T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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. TALBOT'S
QUESTION BOX The beloved President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles a n s we r s your Bible Questions.
^ QUE.: Please explain Ephe sians 4 :2 6 , “ Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” There is such a thing as righteous indignation, and this is what the in spired writer had in mind. When we see an injustice done or a sin com mitted against God and man, it would be a sin not to be angry. The Lord Jesus was righteously indignant when the money c h a n g e r s •made His “Father’s house a den of thieves.” When ive are angry because of per sonal wrongs, we sin. and dishonor God. These we should accept as op portunities of showing to the world that Christ is real, and that He en ables us to live joyously and victori ously over personal injustice. How ever, we . must guard against all malice and hatred and display of temper, which is anger. These surely are not becoming in a Christian) ^ QUE.: How have “ all families of the earth been blessed” in the descendants of Abraham?” Christ was a Jew "according to the flesh” ; and unto the Jews’ were “com mitted the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:2). So that Christ and the Bible came through the nation of Israel to bless the whole world. During the reign of Christ on earth this promise of God to Abraham will bè fulfilled completely. Then the Gentile nations will seek the God of Israel; and through His chosen people blessing will flow to all families of thè earth. ^ QUE .: Why does the New Testament speak so o f t e n of “ devils” when there is only one devil ? Evidently you refer to the King James or Authorized Version of our English Bible. The Revised Version more accurately translates the word “demons” when it does not refer to Satan, the only devil. In other words there is only one devil; there are many demons, his emissaries. The context always makes clear what is meant, even if you do not possess; a copy of the Revised Version.
^ QUE.: Where did Cain get his wife? If any serious-minded person is really desirous of knowing where Cain got his wife, the entire matter can be cleared up by a careful and prayerful reading of the fourth and fifth chapters of Genesis. It is very plainly set forth here that, after Cain killed Abel, God gave Adam and Eve another son to take Abel’s place (Gen. 4:25). His name was Seth. Adam was one hundred thirty years old when Seth was born (Gen. 5:3). “And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters” (Gen. 5:4). “And all the days of Adam were nine hundred and thirty years” (Gen. 5:5).. Many have surmised that no sons and daughters were born to Adam and Eve between the death of Abel and the birth of Seth, but they have not found any such statement, or grounds for such a supposition, in the Bible. Undoubtedly, children were born to Adam and Eve during the years between the death of Abel and the birth of Seth, for Adam was one hundred thirty years of age when he begat Seth. Many sons and daughters could have been born before God gave them “ another son to take the place of Abel, whom Cain slew.” But even if there had been no sons and daughters born to Adam and Eve between the death of Abel and the birth of Seth, eight hundred.years is a long time! And for eight hundred years after Seth was born, other sons and daughters were given to our first parents. Surely, that allows time for one of Cain’s sisters to grow up and marry Cain. And surely the God who created man in the beginning was able to set aside His usual laws of nature, and thus permit the human race to in crease in the earth: Cain married his sister, which was according to God’s plan. In this connection let us recall that Abraham’s wife was Sarah, his half-sister. Read Genesis 20:12. God evidently permitted the men of these early days to marry relatives, though later, in the law of Moses, He forbade one to marry a sister or certain c’ ose kin. Pseudo-skeptics should search the Scriptures.
QUE.: What should be the Christian’s attitude toward earthly pleasures ? I want to be a conse crated Christian; but my friends think I am rather queer and fa natical in my views. In the first place, we have the direct command: “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean things and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (II Cor. 6:14-18). Again, we have other very definite Scriptures, such as, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15). An.’, yet again we are urged to keep ourselves “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). These are but a few of many such passages. By “the world” in such Scriptures, the Holy Spirit means the God-dis honoring, Christ - rejecting, Spirit-re sisting world. We are to be “in the world, but not of it.” We are to mingle with our fellow-men, seeking to point them to Christ, loving their souls, but hating their sins. In other words, we are not to find our satisfaction in doing the things that dishonor the name we bear. In the second place, we are re peatedly exhorted not to do anything that causes the “weaker brother to stumble.” Perhaps you or I cbuld do many things the world does, yet come out unharmed, to a certain extent; whereas another following in our steps would go down in utter defeat. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Chris tians, saying that meat offered to idols was just the same to him per sonally as other meat; that is, it made no difference to him at all; but if another looking on, who thought there was some virtue in such meat, saw Paul eating it and stumbled thereby, then, Paul said, he would not touch meat so long as the world stood. The application is plain.
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