To Correspondents by C. W. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 11, 1877

To Correspondents.

By C. W. S.

If a man gets a bill from his wife according to the Bible, can he marry again? G. BANKS.

Yes; but his wife cannot. Matt. 5:32.

Please explain Ex. 32:14—“evil.” Also Judges 1:19.

In REVIEW No. 24, last vol., Eld. R. F. Cottrell says, “Inspiration is not infallibility.” If it be of God, it seems to me infallible. FAYETTE KINGSLEY.

“And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” This means simply that the Lord turned from that which he had purposed to bring upon the people, because of the pleading of Moses. Read Jer. 18: 7-11. “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation . . . to destroy it, if that nation . . . turn from their will, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” If the nation repent, God will be merciful and will not administer the threatened punishment, or evil.

Judges 1:19. “And the Lord was with Judah; and he [Judah] drove out the inhabitants of the Mountain; but [he, Judah,] could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.” The Lord was with Judah in many victories recorded in that chapter; but it seems that the Lord did not particularly work in this case, and Judah was not able to do it.

The expression, “Inspiration is not infallibility,” taken alone would give a wrong idea. Inspiration of God is infallible. What he reveals through his inspired servants is without fault. But that is not what Bro. Cottrell means, as you will see by reading again. He means that the instrument, the person whom God uses as his prophet, is not infallible, but is frail, subject to temptations, mistakes, sins, i. e., not in relating what God has revealed to him, but in his every-day life; and he is not, therefore, an infallibly perfect example. C. W. S.