29. “Three Young Believers,” Guernsey. “Fathers” are those who are matured in the divine life. “Young men” are those in whom the divine life is in full vigor. We fondly hope that our three young friends, if left here, may go steadily on to be young men and fathers.
30. “Α. Μ. H.,” Kent. Eph. 1:13 teaches us that the sealing of the Spirit is consequent upon believing in Christ. “In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession.” Scripture distinguishes between quickening and sealing. The Holy Ghost quickened us when we were dead in sins. He sealed us when, through grace, we believed on the Son of God. The Spirit is the seal which God puts upon those who believe in His Son, as dead, risen, and glorified. The interval between the quickening and the sealing may be moments, months, or years; but there is an interval. We believe that every quickened soul is sure to be a sealed one, for God never leaves His work undone. How often do you see people in a low, legal, doubting state, going about to establish their own righteousness, not submitting to God’s righteousness, full of fears and questionings. They are in Rom. 7 They do not know accomplished redemption. They are not delivered. They are quickened, but not sealed. Persons in this state know nothing about the one body. They are virtually in the condition of Old Testament saints. It is sad to have to say it, but we believe that the great majority of Christians throughout Christendom are in this condition.
31. “S. P.,” Jersey. To “cherish a foolish thought” is most assuredly grieving to that Holy Spirit whereby we are sealed. But if we judge the foolish thought it does not disturb our communion. There is a vast difference between treating evil thoughts as intruders, and providing them with furnished lodgings.
32. “A Young Bible Header,” London. John 20:23 refers to the administrative action of an assembly in discipline. See 1 Cor. 5 for the retaining of sin, and 2 Cor. 2:6-8 for the remitting of it. It is not official. It is not addressed to apostles, but to disciples. It does not touch the soul’s eternal relation with God, but its present relation to the assembly.
33. “W. S.,” Aurora, Illinois. Accept our warmest thanks for your truly kind and encouraging letter. It is curious that we have very recently replied to your query as to 1 Cor. 7; we do not, therefore, refer to it here. You will no doubt have seen the answer ere this reaches you.
34. “G. B.,” Otley. In the various passages in Heb. 11 to which you refer, there is no preposition in the original. It is simply “ττστεί,” which may be rendered, “in faith,” or “by faith.” Luke 16:1-9 teaches us to use this world’s riches—should they come into our hands—in the service of God, with our eye fixed on the everlasting habitations. Riches do not properly belong to a Christian. His place and portion are heavenly; but if, in the providence of God, he happens to possess them, he should use them in the promotion of the cause of Christ. 1 Tim. 6:19 explains Luke 16:9. If riches be not used in this way, they are a positive curse to a Christian.
35. “Μ. B.,” Monkstown. You cannot be at any loss to know whence such an infidel thought proceeds. It is from the father of lies. Treat it as such. Judge it, and reject it utterly. It seems strange that after knowing the Lord for forty years, as you say, you should, even for a moment, be troubled by the suggestion of one whom you know to be “a liar from the beginning.” Ask a poor ignorant man at the back of a mountain, how he knows that the sun shines. Ask a simple believer how he knows that the Bible is the word of God. He will tell you he has felt its power. Has not the Holy Ghost given you to feel the power of the word of God? If God cannot make me know that it is He who speaks to me in His word, who else can? Were we merely to believe in the divine inspiration of the scriptures from human testimony—be that testimony ever so powerful—it would not be faith at all. I believe what God says, because He says it, not because of any human authority. If all the fathers that ever wrote, all the doctors that ever taught, all the councils that ever sat—all the angels in heaven, and all the saints upon earth—were to agree in declaring that the Bible is the word of God, and that we were to believe on their testimony, it would not be divinely-given faith. And, on the other hand, were all to agree in declaring that the Bible is not the word of God, it should not for a moment shake our confidence in that peerless revelation. Fling back, then, dear friend, at once into the enemy’s teeth his foul and blasphemous suggestion, and repose, like a little child, in the love and truth of that blessed One whom you have known for so many years.
36. “Ε. B.” Brighton. Scripture plainly draws a distinction between “sin” and “sins.” It tells us in Rom. 8 that God has “condemned sin” in the cross. “The body of sin is destroyed.” It is because God has thus condemned sin that He can righteously forgive us our sins. We may forgive a child a wrong thing said or done; but we do not, and cannot, forgive the naughty disposition which led him to do or say the wrong thing; we condemn it, and would have him to condemn it likewise. The more you consider this subject in the light of the New Testament, the more you will see its immense importance. Can you find a single passage in the entire compass of the New Testament that speaks of the forgiveness of sin? Hundreds of passages speak of the forgiveness of sins. You may depend upon it, dear friend, there is no distinction in scripture without a difference. We may think it unimportant, but the Holy Ghost is wiser than we are.