DR TALBOT SALVATION TERMINOLOGY Q. What does Paul mean in Phil. 1:19, “ I know that this shall turn to my salvation” ? A. The apostle here refers to his bodily salvation, in his approaching trial before Nero. He was a prisoner at Caesar’s court (Phil. 1:13); will ing to live or die for Christ; know ing that, if God willed, the prayers of his Christian friends at Philippi would be answered, and he would be set free. There is nothing in the passage to intimate that Paul referred to sal vation of his soul. This letter was written some ten years after Paul and Silas had told the Philippian jailer, in no uncertain terms: “ Be lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURES Q. Do you believe in the verbal inspiration of the Bible? A. Yes. All orthodox, fundamental Bible lovers believe in the verbal inspiration of the original manu scripts, in the Hebrew and Greek languages. Moreover, we believe that God has guided the translators of our English Bible, as well as those of other tongues, seeing to it that we have the exact sense of the Word of God, simply put into lan guage that we can understand. The greatest scholars of all time have spent literally years of their lives, comparing the different sources — manuscripts, versions, quotations from the church fathers, discoveries of archaeology — they have spared neither time nor money nor effort to give to the world the exact mean ing, even to the slightest shade of difference in the use of a word or
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phrase. The story of how our Am er ican Standard Version was trans lated, together with the English Version, reads like a chapter from fiction; it is so interesting. And the longest telegram ever sent over the wire was the whole New Testament in this version, transmitted from ! i What can I give to men whose empty t | eyes | • Trouble my thinking at this f Christmastide? I t Lord, make me humble, loving, strong, and wise, 4 | That I may give them Christ, the || l crucified. f Let me not choose the lesser gifts of j | earth, • That pass in dust and are futility: ;; !, Lord, at this sacred season of Thy 1 birth, ,, Lead me from giving things to " giving Thee. ,, What can I give to Thee, O God «! .i above? V (There is so little that our God ■ could need) I' And yet, in all my dreams, Thy jl h heart of love ! Is wounded still: I see it break " and bleed !! With naught to staunch the flow — 1 except I bring | Some ransomed soul, called home " 4 from wandering. 1! — H e le n F r a z e e - B o w e r • ' New York City to Chicago by 99 telegraph operators. Why? Just in order that Chicago might sell it on her streets promptly, as did New York and London! What is that but a testimony to the divine origin of this Book of books? By verbal inspiration we mean that the Holy Spirit so controlled the pen and thought of the human author that the very words were • | 7 f f i G IF T F O K C Iin iS T M A S j
God-breathed. That is inspiration. “ All scripture is given by inspir ation of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Tim. 3:16). TRANSFIGURATION PROMISE Q. Please explain Matt. 16:28: “ Verily 1 say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom .” A. These words of our Lord foretold His transfiguration, which was wit nessed by Peter, James, and John “ after six days.” These three saw Christ transfigured — foreview of His coming glory, when He will be manifested before all the world as King of kings and Lord of lords. The transfiguration scene is de scribed immediately after these words, in chapter 17. RADIO GIVING Q. Is it right to give part of one’s tithes to radio programs? A. Certainly it is right to support any cause which is proclaiming the Gospel of our crucified and risen Lord. One’s first responsibility, “ as unto the Lord,” is to the body of believers in his own church, who have pledged themselves to take care of certain missionary responsi bilities, both at home and in the foreign field. Yet one does not need to give all his tithe to any one church, it seems to me. Although we need to be very careful in our giving, lest we are deceived by those who are not true to the Word of God and the Christ of the Bible, yet I can think of no more effective way of getting the message of salvation to the world than over the air.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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