Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Feb 15, 1905

Question Corner

By Editor

1616.—Change in the Calendar.

How and where do we find a change of eleven days in the calendar, as, for instance, in placing Washington's Birthday February 22, instead of February 11?

The Europeans first reckoned time by the imperfect Julian Calendar, in which 365 days constituted a year, with one day added every four years. This imperfection, by which the spring equinox, sun time, differed from the civil time, had amounted in 1752 to eleven days. Pope Gregory XIII. prescribed the Gregorian Calendar, or "New Style" of reckoning time, in 1582, by "calling Oct. 5, 1582, October 15, and continuing the count ten days in advance, and by making the terminal years of the centuries 1700, 1800, 1900, etc., common years of 365 days each, except when the year was a multiple of 400, as 1600, 2000, etc."—"Standard Dictionary." England did not make the change till Sept. 3, 1752, when September 3 became September 14, at which time the imperfection amounted to another day. According to the Old Style, or Julian Calendar, Washington was born February 11; according to the New Style, February 22. The difference is now twelve days. Nearly all Christendom, except Russia and Greece, use the New Style. Our January 26 is in Russia January 14. This does not in any way affect the day of the week. Russia's week days are the same as ours.

1617.—Jehoiachin's Age. 2 Kings 24:8; 2 Chron. 36:9.

Will you kindly give me whatever explanation you can, either through the "Question Corner" or by letter, on 2 Kings 24:8, and 2 Chron. 36:9.

The number in 2 Kings 24:8 is doubtless correct. The mistake occurred in copying in the original manuscript. There are a few such in the Bible. The Lord would not have counted a boy eight years old a wicked king.

1618.—The Everlasting Father. Isa. 9:6, 7.

How can "mighty God" and "Everlasting Father" be applied to Christ? and in what shall His government increase?

1. To the Son belongs the name and titles of His Father. Heb. 1:4, 8. Surely He is mighty. He hath conquered gloriously all foes; He called into existence the worlds.

2. He is the everlasting Father; for all God's spiritual children have been begotten by Him. He is the second Adam, a father forever.

3. The expression does not necessarily mean that His government will go on increasing forever, tho we believe it will from other consideration; but His government having increased, and peace having been established, this happy condition of peace will persist forever. When Jesus Christ comes and sin is destroyed He will be King of kings and Lord of lords. That kingdom thus extended over a sinless creation, will never end.

1619.—Soul and Spirit. 1 Thess. 5:23.

Will you please explain the meaning of spirit, soul, and body in 1 Thess. 5:23. When the Lord breathed into Adam's "nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul," was Adam then composed of a spirit, soul, and body? If so, what are we to understand by spirit and soul?

"Spirit" and "soul" are synonymous in this respect, that they often mean life, tho not always the same life, or life controlled by the same law. Both words are used with a wide latitude. Sometimes they refer to a whole personality. "God is a Spirit," that is, a spiritual being. Christ is made a "quickening Spirit." Angels are spirits. Demons are spirits. "Man became a living soul." "Eight souls were saved in the ark." "Every living soul died in the sea." "Soul" also means the individual life, the earth-life, subject to the law of the physical organism, whether of man or beast. Matt. 16:26; Luke 12:20, 22, 23; Gen. 1:30, margin. So "soul" may be used in 1 Thess. 5:23 of the physical life with all it comprehends of physical impulses. "Spirit" is the life God-given, the life flowing direct from the Fountain in harmony with God's law, received direct by faith on the part of the individual. In these uses of the word only the converted man has the spiritual life. All have the soulical life. Mark 12:30, we apprehend, is designed to include the powers which man possesses. The "heart," the affections; the "soul," the physical impulses and perceptive faculties; the "mind," the reason and reflective faculties; the "strength," all the abilities of the physical and mental powers. The above will, we think, explain Heb. 4:12.

1620.—Chronological Questions. 1 Kings 6:1.

It is said that 1 Kings 6:1 should read "five hundred and eightieth," instead of "four hundred and eightieth." Please explain the ground of this claim.

So far as the original text is concerned, there is no other reading. One of the fathers, Jerome, we believe, quotes that scripture, but leaves out the year. For this and other reasons, some scholars have concluded that the matter of the year is an interpolation. The added smaller sections seem to amount to more than that. But we have not space to discuss this here. For a brief, condensed work on Biblical Chronology, see "Sacred Chronology," by S. Bliss, revised by A. T. Jones. For sale at this office; price, $1.00.

1621.—The Spirit in All Ages. John 7:39.

Please explain John 7:39. Was the Spirit striving with men in Old Testament times? What difference is there in receiving the Spirit now from Old Testament times?

We do not know that there is any difference between these times and the ancient days as to the reception of the Spirit. It came by prayer and the study of God's Word anciently; it comes in the same way now. When Christ was upon the earth, His disciples looked to Him and His personal presence. His absence became necessary, in order that they might learn the power of His Spirit at all times in all places, coming into the hearts and lives of all believers, through Jesus Christ, the Divine-human Saviour.

1622.—The Confederacies of Prophecy, and Life Insurance.

Does the confederacy the Lord warns His people against cover the insurance policy on their property?

We do not understand that it does. That is not a matter of confederating together, by which men are bound by the moral or immoral conduct of others. Sometimes insurance is absolutely demanded on account of mortgage on property, etc.

1623.—Joshua or Jesus. Heb. 4:8.

Does this mean Joshua or Jesus?

The context clearly reveals that Joshua is meant, and so nearly all translations in English render. Joshua in the Hebrew is the same as Jesus in the Greek; the same as Hosea in Hebrew is Osee in Greek; or as Diego in Spanish is the same as James in English.