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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 3, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 56.

Read the full edition

Question Corner.

By Editor

“If ye will inquire, inquire ye.” “But avoid foolish questions.”
[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]
Please explain Matt. 16:19.
The verse reads as follows: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” These are the words which our Lord addressed to Peter, but it will be seen by other scriptures that similar words were addressed to all the apostles (John 20:23), and to the church (Matt. 18:18). But these words were addressed to Peter as the leader among the apostles, and to the one whom the Lord had chosen to preach the gospel both to Jews and Gentiles. The giving of the kingdom of heaven would naturally refer to the opening of the great truths of God to the people. This Peter did in being the leading speaker on the day of Pentecost. See Acts 2:14 and onward. Again we have Peter presented to us in the tenth chapter of Acts as preaching to the Gentiles, and even before this we find him preaching the word of God in Samaria. See Acts 8:14–25. In regard to this commission Peter says, “Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.” Acts 15:7. But this commission was shared by the apostle Paul, Paul having the greater part of the burden. See Gal. 2:7, 8. Paul, in speaking of the Jewish brethren, said, “When they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision [that is, the Gentiles] was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter [for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles].”
In view of these other scriptures the words of our Saviour to Peter would simply indicate that God gave him the privilege of opening the gospel of salvation to both Jews and Gentiles; but that he did not share that alone is expressly shown in the other texts to which we have referred. The loosing and binding refer not to Peter as a person, but to the message which Peter bore. The gospel which he preached, if received, would release men from their sins and be the means of their salvation. If rejected it would leave them in condemnation, and they would still be bound by the cords of their iniquity. Similar expressions are used in regard to Jeremiah: “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” Jer. 1:10. The Lord did not mean by this that Jeremiah as a person was to root out and pull down or to build and to plant kingdoms, but according to the word which he should speak should it be done. When he declared the word of God to a nation, and the nation received that word, and turned from their evil ways, God would build and plant that nation, but if the nation rejected that word, God would root up that nation and destroy it. See Jer. 18:7–10. So when the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, or his church, shall declare God’s word as it is in truth, that word will accomplish just what is declared in it; whatsoever is bound on earth shall be bound by it in heaven, and those who are loosed from their bondage of sin by the power of that word are loosed in heaven. The man is honored because of the message which he bears, not the message by the man.
163. THE LAWS OF GOD.
I would like to have the SIGNS explain Neh. 10:29.
If the 29th verse of Nehemiah 10 be carefully read, it will be seen that all of God’s law includes not only the ceremonial laws which were given through Moses, but the ten commandments as well. It says that the children of Israel, “everyone having knowledge, and having understanding; they clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God [that is, embracing all of the so-called law of Moses], and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.” This certainly would include the ten commandments, and of course the ten commandments include the Sabbath, as indicated in the 31st verse. The ten commandments themselves made no separation between the people of the land and the children of Israel, but the other laws given by Moses did. See Ex. 34:15, 16, and Deut. 7:3. The same distinction between these laws is made in Neh. 9:13, 14. There it is said that God “camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments; and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath, and commandest them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant.” Certainly both classes of laws are clearly indicated here, and it was obedience to all of the laws which God gave, not only those which he spoke himself, but which he spoke through Moses, that the children of Israel took oath to obey, as recorded in Neh. 10:29.
Please explain 1 Cor. 7:14.
We do not know that we have any other explanation to give than is contained right in the text itself. It would seem that God has a special regard for the children of those who are truly and wholly his. That is, the parent proves a bond between the grace of the Lord and the child. It is the duty of the believing wife and the believing husband to believe not only for themselves but to believe for their children. It would seem from many scriptures that God not only desires, but wills, if the parent rightly connects himself with the Lord, to give him his children, or, in other words, make the parent the means of saving them. So the Lord tells us, in Deut. 29:29: “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Again, in Deut. 30:19 we read: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” See also Gen. 18:19. But these promises of the Lord will not be fulfilled to a mere nominal professor, or one who has no burden for his or her children. Those who expect to be saved in the kingdom of God, and to see their children there, must carry out the instruction that God has given in his word, in regard to the training of children. The words of God must be laid up in his own heart, and in the love of God he must teach them constantly to his children. See Deut. 6:4–9. It is in this way that the believing husband or believing wife may be a means of saving the children.
165. TYRE AND HER DOOM.
Will you please explain Isa. 23:15-18 inclusive?
The whole chapter has reference to the city of ancient Tyre. The first part of the chapter tells us that she shall be ashamed, that God will bring down her glory unto contempt, and says: “Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed daughter of Zidon.” This shame upon Tyre came through Babylon, as indicated in the 13th verse, and in other prophecies. Then in the 15th verse we are told that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, that is, that during that time she shall be counted a city of no importance, according to the days of one king or kingdom. This seems to indicate the duration of the Babylonian (Continued on page 396.)