Q: 1. Explain 1 Tim. 1:20.
A: We must ask our correspondent to be good enough to refer to B. S. vol. 2, p. 54, Q. 59, for an answer, and we would suggest that each correspondent before sending a fresh Bible Query should consult the detailed index of that volume which gives a list of some 500 answers given in 1882 to Bible Queries. Should further light be wanted on some verse or subject already touched upon, it will be well to say exactly what the difficulty is, in order that the correspondent may not be referred back to a previous answer that would not meet his difficulties.
Q: 2. Is Job speaking of death in Chapter 14:14? (2) What is meant by the " Valley of Achor" in Hos. 2:15?
A: This remarkable verse appears to us not only to speak of death, but of resurrection. Does not verse 15 also refer to this? We should be very glad of further remarks on this interesting passage. (2) Our answer to this may be best given in the words of another-" The circumstances by which God expresses Israel's return to grace is of touching interest. The valley of Achor should be her door of hope. There when the judgment of God began to fall on the unfaithful people, after their entrance into the land (Josh. 7:26)-where God acted according to the responsibility of the people-there would He now show that grace abounded over all their sin. The joy of their first deliverance and redemption should be restored to them." The chief interest to us of this beautiful passage foretelling the future restoration of Israel to divine favor, lies in the use the apostle Peter makes of verse 23 (2 Peter 2:10), showing that these blessings, though still future to Israel as a nation, were the present portion spiritually of any amongst them who accepted the rejected Messiah.
Q: 3. How could the disciples do greater miracles than Christ, John 14:12? (2) How did Christ sanctify Himself, John 17:19?
A: The Holy Ghost who would be sent down in power "because Jesus went to His Father" was not confined by a body to one place, but could so energize believers everywhere, that the gospel could spread far more rapidly and widely then even when individually proclaimed by the Lord and supported by the mighty works that He did. The power was not in the disciples, but in the promised Comforter. The first fulfillment of this we see in Acts 2 in the mighty power that accompanied Peter's preaching See also B. S. vol. 1. p. 114, Q. 374. (2) Though doubtless true that "sanctify" means generally to "make holy," we must remember that this is after all a secondary use of the word, that is to say that the reason 'a person is "holy" is because he is "set apart" to God. The word itself means simply to "set apart." In this passage the Lord sets Himself apart to God in heaven in order that the disciples on earth might be set apart, by the communication to them of the place and position of Christ, and of their union with Him where He is.
Q: 4. Does Rev. 13:3 show that the Beast will receive a deadly wound?
A: The beast represents the revived Roman power seen in the hands of one man. The head wounded unto death and then revived, we think represents the imperial form of government which will again be restored in the days of Antichrist.
Q: 5. Why did John the Baptist preach the kingdom of heaven whilst the Messiah was on earth and before His rejection?
A: He proclaimed what was about to be set up. It was " at hand." If his preaching had been received as " Elias that was for to come," there would have been no rejection. It was because " His own received him not" that the kingdom has been postponed some 2000 years at any rate as to its earthly and visible aspect, and that another " Elijah" will yet come as the prophet " before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord" to " turn the heart of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers." Mal. 4:5,6.
Q: 6. Does Matt. 18:19 apply only to the assembly, or to individual prayer as well?
A: Matt. 18:19 applies to all who carry it out. A general principle follows in the next verse, not only embracing verse 19, but going far beyond it, but verse 19 plainly applies to any two who so agree.
Q: 7. Explain Gal. 1 "For do I now persuade men or God," (2) Explain Gal. Chapter 2:2, "but privately to them which were of reputation, &c.
A: We understand the expression to mean that Paul was not seeking to " persuade" men by adulterating the gospel. In another place and in a different sense he does say "we persuade men." We should be glad to know the force of “or God” in this phrase. (2) God had His ordained apostles, who were justly "in reputation" at Jerusalem and also "in Christ" long before Paul, and with great wisdom, but no servility, Paul lays his gospel before them, before pressing it among the Jews, and especially in those points where it superseded the Jewish ritual. The result showed the wisdom of his course.
Q: 8. What becomes of the departed spirits until the resurrection? Where are they?
A: They go to Hades. This word is used in Luke 16:23 for the present abode of lost souls; in Acts 2:27,31 for the abode of Christ when absent from the body; in 1 Cor. 15:55 for the abode of spirits of believers. We therefore see it is the place of all departed spirits, and is divided by a great and impassable gulf into a place of blessing and of misery. At the first resurrection the former will be emptied, at the second resurrection (or death) the latter (Rev. 20:13), and then hades (or hell) having no further use is shown in a metaphor (ver. 14) to be finally abolished forever.
Q: 9. Please explain the meaning of " redeeming the time because the days are evil" Eph. 5:16. Is there not always a price paid for a thing "redeemed"? If I am to be always buying back the time because Satan claims it as his right, what is the price I am to pay?
A: The Greek word is used in three other places, viz.:-Gal. 3:13, " Christ hath redeemed us" &c. Gal. 4:5, " To redeem them that were under the law," and Col. 4:5, "redeeming the time." The word no doubt means to" buy back" literally, but we cannot see why it should not be taken metaphorically. We often use the word in a non-literal sense: we speak of " a redeeming quality" &c., but we do not ask from whom it is redeemed! So here; it means by diligence "buying back" the fleeting moments from the corrupt use to which they are naturally appropriated, for better and higher ends. We need not introduce the question of Satan into the passage at all.
Q. 10. Is it Scriptural to say Christ took our human nature? Please explain what it was pertaining to us which Christ took.
A: Certainly. He was as truly God as man. All that pertains to humanity in sinless perfection Christ had; every feeling, sensibility, capacity for suffering, and capacity, but not necessity for dying. Herein we distinguish between a human body and a mortal body. We must never imagine that Christ was really and truly God and only appeared to be man, but impossible as it is for our minds to grasp it, we must be content to believe that our Lord was as truly man as He was God.
Q: 11. Is fasting a Christian duty?
A: It was continually practiced and taught by the apostles (Acts 13:23 &c.), and we know no reason why on suitable occasions it should not still be practiced literally. For a deeper meaning of the word see B. S. vol. 1. P. 339, Q. 345.
Q: 12. Would the Israelites have returned to Egypt after their sacrifice in the wilderness if Pharaoh had let them go? (Ex. 3:18; 5:3; 8:25-29; 10:8-11; 24-26). It seems almost like a stratagem to get away altogether, and yet it could not be, for God had told Moses to say it.
A: The fact that God had told Moses to say it, sufficiently shows that Moses did not invent it. Nowhere do we find any thought that the children of Israel would return. On the contrary, Pharaoh evidently thought they would not, and sought to get their children or cattle as hostages, all of which Moses refused. There is no doubt that when a whole nation packs up, taking all their goods, cattle and children (leaving not a hoof behind) it looks very much like going away altogether, but it can hardly be called a stratagem, especially when not a word is said anywhere about returning.
Q: 13. Kindly explain " Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness," Matt. 3:15, also "He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness" Isa. 61 to, also " Perfect, through my comeliness which I had put upon thee," Ezek. 16:14, also "Jesus thy blood and righteousness, My beauty are, my glorious dress."
I know we are justified by the blood of Christ, but did He not also keep the law for us, and is not that our " robe of righteousness." I feel very much confused about this subject, and should be grateful for light upon it.
A: Christ did fulfill the law and made it honorable. He kept it perfectly, and was the only one who ever did. Indeed it was this that in part showed His perfect fitness to be a ransom for us. The robe of righteousness is Christ Himself who is made unto us " righteousness," 1 Cor. 1 but we only get Him through death and resurrection. The hymn we do not comment on. Extreme accuracy does not always mark poetry, but it does mark the word of God. In view of further discussion on this interesting subject we will content ourselves for the present with affirming that Christ kept the law as being born under it, and not for us as substitute, and that we are justified through His blood, not by His life before the cross.
Q: 14. Did Moses really die, because he appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration in a body? see also Jude 9. (2) Are there any grounds for believing the widow of Nain's son was only in a trance?
A: We know no more about Moses than what the Word of God tells us in Deut. 34:5, where we are told of his death, burial, and sepulcher. See B. S. vol. 2. p. 123, Q. 156. (2) Luke 7:11 Says he was dead. We know no ground for the idea of his being merely in a trance. Scripture says " a trance" when this state is meant. See Acts 10:10.
Q: 15. Has the Pentecostal gift of healing ceased? If so, ought we to pray that it may be restored to the church?
A: These special signs that were given when the church was first formed do not appear to have continued long. The reason for this may be two-fold, one that they were not intended to be permanent, and the other that the present divided state of the church would render any such manifestation of Divine power in any one section unsuitable.
Q: 16. How can Mark 10:34 be reconciled with Luke 2:14? (2) Please explain "I will draw all unto me." John 12:32.
A: Luke gives us the aspect in which the Savior came amongst men as an expression of God's goodwill towards men and as the Prince of Peace. Mark expresses the results of man's hatred and rejection of the One thus sent in love according to the parable of the vineyard in Matt. 21 Luke 19:38 skews that peace in heaven must precede the peace on earth proclaimed in Chapter 2 and the death of Christ, more than even His birth, proved the climax of the expression of God's goodwill towards men (John 3:16). So wonderful are His ways! (2) "All" not "every" that is, all sorts and conditions, Jew and Gentile, the latter being expressly in His thoughts, it being the presence of the pious Greeks that called forth these words.
Q: 17. Were the bodies of the animals, with whose skins Adam and Eve were clothed (Gen. 3:2;1), offered in sacrifice?
A: That we do not know, It is not however improbable that it was so, and hence Cain's culpability would be increased in neglecting a known means of approaching God. We cannot however speak positively in the absence of Scripture. Animal food was not given to man until after the flood. (Gen. 9:3).
Q: 18. Explain Ex. 22:2,3.
A: A thief might be killed in the night justifiably by accident or in self-defense; not so in the day time. On the contrary, the proper course then was not to kill him, but to exact restitution in full, or if he had it not, it was lawful to sell him into slavery for his theft. We must remember this is law, not grace.