Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 19, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 54.

Question Corner.

By Editor

"If ye will inquire, inquire ye." "But avoid foolish questions."

159. A NEW COMMANDMENT.

WHAT is meant in 1 John 2: 8 by the new commandment?

The "new commandment" spoken of in the 8th verse is the same commandment as mentioned in the 7th verse as the "old commandment." In the 7th verse the apostle expressly says, "I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye had from the beginning." In the 8th verse he says, "Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you; because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth." That is, all the darkness being past, and the true light now shining, is what makes the old commandment new. The sinner is against the law. "The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8: 7. The commandment simply shows that he is a sinner (Rom. 7: 7), and therefore condemns him. But when God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven his sins and changes his heart, he delights then in the law of God, and says with the Psalmist, "Oh how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." The apostle says, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." The law which formerly condemned him as a sinner, is now seen to be glowing with God's wondrous love, and is a witness of the righteousness which God has granted him. Rom. 3: 22. The new commandment of 1 John 2: 8 is therefore the old commandment made new to us, because we have accepted Christ, the Light of the world. See also the SIGNS OF THE TIMES of October 1, page 740, beginning with the last paragraph of the first column. This will give additional light.

160. KEEPING POST OFFICE ON THE SABBATH.

Is it proper or right for a Seventh-day Adventist to take charge of a post office and run it? and does he become guiltless by hiring a deputy to do his work on the Sabbath?

To our mind the keeping of a post office or the running of a hotel which demand Sabbath work is not best for a Sabbath-keeper to engage in, neither should he encourage it on the part of others. Certainly among the multitude of vocations which the world presents before us, there are other ways by which we can obtain support without placing ourselves in any way so as to compromise with the world. Running a post office, apart from the work on the Sabbath, is also likely to draw one into political issues and lead to the compromise of principle in other directions. All such enterprises and openings are, to our mind, traps of the devil to lead souls away from the truth of God. Just as long as we live in such a world as this there will be open post offices on the Sabbath, but we are not compelled to keep them or to patronize them.

The above writer also asks whether it is right to make a specialty of depositing mail on the Sabbath, when it could just as well be done other days of the week.

It seems to us that the answers to all of these questions are so obvious that they need no reply. "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." Of course this refers to work for our own pleasure or profit. There is some work, such as the necessary care of animals and our own persons, the care of the sick, etc., that is proper, as our Saviour himself showed. But all extra work on the Sabbath day, or the preparation of such work, is not only transgression of the letter of the Sabbath law, but of the spirit also. It is by such means as these that men are led away from the truth of God.

161. SWEDISH BIBLE ON SUNDAY.

In the Swedish Bible printed in Stockholm, 1854, "Lord's day" in Rev. 1: 10 is translated "Sunday." The Bible is printed by J. A. Lindburg. Adolph Benniero, publisher. Is this translation correct?

No, it is not correct. The Greek, in which the New Testament was written, for Lord's day is kuriakē hēmera, and the only proper translation of that Greek term is "Lord's day." Such a translation as "Sunday" is wholly unwarranted.