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For Consideration

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Aug 1, 1865

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 26, No. 9.

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For Consideration.

By John Nevins Andrews

“Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.” 1 Tim. v, 24, 25.
Query. Does not the first of these two verses belong wholly to the wicked, as the last one belongs only to the righteous? Are there not two classes of wicked men brought to view in verse 24, and two classes of righteous in verse 25? Does not the apostle reason from God’s providence which makes a signal distinction between sinners in this life, to that same fact in the cases of his saints? Does not verse 25 teach that God is pleased to honor even in this life the good works of some, and to render them especially manifest before all; while others whose good deeds are not thus made prominent shall eventually find that not one of their acts of obedience is overlooked or forgotten? Is not this statement concerning the righteous presented as a parallel to that of the wicked in verse 24? And may not the meaning of verse 24 be this: That some men’s sins call down the special vengeance of Heaven even in this state of things, while other men go on in sin with nothing to specially indicate the displeasure of the Almighty? May not the Antediluvians, the Sodomites, Korah and his company, Ananias and Sapphira and many others be considered as belonging to this class? While those who have more than heart could wish, who spend their days in pleasure and go down into the grave in peace, properly represent the latter? So of the righteous. Are not some in the providence of God held up as examples, and their good deeds published to the world, while others equally precious in his sight remain unknown to the great mass of their fellow-men, and will only be honored of their Master in that great day which shall manifest the sons of God?
J. N. Andrews.