The Synoptic Gospels

QUESTION: Why are the first three gospels called "synoptics?

ANSWER: Because they give an account of Christ's life, while John reports his extended addresses. He aims to prove that the Son is God as he asserts in the first verse. This makes his gospel a polemic kind of argumentative treatise. The other gospels are narrative, not laying down a proposition and demonstrating it.

— Steele's Answers p. 271.

Wives & the Sabbath

QUESTION: In the fourth commandment, Ex. 20:8-12, why is the wife omitted from the list of those who are forbidden to work on the Sabbath, neither "thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man servant, etc."?

ANSWER: It is not because she must get breakfast, dinner and supper on the Sabbath, so that the saying is true, "woman's work is never done," but it is because she is included in the "thou" where she is regarded as sharing the hardship of the household on a level with her husband just as she is in the fifth commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother."

— Steele's Answers p. 270.

Mistakes in the King James Version

QUESTION: A Southern preacher is teaching that there are 2,000 mistakes in King James' version of the Bible. Is this so?

ANSWER: There is not a mistake which affects any Christian doctrine. There are petty defects in minute details, like the omission to dot the letter i or to cross a t in a manuscript. One translator says "Herod the King;" another says "King Herod;" this would be counted a mistake. I presume there are 2,000 variations in the American Standard from King James' Version, but not one of them can be called a mistake. The new version is an improvement by substituting modern words for those that are obsolete, such as "knew" for "wist" in Lu. 2:49, "knew ye not" etc., and "who" and "that" for "which" when referring to a person, such as "Our Father who art," etc.; and "are" for "be" in indicative clauses; and "an" for "a" before an aspirated "h." All these are doubtless counted as a part of the 2,000 mistakes. Preachers should be on their guard against statements which shake the confidence of the people in their Bibles.

— Steele's Answers pp. 269, 270.

Labor Unions

QUESTION: Can a man belong to a labor union and still be a true follower of Jesus Christ?

ANSWER: He can belong to such a union as is conducted on the Golden Rule. But if the spirit of the union is to crush the nonunion man by demanding his discharge from the job in which you are working, the union has become a wicked monopoly, offensive to Christ because  of  its lack, not only of brotherly love, but of simple justice. "Be not a partaker of other men's sins; keep thyself pure."

— Steele's Answers p. 269.

The Beast

QUESTION: Explain Rev. 17:8, "The beast thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition * * * when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."

ANSWER: The Revision has "and shall come," instead of "and yet is." The beast is supposed to represent the Roman empire, which once was, then it ceased to be, and reappeared coming out of the bottomless pit in the form of that spiritual despotism called the Papacy, to go at last into the like of fire with all like characters.

— Steele's Answers pp. 268, 269.

Saying Amen in Church

QUESTION: Is it essential that we say Amen as a sanction to the truth? The church authorities forbid it as disorderly.

ANSWER: This is a matter of taste rather than of religious obligation. It seems desirable that audiences should be responsive to the speaker, but not in a boisterous way by very loud and frequent ejaculations. A quiet amen now and then helps and encourages a speaker, but too many and too often may confuse him.

— Steele's Answers p. 268.

On Keeping the Sabbath

QUESTION: Can an unholy man keep the Sabbath day holy?

ANSWER: He can cease from labor and thus outwardly regard the sanctity of the day, but he is not in a condition to regard it inwardly, "and call the Sabbath a delight, not finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, but delighting in Jehovah."

— Steele's Answers p. 268.

The Sin of the World

QUESTION: What is the sin of the world in John 1:29, which the Lamb of God taketh away?

ANSWER: The singular, sin, in contrast with the plural, sins, in I John 3 5, is important. The condemnation of the race for "the sin" of Adam, its federal head, is unconditionally removed, though the hereditary leaning towards sin remains. The expiation of the Lamb conditionally removes "sins" in the plural by forgiveness and sanctification.

— Steele's Answers p. 268.

Salvation Conundrums

QUESTION: If God takes away from the dying infant the bent to sinning, why does he not take it away from the babe destined to become adult?

ANSWER: This conundrum resolves itself into another, "Why does not God save irresponsibles and responsibles in the same way, on just the same terms?" A still harder question which this Arminian Question Box cannot answer is this: "Why does an impartial God elect to eternal life unconditionally a part of the human race, by death in infancy, and subject the other part to the hazards of probation in which they are to be saved conditionally?" Why does the Creator send into probation one through the gateway of a heathen birth and another through that of a Christian birth? All these questions I bind up in the bundle of mysteries which a righteous God may explain to me in the ceaseless ages of eternity. He has not revealed anything respecting the future of infants specifically except, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven"; and even this ray of light some would cruelly take away when they say it doesn't mean babes, but adults who have child-like qualities, such as trust, teachableness, and a sense of dependence.

— Steele's Answers p. 267.

Salvation and Human Responsibility

QUESTION: Is it true that there is nothing in the hour and article of death to cause God to change the spiritual condition of the soul, either in part or whole?

ANSWER: It is not true of the irresponsible, infants and idiots, whom He saves unconditionally. Rom. 5:18, "By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." No man will ever be punished for the sin of Adam, which is legally covered  by the expiatory death of the second Adam. All responsible persons must have persevering faith in Christ to avail themselves of the justification of life, eternal life. "If children, then heirs." Adam's sin will keep no man, but himself, out of heaven, who I trust through faith in the promised "seed of the woman" has been saved.

— Steele's Answers pp. 266, 267.