With Our Inquirers by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 17, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 25.

With Our Inquirers

By Editor

"If ye will inquire, inquire ye."

This Inquirers' Department is conducted for the purpose of helping those who are studying the Bible. The answers are oftentimes only suggestive. They are never to be considered infallible, only as they agree with the infallible word. The writer who may answer them does not consider that his opinion is infallible. He will simply give the best that he has, and plead with the inquirer to search the word. Such questions only will be answered which, in the opinion of the editors, seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. We can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same scripture. The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. No letters are answered which do not contain the name of the writer. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply.

2532.—Galatians 4.

Please explain Galatians 4.

S. S. T.

Our inquirer has asked a large question. It is almost impossible to explain such a chapter as that in this department. In brief, however, the first part of the chapter opens before us the gift of God's Son, who became flesh and died in our behalf in order that we might be sons of God. Verses 8 to 11 are a reproof to the Galatians for turning from God, and turning back to idolatry, to them that are not gods, and therefore, the apostle has fears because of this. In verses 12 to 20 he pleads with them to become as he was, and warns them against those who desired to profit by their apostasy. Verses 21 to 31 are a parable illustrating the point under discussion all the way thru the epistle: Self-justification on the one hand; trusting the righteousness of Christ alone on the other.

Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the freewoman. The son born of the handmaid was as was his mother—in bondage. The son of the freewoman was free. The son of the bondwoman is a type of those who would be justified by the law, who would earn their own justification. Abraham thought that thru the bondwoman he would obtain the heir, the seed promised of God, a thing which the Lord was endeavoring to teach him could only come thru the righteousness by faith. Isaac was the child of promise, thru no planning or device of his father, but wholly thru the power of the One who promised. God would teach us by this that our only hope of justification or salvation rests not in ourselves, nor in any work that we ourselves may do, but wholly in the promises of God by Jesus Christ. That does not mean that God's children will not be obedient, but we will not be obedient in order to earn life and salvation, but will be obedient because we have life and salvation thru Him. The one is the obedience of the law,—self-righteousness; the other is the obedience of faith.

2533.—Eating of Flesh Meats.

Is it not wrong to kill or to eat flesh meats? Did Jesus eat fish? If it was wrong to eat flesh meat, why did Jesus eat fish, if he did; and what did He wish to teach us by so doing?

Whether it is wrong to eat flesh meats or not must be decided by the individual conscience. The original bill of fare did not include flesh meats. Genesis 1. The manna which the Lord gave the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt did not include flesh meats. Exodus 16. And yet some of the good among God's children, throuut all the ages, have used flesh meats. The one thing which we should consider in the food that we eat is, Will it glorify God? The rule is found in 1 Cor. 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." There are diets which are worse than flesh meats. Sometimes one might be placed as was Noah after the flood, where about the only food to be gotten at all was flesh meats. It is said of Elijah in a time of sore famine, that the ravens brought him bread and flesh every morning, and bread and flesh every evening. Our Lord probably ate fish. There seems to be no question about it at the time. Doubtless it was the best food that He had to eat, and He ate it believing that it would glorify God. As diseases multiply, as modes of unnatural living increase, as artificial life comes to predominate, animals which furnish flesh foods will become more and more diseased, as science shows that they are becoming at the present time. The eating of much flesh food tends to corruption of body; to sluggishness of spiritual nature, to demand for stimulation. It ought to be the Christian's duty to live in such a way that the natural man would become more spiritual, more responsive to the voice of the Spirit of God, less inclined to yield to the lusts of appetite. He should seek a food not filled with the corruptions which contaminate most of the flesh foods. It is for that very reason that thousands upon thousands have been led to adopt a vegetarian diet, and they have found in that all that is necessary. Yet, there may be times that the very best food that one can get to eat is flesh food. We should not seek to condemn our brethren in Christ who may or may not eat it. Read Romans 14. We should seek, as to ourselves, however, to glorify God in all that we do.

2534.—When Did the Lord Come Down on Sinai?

Did the Lord come down on Mount Sinai on the fifth day of the third month, Sunday, Egyptian calendar; or did the Hebrews ever celebrate the Passover, Pentecost, unleavened bread, or the feast of the wave-sheaf, and first-fruits during the forty years they were in the wilderness? Or was Pentecost known to the children of Israel on the fifth day of the third month after going out of Egypt?

E. R.

All this endeavor to prove by some hocus-pocus that Sunday is the true seventh day, and that the change was made at the Exodus, and at the Crucifixion, is unworthy of consideration by any candid, Christian scholar. Only those who have a case to maintain, and are determined to maintain it at any hazard, are the ones who take any such position as that. That their position is hardly worthy of consideration is shown in the fact that the vast numbers of Christian scholars give no credence to it whatever. This, of itself, ought to brand it as a false theory. The special advocate of that claim at the present time is a one Mr. Gamble. If our inquirer desires to know the fallacy of his views, let him send to the Pacific Press and obtain a little tract entitled "The True Seventh Day," A. G. L. 78. It will cost but two cents.

2535.—The Observance of the Sabbath.

Should one keep the Sabbath on Saturday if all the people where he lives keep Sunday? Is Sunday the first day of the week?

N. M.

The world finds itself with a week, a septenary circle of days. In all the world, as reckoned by civilized nations, that week begins with Sunday and closes with the day commonly called Saturday. Sunday is the first day, Saturday the seventh day. This has been so just as far back as authentic and accurate history carries us. It was so in the time of our Saviour. The Roman first day was the day dedicated to the sun. In the northern part of Europe it was the day dedicated to the sun among the German nations, Sunday, from which our word "Sunday" comes. This day came just after the Jewish seventh day. That the Jewish seventh day was the true seventh day is shown by Luke 23:56, where it is declared that the holy women kept the Sabbath day "according to the commandment," and the next day, we are told, was the first day of the week. The Sabbath commandment is recorded in Ex. 20:8-11. That enjoins the keeping of the seventh day. The holy women, therefore, kept the seventh day as the Sabbath, and this seventh day of Ex. 20:8-11 is the same seventh day that was ordained in the beginning, enjoined for the same reasons as are there stated. Gen. 2:2, 3. Therefore, if we should grant the claim that the day may have been lost at sometime in the past, it was not lost to the Lord, and He showed by a threefold weekly miracle for forty years just what day the true seventh day was. See Exodus 16. And when Jesus died upon the cross, Inspiration again fixes the true seventh day. Therefore, the first day must be the day following that seventh day; and that first day, according to all nations, corresponds with our Sunday.

Now as to the question, "Should one observe that day if others do not?" Really, has numbers anything to do with it at all? Supposing all around us on every side worshiped idols, should we not worship idols, too, rather than make ourselves singular? Supposing all around us were covetous, should we be covetous, too? Suppose that all on every side took the name of the Lord in vain, should we take it in vain? Really, if we are worshipers of the true God, ought we not all the more to be faithful to Him tho others should depart from Him? We need all the more to be faithful in doing just what He tells us is our duty, rather than to follow the customs of the world. They may be blind, but if we know our duty, their blindness will not excuse us. "We ought to obey God rather than man" is a principle which ought to mold the children of the Lord in all ages.

2536.—Carriage Riding on the Sabbath.

Is it right to go buggy riding on the Sabbath after the services in the church?

H. C. P.

Yes, and no. It is utterly impossible to answer such questions as this. They pertain wholly to the purpose and conscience of the individual; to the relationship between himself and his Maker. The whole morality of the question lies in the purpose. What is the object in going riding? Is it for our own pleasure, or, is it to the glory of God? These are the questions which ought to decide the worth or character of our conduct. God Himself has given us a commentary on the Sabbath. It is found in Isa. 58:13. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." We can understand how people could ride on the Sabbath and find rest and strength in God in so doing; they could make that ride a mission of mercy and blessing to others, or they can make it a mere matter of selfish pleasure. In the one case they would be justified of the Lord; in the other, the act would be the same as any other selfish act of carnal pleasure.

2537.—The Destroying Angel.

Who is the destroying angel of Exodus 12? in other words, was that angel Lucifer?

C. B. R.

The Scriptures do not tell us what the name of this angel was, but it seems very clear indeed that it was one of the angels of Jehovah. We are expressly told in verse 23, "For Jehovah will pass thru to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two sideposts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you." Of course God did this thru His agencies, the angels. If this had been the destruction of holy people, we might have conceived that the destroyer was Satan, but these destroyed were souls who had identified themselves with sin, and God was punishing sin then. If the Egyptians had not identified themselves with sin, they would not have been destroyed. But they chose sin rather than God and therefore were destroyed with the sin. They elected to stand on the side of all the years of Egypt's oppression of Israel. Back of all this, of course, Satan was responsible for the destruction in inducing them to sin. But in the punishment one of God's angels was commissioned to pass thru Egypt, evidently as in a later time one was commissioned to pass thru the army of the Assyrians. See 2 Kings 13:35.

2538.—W. G. W.—We know of no scripture whatever that forbids cousins marrying. The degrees which are prohibited are indicated in both Leviticus 18 and 20.