p. 128 | PLEASE EXPLAIN by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, February 24, 1885

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 62, No. 8

PLEASE EXPLAIN.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

EDITOR OF THE REVIEW: In examining 1 Cor. 1:27, 28 as it reads in our common version, I find statements which, if they are to be taken literally, seem squarely opposed to facts as they appear. It names five agencies which God has chosen to carry on the mighty work of the gospel. They are as follows: (1) The foolish things of the world; (2) the weak things of the world; (3) the base things of the world; (4) the things which are despised; and (5) the things which are not. Now just look at that list: Foolish things, weak thing, base things, despised things, and things which are not! How can the world ever be converted by such unlikely means as these? Then look at the facts as we see them to-day. Look at the real working force of the Christian church as we know it to be. See her wise bishops, her honored doctors of divinity, her learned professors, wealthy members, institutions of learning, fine churches, immense revenues, and millions of members who are the honorable of earth. Surely these cannot be called the foolish, weak, base, and despised things of the world. Has not God now chosen these to do his work on earth? and are they not doing it grandly and triumphantly? But what, then, is the meaning of the text? Does King James's version give the correct idea of the original? Do not some of the old versions or new versions, the early fathers or modern commentators, give us something more in harmony with the actual facts in the case as we know them to exist to-day? May not the text be an interpolation? or has it not become obsolete, out of date, and unapplicable to the advanced light and intelligence of this progressive age? There must be some reasonable explanation of the apparent difficulty in this text. As a believer in the Bible, and an editor of a Christian paper, you ought to be able to clear up the matter, which I hope you will do.

Yours for the truth, D. M. CANRIGHT.

P. S. I know there is a foolish, weak, despised, base, and insignificant people who claim to be doing the work of the Lord for this generation. But who believes it? None of the wise and prudent,—none of the lights and dignitaries of the church,—have joined them. Of course you would not apply the text to them. D. M. C.

NOTE—In the days of the apostle, yes, in the days of Christ himself, not many of the religious doctors, the great ones of either the church or the world, would believe on him, or accept the truth for that time; and we apprehend it is very much now as it was when that scripture was first penned.—ED.