Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Dec 6, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 49.

Question Corner

By Editor

1738.—Subjection to Proper Authority. Rom. 13:1-3.

Please explain Rom. 13:1-3 and 1 Tim. 4:1-3. J. C.

The latter text must wait for more room. We will republish an article on it before long. The first text is simply instruction to be subject to proper authority. We understand that "the higher powers" of verse 1 are the same as the "rulers" of verse 3. Civil government is an ordinance of God. It may be administered by evil-designing men, still the institution of civil government is of God, a necessity for sinful, unregenerate men. The worst of civil government is better than anarchy. But civil government is better than anarchy. Yet civil government has its sphere. Outside of that it has no authority. Where man's duty to God transcends it, "we ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29; 4:19. God calls Nebuchadnezzar His "servant," and gave him all his kingdoms, but when he demanded that which was contrary to God's law, God justified His servants in their disobedience. See Jer. 27:6; Daniel 3; 4:34-37. In all things where conscience toward God or our fellow men do not contravene, obey the civil power. Laws may be unjust, taxes oppressive; yet for Christ's sake obey the law. 1 Peter 2:13-17. See also Matt. 17:24-27.

1739.—Is There an Eternal Hell? Jude 7; Isa. 66:23, 24.

Will you tell me what the above scriptures mean? Is there an eternal hell? A. H.

For the explanation of Jude 6, 7 read 2 Peter 2:4-6. Jude gives us an example of the punishment of the wicked in the doom which came to Sodom and Gomorrah. He tells us that they are set forth as examples, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. Peter tells us that that fire turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow after making them an example unto those that should live ungodly. The eternal fire is so called because eternal in its results, and not in its burning. It will eternally burn up that upon which it preys, so John the Baptist declares in Matt. 3:12, where the wicked are likened to chaff. "The chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire." That is, it can not be quenched until it does its work. You will notice that the passage in Isaiah does not refer to living wicked which are cast into this fire, but to the carcasses of the wicked, rendered by the American Revised Version, "The dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against me." And they are part of that chaff which shall be burned up with unquenchable fire.

1740.—Where Do We Go at Death? 2 Cor. 5:1, 2.

Do we go right to heaven when we die, according to 2 Cor. 5:1, 2? A. H.

The scripture referred to does not teach that. It simply declares that if the earthly tabernacle of our house be dissolved, if we die, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. There is nothing said in this scripture as to the time when that shall be given to us. The thought is simply this, that we need not fear the death come to us; God cares for His children, and has prepared for them homes and mansions. If you will read the context you will notice that three conditions are set before us in which man may be found: first, in this "earthly house," longing for something better, "in this tabernacle," "at home in the body," etc., that represents the Christian in this mortal life; secondly, "unclothed" and "naked," "dissolved," referring to the condition in death. For that the apostle did not long; he did not desire that. Third, "clothed upon," "swallowed up of life," the simple expression denoting the eternal state of being when our Lord shall come and change this mortal into immortality; and not until Christ comes will this change take place. 1 Cor. 15:51-54. See also Rom. 8:23. In this last scripture we are told that the relief from the groaning, from the waiting, will be when our body itself is redeemed at the resurrection.