. This is one of the figures of the allegory. The bondwoman was Hagar, Sarah’s maid servant. Her child was Ishmael, born after the flesh, not according to God’s law, but to man’s expediency. This is the other figure of the allegory.

These two figures represent two covenants, the first that of God’s everlasting covenant of liberty, always operative, and mighty to fulfil all God’s promises in man, and bring him home forever to the glorious city whence it sprang, Jerusalem which is above, the free city, the mother of us all. Of the children of this covenant Isaac is the type. The true children are those regenerated by the word and Spirit of God according to the law of God. Verse 28. It includes every soul whose faith rests on the power of God’s promise solely, and not on human expediency.

Hagar represents the covenant which Israel made with God at Sinai (Ex. 19:4–6; 24:3–8), in which they promised to accomplish what God alone could do. God promised Abraham and Sarah an heir, the progenitor of the seed. Reasoning according to the flesh, they thought it must come through human expediency, and Hagar was substituted for the lawful wife. It only brought trouble, sorrow, and more bondage. They thought a free heir would be brought forth; but the result was a son of bondage, one under the law of servitude. So with the covenant which Israel made at Sinai. It had only the flesh for its foundation on their part, and it gendered to bondage. The children of that covenant are those who seek by their own works, expedients, and ways to make themselves acceptable to God. All this genders to bondage and desolation, of which the Jerusalem that now is is a fitting type. All that sinful man can do leaves him still under the law, under its condemnation, under sin. The children of promise are those who absolutely submit to let God’s will be wrought in and through them. Such will truly keep the commandments of God, because they keep the faith of Jesus. But as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so will those who seek the kingdom of God by any other means than God’s everlasting covenant, persecute the children of faith and obedience. Persecution is ever a sign of unbelief. But when the day of judgment comes, God will say, Cast out the servant of sin and self; give place to the righteous and free.

No. 392. The Ark at Kirjath-jearim.

PLEASE explain 1 Sam. 7:2. Harmonize the time with note 2 Sunday school lesson, in Signs of July 2. J. S.

We can not harmonize the two. The note is wrong. The ark was at Kirjath-jearim twenty years. How the mistake occurred we know not, as the writer of the note is absent. Follow the word.

No. 393. John or Jonah.

KINDLY explain John 1:42. In the Signs of the Times of July 2, Sabbath school lesson, I read, “Simon son of John,” and in John 1:42 it reads, “Simon son of Jonah.” Are these two names the same, or is it a mistake? M. J. M.

The Greek form of the name in John 1:42 is Joannes; the common version puts it in English, as “Jona,” and the Revised Version, that printed in the Signs, as “John.” Some other versions give John, altho Jonah is probably correct. See Matt. 16:17.