Editorial Keynotes

Our Primary Need and Supply

The primary need of the apostolic church was not money, but Spirit-endued men, as was observable in the case of Peter and the lame man. Without money, the apostle gave what he had. And that possession was the secret of a church that went forth conquering and to conquer. Without money, rapid transportation facilities, or the Bible in printed form; without publishing houses, sanitariums, schools, or an elaborate organization, the conquests of the cross swept on until the known world received their witness, and a mighty host of converts resulted.

It is this divine power—not money, facilities, nor material things—that is our supreme need today. Spirit-filled men, men of consecration, men of faith, men with united hearts, men with unwavering confidence in our message,—it is they who will point the way out, and lead the church through to final victory.

We have become too dependent upon pay checks and appropriations, and the material aspects of our work. These are proper in their related place, but not as primary. Ere our work shall close, our highly perfected financial organiza­tion may be unable to operate as in the past, and our beautiful, symmetrical organization may be checkmated, as has been the case in at least one great division since the close of the World War. But, thank God, the message will march on. Our invincible Leader lives, and His truth will triumph. His message^/will be given, and the work closed on schedule.                                            

L. E. F.

Things Hard to Be Understood

It is well for us all candidly to recognize the existence of difficult prob­lems and passages in Holy Writ. A becoming modesty and carefulness should therefore characterize the study of the deep things of inspiration. Paul, the great inspired scholar, uttered some of them; and Peter, writing under inspiration, declared their presence. 2 Peter 3:16. It is therefore unseemly for any of us to be complacently sure of a correct understanding of all de­tails in the teachings of Holy Writ. Sound conclusions are reached only when all the facts and factors are known, and this calls for scholarly, continuous study.

The apostle Peter specifies two faults contributing to spiritual catastrophe over this matter—unlearnedness and instability. The unscholarly attitude is evidenced by contentment with su­perficial study, unverified facts, ap­pearances instead of realities. Schol­arship, though positive, is ever con­servative. It scorns both fabrications and Jumping to conclusions. It refuses to commit itself on perplexing prob­lems before it has sufficient informa­tion; rather, it holds such questions in abeyance, pending further light.

Sound scholarship ever distinguishes between proved primaries and specu­lative secondaries. Upon eternal sure­ties it stands, conscious of their invul­nerability. Let us not, then, be too dogmatic upon some of the details "hard to be understood." Our personal salvation does not depend upon such, nor the effectiveness of our evangelis­tic witness to the world. Rather, any unbecoming attitude, of arrogance upon such matters is a reflection upon its projectors, and a deterrent to the dis­cerning.

Instability was the other element al-Elided to by Peter. Some incline to be swayed by the advocacy of a position held by some leader. There is a tend­ency on the part of some to exaggerate the value of the opinion of individuals who may for the time be occupying official position. The convictions of men of wide observation, experience, and leadership should be given due weight, for not a few are scholars as well as administrators, financiers, or teachers, but we should likewise re­member that official position does not automatically confer wisdom. That comes only by thorough and continu­ous study.

After all, truth is impartial. Her secrets are disclosed indiscriminately to rich and poor, conspicuous and in­conspicuous, who seek her treasures, dependent upon the sedulous devotion of her followers. They spring from in­vulnerable facts; verities, and princi­ples, and an acquaintance with past history, present movements, and future trends. Therefore let us patiently hold in abeyance the curious, the un­certain, and the unfathomable, which are not essential to salvation, pending the revelation of fuller light.

L. E. F.

Scholarship and Truth

Think of Moses, writer of the first five books of Scripture, through whom God transmitted the majestic truths of the beginnings of things,—the crea­tion, the fall, and the plan of redemp­tion as unfolded to man at the first. Organizer, lawgiver, and teacher, he stands without a peer in Old Testa­ment times.

Think of Daniel, both prime minis­ter and prophet, through whom the most wondrous and expansive proph­ecies of the Old Testament were trans­mitted.

Think of Paul, one of the most highly trained and brilliant intellects of all time, who was chosen as the in­strument for the transmission of more than a dozen books of the New Testa­ment, comprising nearly a third of its content, and amazingly used to de­velop and apply the wondrous gospel of our Lord in expanding and expounding the great doctrines of the faith.

Think of Wycliffe, morning star of the Reformation, scholar, linguist, and Bible translator, who pointed the way out of dense papal darkness.

Think of Luther and Melanchthon, rugged leaders of the Reformation, with their theses, their exposures of error, and their presentations of truth that made the pope tremble, and changed the status of the church and the face of Europe.

Think of the great body of reverent scholars who have been used of God in the translation of the Scriptures into English and other tongues, and the 918 translations whose product forms the foundation for our work throughout the world.

Think of the laborious toil of the archeologists, whose prodigious labors in deciphering the inscriptions of languages locked in the silence of the centuries, have confirmed the histor­ical records of the Bible, and silenced the blatant criticisms of a few decades ago.

Think of the invaluable labors of such men as J. N. Andrews, with his "History of the Sabbath," and Uriah Smith, with his writings on the proph­ecies, together with the valiant work of others who wrought mightily for God in mining out the great founda­tion stones of His temple of truth for the last days.

All honor to such consecrated talent and learning. Let no odium be cast upon it. Inerrancy is not claimed for any of these men. They had limita­tions to their perception of truth, and made mistakes in judgment. At times their conclusions were faulty, but they wrought gloriously for God, and have made possible the broad and solid plat­form upon which we now stand. As their spiritual heirs and assigns, it is not meet for any to make slighting remarks about scholarship in relation to the discovery and advancement of truth. Rather, we should venerate and emulate the exploits of God's skilled workmen through the years.

L. E. F.