Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 30, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 21.

Question Corner

By Editor

1821.—Cain’s Wife.

Where did Cain get his wife? I am not asking out of curiosity.

Cain evidently married his sister. It may have been his niece, for many years may have passed away before he married. It has been estimated that there were 100,000 people in the earth when Cain married. One of the great objections now made to marriage with those of close kin is that such union in the children is more likely to develop and intensify the disagreeable traits of character and the physical weaknesses in both parents. Of course this could not be so in the beginning to any such extent as now; and if man had never sinned, all would have been related in much closer union than now. Why these closer relations were forbidden later was because of man’s increasing weaknesses and sins.

1822.—Can a Minister Forgive Sins.

Will you give me a direct Bible proof that a minister has not the right or the power to forgive sin?

The very nature of the case shows that no man can forgive sin; for sin is against God. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. "Nay, I had not known sin but by the law." Rom. 7:7. The law here referred to is God’s law. Therefore the sin is against God (James 2:8-12); and therefore only God can forgive the sin. The Jews had the right of it that only God could forgive sins (Mark 2:7), and the fact that Jesus forgave sins was proof of His divinity (Matt. 9:6). All that God’s ambassadors have ever done, or ever had the power to do, is to declare God’s word on complying with the conditions of which man is forgiven. If men receive that word, they are forgiven. If they reject that word, they are lost. So Jeremiah built up and destroyed kingdoms by proclaiming God’s word. Compare Jer. 1:10; 18:7-10; John 20:22, 23; Mark 16:15, 16. If the sinner believes, he is forgiven. If he believes not, he is condemned. And to proclaim this is the duty of every ambassador of God.

1823.—The Sea and No Sea.

Please compare Rev. 5:13 and Rev. 21:1. How is it that John heard creatures offering praise in the sea when there was no sea?

All that is implied in Rev. 21:1 is that the great sea of this sinful earth is passed away. "For the first heaven and the first earth is passed away; and the sea is no more," that is, the first sea. We may well believe that in that new earth we will not find it three-fourths water, but there will be the new earth with its new sea.

1824.—Am I a Christian?

When "sin that dwelleth in me" (Rom. 7:20) causes me to do things of which I do not approve (verse 15) am I then a Christian?

Perhaps so; perhaps not. The young and weak Christian may fail through ignorance, through weakness, through carelessness and prayerlessness. He may feel himself so strong that he will not seek God as he should; and so God lets him fall that he may learn his own weakness and God’s love, mercy, and power. The experience set forth in Romans 7 is that of a man upon whom the Spirit of God is working, who is under deep conviction. What he needs to do is to let Christ take possession, to cast his helpless soul on the Saviour. Rom. 7:25; 8:4. Thank God that you are in Romans 7 rather than Romans 1 and 2. He convicts and condemns, that He may convert and comfort. Seek God; give to Him all of self.