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THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S and secret, fervent prayer, th a t th e g ra cious Spirit may call a h alt for some who in 'e a rly life have obtained a t least a superficial knowledge of th e tru th , bu t Who never experienced th e change of th e new birth. Instead of tendering left-handed compliments, prayer should be made th a t th e ir over-weening vanity may be humbled and th e ir eyes opened to th e ir u tte r sp iritual poverty in the sight of God. Then, and not till then,
will they understand the words th a t have been staring them in the face since the beginning, th a t only th e spiritual jnind can discern th e things which are spiritual, and most of wlvat th e ir mouths have spoken h ith erto will be recognized by them as foolishness. For*- general confirmation of th is letter, reference is suggested to the second Epistle of John and th e Epistle of Jude. A. E. C.
The First T ^o Verses of Genesis One •A Friendly Discussion With REV. W. S. COLE
in Gen. 19:26 where we Lead of Lot’s wife th a t “ she BECAME a p illar of sa lt.” Mr. Cole takes W ebster’s definition of “chaos - to show th a t verse 2 simply means' th a t the ea rth was, às first created by God, a confused mass, before it was separated into its different kinds and reduced to order. But the Hebrew expression “w ithout form ” is said to mean “ desolation” and Scripture clearly shows th a t God did not create the earth in a sta te of desolation. The same Hebrew word is, tran slated “in vain” in Isa. 45:18 and if properly rendered we would read, “He created the earth not waste (d ëso late), hh formed it to be inhabited.” We would n atu rally expect th a t the earth would come from God’s cre ativ e.hand pérfect. Jer. 4:23 says, “ I beheld th e earth and Id, it was in desolation and void; and the heavens, and they had no ligh t.’,’ The Scofield Bible says on th is passage: “This de scribes th e condition of th e earth as a resu lt of a judgm ent which overthrew th e primal order of Gen. 1:1. Thé coming devastation of Jud ah and Je ru salem is apparently here likened to the pre-Adamite destruction. Isa. 45:18 and Jer. 4:23-26
V. W. S. Cole in his paper ‘The Bible B aptist” refers to m article entitled “The Sword of God” by C. H. Foun
tain, published in a recent issue of The K ing’s Business. Mr. Cole seems to th ink th a t Mr. Fountain is w ithout foundation for the following statem ent: “In the second verse of .the Bible we find one of the greatest judgments on record when the .once fair creation was made chaos,, Of the reasons which brought about,the state of chabs described in Gen., 1:2, we know very little—we can scarcely imagine th at the earth, probably inhab ited by a race of beings before, man entered into possession, could have been normally submerged in the waters.” A g reat many have read th e first two verses of Genésis as though they form ed an account of one twenty-four-hour day’s work in which God brought to gether the various' particles and created the earth. I t should be noted th a t verse 2 begins w ith th e word “And,” which in Hebrew usage shows th a t verse 1 is not a compendium of what follows, but a statem en t of the first event in thè record. F u rth erm o re, th e first clause of verse 2, “And th e ea rth WAS w ith out form ,” is by many Hebrew scholars translated, “And th e earth BECAME w ithout form .” The same form is used
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