In the Question Chair

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 11, 1901

In the Question Chair.

[Designed for the consideration of such questions as will be of interest and profit to the general reader. All correspondents should give their names and correct post-office address, that queries not replied to here may be answered by mail.]

804.—REMITTING SINS.

WHAT is your explanation of John 20:22, 23? “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.” Did they receive the Holy Ghost at that time? If so, why was it told them to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high? Luke 24:49. Has the Church power now to remit, or forgive, sins?

D. B. H., Ogden Center, Mich.

Ans.—Those whom Christ addressed on the occasion referred to, must have received the Holy Ghost in all its power, as was symbolized by His act in breathing upon them, and the words He spoke to them. This is the only occasion of which we have any record when such a direct act was performed or such words spoken to any of the disciples; and it must have conferred upon them a specific endowment; for it included the imparting to them of power to forgive or retain sins,—a power

which no church, nor any individual, now possesses. The Roman Catholic Church, indeed, claims to possess such power, but it is a claim based upon false pretenses. No power was conferred upon the apostles to transfer or communicate any such gifts or accomplishments to their associates or successors. If any one has such power now, or receives the Holy Ghost in the sense it was then imparted, it must be by some such specific act as was then performed. But that was not “the promise of the Father” which Christ promised to send upon them, and for which they were to wait at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. This “power from on high” was some other gift and operation of the Holy Spirit with which they were to be clothed, briefly comprehended, no doubt, in the promise of Joel 2:28 and parallel scriptures. As a practical illustration of the power conferred upon the apostles to remit or retain sins upon persons, the case of Peter’s dealings with Ananias and Sapphira may be referred to. Acts 5:1–10.

805.—ANOTHER ANGEL.

Are the messages of Rev. 10:6 and Rev. 14:6, 7, identical? If so, how can the angel of Rev. 14:6 be called “another angel”? Would not “another angel” have another message?

A. D. W., Fennimore, Wis.

Ans.—The position in which the angels are seen in the heavens seems to have a determining influence upon the question of the numerical order in which they are introduced. There are many angels introduced in the book of Revelation, and when John says, “I saw another angel,” it is a fair inference that he has reference to more than another angel in the sense of a separate personality; that he has reference to a scene in which an angel has been seen in the same position. The angel of Revelation 6 is introduced as “flying in the midst of heaven.” The angel of Revelation 10, which we make identical with the one of Rev. 14:6, is also called “another mighty angel,” but it is not seen flying through heaven, but coming “down from heaven;” that is the difference. The angel of Rev. 14:6 may be spoken of as “another” angel, though identical with Rev. 10:1, because the latter was not seen in the same position. There is, however, an angel introduced in Rev. 8:13 in the same position, that is, flying through heaven. That is the angel announcing the “woes” connected with the three closing trumpets, and in reference to which the angel of Rev. 14:6 could be properly called “another angel.”