Important Questions Answered by W. A. Colcord

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Sep 25, 1913

Important Questions Answered

By W. A. Colcord

The Soul

1. How did God make man? "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen. 2:7.

2. How many of the animals and of the human family outside of the ark perished in the flood? "All in whose nostrils was the breath of life." Gen. 7:22.

3. Have men and animals the same breath? "As the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath." Eccl. 3:19.

4. Can the soul die, or be destroyed? "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. 10:28. See Ps. 89:48; Isa. 53:12; Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:31; Rev. 16:3.

NOTE.—The Bible nowhere speaks of the soul of man as immortal. Man's continued existence in the beginning was conditioned upon obedience and access to the tree of life. Gen. 2:16, 17; 3:22-24. As the result of disobedience he forfeited his right to eternal life, and thus to the tree of life. Through Christ these conditions are to be restored to the repentant believer in Christ. Rom. 8:19; Rev. 22:2, 14. Not until the resurrection of the just will the saints be clothed with immortality. 1 Cor. 15:51-55.

Our House From Heaven

5. What comforting assurance takes away from the believer the dread of death? "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Cor. 5:1.

6. What is our condition in this present mortal body? "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: . . . for we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." Verses 2-4. See also Rom. 8:22, 23.

NOTE.—Three states, or conditions, are here brought to view: First, this present state, in which we are clothed with "our earthly house," or "this tabernacle;" second, the "unclothed" state, or the state in death; and third, the state when mortality is swallowed up of life, and we are clothed with "our house which is from heaven."

7. What further statement made by the apostle Paul shows that he looked forward to the resurrection as the time when he expected to be clothed with his house from heaven? "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Rom. 8:23.

Departing and Being With Christ

8. When writing to the Philippians, what desire did the apostle Paul express? "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." Phil. 1:23.

9. What were the two conditions between which the apostle was thus straitened? "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Verse 21.

NOTE.—By the expression "to depart" he meant death. Referring to his death in 2 Tim. 4:6, he said, "The time of my departure is at hand."

10. What was sure to the cause of Christ, whether Paul lived or died? "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil. 1:20, 21.

NOTE.—Gain to the cause of Christ, as indicated in the verse before, and a blessing to himself, as stated in verse 23.

11. What, then, inclined Paul to the side of life? "Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." Verse 24.

12. What inclined him to prefer to depart, or lay down this life? "To depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." Verse 23.

13. How long after his departure before he would be with Christ? "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. See 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 2 Tim. 4:7, 8.

NOTE.—If the sleeping saints do not go to be with Christ till after the coming of Christ and the resurrection, it may be asked how it would have been better for Paul to depart, rather than to live and labor on. As no cognizance is taken of the lapse of time after a person becomes unconscious in death (Eccl. 9:5; Ps. 146:4), though two thousand years should elapse before Paul's resurrection, it would seem to him as but the twinkling of an eye. As in James 1:12; Rev. 2:10, and 2 Cor. 5:1-8, the apostles here take no account of the time between death and the resurrection. Says Dr. Priestly, "The apostle, considering his own situation, would naturally connect the end of this life with the commencement of another and better, as he would have no perception of any interval between them."

The Spirits in Prison

14. By what was Christ quickened, or made alive? "For Christ also hath once suffered . . . being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." 1 Peter 3:18.

15. By what did he preach to the spirits in prison? "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." Verse 19.

NOTE.—That is, by the Spirit that raised him from the dead, Christ preached to the spirits in prison. The Spirit that raised Christ from the dead was the Spirit of God. Rom. 8:11; Acts 2:24.

16. When did Christ, by the Spirit of God, preach to these "spirits in prison"? "Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." 1 Peter 3:20.

NOTE.—These "spirits in prison," then, were not the spirits of the dead, as some erroneously suppose, but the wicked inhabitants of the antediluvian world who lived during the allotted one hundred and twenty years previous to the flood, and heard the preaching of Noah and his colaborers during this time. Gen. 6:3. It was the Spirit of Christ in Noah and those connected with him that led them to preach the warning message to that wicked, unbelieving, and sinful generation.

The Thief on the Cross

17. What request did the thief on the cross make of Jesus? "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Luke 23:42.

18. What reply did Jesus make? "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Verse 43.

NOTE.—Paradise is in heaven, God's dwelling-place. Compare Rev. 2:7 and Rev. 22:1, 2.

19. How long after Christ's crucifixion did his resurrection take place? "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and . . . was buried, and . . . rose again the third day." 1 Cor. 15:3, 4.

20. What did Christ say to Mary on the morning of his resurrection? "Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." John 20:17.

NOTE.—This was the third day after the promise made to the thief, and still Christ had not yet ascended to his Father, which is equivalent to saying that he had not yet been to paradise since his crucifixion. As no one can question the truthfulness of the Saviour's statement on either of these occasions, we must look for harmony between the two statements, though it may be at the sacrifice of previously cherished opinions. Why, then, did Christ use the word today in his answer to the thief?—Simply to give emphasis to his promise, and in a way quite common to the Scriptures. See Zech. 9:12; Deut. 8:19; 15:15. Christ had been proclaiming that he would have a kingdom. Luke 19:12-15. When he was hanging on the cross, and was actually in the throes of death, his claim, to all human appearance, had proved a failure. His enemies were mocking and ridiculing him (Matt. 27:29, 42), and even his disciples had forsaken him. The thief, notwithstanding all this, believed the Saviour's words, and made his dying request to be admitted into Christ's kingdom when he should come into possession of it. In response to this wonderful exhibition of faith, and to make his promise emphatic, the Saviour said: "Verily I say unto thee today, Shalt thou [thou shalt] be with me in paradise." A simple change of the comma, placing it immediately after the word today, instead of before it, solves the whole difficulty, and harmonizes all the scriptures on this point. And this is quite allowable, since the punctuation of the Scriptures is not a matter of inspiration. Punctuation is of human origin, and of modern invention, and should never be the determining factor in establishing the meaning of any scripture; nor should it be permitted to give to any passage a meaning contrary to the plain statements of other passages. Moreover, from the breaking of the legs of the two thieves near the close of the crucifixion day, as recorded in John 19:31-33, it seems that they did not die on that day. This again shows the popular conception concerning this passage (Luke 23:43) to be erroneous.

21. When is Christ to come into possession of his kingdom? "At his appearing and his kingdom." 2 Tim. 4:1. See also Dan. 7:13, 14; Luke 19:11-15; Rev. 11:15.

22. When did Christ say that he would take his followers to himself? "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:3. See also 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.

NOTE.—It is manifest from these scriptures that the time when the righteous are to be with Christ will be at his second coming, and not before. Then the penitent thief will be remembered by the Lord, and given a place in his kingdom.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

23. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, what is said to have become of Lazarus? "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." Luke 16:22.

24. What befell the rich man? "The rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Verses 22, 23.

NOTE.—The rich man "died, and was buried." The man himself—the very being who died—was buried. And he—the man who died and was buried—lifted up his "eyes" in hell (hades), the place of the dead, the grave. See margin of Rev. 20:13; 1 Cor. 15:55. "The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." Josephus, in his discourse on "Hades," shows that the Jews at the time of Christ, like the Greeks, held hades to be "a subterranean region," "not regularly defined," "wherein the souls of the righteous and unrighteous are detained;" that it was presided over by "angels;" that it contained "a lake of unquenchable fire," a place called "the bosom of Abraham," and "a chaos deep and wide" separating permanently the just and the unjust. Upon this view Christ evidently based this parable. He did not always stop to correct every erroneous view held by the people, as in John 9:1-3, which indicates a belief on the part of the disciples in antenatal sin, but sometimes met the people upon their own ground, and taught important lessons through their preconceived opinions.

25. What request did the rich man make of Abraham? "And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." Luke 16:24.

26. Upon making the request for Lazarus to be sent to his father's house to warn his brethren, what, according to the parable, did Abraham reply? "Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." Verse 29.

27. What earnest appeal did the rich man then make? "And he said, Nay, Father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." Verse 30.

28. For Lazarus to have gone on such a mission, what, according to Abraham's reply, must first have taken place? "And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Verse 31.

NOTE.—This is a plain statement that Lazarus was dead, and in hades, or the grave. Before he could warn others, he must rise from the dead. It is evident, therefore, that in this parable the Saviour used the figure of speech known as personification, in which inanimate objects or beings are represented as animated, or imbued with personality and the powers of reason and speech, as in Judges 9:7-15 and Hab. 2:11. By this means he sought to correct a grievous but popular error, that the possession of riches was a special sign of God's favor. He showed that a man might be very rich and lose heaven, or very poor and gain it. The parable immediately follows Christ's instruction to "make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness;" the statement that "the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him;" and Christ's words, "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." It was designed evidently as a rebuke to covetousness. By this parable Christ also showed the importance of heeding the word of God, and that those who reject this would not be convinced even by so great a miracle as the raising of one from the dead. This was a little later demonstrated to be true in the case of the raising of a man, Lazarus by name, from the dead. John 11. Rather than accept this crowning evidence of Christ's Messiahship and divine mission, the chief priests sought not only to kill Christ, but to put Lazarus to death also. John 11:53; 12:10, 11. These were the great lessons which Christ designed to teach by this parable, and not that men go to their reward at death, or that the dead are conscious, both of which views are contrary to the plainest declarations of Scriptures. See 2 Peter 2:9; 2 Tim. 4:1; Luke 14:14; Matt. 24:30, 31. The Bible teaches that Abraham is dead, and that he is "ignorant of us." Isa. 63:16.

Everlasting Punishment

29. How enduring will be the punishment of the wicked? "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25:46.

30. What is the punishment for sin? "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

NOTE.—Death is the opposite of life; and eternal death, the opposite of eternal life. Everlasting punishment, then, is everlasting death,—a death that lasts forever.

31. What is this death, or final punishment of the wicked, called? "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Rev. 21:8.

NOTE.—Good and bad are alike subject to the first death; but this is simply a temporal death, which lasts only till the resurrection. After the cases of all have been settled in the judgment, the wicked then die the second death, which is eternal.

Everlasting Fire

32. What is the fire called into which the wicked will finally be cast? "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25:41.

NOTE.—This fire is called everlasting, not because of the length of time it burns, but because of the nature of its results; it produces everlasting death.

33. What is this fire called in another place? "He will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:12.

NOTE.—The fire here spoken of is called unquenchable, not because it is to burn eternally, but because it cannot be quenched, or put out. An unquenchable fire will go out of itself when it has consumed that upon which it preys. If the fire of a burning building is quenched, the building is saved; if unquenched, and unquenchable, the building is consumed, or destroyed. The fire ceases of itself when the work of destruction is completed. Sodom and Gomorrah suffered "the vengeance of eternal fire." Jude 7. But the fire did not burn eternally. It went out when it reduced these cities to "ashes." 2 Peter 2:6. The same kind of fire will in the last day convert the wicked into ashes. Mal. 4:1-3; Ps. 37:1, 2, 10. It need not, then, burn eternally. Takoma Park, D. C.