Matthew 21-22
BYUI New Testament Symposium
Bro. Bruce Satterfield
January 25, 2003
Matthew –
Mark – Luke are the 3 synoptic gospels, they cover the same material of
Christ’s ministry, but are writing to different audiences, from Jews to
Gentiles, think of them as their own personal testimonies.
The last
chapters of each book are the climax portions.
Trial, crucifixion, resurrection
Matthew 21
– The 2 parables describe the corruptness of Jewish society. Like a den of thieves. The cleansing of the temple may have only
occurred once.
Matthew
21:1-11 – Christ’s triumphal entry into
Matthew
Matthew
21:13 – The Greek difference between thief and robber one broke into houses to
steal, the other formed armed gangs which plundered the elite and wealthy.
Matthew
21:19-22 – The curse of the fig tree was symbolic of the society of the
times. Fig trees usually had the fruit
come on first THEN the leaves came out.
There are 3 pickings of fruit during one year. Mar-Apr, Aug, Sept-Oct. The apostles have seen his power to heal; now
they witness his power to destroy. The
act was likened to the destruction of
Cursing the Fig Tree
Matt. 21:18-21; Mark 11:12-21
Background: Persons involved were Jesus and the
disciples. The place was near
Occasion: While Jesus and the Twelve
were travelling from
It was not the season for figs. He
said to the tree, "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever"
The disciples heard him say it. As they passed by the next morning, they saw
that the fig tree had withered away.
Purpose: The miracle was given as an object
lesson to the disciples. The overriding principle here seems to be that we
should be fruitful in our lives, and serve a practical purpose. Foliage
(appearance) is not enough. However, it is expressly stated that it was not the
season for figs. This could mean that men and women are expected to be fruitful
both in season and out of season (compare Paul's exhortation in 2 Tim. 4:2).
That Jesus had more purpose in mind than mere fig-picking is suggested by the
Joseph Smith Translation (see Special considerations).
Discussion: In March or April a fig tree
generally had neither leaves nor fruit. This particular tree, having leaves,
had put forth a pretension to be something more than other trees, hence was a
type of hypocrite. In fig trees, fruit generally appears before the leaves.
Special considerations: The Joseph Smith Translation makes
several minor changes, mostly clarifications. But one item of considerable
importance is in Mark as follows:
King James Version 11:13: "And
seeing a fig tree... having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing
thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of
figs was not yet." This is enlarged and altered thus:
JST 11:14: "... And seeing a fig
tree afar off having leaves, he came to it with his disciples; and as they
supposed, he came to it to see if he might find any thing thereon." Verse
15: "And when he came to it, there was nothing but leaves; for as yet the
figs were not ripe."
These changes imply a difference of purpose as
to why Jesus really came to the fig tree and why the disciples thought he
came to the tree. This is consistent with other changes occurring throughout
the Joseph Smith Translation, which tend toward greater knowledge and power for
Jesus. Since it is expressly stated that it was not the time for ripe figs, it
is to be expected that Jesus would at least know that, and his real purpose
would be something other than the mere gathering of figs. Hence the Joseph
Smith Translation places the emphasis upon the teaching content of this
miracle, it being about hypocrisy.
(Robert J.
Matthews, Behold the Messiah [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1994], 163.)
Matthew
Matthew
The 3 Parables
1st
Parable – Matthew 21:28-32 – The Parable of the Disobedient Son. Publicans and harlots can repent, but you
chose not too.
2nd
Parable – Matthew 21:33-46 – The Parable of the Disobedient Tenant
Farmers. There were large estate land
owners who held various parcels of land throughout
The gospel
will be taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles. Christ states he is the heir, the temple is
“my house”, the elite couldn’t handle this; they had to get rid of Christ. Within a week they would!
3rd
Parable – Matthew 22:1-14 – The Parable of the Marriage Feast. Heavenly Father and Christ A story of his
death and judgment
All of
these parables deal with
TRIUMPHAL ENTRY AND A DAY OF DEBATE
(Matthew 21-23)
JOSEPH F. MCCONKIE
Though we treasure all the words and
acts of Christ, none have made a deeper imprint upon the hearts and minds of
his followers than those things he said and did immediately before his death.
This chapter will consider the events of the first three days of the Passion
Week.
Jesus Enters the
At the time of the Passover it had
become the habit of Jesus to take refuge in the
As the little band left
The disciples then went into the
village as they had been instructed, found the colt as they had been told, were
challenged as anticipated, responded according to their instructions, and were
allowed to bring the young donkey to the Master. Then they set their coats on
the colt, "and Jesus took the colt and sat thereon; and they followed
him." (JST, Matt. 21:5.) The gathering multitude commenced to throw their
own outer garments, along with palm branches, in the path of the colt with such
cries as "Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest." (Matt. 21:9.)
Like much that was to take place in
that last week, this procession was richly symbolic and deeply rooted in
scriptural tradition. One writer has said: "To ride upon white asses
or ass-colts was the privilege of persons of high rank, princes,
judges, and prophets." fn Christ's doing so attested that he
entered the Holy City as its rightful king, as did the shouts of
Hosanna—meaning "save now," "save we pray," or "save
we beseech thee." The matter could not be stated more plainly; the people
were announcing Jesus of Nazareth as their king and deliverer. The declarations
that he was David's son—the promise of kingship having been given David's heirs
(2 Sam. 7:12-16)—announced him as their king, as did the palm leaves and
garments that were strewn before him. Nor was this all, for this very event had
been detailed by the prophet Zechariah. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
The implication of this ritual
entrance into
We must not suppose that the honor
thus paid to Jesus in this moment of triumph was born of ignorance. The
testimony of this multitude of believers would stand as a witness against the
city of
The nation of
Jesus—One Having Authority
The holy party returned to
We have no indication that the Savior
explained his action to his disciples, nor does the scriptural account offer
explanation. Apparently it was left to them, as it has been for us, to discern
the purpose of the Master Teacher in so doing. May I suggest that the event
combined an ingenious teaching moment with the spirit of prophecy. As I have
written elsewhere:
All present knew that fig trees bring
forth their fruit before their leaves. All were equally aware that it would be
some weeks before fig trees normally gave fruit. Yet the profusion of leaves on
this tree constituted an announcement that it was laden with fruit. Christ was
thus attracted to it. The symbol was perfect—a tree professing fruits and
having none standing in the very shadows of the temple where a corrupt
priesthood professed righteousness and devotion to
The stage was set, the lesson was
most timely, and in the false pretense of the fig tree was to be found perfect
typecasting. The moment now belonged to the Master Teacher, who used it to
dramatize his power over nature and evidence once again his claim to Messiahship, while making the fig tree a prophetic type of
what befalls those who profess his authority and fail to bring forth good
fruits. Of such he has said that he will curse them "with the heaviest of
all cursings." (D&C 41:1.) fn
When Jesus entered the temple, his
heart and soul filled with righteous indignation for the manner in which his
Father's house, this sacred place of prayer and revelation, was being polluted
with the hypocrisy of a corrupt priesthood and a nation that willingly partook
of evil fruits offered them. Repeating an action that had introduced his
ministry some three years previously (John 2:13-17), he cast out all those who
made merchandise of his Father's house, overthrowing "the tables of the
moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves," and telling them they
had made "the house of prayer" into "a den of thieves."
(Matt. 21:12-13.) "Then, having with physical force driven the wicked from
the holy sanctuary, he remained to heal, teach, and receive again from
believing disciples a renewal of the same acclaim, hosannas, and vocal
acceptance of his divine Sonship, as he previously
accepted while entering Jerusalem in triumph." fn
That night as Jesus again sought
refuge and rest in
This question is most interesting.
First, when he had previously cleansed the temple, he was challenged to prove his
authority by showing a sign. (John 2:18.) Signs were no longer sought; they had
been given in all too great abundance. The previous day these same men had
themselves witnessed "the wonderful things that he did." (Matt.
21:15.) The issue now was one of authority to teach the gospel. It was well
understood that no one could take that honor unto himself. If Jesus could claim
no authority, he would obviously be in conflict with the Mosaic law and would
have no right to preach the gospel. On the other hand, should he claim such
authority, but not having received it from his questioners or those they
represented, he would be accused of blasphemy.
Christ responded to their question
with a question, assuring them that if they would answer his question, he would
most certainly answer theirs. He then asked them by what authority John the
Baptist performed baptisms. Was it from heaven or of men? As they huddled
together, they quickly realized that if they acknowledged that John's authority
came from heaven, they would be condemned for not having recognized it and not
having been baptized at his hands. On the other hand, if they said that the
Baptist's authority was of men, they would offend the people, "for all
[held] John as a prophet." (Matt. 21:26.) Thus they had ensnared
themselves in the trap they had laid for the Master, and they were forced to
admit that they could not answer. He responded, "Neither tell I you by
what authority I do these things." (Matt. 21:27.) His answer was
tantamount to saying: "You have your answer; John gave it to you at Bethabara, and my Father confirmed it by his own voice out
of heaven when he said at my baptism: 'This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased. Hear ye him.'" fn
Three Parables to the Jews
Without explanation of any sort, the
scriptural text appears to leave the matter of authority (growing out of the
questions put to Christ by the chief priests, scribes, and elders), and has
Christ relate the "Parable of the Two Sons." (Matt. 21:28-32.) In
fact, the parable skillfully answers the question about authority. It is a
simple story about a man with two sons whom he asked to labor in his vineyard.
The first son said he would not go but repented and went, while the second son
said he would go but did not. The question was, which of the two did the will
of their father?
The simplicity of the story compelled
those to whom it was directed to respond that it was the first son who did his
father's will, whereupon Jesus made this application: "Verily I say unto
you, That the publicans and the harlots shall go into the
To those spiritually in tune, the
message was plain. The father is God; the first son represents the publicans
and harlots who repented of their sins and became faithful followers of Christ;
the second son represents the Jewish leaders who professed to be about their
Father's business but were in fact cankering in wickedness, refusing the most
overwhelming array of evidence ever vouchsafed to mortal men to testify that
Jesus was the Christ. John had come to bear witness of Christ; his message was
one of righteousness and salvation. The publicans and harlots repented and thus
were led by John to Christ. The lawyers and Jewish leaders rejected John and,
having done so, could not accept Christ, for John and Christ were one. To
accept John and his heaven-sent authority was to accept Christ and his
authority; to reject John was to seal the heavens—to reject Christ, and to
reject the message and authority of salvation.
In the hardness of their hearts and
the bitterness of their souls, we witness the abomination that would precede the
desolation of both the temple and the nation of the Jews. Here within the very
walls of the temple, where every ritual movement had been designed in the
councils of heaven to testify of Christ, and every officiator to personify his
likeness, those so chosen stood in open rebellion to him. To them he spoke in
parables, that their "unrighteousness might be rewarded" to them.
(JST, Matt. 21:34.)
Christ then related the "Parable
of the Wicked Husbandmen," by which those corrupt priests, scribes,
Pharisees, and elders pronounced their own judgment. (Matt. 21:33-44.) The
parable concerns a householder who planted a vineyard, hedged it, dug a
winepress in it, built a tower to protect it, placed it in the trust of
husbandmen, and then left for a distant country. At the time of harvest he sent
servants to receive the fruits of his vineyard, only to have them beaten or
killed in one manner or another. Finally he sent "his son, saying, They
will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves,
This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his
inheritance." (Matt. 21:37-38.) Thus they killed the son.
Christ asked of his antagonists,
"When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto
those husbandmen?" To that they responded, "He will miserably destroy
those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which
shall render him the fruits in their seasons." (Matt. 21:40-41.) By their
own mouths, and that too while acting in their official capacity, those corrupt
"husbandmen" of
At this point Jesus asked them if
they had not read in the scriptures how it was prophesied that the stone
rejected by the builders of the temple would yet be discovered to be the chief
cornerstone. fn (Matt. 21:42; Ps. 118:22.) Again the meaning was clear: Jesus
of Nazareth was announcing himself to be the Chief Cornerstone in his Father's
house and was identifying the spiritually blind and hostile Jewish leaders as
the builders who would reject him, along with their nation, until the time of
his second coming.
Humiliated and angered, these devils
cloaked in piety sought to lay hands on Christ but were prevented by his
followers. (Matt. 21:46.) Away from their presence, Christ spoke plainly to his
disciples, saying, "I am the stone, and those wicked ones reject me. I am
the head of the corner. These Jews shall fall upon me, and shall be broken. And
the
Jesus then related a third parable,
one commonly known to us as the "Parable of the Royal Marriage
Feast." (Matt. 22:1-14.) Jewish tradition had long held that the Messianic
era would be ushered in by a great feast, one symbolic of the covenant that
would exist between
The kingdom of heaven, he said, would
be like a king who, having prepared a feast for his son's wedding, sent his
servants to summon the guests he had invited, but they would not come. Other
servants were sent to tell of all the good and rich things that had been
prepared for those invited. Still those whom the king desired to honor would
not come, being involved in their own affairs. Some of their number even
attacked the king's messengers and killed them. In anger, the king sent an army
to destroy the murderers and burn their city. With the wedding feast ready and
the guests both unwilling and unworthy to come, the king sent his servants to
the highways to invite to the feast all that would come. Many were gathered,
"both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests."
(Matt. 22:10.) When the king made his appearance, he saw among his guests a man
who was not clothed in a wedding garment. Asked why he was not properly
dressed, the man was speechless. The king then directed his servants to
"bind him hand and foot, and take him away," casting him into
"outer darkness," the place of "weeping and gnashing of
teeth." Concluding the parable, Jesus said, "Many are called, but few
are chosen." (Matt. 22:13-14.)
"The interpretation of much of
the parable is obvious. The king is God; the son is Christ; the place of the
wedding feast is the kingdom of heaven; those bidden to the feast are those to
whom the message of the gospel is taken; the servants are obviously the
prophets who had been rejected and killed by those of their own nation; the
army, it appears, was that of Rome; and the city, Jerusalem. After their
rejection by
What is not evident to the modern
reader is why a particular dress was required for the king's guests and why the
penalty for improper dress was so severe. To those of the Savior's audience, it
was well known that one had to be suitably dressed to appear before a king. The
apparel of the guest was a reflection of respect for the host. It was also
commonly understood that the appropriate dress for such an occasion would be
white robes. fn Apparently the people invited from the highways of the earth
would have neither time nor means to procure the appropriate wedding clothing,
so the king supplied his guests from his own wardrobe, a common practice. Thus
all had been invited to clothe themselves in the garments of royalty. The man cast
out had chosen to trust in his own dress rather than that provided by the king.
"By interpretation, he had chosen to join the true worshippers, that is,
the church or
Thus Jesus reminded his listeners of
truths long known to them—that the children of the covenant must be found
wearing the garments of purity and holiness, garments made white through
"the blood of the Lamb." (Rev. 7:14.) John the Revelator would yet
write to explain that this "fine linen, clean and white" represented
"the righteousness of the saints," and thus the clothing of those
"called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Rev. 19:8-9.)
In telling this parable, Jesus
corrected the tradition of the Jews that they alone would be numbered among the
covenant people, and he emphasized that the covenant could be entered into only
in purity and righteousness. The Book of Mormon, our most perfect witness of
Christ, teaches this doctrine thus: "As many of the Gentiles as will
repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not
repent shall be cast off; for the Lord covenanteth
with none save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the
Holy One of Israel." (2 Ne. 30:2.)
Render to God and Caesar Their Own
Hatred makes strange bedfellows. Next
we read of the Pharisees striking hands with the Herodians
in an attempt to entrap the Savior. Of this event Elder McConkie wrote:
"If ever a plot was conceived in hell, born in hate, and acted out with
satanic cunning, it was the jointly concocted stratagem of the Pharisees and Herodians on the matter of paying tribute to Caesar."
fn The Herodians were Jews who had sold their souls
to Herod and, with him, were fawning sycophants of Rome. The Pharisees, on the
other hand, were Jews fanatic in their profession of devotion to the law of
Moses and the observance of traditions they extorted from it. Between Pharisee
and Herodian there was no common ground, yet both
were servants of the same master, at whose bidding they now united in the
effort to betray the Son of God.
This delegation of devils came, as
devils so often do, with pretended sincerity and words flowing like a river of
praise. "Master," they said, "we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest
not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest
thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?" (Matt. 22:16-17.)
Their trap was most clever. Were
Christ to say, "Yes, pay the hated tax to
With inspired insight Elder James E.
Talmage observed:
One may draw a lesson if he will,
from the association of our Lord's words with the occurrence of Caesar's image
on the coin. It was that effigy with its accompanying superscription that gave
special point to His memorable instruction, "Render therefore unto Caesar
the things which are Caesar's". This was followed by the further
injunction: "and unto God the things that are God's". Every human
soul is stamped with the image and superscription of God, however blurred and
indistinct the lines may have become through the corrosion or attrition of sin;
and as unto Caesar should be rendered the coins upon which his effigy appeared,
so unto God should be given the souls that bear His image. Render unto the
world the stamped pieces that are made legally current by the insignia of
worldly powers, and give unto God and His service, yourselves—the divine
mintage of His eternal realm. fn
Resurrection and Marriage in Heaven
Perhaps it was by the invitation of
Christ made two telling points in
response. First, he told the Sadducees that the question they asked was the
result of their lack of scriptural understanding. Of their number there would
be none that would marry or be given in marriage in the resurrection. This is
not to say that others cannot marry or be given in marriage in the resurrected
state. fn It is to say simply that those who have refused the proper authority
by which such marriages are performed cannot lay claim to such blessings.
(D&C 132:15-19.) Then Christ showed them the fallacy of their refusing to
believe in a resurrection. The God of Moses, through whom they got the law they
professed to believe, announced himself as "the God of Abraham, and the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." (Matt. 22:32.) Yet Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob were dead. How then could Deity be their God unless they continued to
live and unless they would arise in the resurrection?
The First Great Commandment
The Savior's adversaries had been
defeated in each of their encounters with him. Had they been wise, they would
have acknowledged their defeat and troubled him no more. But the Pharisees,
exulting in the immediate discomfiture of the Sadducees, sought to make yet
another attempt to discredit him. Huddling in some corner of the temple ground,
they continued to plot, this time choosing the most learned of their number, a
lawyer (meaning scribe or doctor of the Mosaic law), to approach Christ and
submit what appeared to them a most vexing question. It was reckoned by the
rabbis that the law contained 613 precepts—248 statements of duty and 365
prohibitions. As to the relative importance of each, they could argue
endlessly. Thus the question, "Master, which is the great commandment in
the law?" (Matt. 22:36.) In response, Jesus brushed aside the cobwebs of
their debate and turned the attention of his hearers to the foundation upon which
the law rested, saying: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all
the law and the prophets." (Matt. 22:37-40.)
Again the Pharisees had erred,
perhaps in this instance in the choice of a questioner, for he appears to have
been a man of integrity. "Well, Master," he responded spontaneously,
"thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other
but he: and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and
with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices." To this Jesus responded, "Thou art not far
from the
Whose Son Is the Christ?
It was not enough that all quietly
slip away impressed that Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet of great wisdom, for
he was more than that: he was the Savior of all mankind, and such testimony
needed now to be borne. To call attention to his Messiahship,
he turned questioner and asked of the Pharisees, "What think ye of Christ?
whose son is he?" (Matt. 22:42.) They responded that he would be the son
of David and in so doing they illustrated that they sought a temporal deliverer
who would wield David's sword, sit upon David's throne, and do the works of
David. Jesus retorted by asking why David by the spirit of prophecy referred to
the Messiah as Lord, saying, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my
right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?" (Matt. 22:44-45; cf. Ps.
110:1.)
The issue was clearly set: The
scribes said that the Messiah was to be David's son, but David by the power of
the Holy Ghost called him Lord. Do we properly give such title to children of
our own conception? Why did David do so if he were not testifying that the Son
would be divine? Could they understand that through his mother Jesus would
claim the throne of David, while through his Father he would claim a far
greater throne and a far greater power? Such was his testimony of himself, and
so great was the spirit of it and the power of his teachings that we read:
"No man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day
forth ask him any more questions." (Matt. 22:46.)
The Great Denunciation
Addressing himself to the multitude
but more specifically to his disciples, Jesus then spoke with great plainness
about the damning religious hypocrisy that had been so fully displayed that
day. "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat," he said, and
"whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after
their works: for they say, and do not." (Matt. 23:2-3.) Until the Paschal
Lamb had been slain, until Jesus the Christ had offered himself as a sacrifice
for all, they were to respect the authority that rested in those who controlled
the temple and performed its sacred ordinances.
This is a lesson of the greatest
magnitude, reminiscent of David's refusal to lift his hand against Saul who
sought his life, for Saul was the Lord's anointed (1 Sam. 26:9); the Lord had
called him and, notwithstanding his wickedness, it was for the Lord to release
him. Yet, though the scribes and Pharisees respected the authority of those
sitting in "Moses' seat," the people were not to follow their
example, for, as Christ said, "they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be
borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them
with one of their fingers." (Matt. 23:4.) They were masters of religious
pomp, making great display of their supposed righteousness and glorying in the
honors of their fellow worshipers. As one cannot be saved in falsehood, so one
cannot be edified in following bad examples. All are agents unto themselves,
and all will be judged for what they have done or failed to do; none will be
excused in works of wickedness on the guise that they mistakenly followed the
example of false prophets or the unworthy example of hypocritical religious
leaders. Christ further warned against those who exalt themselves, for such, he
said, "shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted." (Matt. 23:12.) He then burst forth upon the scribes and
Pharisees with eight denunciations, which aptly typify the world of religious
hypocrisy. They are as follows:
First, he condemned those who
"shut up the kingdom of heaven," not qualifying themselves and
hindering any that would desire to do so. (Matt. 23:13.) Such are those who
rejected Jesus as the Christ and the plan of salvation. Today they are found
rejecting the testimony that Joseph Smith is a prophet and opposing the message
of the restored gospel.
Second, he condemned those who hide
their greed and meanness under the cloak of piety. Such, he said, "devour
widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer." (Matt. 23:14.)
Third, he denounced missionaries of
false faiths who travel over "land and sea to make one proselyte, and when
he is made, [they] make him twofold more the child of hell than
[themselves.]" (Matt. 23:15.) There is no salvation in false religion,
notwithstanding the enthusiasm of its converts.
Fourth, he directed condemnation at
those who perfect the art of breaking their bond while appearing sanctimonious.
(Matt. 23:16-22.) The word or oath of such is nothing more than bait in games
of trickery. They are indeed morally blind.
Fifth, he denounced the "blind
guides" who subverted eternal truths in their excessive zeal for trifles.
Exactness in the performance of outward ordinances supplanted for them even an
interest in the inward or spiritual meanings intended behind their ritual. They
jealously tended to the rituals that testified and taught of Christ at the same
time that they rejected and killed him. (Matt. 23:23-24.) Their modern
counterparts can be found praising the Bible while rejecting the spirit of
revelation from which it sprang, and using it as the justification to reject
the testimony of living prophets.
The sixth and seventh woes are
essentially the same. Here Christ denounced that which is ceremonially clean,
while being filthy within. He aptly used the figure of a whited
sepulchre filled with decaying bodies to make his
point. Commenting on this imagery Elder Talmage wrote:
It was an awful figure, that of
likening them to whitewashed tombs, full of dead bones and rotting flesh. As
the dogmas of the rabbis made even the slightest contact with a corpse or its
cerements, or with the bier upon which it was borne, or the grave in which it
had been lain, a cause of personal defilement, which only ceremonial washing
and the offering of sacrifices could remove, care was taken to make tombs
conspicuously white, so that no person need be defiled through ignorance or
proximity to such unclean places; and, moreover, the periodical whitening of
sepulchers was regarded as a memorial act of honor to the dead. But even as no
amount of care or degree of diligence in keeping bright the outside of a tomb
could stay the putrescence going on within, so no externals of pretended
righteousness could mitigate the revolting corruption of a heart reeking with
iniquity. fn
The eighth or final woe, which is the
crown to all the others, is that they reject the living prophets while they
"garnish the sepulchres of the righteous."
(Matt. 23:29.) Indeed, to reject the prophet of any age is to reject those of
all ages, for all teach the same truths and bear the same witness.
Accountability for Their Ancestors' Sins
None can be saved alone and none come
to this earth without responsibility to others. That responsibility spans
generations; thus we are taught that "we without them [those of past
dispensations] cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect."
(D&C 128:18.) Christ applied this principle to those of his day who would
reject and kill the prophets. Upon them, he said, would come "all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the
blood of Zacharias son of Barachias." (Matt.
23:35.) fn Thus they would become "accountable for the sins of their
fathers who through ignorance rejected the message of salvation. . . . All
these could have been freed from their spirit prison by the men of Jesus' day,
if those to whom Jesus then preached had believed his words." fn
Jesus Laments over Doomed
Christ's teaching in the temple ended
with his oft-quoted lament over Jerusalem, the city he loved: "O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate." (Matt. 23:37-38.) "Truly
NOTES
Joseph F. McConkie is associate
professor of ancient scripture at
Footnotes
1. All four Gospel writers give an
account of this event. (Matt. 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-40; John
12:12-19.) Matthew's account has the disciples bringing Christ both a colt and
its mother. This is not in harmony with the other accounts and is corrected in
the Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 21:5.
2. Adam Clarke, Clarke's
Commentary, 3 vols. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1977), 1:268. "The mule was
the proper riding beast for the king and his sons (2 Samuel 13:29; 18:9)."
George Arthur Buttrick, ed., The Interpreter's
Bible, 12 vols. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1954), 3:26. See also Judges
5:10; 10:4.
3. Even this did not constitute the
complete fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy. His prophecy was one of a kingdom
of peace, a day when Ephraim and Judah would again be one, a day when that
peace (that is, the gospel message) would cover the earth "from sea even
to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." (Zech. 9:10.)
We look to a future day when that part of the prophecy not fulfilled in
Christ's first coming finds completion in the era of millennial rest.
4. Literal fulfillment of this
prophecy would come in A.D. 70, when Titus and his Roman legion would lay siege
to the city, destroy the temple so that not one stone would be left standing
upon another, and take into slavery that remnant of his people who did not
suffer death in its siege and destruction. Those of his captives who did not
die in bondage would eventually be scattered to the ends of the earth.
5. Joseph Fielding McConkie, Gospel
Symbolism (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985), pp.
10-11.
6. Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal
New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1965-73), 1:585. See also JST, Matt. 21:13.
7. Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal
Messiah, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1979-81), 3:356.
8. These words were part of the Hallel, which all Jewry chanted in their
ceremonies. As such, they were well known to those whom the Savior addressed. A
tradition among the Jews held that in the building of the temple, one stone was
originally rejected by the builders, who did not know for what purpose it had
been quarried. Later it was discovered that it was indeed the chief
cornerstone. See J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on
the Holy Bible (New York: Macmillan, 1973), p. 372.
9. Joseph Fielding McConkie, Gospel
Symbolism, p. 132.
10. Clarke's Commentary 3:210.
11. Gospel Symbolism, pp.
132-33.
12. The Mortal Messiah
3:369-70.
13. Jesus the Christ (Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), pp. 546-47.
14. This issue has been confused
among Latter-day Saints. Critics of Mormonism have frequently used this passage
to discount the principle of eternal marriage. A typical response to this
criticism has been to agree that there will be no marriage after the
resurrection, for all such matters will be attended to prior to that time.
Whether that will be the case or not, we have no way of knowing. We should
remember, however, that the first resurrection precedes the millennial era,
when it is supposed that such matters will be attended to. This passage does not
say that there cannot be marriage in the Millennium or at some subsequent time.
It simply states that unbelievers, "Sadducees," be they ancient or
modern, cannot be sealed for time and eternity. See Robert L. Millet and Joseph
Fielding McConkie, The Life Beyond (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1986), pp. 98-100.
15. Jesus the Christ, p. 558.
16. Jesus here referred to
"Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew
between the temple and the altar." This has been thought to be John the
Baptist's father, but this tradition of his death comes from a late Christian
apocryphal book. (See Robert L. Millet, "The Birth and Childhood of the
Messiah," chapter 8 of this volume, note 20.) The idea also finds
expression in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 261, which may
not have been written by the Prophet. The Zechariah familiar to Jesus' audience
was the son of Jehoiada who rebuked
17. The Mortal Messiah 3:405.
18. Doctrinal New Testament
Commentary 1:626.
(Kent P.
Jackson and Robert L. Millet, eds., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 5: The
Gospels [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1986], 373.)
John the
Baptist’s mission didn’t take him into
Matthew
22:9-10 – The gospel will be going to the Gentiles.
(Matthew 22:9-10.)
9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as
many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
10 So those servants went
out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both
bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
2 Nephi
10:3-22 – Jacob discussed the scattering and gathering of
"We believe in the literal
gathering of
The scattering had two phases. First,
the people of
The gathering will have the same two
phases, restoring that which was lost. First, the people of
Some might say that for Jews the gathering has
the same two phases but in reverse: First, they return to the land of their
inheritance, the place called
In truth, though, the gathering of
the Jews will follow the same pattern as that of everyone else who comes (or
returns) to the covenant. Jacob taught that the Lord "has spoken unto the
Jews, by the mouth of his holy prophets, even from the beginning down, from
generation to generation, until the time comes that they [the Jews, and by
extension, all the house of Israel; see 2 Ne. 9:1] shall be restored to the
true church and fold of God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of
their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise"
(2 Ne. 9:2). First,
Jacob gave the entire pattern of scattering
and gathering, in sequence: "Because of their iniquities, destructions,
famines, pestilences, and bloodshed shall come upon them [the Jews]; and they
who shall not be destroyed shall be scattered among all nations.
"But behold, thus saith the Lord
God: When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then
have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh,
upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance. And it shall come to pass
that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of
the sea, and from the four parts of the earth; and the nations of the Gentiles
shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the
lands of their inheritance" (2 Ne. 10:6-8).
First came the iniquity, and then the
scattering, followed in some by a return to faith in Christ, which brings them
to the true Church, culminating in a restoration to "the lands of their
inheritance."
These promises of gathering, both spiritual
and temporal, all flow from covenants the Lord made with his people anciently.
The people of
But even though this covenant was a
promise to Abraham and his descendants, it was conditioned on righteousness.
When Jesus was teaching the unbelieving Jews, he said, "Bring forth . . .
fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have
Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to
raise up children unto Abraham" (Matt. 3:8-9). With the Lord,
righteousness is of greater significance than lineage. It follows, then, that
those who join Abraham in righteousness will be privileged to join in his
covenant. Nephi taught this truth: "As many of the Gentiles as will repent
are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not repent
shall be cast off; for the Lord covenanteth with none
save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of
Israel" (2 Ne. 30:2). (In this context, Gentiles seems to refer to all who
are not Jews.)
The gathering is clearly a last days
event, one of the signs of the times. Jesus declared that the coming forth of
the Book of Mormon was a sign that the gathering was about to begin ( 3 Ne.
20-21). In 1836, seven years after the publication of the Book of Mormon, the
keys for gathering all of
Joseph Smith explained an overriding purpose
of the gathering: to tap into the great blessings of combined righteousness. He
said: "The greatest temporal and spiritual blessings which always come
from faithfulness and concerted effort, never attended individual exertion or
enterprise. The history of all past ages abundantly attests this fact. In
addition to all temporal blessings, there is no other way for the Saints to be
saved in these last days [than by the gathering] as the concurrent testimony of
all the holy prophets clearly proves. . . .
"It is also the concurrent
testimony of all the prophets, that this gathering together of all the Saints,
must take place before the Lord comes to 'take vengeance upon the ungodly,' and
'to be glorified and admired by all those who obey the Gospel.'"3
In another sermon Joseph Smith
connected the gathering to the blessing of temples: "What was the object
of gathering the Jews, or the people of God in any age of the world? . . .
"The main object was to build
unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of
His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of
salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are
taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that
purpose."4
Providing protection for the Saints
is another purpose of the gathering. As the Lord said in the early days of the
Church, "Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light
may be a standard for the nations; and that the gathering together upon the
land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from
the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the
whole earth" (D&C 115:5-6).
(Donald W.
Parry and Jay A. Parry, Understanding the Signs of the Times [Salt Lake
City: Deseret Book Co., 1999], 48 - 49.)
The elite
were guilty of priestcraft. In 2 Nephi
26:29, the following definition was given:
priestcraft is the praise of the world but not the welfare of
(2 Nephi 26:29.)
29
He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts
are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they
may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion.
Bro.
Satterfield put up many pictures in a PowerPoint presentation, showing the size
of
Estimates
of temple revenue for a month, year, Totaled $1,000,000. The money went one way; from the peasants to
the elite. It wasn’t distributed to the
needy. The Jewish elite along with the
Romans taxed everything, if there was no money than labor was done to pay the
fees and taxes. The temple was a
tremendous revenue source. That’s why
the Lord cleansed it. In the Court of
the Women was where all the banking and merchandise were transacted.
The
peasantry was powerless to stop this, so they formed robber groups who
plundered and murdered the rich. They
never picked on the poor, it was like Robin Hood. The story of the Good Samaritan was about
these groups.
This wasn’t
a democratic society; it was a society of Patron and Client. The Emperor was the Patron and Herod was a
client and down the line, until the poor.
The Chief
Priests came from 6-7 elite Jewish families.
Leviticus
25 and Deuteronomy 15 speaks of caring for the poor, the law was ignored.
The reason
such a large group went to the garden to arrest Christ was because they thought
he was a leader of a robber group! Yet
Christ showed them their own wickedness.
Pilate
questions Christ if he was a king, the Lord said yes, but not of this
world. Yet the Jews saw Christ as very
dangerous to their priestcraft. He would
ruin their game, they wanted him dead.
Barabbas
was a robber, the head of a group, a social bandit. The elite fired up the peasants to ask for Barabbas
freedom and to crucify Christ between two thieves. Matthew 27:20-26
There were
5 robber groups around
Dealing with Robbers
Good evidence establishes that most
legal systems in the ancient
Thus, one of the main uses of military
force in the ancient
How severely robbers were treated in
the ancient world seems to have varied with the seriousness of the problem they
caused at a particular time and with the ability of the central government to
do something about them. fn In the ancient Near East, robbers' raids sometimes
involved large-scale destruction. fn Other times they attacked just to restock
their supplies or supplement their meager income off the land. fn The military
strength of some of these robber groups cannot be doubted: one band nearly
captured the city of
The task of clearing the countryside
of the menace of robber bands was the responsibility of the local governmental
authorities. Thus, for example, the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi distinguishes
between saraqu (to steal) fn and habatu (to rob). fn The thief was a common criminal.
He could usually be detected and made to pay. But in the case of a robber who
was not caught, "the city and the mayor in whose territory or district the
robbery has been committed" was obligated to replace whatever had been
robbed; and if the victim had been killed, then the city or the mayor had to
pay one maneh of silver to the descendant's
heirs. fn The Egyptian Report of Wenamun may show
this principle in action: Wenamun complained to the
Ruler of Dor, "I was robbed in your harbor and
since you are the chief of this land and since you are its [investigating]
judge—retrieve my money!" Nevertheless, this crime committed on the seas
seems to have been outside the jurisdiction of the territorial officer, and Wenamun was left to help himself. fn
Thus, a heavy responsibility fell
upon the local authorities if a robber—but not a thief—were not caught. The
difference seems to rest on the distinctions between "the individual
offender and the organized group. . . . Such civic responsibility was an
attempt to secure the central authority against attack, and existed in similar
situations elsewhere in the ancient world." fn Many Babylonian, Ugaritic, and Phoenician kings left inscriptions boasting
that they had successfully eradicated the robbers from their territory, and Ipuwer laments the unsafe conditions in Egypt due to these
brigands. fn Related to this sense of civic responsibility for brigandage was
the law that a shepherd or carrier was liable for loss from theft, but not for
loss to robbers, against whom he was powerless. fn
Although the evidence varies
regarding capital punishment of thieves in the ancient Near East, it is
unequivocal concerning the death penalty for robbers. For example, thieves were
executed under the Code of Hammurabi, Sections 6-13 and 21, for several types
of theft, such as housebreaking, or stealing from a temple or a palace, or
dealing without documentation with a legally disadvantaged person, or
concealing stolen goods; but it is not clear that there was a general death
penalty for theft under that legal system. The evidence for capital punishment
for theft under biblical law is even less conclusive, and possibly nonexistent.
For robbers, however, the Code of Hammurabi, Section 22, clearly imposed
capital punishment. fn In Egypt, the death penalty applied even if a person
could not prove that he had come by his wealth through an honest livelihood,
presumably as opposed to having stolen it. fn In early Roman law, the penalty
for robbery was "the interdict of fire and water"; under Tiberius,
the penalty became deportation; and for ordinary grassatores
(highwaymen), the punishment was sometimes death. fn The mode of punishment in
at least one case was crucifixion. fn Decapitation by the sword also seems to
have been a likely mode of execution. fn
Finally, the leaders of robber bands
were treated especially notoriously. Josephus reports that Herod put to death a
robber-chief named Ezekias, who headed a "large horde," fn and
records the arrest of another brigand-chief Eleazar,
who was sent to
(Stephen D.
Ricks and William J. Hamblin, eds., Warfare in the Book of Mormon [Salt
Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and
Mormon Studies, 1990], 86.)
Isaiah 53 –
The dry ground was this time period in
The Savior
showed great courage to openly declare who he was and what would happen if the
people didn’t repent.
M E R I D I A
N M A G A Z I N E
Lesson 20
"Woe
unto You...Hypocrites"
John 21-23, John 12:1-8
by Bruce Satterfield,
The
In Matthew 21-23, we see
the final confrontation between the Savior and the religious leaders of the
Jewish people in
The
The following is a
picture of the
View of the
Description of
Generally, Israelite
worshipers entered the
The stairs leading up
from the triple gate opened into a large open court known as the Court of the
Gentiles. As the
Surrounding the Court of
the Gentiles were porticoes two columns deep and each 25 cubits high upon which
lay a flat roof. The rituals associated with the Mosaic Law were not performed
in the Court of the Gentiles; "rather, its colonnades served as a
gathering place for the people before and after worship, or for those who
ascended the
The
Beyond the balustrade
preventing gentiles from passing lay the
Herod's
The square court in the
foreground was known as the Treasury or the Court of Women so named because
women could pass no further than this area. The main entrance into the Court of
Women was through the eastern gate which was gold and silver plated. Secondary
doors lay on the north and south. It was in this court that the woman found in
adultery was brought before the Savior (John 8).
On the western end of the
Court of Women was a flight of 15 stairs in a semicircle that led to the Gate
of Nicanor (also known as the "Beautiful
Gate" - Acts 3:2,10). Beyond this gate was the Court of the Israelites
followed by the Court of the Priests, which immediately surrounded the
The most imposing feature
of the
On the northwest corner
of the
Chief Priests and Scribes
The New Testament phrase
for those who directed the affairs of the
One of the chief duties
of the
"A Den of
Thieves"
It appears that by the
time of Christ, the
In the ancient world
there was no separation between church and state. Both state and religion were
controlled by the "elite," mainly the aristocracy and priests. In
Judea and
The tax obligation among
the Jewish peasantry was both extreme and oppressive. Besides the Roman taxes,
the peasants were taxed by the
Often the peasants
grumbled about this intolerable situation. To handle the unsatisfied majority,
the minority, the Jewish elite, kept the peasantry in control through
indebtedness. Hanson and Oakman have observed:
"Control of peasant labor was effected in ancient agrarian societies by
heavy demands for taxes, rents, and debt-repayments. Peasants did not
voluntarily supply labor for elites, nor did they work willingly for wages.
Most traditional peasants are as devoted to self-sufficient household economy
as elites are to the welfare of their estates. Since elities
need to control the labor of peasants without frequent recourse to military
force, exorbitant taxation and debt contracts backed up by a judicial authority
come into play."
(3)
Consequently, associated
with the
Through taxation backed
up by the Sanhedrin, "the powerful kept peasants and villages under a
constant barrage of demands and obligations-perennially in debt, if possible.
When peasants eventually got too far behind, they lost direct access to their
traditionally held land."
(4)
Richard Horsely explained: "If a peasant family, after
rendering up 40 percent or more of its harvest, then had too little left to
survive until the next harvest, it would have to borrow grain for food, or for
seed for the next sowing. Family members may already have tried to hire
themselves out as wage labor to a larger landholder. . . Under such economic
pressures, with too little produced to meet the demands both for subsistence
and for surpluses, the peasants were forced to borrow. Continued borrowing
would increase a family's debt significantly, with a great risk of complete
loss of land. One would then sink into the ranks of the rural proletariat, the
landless day laborers, or one could become a sharecropping tenant, perhaps on
one' own former parcel of land."
(5)
How did the peasants feel
about this? "They depended upon the temple and priests for regulating
their lives with God and for ensuring the fertility of the land. On the one
hand, the temple held power for them. Only if the priests satisfied God's
demands would things be well with weather, soil, and crops. . . When the
priestly opera (rituals) are done, God supplies the goods of life. . .
On the other hand, the temple held power over them as peasants chafed under
God's (and God's representatives') demands."
(6)
At least, this is how the
chief priests presented the role of the
After Josiah's death, the
At the time of Christ,
the Jewish leaders forgot the folly of their forefathers. Once again, the
"shepherds of
A consequence of this
nefarious situation the first century A. D. saw much social unrest among the
peasants. The years preceding and following the Savior's ministry were plagued
with many uprisings, particularly instigated by groups of bandits. Social
banditry became an affliction in Jewish society. Because many of the peasants
lost their land to the elite through indebtedness, they were forced to find
other means to survive. Consequently, many turned to banditry. Similar to Robin
Hood, they formed groups with leaders and lived in the desert, often in caves
or dens, making raids upon both the Jewish and Roman wealthy. Most often, these
were very wicked people, resembling more like Gadianton
robbers than Robin Hood. They became so powerful and numerous that they were a
major force behind the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 66 A.D. which ended
in
Banditry was a constant
source of trouble for both the Roman and Jewish elite. Often, the military was
sent out to try to round up and extinguish these robbers. In fact, just prior
to the Savior's last week of his life, the leader of one such robber group,
with two of his henchmen, was captured by the Romans. The robber leader was named
Barabbas. His two henchmen were crucified with the Savior.
But the system that
perpetrated the social unrest of the first century was in itself banditry.
"The temple system as it had developed in the Herodian
period within agrarian social structures was oppressive and perceived by many
(especially peasants, upon whom rested the primary burden of the tribute) as
'banditry.'"
(8) It is in this setting that the Savior called the
Cleansing of the
The Savior began the last
week of his life by confronting the religious leaders of the Jews choosing to
attack to attack at the heart of their wicked priestcraft--the
Having arrived at
Matthew sees in the
triumphal entry, the fulfillment of two Old Testament prophecies (Isaiah 62:11
and Zechariah 9:9): "Tell ye the daughter of Sion,
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt
the foal of an ass." The ass was an animal of peace and not one of war.
Though the multitudes may have saw in Jesus a king who would throw off the shackles
of their Roman overlords, he had in fact not come as a warrior. He had come as
the Prince of Peace.
The Savior proceeded to
the
On the surface, these may
have been considered legitimate and necessary practices. It was not practical
for those traveling great distances to bring their own sacrifices. Nor would
they have carried with them the local currency for the temple tax. Yet, these
practices need not be done on the
The Savior found these
practices repulsive. He then "cast out all them that sold and bought in
the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of
them that sold doves" declaring, "It is written, My house shall be
called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves" (Matt.
21:12-13).
Certainly, the activities
in the Court of the Gentiles did not represent the whole priestcraft. But by
clearing out these obvious money-making activities, the Savior was making a
stand against the priestcraft activities of the
After sanctifying the
The Cursing of the Fig
Tree
After the Savior spent
the night in the small neighboring
The tree was cursed
because it did not produce fruit. Of this Spencer W. Kimball said, "The
symbolism of the barren fig tree (Matt. 21:19) is eloquent. The unproductive
tree was cursed for its barrenness."
(11) John the Baptist had warned the Jews, "the axe is laid unto
the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matt. 3:10).
Likewise, the Savior said, "Every tree that bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matt. 7:19).
In other words, if the Jews did not produce works acceptable to God, they would
be destroyed. To this point in his ministry, the Savior had only displayed the
positive nature of his power: the power to heal, give life, and do good. In
cursing the barren fig tree, the Savior demonstrated his power to curse, smite,
and destroy. In so doing, it foreshadowed the fate of those of the Jewish
nation who would reject the ministry of Jesus.
Confrontation Between
Jesus and the Rulers
Matthew's inclusion of
the cursing of the fig tree sets the stage for the confrontation between the
Savior and the Jewish leaders (21:23-22:46). The Savior came to the temple
where he began teaching the people. "The chief priests and the elders of
the people"-i.e., the Sanhedrin-came to him and questioned him: "By
what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?"
What "these things" had reference to is unstated. Certainly it must
have included the clearing of the
"The question, of
course, is a challenge. They are not asking for information about him; they
know that he has not authority (in their sense of the word) to act as he has
been doing. The temple was under the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin, which they
represented; the merchants and the money-changers exercised their trades under
concessions granted by the Sanhedrin. They knew without asking that no
authority had been granted to Jesus to interfere with the existing
arrangements."
(12)
They placed the Savior in
a difficult situation. "It follows that were Jesus to answer, 'I do these
things by human authority', he would contradict his own bold behavior, but that
were he to answer, 'I do these things by divine authority', he would be laying
explicit public claim to messianic status . . ."
(13)
In response to the
challenge issued by the rulers, the Savior said that if they would tell him
where John the Baptist received his authority to baptize, he would tell them
where he had received his authority. But "they reasoned with themselves,
saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then
believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John
as a prophet." So they replied, "We cannot tell." To which the
Savior said, " Neither tell I you by what authority I do these
things" (21:23-27). "These were men who had been asked a question to
which they knew the answer, but who refused to give it because they were afraid
of the consequences. Why should a teacher like Jesus answer the loaded
questions of men like these?"
(14)
Three Parables
Though the Savior did not
answer the question the rulers asked, He did respond to their challenge by
delivering three parables. The meaning of these parables is clear: the
rejection of Jesus by the Jews would eventually lead to their destruction and
the destruction of
Parable of the Two Sons
In the first of the three
parables (Matt. 21:28-32), the hard hearts of the rulers were contrasted to the
open hearts of the "publicans and harlots" who had come to believe on
him. The Savior began the parable by asking the rulers a question: "But
what think ye?" Then followed the parable: A farmer asked his two sons to
go work in the fields. The first said, "I will not: but afterward he
repented, and went." Then the second said, "I go, sir: and went
not."
The Savior then continued
the question he had started the parable with, "Whether of them twain did
the will of his father?" The answer was obvious, the first son! After the
Jewish leaders gave the right answer, the Savior gave this stunning rebuke: "Verily
I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the
The interpretation of the
parable is simple. The first son represented the publicans and harlots who had
lead sinful lives. However, upon hearing the gospel taught by Christ, they
repented of their past actions. The second son represented the Pharisees and
scribes. They would not repent upon hearing the message of the gospel.
Parable of the Wicked
Husbandman
Following upon the heel
of the Savior's reprimand, the Savior told them the parable of the householder
(21:33-44). "A certain householder" who owned a vineyard rented his
land to "husbandmen." They would take care of the vineyard and reap
the rewards. Often, in circumstances such as presented in the parable, rent
payment was a certain percentage of the harvest. As harvest time drew near, the
householder sent his servants to collect the percentage of the harvest that
belonged to him. But "the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and
killed another, and stoned another." The householder sent other servants
but the same fate befell them. Finally, he sent his own son hoping that
"They will reverence my son." However, when the son came, the
husbandmen "said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill
him, and let us seize on his inheritance." They carried out their foul
plan. The Savior then asked the rulers what the householder would do to the
husbandmen. Properly, they responded, "He will miserably destroy those
wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall
render him the fruits in their seasons."
The meaning of the
parable is obvious. Throughout their history, Jewish rulers had rejected the
prophets of the Lord. But God had now sent is own Son. Nonetheless, the rulers
would reject him as well. The parable suggests the motive for their rejection.
The husbandman said: "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize
on his inheritance." As explained previously, Jacob, in the Book of
Mormon, explained that the rejection of Christ by the Jews was "because of
priestcrafts and iniquities" (2 Ne. 10:5). The
rulers were using the Lord's kingdom administered through the law of Moses,
whom Christ was the legal heir, as a priestcraft. The coming of Christ was seen
by these rulers as an interruption of their priestcraft.
Not only did the Savior
prophesy his own demise in this parable, but warned that because of the Jewish
rejection of Christ the Jewish nation including their capital,
The Stone Rejected
Before proceeding to the
third parable, the Savior continued his warning of the impending destruction of
the Jewish nation. "Did ye never read in the scriptures," he said,
"The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the
corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous
in our eyes?" (Matt. 21:42). This quotation from Psalms 118:22, speaks of
the rejection of the Messiah, the stone of Irsael. He
warned them that because they would reject him, the stone of
The JST adds: "And
they said among themselves, Shall this man think that he alone can spoil this
great kingdom? And they were angry with him" (JST Matt. 21:48). Though
they wanted to "lay hands on him" they thought better "because
they learned that the multitude took him for a prophet" (JST Matt. 21:49).
The JST continues the
story adding further insight. "And now his disciples came to him, and
Jesus said unto them, Marvel ye at the words of the parable which I spake unto them? Verily, I say unto you, I am the stone,
and those wicked ones reject me. I am the head of the corner. These Jews shall
fall upon me, and shall be broken. And the
The Parable of the
Wedding Garment
The Savior then delivered
a third parable: the parable of the wedding garment (Matt. 22:1-14). In the
parable, a king "made a marriage for his son." "When the
marriage was ready" (JST 22:3), the king sent forth his servants to tell
those who had been invited to the wedding to "come unto the
marriage." "But they made light of the servants, and went their ways;
one to his farm, another to his merchandise; And the remnant took his servants,
and entreated them spitefully, and slew them" (JST Matt. 22:5-6). When the
king heard how his servants were treated, "he was wroth: and he sent forth
his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." The
king said, "The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not
worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to
the marriage." The servants did as they were commanded: they "went
out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both
bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests."
The parable could have
ended here with the point being made. However, there is second point the Savior
wished to make. "When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a
man which had not on a wedding garment." We do not know enough about
wedding ceremonies during the time of Christ to understand the cultural aspect
of this portion of the parable. But either a wedding garment was given to those
invited to the wedding or at least suitable clothing was made available.
Whatever is the case, it is apparent that having the wedding garment was
essential for the wedding feast. The king asked, "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?"
Perhaps in the rush of filling the wedding with guests, the man was not able to
get a garment or none was given him. But the man "was speechless."
That is, he had been given the opportunity to receive the garment but did not
take it. "Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and
take him away, and cast [him] into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." The Savior concluded the parable saying, "For
many are called, but few chosen." The JST adds, "wherefore all do not
have on the wedding garment" (JST Matt. 22:14).
The King represents God,
the Father. The king's son is Christ. The wedding feast represents Christ's
coming among the Jews. The marriage metaphor was common metaphor used in the
Old Testament to represent the covenant relationship between God and
The parable has two
points. The first is more obvious than the second. The first point is a
reiteration of the last parable: because the Jews rejected the Lord's servants,
they would be destroyed and the gospel would be taken to the gentiles.
The second point focuses
on preparation. Those who have been called to the wedding feast were given a
special garment to wear at the feast. As the king looked over the hastily
bidden guests, he spied a man not wearing the wedding garment. What was the garment?
We are not told. But it is apparent that without the garment, one was not
prepared to enjoy the wedding festivities.
Of this, Joseph Smith
stated: " . . . the day of the Lord fast approaching when none except
those who have won the wedding garment will be permitted to eat and drink in
the presence of the Bridegroom, the Prince of Peace!"
(16) The wedding garment represents personal preparedness for the
Lord's coming. Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated: "Salvation is a personal
matter; it comes to individuals, not congregations. Church membership alone
does not save; obedience after baptism is required. Each person called to the
marriage feast will be examined separately, and of the many called to partake
of the bounties of the gospel few only will wear the robes of righteousness
which must clothe every citizen in the celestial heaven. True it is that the
Lord "hath bid his guests," as Zephaniah said, but "all such as
are clothed with strange apparel" shall be cast out. (Zeph. 1:7-8.)"
(17) Again, he wrote: "He had accepted the invitation (the
gospel); joined with the true worshipers (come into the true Church); but had
not put on the robes of righteousness (that is, had not worked out his
salvation after baptism)."
Render Unto Caesar
The Jewish leaders were
frustrated by the Savior's response to their question of authority. Matthew
records that hearing the Savior's response to the Sanhedrin, "Then went
the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk."
The devised another plan.
They approached the Savior with another question in order to trap the Savior.
They took with them the Herodians, those who desired
to see the family line of Herod regain power in
The tribute under
question was the poll tax which was an especially unpopular tax. The poll tax
was not a tax dealing with merchandise in any way. "Customs duties were
disliked, but at least on paying them on go something, the right to take goods
to their destination. But with the poll tax there was no such benefit. It was a
tax that simply removed money from the citizen and transferred it to the
emperor's coffers with no benefit to the citizen."
(18)
The question was framed
in such a way as to be answered with "Yes" or "No." If he
answered "Yes", he would please the Herodians
but the Jewish populas would be upset. On the other
hand, if he answered "No", he would not find disfavor with the Jews
but he would with the Romans.
However, "Jesus
perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew [pronounced 'show' in old English] me the tribute
money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this
image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them,
Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the
things that are God's" (Matt. 22:18-21).
The Savior's response has
become a classic. That which belongs to the government should be rendered and
that which belongs to God should be rendered. President N. Eldon Tanner has
reminded us: "There is no reason or justification for men to disregard or
break the law or try to take it into their own hands. Christ gave us the great
example of a law-abiding citizen when the Pharisees, trying to entangle him, as
the scriptures say, asked him if it were lawful to give tribute money unto
Caesar. After asking whose inscription was on the tribute money, and their
acknowledgment that it was Caesar's, he said: 'Render therefore unto Caesar the
things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.' (Matt.
22:21.) It is the duty of citizens of any country to remember that they have
individual responsibilities, and that they must operate within the law of the
country in which they have chosen to live."
(19)
Marriage and the
Resurrection
When the Pharisees and Herodians heard the Savior's response, "they marvelled, and left him, and went their way" (Matt.
22:22). But then the Sadducees decided to get into this confrontation with the
Savior. They tried to trick the Savior by placing before him a situation
regarding levirate marriage. Levirate marriage was "The custom of a widow
marrying her deceased husband's brother or sometimes a near heir."
(20) Levirate marriage was practiced in the Bible and discussed in
Deuteronomy 25:5-10.
The Sadducees posed the
situation of a woman who had been married and her husband died leaving her no
children. According to levirate marriage, a brother could marry her to raise up
children for his dead brother. In the situation posed by the Sadducees, the
woman was married to her husband's brother. But he died and so she was married
to the next brother. He likewise died and so she was married to the third
brother "unto the seventh" or last brother. The question the
Sadducees posed was, "in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the
seven?"
The Savior responded,
"Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the
resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the
angels of God in heaven" (Matt. 22:23-30). Of this, Elder James E. Talmage
wrote: "The Lord's meaning was clear, that in the resurrected state there
can be no question among the seven brothers as to whose wife for eternity the
woman shall be, since all except the first had married her for the duration of
mortal life only. … In the resurrection there will be no marrying nor giving in
marriage; for all questions of marital status must be settled before that time,
under the authority of the Holy Priesthood, which holds the power to seal in
marriage for both time and eternity."
(21)
The Great Commandment
Perhaps one of the most
important things to come out of the confrontation of this day occurred after
the Pharisees saw that the Sadducees had been silenced. They gathered around
the Savior to continue the "Pharisaic inquisition." In one last
attempt to trap the Savior into making a public blunder in hopes to discredit
Him, they asked him one last question: "Master, which is the great
commandment in the law?" (Matt. 22:35-36)
The Rabbis had separated
out 613 commandments in the law. Further, they had divided these commandments
into light and weighty (cf. Matt. 23:23). "They did not mean that some
commandments were so slight that they could be neglected. All the commandments
were God's, and therefore all were to be treated with full seriousness. But
obviously some commandments were more important than others . . ."
(22) The question they posed was which did the Savior regard as the
greatest of them all. "There is no objective yardstick for measuring one
commandment against another, so that whatever commandment Jesus selected for
the first place would certainly have been placed lower by others."
(23) Thus a debate could ensue in which the Pharisees hoped they
could discredit the Savior.
His answer is very
instructive for all of God's children. He took two separate statements, one
found Deuteronomy (6:5) and the other in Leviticus (19:18), and tied them
together. "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." He then added, " On these
two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:37-40).
The Savior's response was
brilliant and to the point. For the Pharisees, as well as for many of us today,
the laws of God had been reduced to a series of "do's" and
"don'ts" that ought to be followed. But as Elder Dallin H. Oaks has
taught: "the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of
good and evil acts-What we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the
final effect of our acts and thoughts-What we have become. It is not
enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances,
and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in
some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how
to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become."
(24)
The commands to Love God
and our fellow man are not part of the list of commandments we ought to follow.
Rather, they provide the motivation, the intent, or the purpose behind every
commandment found in scripture or from the words of the prophets.
When we honestly evaluate
our actions associated with the Lord's Kingdom, we ought to ask ourselves,
"Why am I doing what i am doing in the Church?
Why did I go to Church last Sunday? Why did I hold family home evening? Why did
I do my home teaching?" If the answer was not out of love of God or to
build His kingdom, then the motivation was not correct. And if the motivation is
not correct, then we are not becoming what we ought to be. We are just doing
things.
Remember, the final
judgment is not based solely on what we have done. Remember the words of the
Savior: "For the day soon cometh, that men shall come before me to
judgment, to be judged according to their works. And many will say unto me in
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name; and in thy name cast
out devils; and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I say, Ye
never knew me; depart from me ye that work iniquity" (JST Matt. 7:31-33).
We can only come to know the Lord when we do the things He does with the same
motivation that governs His actions.
The Savior Turns
Questioner
The Savior's answer left
no room for debate and the Pharisees were utterly silenced. Taking advantage of
the quiet of the moment, the Savior posed a very important question. "What
think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" They gave the response perhaps most
any would have given at that time. "They say unto him, The Son of David."
It was well known among
the Jews at the time of Christ that the Messiah was to come through the lineage
of David. They pictured him in the role of David, as a king and conqueror of
their enemies. Few, if any, associated the Messiah as divine. This was
painfully obvious through the various confrontations with the Savior had with
the Jews. But Jesus came into the world not to destroy men but to save them. It
required Him to be divine to carry out his role as redeemer of the world.
In response to the
Pharisees answer, the Savior quoted a Psalm written by David with this
question: "How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD
said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine
enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?"
(Matt. 22:41-45). Through the use of this Psalm, the Savior made it clear that
David did not consider the Messiah as a mere descendant but as his superior.
"By drawing attention to a defect in the way the Pharisees understood the
relationship of David to David's Son, Jesus was encouraging his hearers to
think again about what Messiah meant."
(25)
Matthew records the
conclusion to this scene in these words: "And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more
questions" (22:46).
"Wo unto you . . .
Hypocrites"
As has been shown, this
last day of the Savior's ministry had been filled with confrontation with the
religious leaders of the Jews-the very people who should have been preparing
the people for the Savior's visit. How different they were from Nephi, son of
Nephi, who labored diligently to prepare his people for the visit of the God of
this world (see 3 Nephi). Seeing the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders, the
Savior ended his mortal public ministry by castigating their wicked behavior.
This is recorded in Matthew 23.
In no uncertain terms,
the Savior warned the multitude of the abhorrent behavior of their so-called
religious leaders. "Whatsoever they bid you observe," the Savior
declared, "that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they
say, and do not" (23:3). In other words, follow the teachings of the law
they expound but avoid their practice of the law, for often their practice went
beyond the law. "They studied the law of Moses closely and expounded it in
great detail. There was nothing wrong with this part of what they were doing,
and Jesus commends it. Of course, when they went beyond the law of Moses they
could and did go wrong, and Jesus criticizes them for it."
(26)
The Savior cataloged
eight
(27) grievances He had with the results of their interpretation and
practice of the law. Each began with "woe."
(1) "Ye shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer
ye them that are entering to go in." (23:13) Through their interpretation
of the law, they misleading people and thus leading them from the true
(2) "Ye devour
widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive
the greater damnation" (23:14). Perhaps the widow's houses were being
devoured by the Pharisees insistence upon a second tithe which already taxed
and overtaxed people.
(3) "Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than
yourselves" (23:15).
(4) "Woe unto you,
ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing;
but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!"
(23:16). The Pharisees were so concerned about nit-picky details that it caused
them not to see the whole. In this case, they were concerned about the exact
and proper way of making an oath. They believed if it was said wrong it was not
binding. It was the wording of the oath, not what was in the heart of
oath-maker that was important.
(5) "Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the
other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a
camel" (23:23-24). It was not the paying of tithing that concerned the
Savior but placing details and policies above the purposes and motives of the
law. In the gospel all things are important but "lesser things, however
useful or needful, must never eclipse the greater."
(28) When the gospel is reduced to the minutia of "do's"
and "don'ts" then the purpose and intent of the law is missed. For
example, in the Church today, to often our young people are deluged with the
do's and don'ts of chastity but are seldom taught the doctrine of the law of
procreation and parenthood!!
(6) "Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and
of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind
Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the
outside of them may be clean also" (23:25-26). What robbery the Pharisees
were guilty of is not stated but it may be that they supported the
(7) "Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited
sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye
also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy
and iniquity" (23:27-28). The meaning here is obvious. Though sometimes
their actions were correct, their motives were not. Elder Dallin H. Oaks,
taught, "Jesus looked beyond the actions of the scribes and Pharisees and
condemned them because of their motives. He likened them to 'whited sepulchres,' which appear
beautiful outside but are unclean inside. Although their actions he referred to
were appropriate, they were acting for the wrong reasons."
(30)
(8) "Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets,
and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say,
If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers
with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto
yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye
up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how
can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (23:29-33). The Pharisees had built
and decorated tombs for the prophets who had been denounced by their fathers in
order to bring honor to give them the honor they deserved. Their hypocrisy was
shown that they were not honoring the present prophets, including the Son of
God. But because they were rejecting the present prophets, their fate would be
no different than their fathers.
The Final Prophecy
The Savior ended his
denunciation of the Pharisees with this warning and promise: "O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate" (23:37-38). The Savior was so moved by the horrors that
would come upon the Jews because of their rejection of him, that the Joseph
Smith translation adds that the Savior wept while giving this prophecy (JST
Matt. 23:36).
The Savior then turned
from the crowds and left the
The Savior's public
ministry had come to an end. No longer would he teach the people. It was left
to them to either accept or reject the Man and His message. As we know, for the
most part, they rejected His message. As a result, they felt the full brunt of
the last prophecy the Savior gave to the people.
Notes
1. S. Safrai,
"The Temple," in The Jewish People in the First Century (2
Vols., Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987), 2:877; Safrai
gleans this information from the Mishna and Talmud
which may suggest that this was the ideal but may not have always been
practiced.
2. Safrai, "The
3. K. C. Hanson &
Douglas E. Oakman, Palestinge
in the Time of Jesus (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), p. 119.
4. Hanson & Oakman,
5. Richard A. Horsely, Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs
(Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1999), pp. 58-59.
6. Hanson & Oakman,
7. Hanson & Oakman,
8. Hanson & Oakman,
9. Mishnah
Kerithoth 1:7.
10.
I am in
Often the question is
raised as to why the Savior would attempt to eat figs before they were ripe
(the cursing of the fig tree was a week before Passover which is in March or
April). So I decided to find out what a fig tastes like at that time of year.
So in 2001, while assigned at BYU's
11.
Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969), p.92.
12.
Francis W. Beare, The Gospel According to Matthew
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1981), p. 422.
13.
W. D. Davies & Dale C. Allison, Jr., The Gospel According to Saint
Matthew (Edinburgh, Scottland: T&T Clark,
1997), p. 159.
14.
Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992), p. 535
15.
See Richard K. Hart, "The Marriage Metaphor," Ensign, Jan.
1995, pp. 22-25.
16.
Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Compiled by Joseph
Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976), p.47.
17.
Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, (The Messiah Series, vols. 2-5.
18.
Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 556.
19.
N. Eldon Tanner, "The Laws of God," Ensign, Nov. 1975, p. 83.
20.
"Levirate Marriage," in LDS Bible Dictionary, p. 724.
21.
James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ,
22.
Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 563.
23.
Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 556.
24.
Dallin H. Oaks, "The Challenge to Become," Ensign, Nov. 2000,
p. 32.
25.
Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 567.
26.
Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 573.
27.
Most Greek manuscripts of Matthew only record seven woes whereas the King James
Version records eight.
28.
Davies & Allison, The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, p. 293.
29.
Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 558.
30.
Dallin H. Oaks, Pure in Heart.
Developing and Maintaining Spirituality
Know Your Religion
November 22, 2002
Bruce told
a story of a trip he took with
Christ
Descended Below All Things
D&C
88:6-7
He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all
things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through
all things, the light of truth; which truth shineth.
D&C
122
1 The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools
shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee;
2 While the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the
virtuous, shall seek counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from
under thy hand.
3 And thy people shall never be turned against thee by the
testimony of traitors.
4 And although their influence shall cast thee into trouble, and
into bars and walls, thou shalt be had in honor; and but for a small moment and
thy voice shall be more terrible in the midst of thine
enemies than the fierce lion, because of thy righteousness; and thy God shall
stand by thee forever and ever.
5 If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in
perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art
in perils by land or by sea;
6 If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the
society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn
sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy
wife, and of thine offspring, and thine
elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and
shall say, My father, my father, why can't you stay with us? O, my father, what
are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by
the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine
enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;
7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the
pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon
thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against
thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the
heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and
above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee,
know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall
be for thy good.
8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater
than he?
Brigham
Young,
It is written of the Saviour that he
descended below all things. If he did he descended in capacity. I will merely
tell you what I believe on this point. I believe that there never was a child
born on this earth with any less capacity than dwelt in the child that was born
in a manger of his mother Mary. I believe, according to the natural ability
which he received from his mother and from his supposed father Joseph, that
there never was a child that descended lower in capacity, or that knew less.
Yet, according to the history given of him, his power of mind developed with
such wonderful rapidity that when he was but a few years old he propounded
questions to the learned doctors of his day which they could not answer, and answered
questions propounded to him which the querists could
not answer. He increased in wisdom and knowledge, and came into communication
with his Father. The Being whom we call Father was the Father of the spirit of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was also his Father pertaining to the flesh.
Infidels and Christians, make all you can of this statement. The Bible, which
all Christians profess to believe, reveals that fact, and it reveals the truth
upon that point, and I am a witness of its truth. The Apostles who were
personally acquainted with Jesus Christ did know and understand what they
wrote, and they wrote the truth. (Journal
of Discourses, 7:286)
John
Taylor
The object of man's taking a body is, that through the redemption
of Jesus Christ, both soul and body may be exalted in the eternal world, when
the earth shall be celestial, and to obtain a higher exaltation than he would
be capable of doing without a body. For when man was first made, he was made
"a little lower than the angels," Heb. 2:7; but through the atonement
and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he is placed in a position to obtain an
exaltation higher than that of angels. Says the Apostle, "Know ye not that
we shall judge angels?" 1 Cor. 6:3. "Jesus descended below all
things, that he might be raised above all things." He took upon him a
body, that he might die as a man, and "that through death, he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil." Heb. 2:14.
Having conquered Death, then, in his own dominions, burst the barriers of the
tomb, and ascended with his body triumphant to the right hand of God, he has
accomplished a purpose which God had decreed from before the foundation of the
world, "and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers." Hence
man, through obedience to the Gospel, is placed in a position to be an adopted
son of God, and have a legitimate right to his Father's blessings, and to
possess the gift of the Holy Ghost. And the Apostle says, that "If the
spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit
that dwelleth in you." Rom. 8:11. Thus, as Jesus
vanquished death, so may we; as he overcame, so may we; and, if faithful, sit
with him upon his throne, as he has overcome, and sat down upon his Father's
throne. Rev. 3:21. Thus, an will not only be raised from degradation, but will
also be exalted to a seat among the intelligence which surround the throne of
God. This is one great object of our coming here and taking bodies. (The Government of God, Ch.5)
Groaning
beneath this concentrated load, this intense, incomprehensible pressure, this
terrible exaction of Divine justice, from which feeble humanity shrank, and
through the agony thus experienced sweating great drops of blood, He was led to
exclaim, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." He
had wrestled with the superincumbent load in the wilderness, He had struggled
against the powers of darkness that had been let loose upon him there; placed below
all things, His mind surcharged with agony and pain, lonely and apparently
helpless and forsaken, in his agony and the blood oozed from His pores. Thus
rejected by His own, attacked by the powers of darkness, and seemingly forsaken
by His God, on the cross He bowed beneath the accumulated load, and cried out
in anguish, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" When death
approached to relieve Him from His horrible position, a ray of hope appeared
through the abyss of darkness with which He had been surrounded, and in a spasm
of relief, seeing the bright future beyond, He said, "It is finished!
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." As a God, He descended below
all things, and made Himself subject to man in man's fallen condition; as a
man, He grappled with all the circumstances incident to His sufferings in the
world. Anointed, indeed, with the oil of gladness above His fellows, He
struggled with and overcame the powers of men and devils, of earth and hell
combined; and aided by this superior power of the Godhead, He vanquished death,
hell and the grave, and arose triumphant as the Son of God, the very eternal
Father, the Messiah, the Prince of peace, the Redeemer, the Savior of the
world; having finished and completed the work pertaining to the atonement,
which His Father had given Him to do as the Son of God and the Son of man. As
the Son of Man, He endured all that it was possible for flesh and blood to
endure, as the Son of God He triumphed over all, and forever ascended to the
right hand of God, to further carry out the designs of Jehovah pertaining to
the world and to the human family. ( Mediation
and Atonement, Ch.21)
Wilford
Woodruff
The Lord has said concerning Jesus, that he descended below all
things that he might rise above all things, and comprehend all things. No man
descended lower than the Savior of the world. Born in a stable, cradled in a
manger, he traveled from there to the cross through suffering, mingled with
blood, to a throne of grace; and in all his life there was nothing of an
earthly nature that seemed to be worth possessing. His whole life was passed in
poverty, suffering, pain, affliction, labor, prayer, mourning and sorrow, until
he gave up the ghost on the cross. Still he was God's firstborn son and the
Redeemer of the world. The question might be asked why the Lord suffered his
Son to come here and to live and die as he did. When we get into the spirit
world, and the vail is withdrawn, we shall then
perhaps understand the whys and wherefore of all these things. In the
dispensations and providences of God to man it seems that we are born to suffer
pain, affliction, sorrows and trials; this is what God has decreed that the
human family shall pass through; and if we make a right use of this probation,
the experience it brings will eventually prove a great blessing to us, and when
we receive immortality and eternal life, exaltation, kingdoms, thrones,
principalities and powers with all the blessings of the fulness of the Gospel
of Christ, we shall understand and comprehend why we are called to pass through
a continual warfare during the few years we spent in the flesh. (Journal of Discourses, Vol.18, p.33)
Then let us be careful. Let us realize our condition. Let us
realize we are here upon a mission. Let us realize that we will be held
responsible for the manner in which we will it. We should be willing to
sacrifice everything for the upbuilding of the
Joseph
F. Smith (First Presidency Statement - Dec. 1904)
We celebrate an anniversary of the birth of the world's Redeemer
and Who, we believe, will be its Lord and King. His entrance into the world was
the signal for the songs of angels and the rejoicings of the heavenly host. He
descended below all things that He might rise above all things, and in that
experience comprehend and obtain power over all things. (Messages of the First Presidency, Vol.4,
pp.92-93)
Ezra
Taft Benson
It was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the
world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of
all men, in
Now let me describe to you what faith in Jesus Christ means. Faith
in Him is more than mere acknowledgment that He lives. It is more than
professing belief. Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him.
As God, He has infinite power, intelligence, and love. There is no human
problem beyond His capacity to solve. Because He descended below all things, He
knows how to help us rise above our daily difficulties. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.66)
Bruce R.
McConkie
Crucifixion was the form of death chosen from the beginning for
Christ, that in his death, having descended below all things, he might in his
resurrection ascend above all things. (Mormon
Doctrine, p.174)
Neal A.
Maxwell
President Brigham Young spoke of what evoked the "why"
from Jesus, saying that during the axis of agony which was Gethsemane and
Elder
Wirthlin gave a talk in October 1992 on Spiritual Bonfires of a Testimony,
get a copy and read it.
Spiritual
Bonfires of Testimony
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Ensign, Nov. 1992, 34-36
Many years ago, large
packs of wolves roamed the countryside in
We do not have to protect
ourselves from wolf packs as we travel the road of life today, but, in a
spiritual sense, we do face the devious wolves of Satan in the forms of
temptation, evil, and sin. We live in dangerous times when these ravenous
wolves roam the spiritual countryside in search of those who may be weak in
faith or feeble in their conviction. In his first epistle, Peter described our
"adversary the devil, as a roaring lion [that] walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Pet. 5:8.) The Lord told the
Prophet Joseph Smith that "enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the
blood of the lamb." (D&C 122:6.) We are all vulnerable to attack.
However, we can fortify ourselves with the protection provided by a burning
testimony that, like a bonfire, has been built adequately and maintained
carefully.
Unfortunately, some in the Church may believe sincerely that
their testimony is a raging bonfire when it really is little more than the
faint flickering of a candle. Their faithfulness has more to do with habit than
holiness, and their pursuit of personal righteousness almost always takes a
back seat to their pursuit of personal interests and pleasure. With such a
feeble light of testimony for protection, these travelers on life's highways
are easy prey for the wolves of the adversary.
The Savior understood
that many of His followers would struggle under the rigors of true
discipleship; consequently, He taught them how to build burning testimonies.
The night before His crucifixion, Jesus shared the feast of the Passover with
His twelve beloved Apostles, most of whom had been with Him throughout His
ministry. At one point during this sacred evening, the Lord looked upon Peter,
His senior Apostle and loyal friend. Knowing what would be required of Peter
after the Ascension, the Lord said: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
"But I have prayed
for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy
brethren." (Luke 22:31-32; emphasis added.)
Imagine for a moment that
you are Peter. Three years ago a holy stranger invited you to set aside your
fishing boat and nets, your means of support for yourself and your family, and
then asked you to follow Him. You did so without hesitation, and for three
years you have continued to follow and to love and support and sustain Him. You
have seen Him confound the wise, comfort the weary and the afflicted, heal the
sick, and raise the dead to life. You have seen Him conquer evil spirits, calm
the troubled seas, and for a few minutes, at least, you even walked on the
water toward Him. You were at His side when Moses and Elias appeared to Him;
you saw Him transfigured before your very eyes. You have committed your entire
life to Him. And now He questions you by instructing you to strengthen your
brethren "when thou art converted."
Peter was surprised. He
assured the Lord, "I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to
death." (Luke 22:33.) But Jesus knew and understood. He was not condemning
Peter for a lack of conviction; Peter demonstrated his conviction during the Lord's
arrest. Rather, the Savior was telling Peter what he needed to do when his
testimony became more secure.
As He knew Peter, the
Lord understands you and me when our testimonies may not be the brightly
burning bonfire you may think they are or want them to be. Perhaps in some
cases, that testimony is constructed unwisely, built on a social [page 35]
foundation of programs and personalities instead of the sure rock of personal
revelation. Or perhaps you have allowed your testimony to flicker gradually
through the years of disuse and spiritual complacency.
Regardless of the reason
your testimony may be growing dim, the Savior lovingly urges you to come unto
Him and become strengthened in Him. Said He to
Some people are weak in
their faith and testimonies but are not even aware of how precarious their
situation is. Many of them likely would be offended at the suggestion. They
raise their right hand to sustain Church leaders and then murmur and complain
when a decision does not square with their way of thinking. They claim to be
obedient to God's commandments but do not feel at all uncomfortable about
purchasing food at the store on Sunday and then asking the Lord to bless it.
Some say they would give their lives for the Lord, yet they refuse to serve in
the nursery.
The Savior spoke very
explicitly about people who "draw near me with their mouth, and with their
lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far
from me." (Isa. 29:13.) His words were: "Not every one that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven.
"Many will say to me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name
have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
"And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." (Matt. 7:21-23.)
None would want to hear
the Lord speak such disappointing words of you. That is why you need to do
everything in your power to be absolutely certain that your spiritual bonfire
of testimony is burning brightly enough to keep the wolves of darkness away.
You can always use more dry kindling. As the Apostle Paul taught, each of us
has "come short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:23.) None of us has
progressed so far in this life that we do not need to continually fortify our
testimonies.
I offer three suggestions
that will fan the flame of personal testimony as a protection against the
wolves of evil that are prowling all around us to threaten our spiritual
security.
First, make sure your
testimony is built upon a solid foundation of faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Even though we enjoy the fellowship of the Saints and have strong feelings
about the inspired programs of the Church, we must remember that we have only
one sure anchor for our souls. It is stated in the words of the prophet
Helaman, when he taught his sons:
"And now, my sons,
remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the
Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send
forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his
hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you
to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo,
because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a
foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." (Hel. 5:12.)
Perhaps you are one of
the members of the Church whose first contact with the gospel came through the
[page 36] beautiful music of the Tabernacle Choir. Maybe your life was blessed
by the Church welfare program when you followed prophetic counsel to store food
and other necessities. These are marvelous, inspired aspects of the Church that
God has provided to help bring his children to Christ. However, they are
implements and not ends in themselves. The ultimate focus of our devotion must
properly be our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
We often hear of members
who have separated themselves from the Church because some leader, teacher, or
member has said or done something to offend them. Others have had their faith
shaken when the Brethren have taken a stand with which they disagree. In such
cases, I wonder about the faith of those people and whether it was grounded securely
in a testimony of the Lord, Jesus Christ, or merely based on their own ideas
and social perceptions of what the Church and its members should be.
Scripture teaches us:
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and
lean not unto thine own understanding." (Prov.
3:5.) In His moving prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, the
Savior taught this profound truth: "And this is life eternal, that they
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
(John 17:3.) Building a testimony on the foundation of a sincere, personal
relationship with our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and on
our faith in them, should be our highest priority.
Anchored with that faith,
we are ready for my second suggestion -- another layer of kindling on the bonfire of
testimony - it is humble, sincere repentance. Few things extinguish the fervor
of the Holy Spirit in the heart of any individual more quickly than does sin.
It dulls the spiritual senses, diminishes confidence and personal security, and
separates the sinner from the Savior. One who carries the burden of unrepented sin is more likely to rationalize additional
disobedience. The more sin is rationalized, the greater the possibility of
destruction by Satan's wolves.
Few would argue the
potential spiritual risk of major sins like murder or marital infidelity. But
what about the person who uses employer's time to complete personal projects,
the person who sneaks into a pornographic movie, the student who cheats at
school, the person who criticizes others unfairly, or the parent who thinks
family home evening is a good idea--for someone else?
The simple fact is this:
anything that does not draw us closer to God takes us away from Him. We have no
middle ground, no foggy gray area where we can sin a little without suffering
spiritual decline. That is why we must repent and come to Christ daily on
submissive knees so that we can prevent our bonfires of testimony from being
snuffed out by sin.
My third suggestion is that we follow the
example of the Savior. He set the pattern.
In any pursuit and under
any condition, we can ask ourselves what would Jesus do and then determine our
own course accordingly. For example, what sort of home teacher would the Savior
be? Would He occasionally miss visiting families? Would He visit them without a
message? Or would He minister to His families like the Good Shepherd that He
is, with constant watch care and loving kindness? Deep in our hearts we know
what kind of home teacher Jesus would be, just as we know what kind of bishop,
teacher, Primary leader, clerk, or youth adviser He would be. Even though we
could never in this life measure up completely to His standard of excellence,
our attempt to do so will lead us to do far better than otherwise.
We can apply the same
principle to other pursuits the same way. What sort of parent would Jesus be?
What sort of neighbor, employer, employee, student, or friend? If we live our
lives to conform as nearly as possible to the pattern the Savior has set, our
testimonies will be fortified continually and our spiritual bonfires will never
be reduced to embers.
We live in perilous
times. The influence of Satan often appears to be unchecked and overwhelming.
Remember the promise that God has given to those who build and maintain
brightly burning bonfires of testimony to counter the wolves that threaten us.
This is His promise: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed;
for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will … uphold thee with the
right hand of my righteousness." (Isa. 41:10.)
The strength of the
Church lies in the depth and vitality of the personal testimonies of its
members. Firm, secure testimonies will be the difference between faithfulness
and disaffection.
I bear testimony that in
order for us to enjoy a happy, rewarding, and spiritual life, we must make sure
that our testimonies are built upon the foundation of faith in the Lord, Jesus
Christ, humble and sincere repentance, and following the example of the Savior.
I know that our Heavenly
Father lives and loves each of His children. His Son, Jesus Christ, is our
Savior and Redeemer. Christ's atonement provides for all of us immortality and
the possibility of eternal life, the kind of life that God lives, if we will
repent of our sins and will be true and faithful in keeping the commandments.
Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Through him, the Lord restored the gospel of
Jesus Christ in these the latter days. President Ezra Taft Benson is our
prophet today. I testify of these divine truths in the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.
1 Peter 5:8
– D & C 122:6, we live in a dangerous world and are vulnerable to attack.
(Doctrine and Covenants
122:6.)
6
If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the
society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn
sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy
wife, and of thine offspring, and thine
elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and
shall say, My father, my father, why can't you stay with us? O, my father, what
are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by
the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine
enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;
(
26
And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of
heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can
ye feel so now?
The
Dangers of
Superficial Church Membership
____________________________
President Ezra Taft
Benson
Heed the Lord’s counsel
to the Saints of this dispensation: “Prepare yourselves for the great day of
the Lord” (D&C 133:10). This preparation must consist of more than
just casual membership in the Church. You must learn to be guided by personal
revelation and the counsel of the living prophet so you will not be
deceived. (“Prepare Yourself for the Great Day of the Lord,” New Era,
May 1982, p. 50)
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
From Men and Women of
Christ:
If we enlist and take the
Savior's yoke upon us we "shall find rest unto [our] souls" (Matthew
11:29). If we are only part-time soldiers, though, partially yoked, we
experience quite the opposite: frustration, irritation, and the absence of His
full grace and spiritual rest. In that case weaknesses persist and
satisfactions are intermittent. . . Actually the partially yoked experience
little spiritual satisfaction, because they are burdened by carrying the awful
weight of the natural man -- without any of the joys that come from progressing
toward becoming "the man of Christ." They have scarcely "[begun]
to be enlightened" (
Strange as it seems, a
few of the partially yoked, undeservedly wearing the colors of the kingdom, are
just close enough to the prescribed path and process to be able to observe in
others some of the visible costs of discipleship. Sobered by that observation,
they want victory without battle and expect campaign ribbons merely for
watching; but there is no witness until after the trial of their faith (see
Ether 12:6).
These same Church members
know just enough about the doctrines to converse superficially on them, but
their scant knowledge about the deep doctrines is inadequate for deep
discipleship (see 1 Corinthians 2:10). Thus uninformed about the deep
doctrines, they make no deep change in their lives. They lack the faith to
"give place" (
From "Overcome ...
Even As I Also Overcame":
Events and circumstances
in the last days make it imperative for us as members of the Church to become
more grounded, rooted, established, and settled (see Col. 1:23; Col. 2:7; 2
Pet. 1:12). Jesus said to His disciples, "settle this in your hearts, that
ye will do the things which I shall teach, and command you" (JST Luke
14:28). If not so settled, the turbulence will be severe. If settled, we will
not be "tossed to and fro," whether by rumors, false doctrines, or by
the behavioral and intellectual fashions of the world. Nor will we get caught
up in the "talk show" mentality, spending our time like ancient
Athenians "in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new
thing" (Acts 17:21). Why be concerned with the passing preferences of the
world anyway? "For the fashion of this world passeth
away" (1 Cor. 7:31). . . .
Some Church members,
alas, are neither reconciled to the will of God nor are they sufficiently
settled as to their covenants. . . .
Some give of their time
yet withhold themselves, being present without giving of their presence and
going through the superficial motions of membership instead of the deep
emotions of consecrated discipleship.
Some try to get by with
knowing only the headlines of the gospel, not really talking much of Christ or rejoicing
in Christ and esteeming lightly His books of scripture which contain and
explain His covenants (see 2 Ne. 25:26).
Some are so proud they
never learn of obedience and spiritual submissiveness. They will have very
arthritic knees on the day when every knee shall bend. There will be no gallery
then to play to; all will be participants!
Maintaining Church
membership on our own terms, therefore, is not true discipleship.
Real disciples absorb the
fiery darts of the adversary by holding aloft the quenching shield of faith
with one hand, while holding to the iron rod with the other (see Eph. 6:16; 1
Ne. 15:24; D&C 27:17). There should be no mistaking; it will take both
hands! ("Overcome ... Even As I Also Overcame," Ensign, May
1987, p. 70)
Joseph Smith
The things of God are of
deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn
thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto
salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and
contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity--thou must
commune with God. How much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God,
than the vain imaginations of the human heart! (History of the Church
3:295)
W. H. Auden
O God, put away justice
and truth for we cannot understand them and do not want them. Eternity would
bore us dreadfully. Leave Thy heavens and come down to our earth of waterclocks and hedges. Become our uncle. Look after Baby,
amuse Grandfather, escort Madam to the Opera, help Willy with his home-work,
introduce Muriel to a handsome naval officer. Be interesting and weak like us,
and we will love you as we love ourselves. (For the Time Being )
Thomas Pain
What we obtain too cheap,
we esteem too lightly: Tis dearness only that gives
everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods. (The
American Crises, p. 1)
The key to
mortality is to teach the Gift of the Holy Ghost, it is critical for spiritual
rebirth. It is also important to gain a
testimony to change behavior, as President Hinckley has said: The world will
get worse not better.
President George Q. Cannon spoke of
the failure of the Latter-day Saints to seek after the fruits and the gifts of
the Spirit: "We find, even among those who have embraced the Gospel,
hearts of unbelief. How many of you, my brethren and sisters, are seeking for
these gifts that God has promised to bestow? How many of you, when you bow
before your Heavenly Father in your family circle or in your secret places, contend
for these gifts to be bestowed upon you? How many of you ask the Father, in the
name of Jesus, to manifest Himself to you through these powers and these gifts?
Or do you go along day by day like a
door turning on its hinges, without having any feeling upon the subject,
without exercising any faith whatever; content to be baptized and be members of
the Church, and to rest there, thinking that your salvation is secure because
you have done this? I say to you, in the name of the Lord, as one of His servants,
that you have need to repent of this. You have need to repent of your
hardness of heart, of your indifference, and of your carelessness. There is not
that diligence, there is not that faith, there is not that seeking for the
power of God that there should be among a people who have received the precious
promises we have. . . . I say to you that it is our duty to avail ourselves of
the privileges which God has placed within our reach. . . .
"I feel to bear testimony to
you, my brethren and sisters . . . that God is the same to-day as He was
yesterday; that God is willing to bestow these gifts upon His children. . . .
If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make
us perfect. Have I imperfections? I
am full of them. What is my duty? To pray to God to give me the gifts that will
correct these imperfections. If I am an angry man, it is my duty to pray for
charity, which suffereth long and is kind. Am I an
envious man? It is my duty to seek for charity, which envieth
not. So with all the gifts of the Gospel. They are intended for this
purpose. No man ought to say, 'Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature.' He is
not justified in it, for the reason that God has promised to give strength to
correct these things, and to give gifts that will eradicate them. If a man lack
wisdom, it is his duty to ask God for wisdom. The same with everything else.
That is the design of God concerning His Church. He wants His Saints to be
perfected in the truth. For this purpose He gives these gifts, and bestows them
upon those who seek after them, in order that they may be a perfect people upon
the face of the earth, notwithstanding their many weaknesses, because God has
promised to give the gifts that are necessary for their perfection." (Millennial
Star, 23 Apr. 1894, pp. 259-61; italics added.)
The Spirit of God sanctifies—it
cleanses and purges the human heart. The Spirit does far more, however, than
remove uncleanness. It also fills. It fills one with a holy element, with a
sacred presence that motivates to a godly walk and goodly works. Such persons
filled with the Holy Ghost (and with charity) do not necessarily plan out how
they will perform the works of righteousness; they do not always plot and
design which deeds and what actions are to be done in every situation. Rather,
they embody righteousness. They are goodness. Good works flow from a regenerate
heart and evidence their commitment to their Lord and Master. Yes, these
persons do have agency. Indeed, they are free, because they have given themselves
up to the Lord and his purposes. They choose to do good, but their choices are
motivated by the Spirit of the Lord. They live in a world of turmoil but are at
peace. They may exist in a society that is steeped in anxiety and uncertainty,
but they are at rest. They may live among persons on all sides who are
frightened, but they are secure, for charity, or perfect love, casts out all
fear. (
(Robert L.
Millet, Steadfast and Immovable: Striving for Spiritual Maturity [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1992], 98.)
We overcome
spiritual death by baptism, and then we must work on maintaining spirituality,
see JS verse 30.
Part of
mortality is to be tested, we need to be tried and have our integrity
challenged.
John 3:2-5
– Baptism by water and the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Teachings pg. 163, Pres.
Romney’s talk on the Light of Christ April, 1977.
The
Light of Christ
President Marion G.
Romney
Conference Report, Apr. 1977, p. 59-63;
or Ensign, May 1977, p. 43-45
My brethren, I pray, and ask
you to join in that prayer, that while I speak we will enjoy the Spirit of
Christ. If we don't enjoy it, we won't enjoy these remarks, because my topic is
"The Light of Christ." There are three phases of the light of Christ
that I want to mention.
The first one is the light
which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the
world;
The second phase is the gift of the Holy Ghost;
And the third is the more sure word of prophecy.
The Light of Christ
In the eighty-eighth section
of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord says, "The light of Christ . . .
proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space."
(Vv. 7, 12 [D&C 88:7, 12].)
In another revelation, it is
written that this light, which is "the Spirit of Jesus Christ . . . giveth
light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit." (D&C 84:4546.)
This Spirit is, no doubt,
the source of one's conscience, which Webster defines as "a knowledge or
feeling of right and wrong with a compulsion to do right."
Mormon was alluding to this
Spirit when he wrote to his son
"Wherefore, take heed,
my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or
that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
"For behold, my
brethren, it is given unto you to judge, [and that gift is because the light of
Christ enlighteneth every man that cometh into the
world], that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that
ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
"For behold, the Spirit
of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil." ([
President Joseph F. Smith
says that this Spirit of Christ "strives with . . . men, and will continue
to strive with them [if they will resist the enticings
of Satan], until it brings them to a knowledge of the truth and the possession
of the greater light and testimony of the Holy Ghost." (Gospel Doctrine,
Deseret Book Co., 1973, pp. 6768.)
Gift of the Holy Ghost
Now, this statement of
President Smith's brings us to a consideration of the second phase of our
subject: the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost is a person,
a [Ensign, p. 44] spirit, the third member of the Godhead. He is a messenger
and a witness of the Father and the Son. He brings to men testimony, witness,
and knowledge of God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and the truths of the
gospel. He vitalizes truth in the hearts and souls of men.
"There is a
difference," said the Prophet Joseph Smith, "between the Holy Ghost
and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before he was
baptized, which was the convincing power of God unto him of the truth of the
Gospel, but he could not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost until after he was
baptized. Had he not [been baptized], the Holy Ghost which convinced him of the
truth of God, would have left him." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith, p. 199.) That's not my statement; that's the statement of the Prophet
Joseph Smith. But I know it's true.
The gift of the Holy Ghost
confers upon one, as long as he is worthy, the right to receive light and
truth.
Obtaining the gift of the
Holy Ghost is preceded by faith, repentance, and baptism. Retaining the spirit,
power, and guidance of the Holy Ghost requires a righteous life--a dedicated
effort to constantly comply with the laws and ordinances of the gospel.
Member of the Godhead
The Holy Ghost is, as we
have said, the third member of the Godhead. Of Him the Prophet Joseph said:
"The Holy Ghost has not
a body of flesh and bones [as we know that God and Jesus Christ have], but is a
personage of Spirit." (D&C 130:22.)
The Holy Ghost is the great
witness of, the messenger for, and testifier of the Father and the Son. The
Savior, speaking of Him as the "Spirit of truth," said:
"When he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
"He shall glorify me:
for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto
you." (John 16:1314.)
By the witness and power of
the Holy Ghost we receive personal testimonies of the truths of the gospel,
including knowledge of God the Father and His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our
Savior and Redeemer.
Notwithstanding the
availability of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, there are many people who live
within reach of them who fail to see them. Concerning such tragedy, the Lord
said:
"Behold, I am Jesus
Christ, the Son [CR, p. 61] of God. I am the same that came unto mine own, and
mine own received me not. I am the light which shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it
not." (D&C 6:21.)
Comprehending the light
All three of the synoptic
Gospel writers record the following classic illustration of the difficulty one
in darkness has in comprehending the light. Matthew's version reads:
"When Jesus came into
the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men
say that I the Son of man am?
"And they said, Some
say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." (Matt. 16: 1314.)
Now, the people who
expressed these opinions were Christ's contemporaries. Their conclusions
evidenced the fact that they knew something about His mighty works. No doubt
they were aware of His claim that He was the Son of God. Their minds, however,
were opaque to the light of His true identity. Although the light was shining
brightly about them, they "comprehended it not."
Having heard their answer as
to who men said He was, Jesus directed to His disciples the question, "But
whom say ye that I am?" (Matt. 16:15 [Matthew 16:15] .)
Then Peter, speaking for
himself and presumptively for the others, answered, "Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God." (Matt. 16:16 [Matthew 16:16] .) In this
declaration, Peter evidenced the fact that he and his fellow disciples did
comprehend the light shining in the world of spiritual darkness around them.
In His response to Peter's
answer, Jesus declared a truth understood only by those who comprehend the
light by and through the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, for Jesus' answer
was:
"Flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee," He said, "but my Father which is in
heaven, . . . and upon this rock"--meaning, upon the rock of revelation,
which comes by means of the Holy Ghost--"I will build my church; and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16:1718 [Matthew
16:1718].)
How difficult it is to get
one in darkness to comprehend the light or to believe that there is such light
is illustrated by John's account of the interview between Jesus and Nicodemus.
"There was," says
John, "a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
"[Who] came to Jesus by
night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God:
for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
"Jesus answered and
said . . . Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the
"Nicodemus saith unto
him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into
his mother's womb, and be born?
"Jesus answered,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the
One is born again by
actually receiving and experiencing the light and power inherent in the gift of
the Holy Ghost.
"More sure word of
prophecy"
Now, concerning the third
phase of our theme, "the more sure word of prophecy" (D&C 131:5),
which is obtained by making one's "calling and election sure" (2 Pet.
1:10 [2 Peter 1:10] ), the Prophet Joseph said:
"After a person has
faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his
sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands) . . . then let
him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, and [CR, p. 62] living by every word of God, and the Lord will
soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly
proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards,
then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be
his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the
Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of
In the eighty-eighth section
of the Doctrine and Covenants is recorded a revelation in which the Lord,
addressing some of the early Saints in
"I now send upon you
another Comforter, even upon you my friends, that it may abide in your hearts,
even the Holy Spirit of promise; which other Comforter is the same that I
promised unto my disciples, as is recorded in the testimony of John.
"This Comforter is the
promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial
kingdom." (D&C 88:34.)
I should think that all
faithful Latter-day Saints "would want that more sure word of prophecy,
that they were sealed in the heavens and had the promise of eternal life in the
Anchor to men's souls
As I read the sacred
records, I find recorded experiences of men in all dispensations who have had
this more sure anchor to their souls, this peace in their hearts.
Lehi's grandson Enos so
hungered after righteousness that he cried unto the Lord until "there came
a voice unto [him], saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be
blessed." (Enos 5 [Enos 1:5] .) Years later Enos revealed the nature of
this promised blessing when he wrote:
"I soon go to the place
of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And
I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand
before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me:
Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of
my Father." ([Enos 1:27].)
To
To His twelve Nephite
disciples, the Master said:
"What is it that ye
desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father?
"And they all spake, save it were three, saying: We desire that after we
have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry, wherein thou hast called us,
may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee in thy kingdom.
"And he said unto them:
Blessed are ye because ye desired this thing of me; therefore, after that ye
are seventy and two years old ye shall come unto me in my kingdom; and with me
ye shall find rest." (3 Ne. 28:13 [3 Nephi 28:13] .)
As
"Thou hast been
faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast
seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the
place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." (Eth. 12:37 [Ether
12:37] .)
Paul, in his second epistle
to Timothy, wrote:
"I am now ready to be
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
"I have fought a good
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
"Henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
shall give me at that day." (2 Tim. 4:68 [2 Timothy 4:68].)
Assurances in our day
In this dispensation many
have received like assurances. In the spring of 1839, while the Prophet Joseph
and his associates were languishing in Liberty Jail, Heber C. Kimball, our
president's grandfather, labored against great odds caring for the Saints and
striving to free the brethren who were in jail. On the sixth of April he wrote:
"My family having been
gone about two months, during which time I heard nothing from them; our
brethren being in prison; death and destruction following us everywhere we
went; I felt very sorrowful and lonely. The following words came to mind, and
the Spirit said unto me, 'write,' which I did by taking a piece of paper and
writing on my knee as follows: . . .
"Verily I say unto my
servant Heber, thou art my son, in whom I am well pleased; for thou art careful
to hearken to my words, and not transgress my law, nor rebel against my servant
Joseph Smith, for thou hast a respect to the words of mine anointed, even from
the least to the greatest of them; therefore"--listen to this--"thy
name is written in heaven, no more to be blotted out for ever." (Orson F.
Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, Bookcraft, 1975,
p. 241; italics added.)
To the Prophet Joseph Smith
the Lord said:
"I am the Lord thy God,
and will be with thee even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity;
for verily I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the
kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your father." (D&C 132:49; italics
added.)
Witness of truths
Now my beloved brethren, by
way of summary and conclusion, I bear witness to the verity of these great
truths. I know that the Spirit of Christ enlighteneth
"every man that cometh into the world; and [that] the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit." (D&C
84:46.)
I know that everyone who,
following the whisperings of the Spirit, develops faith, is baptized, and
receives the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands by those having
authority, may, by compliance with the teachings of the gospel, receive the
gifts and the power of the Holy Ghost.
And I bear further witness
that every such person who, having come this far, will follow the Prophet's
admonition to "continue to humble himself before God, hungering and
thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God" (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 150), may obtain the more sure word of
prophecy.
That the Lord will bless all
of us priesthood bearers that we will so understand these great truths, that in
the end we shall, by making our calling and election sure, enjoy the full light
of Christ, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.
(Moses
6:58-65.) - Quickened means to be made alive, 2 types of birth,
physical and spiritual, notice the similarities. The process precedes the event.
58 Therefore I give unto
you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying:
59 That by reason of
transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth
death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the
spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must
be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be
cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be
sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and
eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
60 For by the water ye
keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are
sanctified;
61 Therefore it is given
to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of
immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth
all things, which maketh alive all things; that which
knoweth all things, and hath all power according to
wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.
62 And now, behold, I say
unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine
Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time.
63 And behold, all things
have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me,
both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which
are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which
are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath:
all things bear record of me.
64 And it came to pass,
when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord,
and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the
water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.
65 And thus he was
baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the
Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.
Process of Spiritual Rebirth
- The Awakening –
2.
Childlike Belief – John 3:3-6, Alma 22, Mosiah 2-5, these
people wanted to know the
truth they were ready to be taught.
3. Taught Correct Doctrine – D & C
88:118, there is a balance between smarts and
revelation. In
in the Lord Jesus Christ, helps
teach and understand all other doctrine.
Spiritual Rebirth brings a change of heart,
it brings conversion.
how to teach and what to
teach. Testimonies are created by the
manifestation of the
Spirit.
- Develop Faith in Jesus Christ – LF 3:1-5, Faith consists of
4 parts Elder Wirthlin Oct, 2002,
CR
1. Confidence and Trust in Jesus
Christ
2. Being active – Serving others,
motivated for Good
3. Actions must be in accord with the
will of God
4. Timing – our faith is rewarded on
His timetable not ours
These 4 points give an
Individual Power to Enable Action
5. Repentance – Ezekiel 33:11 – to turn in Hebrew
means to repent, Elder T. Burton,
Notices the word turn in the scriptures (OT and Book of Mormon) how
it is associated with repentance.
John Taylor
God is interested in the
whole of the human family. He cannot take them all into the celestial kingdom,
for they are not all prepared to go there, and you cannot prepare them and He
cannot, because they have to be governed by certain laws and certain principles
and certain feelings, and if they are not governed by these and will not be
governed by a celestial law, they are not prepared for a celestial glory. There
are some that may be governed by a terrestrial law, and may be prepared for a
terrestrial glory, but not for a celestial glory. Still, they are God's
children, and He is doing the best by them He can. (Journal of
Discourses, 24:195)
The Meaning
of Metanoeo:
The Greek
Word for Repentance
From: Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament, 4:976-977
Noeo
- Literally, "to direct one's mind to a
subject"
- In classical Greek it meant "to
perceive" or "to notice"
- In compounds means "after,"
"with," "around," etc.
Metanoeo literally means
"after directing one's mind to a subject." But what did it mean to
the Greeks?
Metanoeo . . .
- can first mean "to note after, later";
- it can then mean "to change one's mind"
or "adopt another view" or "to change one's
feelings";
- if the change of mind derives from recognition
that the earlier view was foolish, improper or evil, there arises the
sense "to regret," "to feel remorse," "to
rue."
From: Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, 2:472
Metanoeo is literally "know
after." To repent is first of all . . .
- a change of mind
- a change of feelings
- a change intentions
- a change plans
- to reflect (which implies a time later than the
first knowledge)
- to reconsider a first opinion
- is a new form of thought or feeling after coming
under the influence of Deception (apate),
whence derive ignorance and error
What
characterizes this evolution is that it is accompanied by regret, sorrow, or
shame at the former opinion or attitude.
Adam and Eve had to turn
back to the Garden to speak to God, Matthew 3:2,
The Challenge to Become
Dallin H. Oaks
From such teachings we conclude that the Final
Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts--what
we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and
thoughts--what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through
the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not
a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of
Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father
desires us to become. . . .
Now is the time for each of us to work
toward our personal conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father
desires us to become. As we do so, we should remember that our family
relationships--even more than our Church callings--are the setting in which the
most important part of that development can occur. The conversion we must
achieve requires us to be a good husband and father or a good wife and mother.
Being a successful Church leader is not enough. Exaltation is an eternal family
experience, and it is our mortal family experiences that are best suited to
prepare us for it. (Ensign, Nov. 2000, pp. 32-34)
6. Baptism – Qualifies us for the gift of the Holy Ghost, now we are
spiritually reborn. We are to teach this
doctrine to bring about repentance; it’s a complete change of heart.
Helaman 15:7 – the last
part of verse, D of S 2:323-326. Baptism
(both) brings us back to spiritual life.
Baptism is not only a
figure of the resurrection, but also is literally a transplanting or
resurrection from one life to another -- from the life of sin to the life of
spiritual life. For proof of that, I am going to read first something the Lord
said to Joseph Smith.
"Wherefore, I, the Lord God, caused that he [Adam]
should be cast out from the Garden of Eden, from my presence, because of his
transgression, wherein he became spiritually dead, which is the first death,
even that same death which is the last death, which is spiritual, which shall
be pronounced upon the wicked when I shall say: Depart, ye cursed."
Here we have two conditions, spiritual life and spiritual
death. The condition of Adam in the Garden of Eden was spiritual life. He was
in the presence of God. Through his transgression, he was banished into
spiritual death -- a new life entirely. He was no longer in the presence of
God. He was shut out, separated, a veil drawn between him, and the Lord.
Adam, after the fall, was in spiritual death, and not only
Adam but every man and woman upon the face of the earth who is accountable
before God, We will not consider the last death more than to say it is also
banishment from the presence of God.
"But, behold, I say unto you that I, the Lord God, gave
unto Adam and unto his seed, that they should not die as to the temporal death,
until I, the Lord God, should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance
and redemption, through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son. And thus
did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation -- that by his
natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many
as would believe; And they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for they
cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not."
We find Adam, then, in spiritual death, and all his
posterity, excepting little children. All men and women need repentance. Death
is banishment. They are in spiritual death. How are they going to get back? By
being buried in the water. They are dead and are buried in the water and come
forth in the resurrection of the Spirit back into spiritual life. That is what
baptism is. (Doctrines of Salvation,
2:323-328)
Physical growth and
development will be the same as spiritual growth and development, what gives us
this growth and development? Correct
nourishment!
7. Receive the Gift of
the Holy Ghost – The 2nd step in baptism, without which nothing else
really matters!
3 Nephi 27:19-20
Now
this is the commandment; Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and
be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy
Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.
Marion G. Romney
One is born again by actually receiving and experiencing the
light and power inherent in the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Conference Report,
Apr. 1977, 61; or Ensign, May 1977, 44)
Keys to Maintain
Spirituality
1.
Proper Sabbath observance
2.
The Sacrament
3.
Obedience
4.
Prayer and Revelation
5.
Feasting upon the words of Christ
6.
Fasting
7.
Meditation – Pondering
8.
Service
9.
Love your fellow man
10.
Forgive one another – without this we can kill the Spirit within
with bitterness
11.
Control our environment – What are you reading and watching in
your home
12.
2 Nephi 1:13, 2:28-29,
constant strengthening and encouragement, the spirit must overcome the natural
man. Read the Strength of Youth
Pamphlet.
Spiritual Health
We know that our physical bodies require certain nutrients
to sustain life and to maintain physical and mental health. If we are deprived
of those nutrients, our physical and mental vitality are impaired and we have a
condition called malnutrition. Malnutrition produces such symptoms as reduced
mental functions, digestive disorders, loss of physical strength, and
impairment of vision. Good nutrition is especially important for children,
whose growing bodies are easily impaired if they lack the nutrients necessary
for normal growth.
Our
spirits also require nourishment. Just as there is food for the body, there is
food for the spirit. The consequences of spiritual malnutrition are just as
hurtful to our spiritual lives as physical malnutrition is to our physical
bodies. Symptoms of spiritual malnutrition include reduced ability to digest
spiritual food, reduced spiritual strength, and impairment of spiritual
vision. (Dallin H. Oaks, Spiritual Nourishment, Ensign, Dec. 1998,
pp. 7-13)
How is Spirituality Obtained?
- Spirituality comes by faith, repentance, baptism, and
reception of the Holy Ghost. One who has the companionship of the Holy
Ghost is in harmony with God. He is, therefore, spiritual. Spirituality is
sustained by so living as to keep that companionship. (Marion G.
Romney, Ensign, Nov. 1979, pp. 15-17)
How is
one spiritually reborn?
- Being born again comes by the Spirit of God through
ordinances. (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,
p.162)
- One is born again by actually receiving and
experiencing the light and power inherent in the gift of the Holy Ghost.
(Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, Apr. 1977, 61; or Ensign, May 1977,
44)
What is the process of spiritual rebirth?
- The Awakening
- Development of child like belief
- Must be taught correct doctrine
- Develop faith
- Repent
- Baptism
- Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost
How is
spirituality maintained?
There are some important principles that we should
understand to help assure that we and our children will not suffer spiritual
malnutrition.
We know the principal sources of spiritual food: prayer, studying the scriptures,
attending inspirational meetings, singing the hymns of Zion, serving in our
callings, fasting, partaking of the sacrament, and making other covenants, such
as in the temple [emphasis added]. We also know that some experiences can
interfere with the assimilation of spiritual food, just as certain poisons can
interfere with obtaining needed physical nourishment from physical food. For
example, anything that drives away the Spirit of the Lord, such as pornography,
profanity, or anger, will prevent us from obtaining the spiritual nourishment
we need from experiences that would normally be effective as spiritual food.
Some physical substances, like those forbidden by the Word of Wisdom, are
harmful to both body and spirit. We must make sure that our children have
sufficient spiritual food and that they are protected from those influences
that will prevent this food from being assimilated into spiritual
nourishment. (Dallin H. Oaks, Spiritual Nourishment, Ensign, Dec.
1998, pp. 7-13)
Priesthood is the
authority delegated to man to act in God’s name, relative to the salvation of
man. Covenants entered into by
ordinances are the avenue back to His presence.
We are commanded to understand God’s will for us then act
upon it for our benefit.
We need to access this power to: 1. Save us from spiritual death. 2. To
exalt ourselves.
Adam held the priesthood and its keys in the garden.
All of the saving ordinances of the gospel are celestial in
nature. To make them effective in our
lives, in order to be saved, we need these keys and ordinances.
THE SPIRITUAL REBIRTH PROCESS
Part One – Overcome (Spiritual Rebirth) Justification
There are many examples of this in the Book of Mormon, Enos,
Mosiah 2-5, and Alma 22.
SPIRITUAL
DEATH Out of the presence of God, how
can we get back home? – D&C 29:41
Awakening to your spiritual state –
Childlike Belief – Mosiah 3-5, Alma 22
Learn Correct Doctrine – D&C 88:118
Faith in Jesus Christ – Lectures on Faith 3:1-5
Sincere Repentance – Ezekiel 18:30-32, 33:8-11
Baptism in water by immersion for the remission of sins,
Moses 6:64-65 Justified (Not Guilty)
Gift of the Holy Ghost, A Baptism by Fire which cleanses the
soul, Sanctified (Clean, Pure, Dedicated to Building up the Kingdom)
SPIRITUAL LIFE –
D&C 20:31
Part Two – To process of Sanctification is reaching the
highest degree in the
EXALTATION
John 3:1-5 – Nicodemus had a need to find out about Christ,
he came to him by night and learned about the rebirth process. In verse 3 we need to look at the footnote
and see the Greek translation of born again, born from above. Bruce said not to be afraid of teaching the
born again concept, don’t let others steal the true meaning of scripture. Of course we believe in being born
again! Notice in verse 5 the little “s”
for our spirit and the big “S” for the Holy Ghost, it’s the same in Moses
6:58-59. In these verses, it shows the
similar manners of physical and spiritual births. Always
teach being born again at baptisms.
The Hebrew and Greek words for wind and spirit are the same
in both languages.
Hebrew – Ruwach Greek – Penauma
John 10:1-14 – Bruce went into detail of how Christ is both
the gate and the Shepherd guarding the flock of sheep. See the web site for pictures of a Shepherd’s
enclosure
Where the sheep are protected at night, also, where the
Shepherd sleeps at night, in the doorway, the only way in or out!
Joseph Smith
Being born again, comes by the Spirit of God through
ordinances. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.162)
Joseph F. Smith
To all believers, and to the Latter-day Saints especially,
there is sweet comfort in this knowledge, and in the thought that through
obedience to the ordinances and principles of the gospel, which Christ, our
Savior, taught and enjoined upon the people and his disciples, men shall be
born again, redeemed from sin, arise from the grave, and like Jesus return into
the presence of the Father. (Gospel Doctrine, p.447)
Orson Pratt
A person cannot be born again legitimately without a legal
administrator. If you are born of the Spirit, there must needs be a man
authorized to administer that Spirit. Paul says, "Who hath also made us
able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit, for
the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
Why? Because he was authorized to lay his hands on baptized believers, and
confirm upon them the gift of the Holy Ghost, that they might be born of the
Spirit and become new creatures. (Journal of Discourses, 7:265)
The scriptures tell us how to live a Christlike life. What must I do to be saved? As I pondered these words, I
thought of three essentials that are necessary to inspire one to live a Christlike life—or, speaking more accurately in the
language of the scriptures, to live more perfectly as the Master lived. The
first essential I would name in order to qualify is: There must be awakened in
the individual who would be taught or who would live perfectly an awareness of
his needs.
The rich young ruler [see Matthew
19:16-24] did not need to be taught repentance from murder nor from murderous
thoughts. He did not have to be schooled in how to repent from adultery, nor
from stealing, lying, defrauding, or failing to honor his mother. All these he
said he had observed from his youth; but his question was, "What lack I
yet?"
The Master, with His keen discernment
and the power of a great teacher, diagnosed the young man's case perfectly: his
need and his lack were to overcome his love for worldly things, his tendency to
trust in riches. And then Jesus prescribed the effective remedy: "If thou
wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me" (Matthew
Enos, the grandson of Lehi, tells of
the wrestle he had before God, before he received a remission of his sins. We
are not told what his sins were, but he apparently confessed them very freely.
And then he said, "And my soul hungered" (Enos 1:4). You see, that
awareness and feeling of great need, and that soul-searching, brought him face
to face with his lack and his need.
This quality of sensing one's need
was expressed in the great Sermon on the Mount when the Master said,
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
(Matthew 5:3). The poor in spirit, of course, means those who are spiritually
needy, who feel so impoverished spiritually that they reach out with great
yearning for help.
Every one of us, if we would reach
perfection, must one time ask ourselves this question, "What lack I
yet?" if we would commence our climb upward on the highway to perfection.
The effective leader is one who helps the learner to discover that lack, to
diagnose his basic difficulties, and then to prescribe his spiritual remedies.
The second essential for perfection
that I would name is found in the conversation the Master had with Nicodemus.
He discerned as Nicodemus came to Him that he was seeking to have the answer to
what many others had asked Him: "What must I do to be saved?" And the
Master answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the
A man must be "born again"
if he would reach perfection, in order to see or enter into the
You cannot have a Christlike
life without being born again. One would never be happy in the presence of the
Holy One of Israel without this cleansing and purifying.
And then finally the third essential:
to help the learner to know the gospel by living the gospel. Spiritual certainty
that is necessary to salvation must be preceded by a maximum of individual
effort. Grace, or the free gift of the Lord's atoning power, must be preceded
by personal striving. Repeating again what Nephi said, "By grace we are
saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23).
The Master answered a question of the
Jews as to how they could be certain as to whether His mission was of God or
whether He was just another man. He said: "If any man will do his will, he
shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of
myself" (John
(Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited
by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1996], 163.)
3 Nephi 27:19-22 – In His 3rd discourse to the
Nephites, the Lord explains the process of becoming clean to enter the kingdom
of heaven.
The awakening process can leave an individual troubled,
bothered and uncomfortable. However,
moving to the next step of childlike belief may not happen, the completion of
all the steps may not be successful.
Indications of being Spiritually Reborn
- Change of Heart –
- Sing the song of redeeming
love, joyful and happy –
- No more disposition to do evil
– Mosiah 5:2
- To do good continually, looking
outward instead of inward. Focus on
Building up the
2 Nephi
Many awakenings fall flat because they are not taught
correct doctrine, taught at the correct time!
The Church supplements the teaching in the home, not the other way
around!
Mosiah 4:1-3 – King Benjamin awakens the people to their
plight, see 5-6.
Study Matthew 5 and 3 Nephi 12 to understand the Beatitudes,
Bruce stressed these as a way to live our lives in mortality. They are an overview to the whole plan. In 3 Nephi, he is talking to the 12; see
verse 1, a lesson on them is on the web site.
Helaman 15:7 – Repentance is a state of being, not an event,
see the Hebrew and Greek definition of repentance. It’s a change of view, a turning away from,
Elder Burton’s talk.
Shube – Hebrew for turning
Metanoeo – Greek for adopting a different
point of view
What characterizes this evolution is that it is
accompanied by regret, sorrow, or shame at the former opinion or attitude.
If the view you had was carnal and the view you now have is
spiritual, you have adopted a new point of view you have repented.
The baptism covenant is showing God you have accepted the
new view, and then you receive a remission of sins, you are forgiven,
justified; you can enter into the presence of Deity.
To be spiritually reborn is a continual process, you realize
you need to learn, have faith, repent daily etc. . . . My concern is no longer for myself, my
concern is for others, and I am becoming sanctified. The remaining Beatitudes cover
sanctification, that is next week’s lesson.
Yes, eternal life. These are eschatological blessings,
aren't they? "Blessed are the poor in spirit." What will the poor in
spirit inherit? "Theirs is the kingdom of heaven." When will the meek
inherit the earth? Only when the earth is sanctified and presented in its
immortal state and becomes the celestial kingdom upon which the meek will
dwell. Blessed are those who suffer persecution and ridicule for my name's
sake, for great is their reward. Where? In heaven. Jesus is promising the
eternal blessings, and at the outset of the ceremony tells what those things
are in store for those who are worthy to obtain them. You get a foretaste of
what this will be in the Beatitudes. Certainly the Beatitudes present us with a
benchmark of righteousness-not just a routine, moral sense of righteousness.
This list of virtues that you see presented in the Beatitudes is very similar
to the list that you encounter in scriptures that talk about the process of
sanctification. Look at 2 Pet. 1; look at 1 Cor. 13. Look at the list of virtues that King
Benjamin in Mosiah 3:18-19 says a person must put on in order for the atoning
blood to purify that person. That's the sanctifying power. Those are the
virtues that you encounter in the Beatitudes-preparing the way for holiness and
sanctification
(Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon--Semester 1:
Transcripts of Lectures Presented to an Honors Book of Mormon Class at Brigham
Young University, 1988--1990 [Provo: Foundation for Ancient Re, p.136)
BYUI Symposium Joseph Smith
Ether 3:15
January 29, 2005
(Ether 2:4.)
4 And it came to pass that
when they had come down into the
The brother of Jared had
visited the Lord before their journey.
He was told to pray and not to forget it in Ether 3:2.
He had 2 problems with
the Lord’s instructions, light for the barges and air to breath. How do you approach the Lord after he got
after you? J.
He sees the finger of
the Lord and is shocked He has a body.
(Ether 3:6-16.)
6 And it came to pass that
when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched
forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger. And the veil
was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the
Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the
brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear.
7 And the Lord saw that
the brother of Jared had fallen to the earth; and the Lord said unto him:
Arise, why hast thou fallen?
8 And he saith unto the
Lord: I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I
knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood.
9 And the Lord said unto
him: Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and
blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast;
for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest
thou more than this?
10 And he answered: Nay;
Lord, show thyself unto me.
11 And the Lord said unto
him: Believest thou the words which I shall speak?
12 And he answered: Yea,
Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou
art a God of truth, and canst not lie.
13 And when he had said
these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall;
therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto
you.
14 Behold, I am he who was
prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the
Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even
they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my
daughters.
15 And never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never
has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou
that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the
beginning after mine own image.
16 Behold, this body,
which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the
body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I
appear unto my people in the flesh.
11 – The Lord talks to him in the
present and future tense.
14-15 – How can that be when you think of Enoch and the events at Adam-Ondi-Ahman 3 years before Adam died?
Joseph Fielding Smith: "All
revelation since the fall has come through Jesus Christ. . . . The Father
[Elohim] has never dealt with man directly and personally since the fall, and
he has never appeared except to introduce and bear record of the Son." fn
Assuming that such is the case, this appearance to the brother of Jared is the
first recorded manifestation of Jehovah in which he appeared and identified
himself as the Son. Elsewhere the scriptures record him appearing or
speaking as God the Father (for example, Moses 6:50-52, 58-59; 7:4, 32-33, 39;
see also 1:1-6). But to the brother of Jared he said, "Behold, I am
Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have
life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they
shall become my sons and my daughters. And never have I showed myself unto man
whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast" (Ether
The uniqueness of this situation lies
in the fact that Jehovah appeared to Mahonri Moriancumer in his role as Jesus Christ--rather than as the
Father. Never before, as far as we can tell from the scriptures, had Jesus
Christ shown himself unto man. (And, interestingly, nowhere else in the
scriptures do we have a clear example of Jehovah appearing as Jesus until his
coming in the flesh.) fn As Moroni reported, "Having this perfect
knowledge of God, he could not be kept from within the veil; therefore he
saw Jesus" (Ether
Perhaps the unprecedented nature of
this appearance is a reason why the Lord commanded that the account not be made
known in the world until after his mortal ministry (Ether
Kent P. Jackson is an associate
professor of ancient scripture at
BROTHER OF JARED SAW THE LORD IN HIS
FULNESS
It is true that the Savior appeared
to the prophets before the flood, but it is evident that he did not reveal
himself in the fulness as he did to the Brother of Jared. Talking "face to
face," as stated in this revelation, does not mean that the Lord did not
appear in a cloud; or, that his body was partially hidden from the view of the
prophet. All of this could occur and yet the Lord still be partially, if not
completely, hidden from the prophet's view. The great difference rests in this,
which the conversation of the Lord with the Brother of Jared clearly indicates:
The Savior was conversing with the Brother of Jared in person, yes, evidently
face to face, yet the Lord was hidden by a veil. The Brother of Jared knew that
the Lord was there, but evidently he did not understand that the Lord had a
body apparently of flesh and bones. Through his great faith he was able to see
the finger of the Lord when the Lord touched the stones. So astonished did the
prophet become that he fell to the earth in fright, fearing that the Lord might
strike him.
(Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to
Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957-1966], 2:
125.)
These words have disturbed many
students of scripture because they know that the Lord did appear to many
of his servants long before his appearance to the brother of Jared. He appeared
to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Moses
Behold, I am he who was prepared from
the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I
am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have light, and that
eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my
sons and my daughters. (Ether 3:14)
Observe that the Lord is talking about those who believe in him. Believers
shall have light, eternally, and become his spiritual sons and daughters.
Believers are elsewhere called "the sons of God."
And Noah and his sons hearkened unto the Lord, and gave heed, and they
were called the sons of God. (Moses 8:13)
The unbelievers are known as "the sons of men."
Mine anger is kindled against the sons of men, for they will not hearken
to my voice. (Moses 8:15; cf. Moses 8:14)
Now, having explained to the brother of Jared that believers shall
become sons and daughters of God (Ether 3:14), the Lord implies in 3:15 a
contrast between his course of action with the brother of Jared (a believer)
and that with the "sons of men" (unbelievers, carnal men). He appears
in person to his servant, a believer, but never in times past has he ever done
so to the unbeliever, natural man. Let me present the Lord's words with
explanations in brackets to make my meaning clear.
And never have I showed myself unto man ["sons of men,"
unbelievers] whom I have created, for never has man [the unbeliever] believed
in me as thou hast. (Ether 3:15)
This explanation is simple and fits
nicely into the context.
The Lord proceeded to call the
brother of Jared's attention to the fact that he and all men were created in
his own image; that the body which he saw was his spirit body, and as he
appeared in the spirit, so would he appear unto his people in the flesh
(3:15-16). The explanation which the Lord gave of his own personality to the
brother of Jared is one of the great contributions the Book of Mormon makes to
this generation.
(Sidney B. Sperry, Book of Mormon
Compendium [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968],
467.)
Here are the thoughts from Elder
Jeffrey Holland on these chapters in Ether 2-4, given at a Sperry Symposium on
the Book of Mormon.
Rending the Veil of Unbelief
Jeffrey R. Holland
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, formerly dean of Religious Education and
president of
If one were to ask a casual reader of
the Book of Mormon to name the principal character in that book, the responses
would undoubtedly vary. For one thing, any record covering more than a thousand
years of history—with all the persons such a history would include—is unlikely
to have any single, central figure emerge over such an extended period as the
principal character. Nonetheless, after acknowledging that limitation, perhaps
some might list any one of several favorite, or at least memorable, persons. Such
names as Mormon, the abridger for whom the book is named, or Nephi, the book's
early and very recognizable young prophet, or Alma, to whom so many pages are
devoted, or Moroni, the fearless captain who flew the Title of Liberty, or his
namesake who concluded the book and delivered it some fourteen hundred years
later to the young Joseph Smith—these would undoubtedly be among some of those
figures mentioned.
All of these responses would be
provocative, but they would also be decidedly incorrect. The principal and
commanding figure in the Book of Mormon, from first chapter to last, is the
Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the book is truly "another testament."
From the first page—indeed, from the book's title page—to the last declaration
in the text, this testament reveals, demonstrates, examines, and underscores
the divine mission of Jesus Christ as recorded in the sacred accounts of two
New World dispensations, accounts written for the benefit of a third
dispensation, the last and greatest of all dispensations, the dispensation of
the fulness of times. This sacred record, written by prophets and preserved by
angels, was written for one crucial, fundamental, eternally essential reason:
"to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal
God, manifesting himself unto all nations" (Book of Mormon, title page).
In a remarkable vision recorded early
in the Book of Mormon, the young prophet Nephi sees the eventual preparation
and circulation of the Holy Bible, "a record of the Jews, which contains
the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel" (1
Nephi 13:23). But, alarmingly, he also sees the abuse and doctrinal decimation
of that book as it moves down through the ages and passes through many hands.
It was foretold in this vision that
the Bible record would be clear and untarnished in the meridian of time, that
in its beginning "it contained the fulness of the gospel of the
Lord," with both Old and New Testaments going "from the Jews in
purity unto the Gentiles" (1 Nephi 13:24-25). But over time, both through
innocent error and malicious design, many doctrines and principles, especially
those emphasizing covenantal elements of "the gospel of the Lamb"
were lost—and sometimes were simply willfully expunged—from "the book of
the Lamb of God" (1 Nephi 13:26, 28). Unfortunately, these missing
elements were both "plain and precious"—plain, we presume, in their
clarity and power and ability to be understood; precious surely in their
profound worth, gospel significance, and eternal importance (1 Nephi 13:28).
Whatever the reason for or source of the loss of these truths from the biblical
record, that loss has resulted in "pervert[ing]
the right ways of the Lord, . . . blind[ing] the eyes
and harden[ing] the hearts of the children of
men" (1 Nephi 13:27). In painful understatement, "an exceedingly
great many do stumble" (1 Nephi 13:29). Honest women and men are less
informed of gospel truths and less secure in the salvation of Christ than they
deserve to be because of the loss of vital truths from the biblical canon as we
have it in modernity (see 1 Nephi 13:21-29).
But in his love and foreknowledge,
the great Jehovah, the premortal Christ, promised Nephi, and all who have
received Nephi's record, that "after the Gentiles do stumble exceedingly,
because of the most plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which
have been kept back . . . I will be merciful unto the Gentiles in that day,
insomuch that I will bring forth unto them, in mine own power, much of my
gospel, which shall be plain and precious, saith the Lamb.
"For, behold, saith the Lamb: I
will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I
shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious. . . .
"And in them shall be written my
gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation" (1 Nephi 13:34-36).
This promised record, now known to
the world as the Book of Mormon, along with "other books" that have
now come forth by the revelatory power of the Lamb "shall make known the
plain and precious things which have been taken away from [the Bible]; and
shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and
people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the
Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be
saved. And they must come according to the words which shall be established
by the mouth of the Lamb; and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the
records of thy seed, as well as in [the Bible]; wherefore they both shall be
established in one; for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the
earth" (1 Nephi 13:39-41; emphasis added).
Surely the most plain and precious of
all truths lost from the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, are the clear,
unequivocal, and extensive declarations regarding the coming of Christ and the
eternal, essential covenantal elements of his gospel which have been taught
beginning with Adam and continuing on down in each dispensation of time. Thus
the highest and most revered purpose of the Book of Mormon is to restore to
Abraham's seed that crucial message declaring Christ's divinity, convincing all
who read its pages with "a sincere heart and real intent" that Jesus
is the Christ (see
The fact that four-fifths of this
record comes out of a period before Christ's birth, the fact that it is
a record of an otherwise unknown people, the fact that inspiring insights and
deep doctrines regarding Jesus are revealed here and found nowhere else in the
biblical canon—or all of Christendom, for that matter—and the fact that the
Book of Mormon reaffirms the truthfulness and divinity of that Bible insofar as
the latter has been translated correctly are just a few of the reasons that the
book should rightly be considered the most remarkable and important religious
text produced since the New Testament gospels were compiled nearly two
millennia ago. Indeed, in light of the plain and precious portions which have
been lost from the New Testament as well as the Old Testament, it could be said
that in restoring ancient biblical truths and adding scores of new ones about
the Only Begotten Son of the Living God of us all, the Book of Mormon links
with the Holy Bible to form in that union the most remarkable and important
religious texts ever given to the world in any age of time.
The Book of Mormon has many purposes
and it contains many true and stimulating principles, but one purpose
transcends all others in both kind and degree. That purpose is "the
convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ" (Book of
Mormon, title page).
A very special contribution the Book
of Mormon makes in this matter is to our knowledge of the premortal
Christ. Christ as Jehovah, Christ as the God of Lehi and Nephi and the brother
of Jared before His birth as well as the Redeemer of Mormon and
In modern times many students of
religion have great difficulty in linking Old Testament theology and divinity
with that which is presented in the New Testament. The Book of Mormon does so
very much to bridge that gap, not only in terms of actual history, beginning
six hundred years before Christ and ending four hundred years afterward, but
also in the continuity of doctrine and consistent image of divinity that is
taught through that period. We talk about the two sticks of Judah and Joseph
coming together, as prophesied by Ezekiel, as one of the great latter-day
contributions of the Book of Mormon (see Ezekiel 37:15-28); however, I think it
is nearly as important to note, in bringing "sticks" together, what
the Book of Mormon does to unite the Old Testament with the New Testament in a
way that is not recognized or sometimes even seen as a possibility in other
religious traditions.
Nephi, Jacob, and Isaiah—all living
and prophesying before Christ—are positioned where they are at the beginning of
the book to serve as the three ancient witnesses of the Book of Mormon or, more
specifically, three special Book of Mormon witnesses of Christ, which surely
they are. But that role of witness is shared by many, many others in the Book
of Mormon, most of them prior to Christ's birth and ministry in mortality.
Amulek says to his fellow citizens of
Ammonihah (about 74 B.C.): "My brethren, I think
that it is impossible that ye should be ignorant of the things which have been
spoken concerning the coming of Christ, who is taught by us to be the Son of
God; yea, I know that these things were taught unto you bountifully
before your dissension from among us" (Alma 34:2; emphasis added).
The coming of Christ and the
particulars of his mission and message were taught bountifully throughout the
entire course of the Book of Mormon. It should not be surprising that the book
as we now have it begins with a vision of "One descending out of the midst
of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at
noon-day" (1 Nephi 1:9). This vision of the premortal Christ, accompanied
in spirit by "twelve others," brought forth a book in which Lehi was
bidden to read. The book spoke of "many great and marvelous things,"
including the plain declaration "of the coming of a Messiah, and also the
redemption of the world" (1 Nephi 1:14, 19).
From these opening passages onward,
the Book of Mormon speaks continually of Christ before his mortal birth, during
his sojourn both among the Jews and the Nephites, and in his postmortal rule and reign in the eternities that follow.
Even though his contemporaries in
Whether it was this kind of
revelation or something even more definitive (a personal appearance of Christ?)
we do not know, but Lehi obviously had some very special manifestations
regarding the Son of God. Shortly before his death, he testified to his sons:
"Behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his
glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" (2
Nephi 1:15; emphasis added).
As early as Nephi's writings we learn
the name which the Messiah shall carry, but that same Nephi is quick to
acknowledge that other ancient prophets knew the name as well. "For
according to the words of the prophets," he writes, "the Messiah cometh
in six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem; and according
to the words of the prophets, and also the word of the angel of God, his name
shall be Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (2 Nephi 25:19).
Nephi's brother Jacob follows that
acknowledgment with a powerful testimony of the breadth of revelation and
widespread knowledge of Christ that had been given to those ancient prophets.
He wrote: "For this intent have we written these things, that they may
know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years
before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also
all the holy prophets which were before us.
"Behold, they believed in Christ
and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his
name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to
him. . . .
"Wherefore, we search the
prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having
all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh
unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very
trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea" (Jacob 4:4-6).
In that bold and persuasive spirit he
pleads with his brethren: "Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye
reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have
been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and
deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy
Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of
redemption, which hath been laid for you?" (Jacob 6:8-9).
But soon enough one came doing
exactly those things, Sherem, the first of the
anti-Christs in the Book of Mormon. Sherem came
declaring "that there should be no Christ" and in every way attempted
to "overthrow the doctrine of Christ" (Jacob 7:2). Knowing that Jacob
"had faith in Christ who should come," Sherem
sardoni-cally made particular effort to confront and
challenge him on the practice of what Sherem called
"preaching that which ye call the gospel, or the doctrine of Christ"
(Jacob 7:3, 6). His argument was based on the feeble and tediously predictable
reasoning of all anti-Christs—that "no man knoweth
of such things; for he cannot tell of things to come" (Jacob 7:7).
Of Sherem,
Jacob asks: "Believest thou the scriptures? And
he said, Yea. And I said unto him: Then ye do not understand them; for they
truly testify of Christ. Behold, I say unto you that none of the prophets have
written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ"
(Jacob 7:10-11).
One of the greatest of those prophets
in the Book of Mormon—indeed, a very strong case could be made for calling him the
greatest of the prophets in the Book of Mormon—goes unnamed in the record that
documents Christ's remarkable life. That prophet is identified to the modern
reader only as "the brother of Jared." Yet even in such near
anonymity, the revelation that unfolded before this man's eyes was so extraordinary
that his life and legacy to us have become synonymous with bold, consummate,
perfect faith.
In the dispersion required of them at
the time of the
"And it came to pass at the end
of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in
a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk
with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call
upon the name of the Lord" (Ether 2:14).
It is difficult to imagine what a
three-hour rebuke from the Lord might be like, but the brother of Jared endured
it. With immediate repentance and immediate prayer, this prophet once again
sought guidance for the journey they had been assigned and for those who were
to pursue it. God accepted his repentance and lovingly gave further direction
for this crucial mission.
For such an oceanic crossing these
families and their flocks needed seaworthy crafts similar to the barges they
had constructed for earlier water travel—small, light, dish-shaped vessels
identical in design above and beneath so that they were capable of staying
afloat even when facing overwhelming waves or, worse yet, when they might be
overturned by them. These "exceedingly tight" crafts (Ether 2:17)
were obviously boats of unprecedented design and undiminished capability, made
under the direction of him who ruled the seas and the winds that rend them to the
end that the vessels might travel with the "lightness of a fowl upon the
water" (Ether 2:16).
These were miraculously designed and
meticulously constructed ships. But they had one major, seemingly insoluble
limitation. In such a tight, seaworthy design, there was no means of allowing
light for the seafarers who would travel in them. "The brother of Jared .
. . cried again unto the Lord saying: O Lord, behold I have done even as thou
hast commanded me; and I have prepared the vessels for my people, and behold
there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross
this great water in darkness?" (Ether 2:21-22).
Then comes an extraordinary and
unexpected response from the Creator of heaven and earth and all things that in
them are, he who boldly declared to Abraham, "Is anything too great for
the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14).
"And the Lord said unto the
brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light
in your vessels?" (Ether 2:23; emphasis added). Then, as if such a
disarming inquiry from omnipotent Deity is not enough, the Lord proceeds to
verbalize the very problems that the brother of Jared already knows only too
well.
"For behold, ye cannot have
windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you,
for ye shall not go by the light of fire.
"For behold, ye shall be as a
whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. . .
. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have
light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?" (Ether 2:23-25;
emphasis added).
Clearly the brother of Jared was
being tested. The Lord had done his part—miraculously, profoundly, ingeniously.
Unique, resolutely seaworthy ships for crossing the ocean had been provided. The
brilliant engineering had been done. The hard part of this construction project
was over. Now he wanted to know what the brother of Jared would do about
incidentals.
After what was undoubtedly a great
deal of soul-searching and head-scratching, the brother of Jared came before
the Lord—perhaps red-faced but not empty-handed. In a clearly apologetic tone,
he says: "Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because
of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before
thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually;
nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon
thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.
"Behold, O Lord, thou hast
smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these
many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been
merciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they
shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these things
which I have molten out of the rock" (Ether 3:2-3).
Things. The brother of Jared hardly knows
what to call them. Rocks probably doesn't sound any more inspiring.
Here, standing next to the Lord's magnificent handiwork, these ne plus ultra,
impeccably designed, and marvelously unique seagoing barges, the brother of
Jared offers for his contribution rocks. As he eyes the sleek ships the
Lord has provided, it is a moment of genuine humility.
He hurries on. "And I know, O
Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit
of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them
that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in
the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross
the sea.
"Behold, O Lord, thou canst do
this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto
the understanding of men" (Ether 3:4-5).
For all of his self-abasement, the
faith of the brother of Jared is apparent. In fact, we might better say transparent
in light of the purpose for which these stones will be used. Surely God, as
well as the reader, feels something very striking in the childlike innocence
and fervor of this man's faith. "Behold, O Lord, thou canst do
this." Perhaps there is no more powerful, single line of faith spoken
by man in scripture. It is almost as if he is encouraging God, emboldening him,
reassuring him. Not "Behold, O Lord, I am sure that thou canst do
this." Not "Behold, O Lord, thou hast done many greater things than
this." However uncertain the prophet is about his own ability, he has no
uncertainty about God's power. There is nothing here but a single, clear, bold,
and assertive declaration with no hint or element of vacillation. It is
encouragement to Him who needs no encouragement but who surely must have been
touched by it. "Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this."
What happened next ranks among the
greatest moments in recorded history, surely among the greatest moments in
recorded faith. It establishes the brother of Jared among the greatest of God's
prophets forever. As the Lord reaches forth to touch the stones one by one with
his finger—a response, it would seem, coming in undeniable response to the
commanding faith of the brother of Jared—"the veil was taken from off the
eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as
the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell
down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear" (Ether 3:6).
The Lord, seeing the brother of Jared
fall to the earth, commands him to rise and asks, "Why hast thou
fallen?" (Ether 3:7).
The reply: "I saw the finger of
the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord
had flesh and blood" (Ether 3:8).
Then this marvelous declaration from
the Lord: "Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me
flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as
thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?" (Ether 3:9).
The brother of Jared answers,
"Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me" (Ether 3:6-10). The Lord removed
the veil completely from the eyes of the brother of Jared and came into full
view of this resolutely faithful man.
Then this most remarkable revelation
of the premortal Jehovah: "Behold, I am he who was prepared from the
foundation of the world to redeem my people," he said. "Behold, I am
Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life,
and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall
become my sons and my daughters.
"And never have I showed myself
unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea,
even all men were created in the beginning after my own image.
"Behold, this body, which ye now
behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my
spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto
my people in the flesh" (Ether 3:14-16).
Before examining the doctrinal truths
taught in this divine encounter, it will be useful to note two seemingly
problematic issues here, issues that would seem to have reasonable and
acceptable resolutions.
The first issue is suggested in two
questions the Lord asks the brother of Jared during the vision as it unfolds:
"Why hast thou fallen?" and "Sawest
thou more than this?" It is a basic premise of Latter-day Saint theology
that God "knoweth all things, and there is not
anything save he knows it" (2 Nephi 9:20). The scriptures, both ancient
and modern, are replete with this assertion of omniscience. Nevertheless, God
has frequently asked questions of men, usually as a way to test their faith,
measure their honesty, or allow their knowledge greater development. For
example, he called unto Adam in the Garden of Eden, "Where art thou?"
and later asks Eve, "What is this that thou hast done?" (Genesis 3:9,
13), yet an omniscient parent clearly knew the answer to both questions, for he
could see where Adam was and he watched what Eve had done. It is obvious that
the questions are for the children's sake, giving Adam and Eve the
responsibility of replying honestly. Later, in trying Abraham's faith, God
repeatedly called out regarding Abraham's whereabouts, to which the faithful
patriarch would answer: "Here am I" (Genesis 22:11). The purpose in
this scriptural moment was not to provide God with information he already knew
but to reaffirm Abraham's fixed faith and unwavering position in the most
difficult of all parental tests. These kinds of rhetorical questions are
frequently used by God, particularly in assessing faith, honesty, and the full
measure of agency, allowing the "students" the freedom and
opportunity to express themselves as revealingly as they wish, even though God
knows the answer to his own and all other questions.
The second issue that requires
preliminary comment stems from the Lord's exclamation, "Never has man come
before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could
not have seen my finger" (Ether 3:9). And later, "Never have I showed
myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou
hast" (Ether 3:15). The potential for confusion here comes with the
realization that many—indeed, we would assume all—of the Major Prophets living
prior to the brother of Jared had seen God. How then does one account for the
Lord's declaration? Adam's face-to-face conversations with God in the Garden of
Eden can be exempted because of the paradisiacal, prefallen
state of that setting and relationship. Furthermore, other prophets' visions of
God, such as Moses and Isaiah in the Bible, or Nephi and Jacob in the Book of
Mormon, came after this "never before" experience of the brother of
Jared. But before the era of the
This issue has been much discussed by
Latter-day Saint writers, and there are several possible explanations, any
one—or all—of which may cast some light upon the larger truth of this passage.
Nevertheless, without additional scriptural revelation or commentary on the
matter, any conjecture is only that—conjecture—and as such is inadequate and
incomplete.
One possibility is that this is
simply a comment made in the context of one dispensation and as such applies
only to the Jaredites and Jaredite
prophets—that Jehovah has never before revealed himself to one of their seers
and revelators. Obviously this theory has severe limitations when measured
against such phrases as "never before" and "never has man"
and combined with the realization that Jared and his brother are the fathers of
this dispensation, the first to whom God could have revealed himself in their
era.
Another suggestion is that the
lowercase reference to "man" is the key to this passage, suggesting
that the Lord has never revealed himself to the unsanctified, to the
nonbeliever, to temporal, earthy, natural man. The implication here is that
only those who have put off the natural man, only those who are untainted by
the world—in short, the sanctified (such as Adam, Enoch, and now the brother of
Jared)—are entitled to this privilege.
Some have believed that the Lord here
means he had never before revealed himself to this degree or to this extent.
This theory would suggest that divine appearances to earlier prophets had not
been with this same "fulness," that never before had the veil been
lifted to give such a complete revelation of Christ's nature and being.
A further possibility is that this is
the first time Jehovah has appeared and identified himself as Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, thus the interpretation of the passage being "never have I
showed myself [as Jesus Christ] unto man whom I have created" (Ether
3:15). This possibility is reinforced by one way of reading
Yet another interpretation of this
passage is that the faith of the brother of Jared was so great he saw not only
the spirit finger and body of the premortal Jesus (which presumably many
other prophets had also seen) but also had some distinctly more revealing
aspect of Christ's body of flesh, blood, and bone. Exactly what insight into
the flesh-and-blood nature of Christ's future body the brother of Jared might
have had is not clear, but Jehovah does say to him, "Because of thy faith
thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood" (Ether 3:9), and
Moroni does say that Christ revealed himself in this instance "in the
likeness of the same body even as he showed himself unto the Nephites"
(Ether 3:17). Some have taken that to mean literally "the same body"
the Nephites would see—a body of flesh and blood. A safer position would be
that it was at least the exact spiritual likeness of that future body. Jehovah
says, "Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit .
. . and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my
people in the flesh" (Ether 3:16), and Moroni says, "Jesus showed
himself unto this man in the spirit" (Ether 3:17).
A final—and in terms of the faith of the brother of Jared (which is the
issue at hand) surely the most persuasive—explanation for me is that Christ is
saying to the brother of Jared, 'Never have I showed myself unto man in this
manner, without my volition, driven solely by the faith of the beholder.'
As a rule, prophets are invited into the presence of the Lord, are
bidden to enter his presence by him and only with his sanction. The brother of
Jared, on the other hand, stands alone then (and we assume now) in having
thrust himself through the veil, not as an unwelcome guest but perhaps
technically an uninvited one. Says Jehovah, "Never has man come before
me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have
seen my finger. . . . Never has man believed in me as thou hast" (Ether
3:9, 15; emphasis added). Obviously the Lord himself is linking unprecedented
faith with this unprecedented vision. If the vision is not unique, then it has
to be the faith—and how the vision is obtained—that is so remarkable. The only
way this faith could be so remarkable would be in its ability to take this
prophet, uninvited, where others had only been able to go by invitation.
Indeed it would appear that this is
This may be one of those very provocative examples (except that it is
real life and not hypothetical) about God's power. Schoolboy philosophers
sometimes ask, "Can God make a rock so heavy that he cannot lift it?"
or "Can God hide an item so skillfully that he cannot find it?" Far
more movingly and importantly we may ask here, "Could God have stopped the
brother of Jared from seeing through the veil?" At first blush one is
inclined to say, "Surely God could block such an experience if he wished
to." But think again. Or, more precisely, read again. "This man . . .
could not be kept from beholding within the veil . . . he could not be kept
from within the veil" (Ether 3:19-20; emphasis added).
No, this may be an absolutely unprecedented case of a prophet's will and
faith and purity so closely approaching that of heaven's that the man moves
from understanding God to being actually like him, with his same thrust of will
and faith, at least in this one instance. What a remarkable doctrinal statement
about the power of a mortal man's faith! And not an ethereal, unreachable,
select category of a man, either. This is one who once forgot to call upon the
Lord, one whose best ideas focused on rocks, and one who doesn't even have a
traditional name in the book that has immortalized his remarkable feat of
faith. Given such a man with such faith, it should not be surprising that the
Lord would show this prophet much, show him visions that would be relevant to
the mission of all the Book of Mormon prophets and to the events of the
latter-day dispensation in which the book would be received.
After the prophet stepped through the
veil to behold the Savior of the world, he was not limited in seeing the rest
of what the eternal world revealed. Indeed, the Lord showed him "all the
inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he
withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth" (Ether
3:25). The staying power for such an experience was once again the faith of the
brother of Jared, for "the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for
he knew that the Lord could show him all things" (Ether 3:26).
This vision of "all the
inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be . . . even
unto the ends of the earth" (Ether 3:25) was similar to that given to
Moses and other of the prophets (see Moses 1:27-29). In this case, however, it
was written down in great detail and then sealed up.
Those sealed plates constitute the
sealed portion of the Book of Mormon which Joseph Smith did not translate.
Furthermore they will remain sealed, literally as well as figuratively, until
"they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of
Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto
them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them
all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the
heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are" (Ether 4:7).
The full measure of this
unprecedented and unexcelled vision—"there never were greater things made
manifest"—are yet to be made known to the children of men. But consider
what was made known in one man's experience in receiving it, consider that the
time was approximately two thousand years before Christ's birth, and consider
what is not presently contained in the Old Testament canon of that
period regarding Jehovah and his true characteristics. These twenty-five items
are all drawn from Ether 3 and 4:
1. Jehovah, the God of the
pre-Christian era, was the premortal Jesus Christ, identified here by that name
(see Ether 3:14).
2. Christ is both a Father and a Son
in his divine relationship with the children of men (see Ether 3:14).
3. Christ was "prepared from the
foundation of the world to redeem [his] people" (Ether 3:14), knowledge
which had been shared before with Enoch and later would be shared with John the
Revelator (see Moses 7:47; Revelation 13:8).
4. Christ had a spirit body, which
looked like and was in the premortal form of his physical body, like "unto
flesh and blood," including fingers, voice, face, and all other physical
features (Ether 3:6).
5. Christ assisted in the creation of
man, fashioning the human family "after the body of my spirit" (Ether
3:16).
6. With a spirit body and the
divinity of his calling, the premortal Christ spoke audibly, in words and
language understood by mortals (see Ether 3:16).
7. Christ is a God, acting for and
with his Father, who is also a God (see Ether 3:14; 4:7).
8. Christ reveals some truths to some
that are to be kept until an appointed time (his "own due time") from
others (see Ether 3:24).
9. Christ uses a variety of tools and
techniques in revelation, including the interpreting power of "two
stones" such as those used in the Urim and Thummim (see Ether 3:23; D&C 17:1).
10. Christ's later atoning, redeeming
role is clearly stated even before it has been realized in his mortal life.
Furthermore, in a most blessed way for the brother of Jared, it is immediately
efficacious. "I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to
redeem my people," Christ says. "In me shall all mankind have life,
and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall
become my sons and my daughters" (Ether 3:14).
Then the brother of Jared has his
redemption pronounced, as though the Atonement had already been carried out.
"Because thou knowest these things ye are
redeemed from the fall," Christ promises him, "therefore ye are
brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you" (Ether
3:13).
This statement underscores the
eternal nature of the Atonement, its effects reaching out to all those who
lived before the Savior's birth as well as all those living after it. All who
in Old Testament times were baptized in Christ's name had the same claim upon
eternal life that the brother of Jared had, even though Christ had not yet even
been born. In matters of the Atonement, as in all other eternal promises,
"time only is measured unto men" (
11. Christ had past knowledge of all
the inhabitants of the earth which had been and foreknowledge of all that would
be, showing all of these to the brother of Jared (see Ether 3:25).
12. Future Saints will need to be sanctified
in Christ to receive all of his revelations (see Ether 4:6).
13. Those who reject the vision of
the brother of Jared will be shown "no greater things" by Christ
(Ether 4:8).
14. At Christ's command "the
heavens are opened and are shut," "the earth shall shake," and
"the inhabitants thereof shall pass away, even so as by fire" (Ether
4:9).
15. Believers in the vision of the
brother of Jared will be given manifestations of Christ's spirit. Because of
such spiritual experience, belief shall turn to knowledge and those "shall
know that these things are true" (Ether 4:11).
16. "Whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good" is of Christ. Good comes of
none except Christ (Ether 4:12).
17. Those who do not believe Christ's
words would not believe him personally (see Ether 4:12).
18. Those who do not believe Christ
would not believe God the Father who sent him (see Ether 4:12).
19. Christ is the light and the life
and the truth of the world (see Ether 4:12).
20. Christ will reveal "greater
things" (Ether 4:13), "great and marvelous things" (Ether 4:15),
knowledge hidden "from the foundation of the world" (Ether 4:14) to
those who rend the veil of unbelief and come unto him.
21. Believers are to call upon the
Father in the name of Christ "with a broken heart and a contrite
spirit" if they are to "know that the Father hath remembered the
covenant which he made" unto the house of
22. Christ's revelations to John the
Revelator will be "unfolded in the eyes of all the people" in the last
days, even as they are about to be fulfilled (Ether 4:16).
23. Christ commands all the ends of
the earth to come unto him, believe in his gospel, and be baptized in his name
(see Ether 4:18).
24. Signs shall follow those that
believe in Christ's name (see Ether 4:18).
25. Those faithful to Christ's name
at the last day shall be "lifted up to dwell in the kingdom prepared for
[them] from the foundation of the world" (Ether 4:19).
Indeed, an appeal like that of the
brother of Jared is given by the Father to both Gentile and Israelite, to whom
this record is sent. Asking the latter-day reader to pierce the limits of
shallow faith, Christ cries:
"Come unto me, O ye Gentiles,
and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up
because of unbelief.
"Come unto me, O ye house of
Israel, and it shall be made manifest unto you how great things the Father hath
laid up for you, from the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto
you, because of unbelief.
"Behold, when ye shall rend
that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of
wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great
and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world
from you—yea when ye shall call upon the Father in my name, with a broken heart
and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the
covenant which he made unto your fathers, O house of Israel" (Ether
4:13-15).
The Book of Mormon is predicated on
the willingness of men and women to "rend the veil of unbelief" in
order to behold the revelations—and the Revelation—of God (Ether 4:15). It
would seem that the humbling experience of the brother of Jared in his failure
to pray and his consternation over the sixteen stones were included in this
account to show just how mortal and just how normal he was—so very much like
the men and women we know and at least in some ways so much like ourselves. His
belief in himself and his view of himself may have been limited—much like our
view of ourselves. But his belief in God was unprecedented. It was without
doubt or limit: "I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do
whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O
Lord, with thy finger" (Ether 3:4).
And from that command given to the
Lord, for it does seem to be something of a command, the brother of Jared and
the reader of the Book of Mormon would never be the same again. Ordinary
individuals with ordinary challenges could rend the veil of unbelief and enter
the realms of eternity. And Christ, who was prepared from the foundation of the
world to redeem his people, would be standing at the edge of that veil to usher
the believer through.
(Nurturing Faith through the Book
of Mormon: The 24th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium [Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book Co., 1995], 1.)
How do we receive the
power to become sons and daughters of God?
What does that mean versus sons and daughters of man?
(Doctrine and Covenants
25:1.)
1 Hearken unto the voice
of the Lord your God, while I speak unto you, Emma Smith, my daughter; for
verily I say unto you, all those who receive my gospel are sons and daughters
in my kingdom.
(Doctrine and Covenants
84:34.)
34 They become the sons of
Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the
elect of God.
(Ephesians 1:4-6.)
4 According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
(John 1:12.)
12 But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name:
Jesus Christ is the King of kings. He
not only presides over the leaders of nations and earthly monarchs but, more
particularly, over those who have matured spiritually in the powers and
ordinances of the gospel. We come unto
Christ, first of all, through an authorized baptism, and then we receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost. If we live worthy of the Comforter, we are born again
as to the things of righteousness; we die as to the ways of the world and are
quickened as to the matters of the Spirit. We become the sons and daughters of
Jesus Christ by adoption. As we qualify for entrance into the holy temple,
we take upon ourselves greater obligations and open ourselves to new vistas of
understanding, perspective, and priesthood power. Through obedience to the
ordinances of the temple, we become sons and daughters of God, meaning the
Father. Brigham Young explained: “When
the Holy Priesthood, which is after the order of the Son of God, is upon the
earth, and its organizations, ordinances, gospel, powers, authorities and
blessings, are enjoyed by the children of men; then by means of sealing powers
and keys, and an everlasting covenant, the sons of men become the sons of God
by regeneration, and are entitled, every man in his order, to the privileges,
exaltations, principalities and powers, kingdoms and thrones, which are held
and enjoyed, by the Great Father of our race.” (In Journal of Discourses 10:355.)
(Joseph Fielding McConkie, Joseph
Smith: The Choice Seer [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1996],.)
Adam and
Jesus Christ are the only 2 individuals called “the Son of God”, Moses 6:22,
this was the case with Adam until he fell, when he suffered spiritual death
being cast out of Gods presence.
(2 Nephi 9:6-10.)
6 For as death hath passed
upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the
great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the
resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came
by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off
from the presence of the Lord.
7 Wherefore, it must needs
be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this
corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which
came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this
flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no
more.
8 O the wisdom of God, his
mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must
become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal
God, and became the devil, to rise no more.
9 And our spirits must
have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut
out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in
misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents,
who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light,
and stirreth up the children of men unto secret
combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness.
10 O how great the
goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our
escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell,
which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.
We need a
Redeemer to get back; it is through all of the ordinances of the gospel that
helps us on this journey, “there is no other way”, Teachings 162, Articles of
Faith #3. Some choose to obey others do
not, just like pre mortality
(Moses 7:1.)
1
And it came to pass that Enoch continued his speech, saying: Behold, our father
Adam taught these things, and many have
believed and become the sons of God, and many have believed not, and have
perished in their sins, and are looking forth with fear, in torment, for the
fiery indignation of the wrath of God to be poured out upon them.
(Moses 8:13-15.)
13 And Noah and his sons
hearkened unto the Lord, and gave heed, and they were called the sons of God.
14 And when these men
began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
the sons of men saw that those daughters were fair, and they took them wives,
even as they chose.
15 And the Lord said unto
Noah: The daughters of thy sons have sold themselves; for behold mine anger is
kindled against the sons of men, for they will not hearken to my voice.
Noah’s granddaughters rejected the
gospel message and married outside of the eternal marriage covenant by uniting
with the sons of men, thus they forfeited the power to become sons and daughter
of God! They apostatized from the truth. Think of Abraham finding a wife for Isaac,
teach our children the critical importance of who to marry and where!!
Now we have the story of the
beginning of the Book of Ether, the
The story
of Adam and Eve being spiritually reborn and becoming a son and daughter of
God, they are redeemed from their fallen condition. Also, according to President Benson, verse 67
the fulness of the Melchizedek priesthood (after the order of Christ) is to
receive all of the temple ordinances and make the necessary covenants to
receive through faithfulness exaltation in the Celestial kingdom
(Moses 6:64-68.) – The
process of spiritual rebirth, only through the ordinances.
64 And it came to pass,
when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord,
and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the
water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.
65 And thus he was
baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the
Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.
66 And he heard a voice
out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost.
This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;
67 And thou art after the
order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all
eternity to all eternity.
68 Behold, thou art one in
me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen.
President Benson,
Ensign, August 1985, What I hope You Will Teach Your Children about the
I believe a proper
understanding or background will immeasurably help prepare our youth for the temple.
This understanding, I believe, will foster within them a desire to seek their
priesthood blessings just as Abraham sought his.
When our Heavenly Father
placed Adam and Eve on this earth, He did so with the purpose in mind of
teaching them how to regain His presence. Our Father promised a Savior to
redeem them from their fallen condition. He gave to them the plan of salvation
and told them to teach their children faith in Jesus Christ and repentance.
Further, Adam and his posterity were commanded by God to be baptized, to
receive the Holy Ghost, and to enter into the order of the Son of God.
To enter into the order of the Son of God is the equivalent
today of entering into the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood, which is
only received in the house of the Lord.
Because Adam and Eve had complied with these requirements,
God said to them, "Thou art after the order of him who was without
beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity."
(Moses 6:67.)
Three years before Adam's
death, a great event occurred. He took his son Seth, his grandson Enos, and
other high priests who were his direct-line descendants, with others of his
righteous posterity, into a valley called Adam-ondi-Ahman. There Adam gave to
these righteous descendants his last blessing.
The Lord then appeared to
them.
The vast congregation
rose up and blessed Adam and called him Michael, the prince and archangel. The
Lord himself declared Adam to be a prince forever over his own posterity.
Then Adam in his aged
condition rose up and, being filled with the spirit of prophecy, predicted
"whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation."
All this is recorded in section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants (verses
53-56) [D&C 107:53-56].
The Prophet Joseph Smith
said that Adam blessed his posterity because "he wanted to bring them into
the presence of God." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel.
Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1938, p. 159.)
Here is an illuminating
passage from Section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants which tells us how Adam
was able to bring himself and his righteous posterity into God's presence:
"The order of this
priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and tightly
belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises
were made.
"This order was
instituted in the days of Adam, and came down by lineage in [order] … that his
posterity should be the chosen of the Lord, and that they should be preserved
unto the end of the earth." (D&C 107:40-42; italics added.)
How did Adam bring his descendants into the presence of the
Lord?
The answer: Adam and his descendants entered into the
priesthood order of God. Today we would say they went to the House of the Lord
and received their blessings.
The order of priesthood
spoken of in the scriptures is sometimes referred to as the patriarchal order
because it came down from father to son.
But this order is
otherwise described in modern revelation as an order of family government where
a man and woman enter into a covenant with God--just as did Adam and Eve--to be
sealed for eternity, to have posterity, and to do the will and work of God
throughout their mortality.
If a couple are true to
their covenants, they are entitled to the blessing of the highest degree of the
celestial kingdom. These covenants today can only be entered into by going to
the House of the Lord.
Adam followed this order
and brought his posterity into the presence of God. He is the great example for
us to follow.
Enoch followed this
pattern and brought the Saints of his day into the presence of God.
Noah and his son Shem
likewise followed the same pattern after the flood.
Abraham, a righteous
servant of God, desiring as he said, "to be a greater follower of
righteousness," sought for these same blessings. Speaking of the order of
the priesthood, he said: "It was conferred upon me from the fathers; it
came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time … even the right of the
firstborn, or the first man, who is Adam, our first father, through the fathers
unto me." (Abr. 1:2-3.)
So Abraham declared:
"I sought for mine appointment unto the Priesthood according to the
appointment of God unto the fathers." (Abr. 1:4.)
Moses taught this order
of priesthood to his people and "sought diligently to sanctify his people
that they might behold the face of God;
"But they hardened
their hearts and could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his
wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter
into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory.
"Therefore, he took
Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also." (D&C
84:23-25.)
We learn through the
Joseph Smith Translation that the Lord further instructed Moses: "I will
take away the priesthood out of their midst; therefore my holy order, and the
ordinances thereof." (JST Ex. 34:1; italics added.)
This higher priesthood,
with its attendant ordinances, was taken from
My purpose in citing this
background is to illustrate that this order of priesthood has been on the earth
since the beginning, and it is the only means by which we can one day see the
face of God and live. (See D&C 84:22.)
Between Moses and Christ
only certain prophets possessed the right to the higher priesthood and the
blessings that could bring men into the presence of God. One of these prophets
was Elijah.
Elijah held the keys of
the sealing power and did many mighty miracles in his day. He had power to seal
the heavens, raise the dead, relieve the drought-stricken land, and call down
fire from heaven.
He was the last prophet
to hold the keys of the priesthood, according to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He
was subsequently translated and taken up into heaven without tasting death.
He, as a translated
being, restored the keys of this priesthood to the Savior's chief
Apostles--Peter, James, and John--on the Mount of Transfiguration. But within a
generation, the Church was destroyed by a major apostasy, and the blessings of
the priesthood were removed from the earth.
It took a new
dispensation from heaven to restore this blessing to our day.
It is significant that
the first revelation given in 1823, recorded as section 2 of the Doctrine and
Covenants, gave this promise about the priesthood:
"Behold, I will
reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the
coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
"And he shall plant
in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts
of the children shall turn to their fathers.
"If it were not so,
the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming." (D&C 2:1-3.)
What priesthood was
Elijah to reveal? John the Baptist restored the keys to the Aaronic Priesthood.
Peter, James, and John restored the keys of the
"Because he holds
the keys of the authority to administer in all the ordinances of the
priesthood," or the sealing power. (Teachings, p. 172; italics
added.) So said the Prophet Joseph Smith!
The Prophet Joseph said further
that these keys were "the revelations, ordinances, oracles, powers and
endowments of the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the
Even though the Aaronic
Priesthood and Melchizedek Priesthood had been restored to the earth, the Lord
urged the Saints to build a temple to receive the keys by which this order of
priesthood could be administered on the earth again, "for there [was] not
a place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was
lost … even the fulness of the priesthood." (D&C 124:28; italics
added.)
Again the Prophet Joseph
said: "If a man gets a fullness of the priesthood of God he has to get it
in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the
commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord." (Teachings,
p. 308.)
So the
Then, on
Elijah brought the keys
of sealing powers--that power which seals a man to a woman and seals their
posterity to them endlessly, that which seals their forefathers to them all the
way back to Adam. This is the power and order that Elijah revealed--that same
order of priesthood which God gave to Adam and to all the ancient patriarchs
which followed after him.
And this is why the Lord
said to the Prophet Joseph Smith, "For verily I say unto you, the keys of
the dispensation, which ye have received, have come down from the fathers, and
last of all, being sent down from heaven unto you." (D&C 112:32.)
In a later revelation the
Lord explained:
"In the celestial
glory there are three heavens or degrees;
"And in order to
obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning
the new and everlasting covenant of marriage];
"And if he does not,
he cannot obtain it.
"He may enter into
the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an
increase." (D&C 131:1-4; italics added.)
When our children obey
the Lord and go to the temple to receive their blessings and enter into the
marriage covenant, they enter into the same order of the priesthood that God
instituted in the very beginning with father Adam.
This order entitles them
to the same blessings of Abraham, of whom the Lord said that he "hath
entered into his exaltation and sitteth upon his
throne." (D&C 132:29.)
Then He significantly
added: "This promise is yours also, because ye are of Abraham."
(D&C 132:31.)
So again I emphasize:
This order of priesthood can only be entered into when we comply with all the
commandments of God and seek the blessings of the fathers as did Abraham by
going to our Father's house. They are received in no other place on this earth!
I hope you would teach
this truth about the temple to your children and your grandchildren. Go to the
temple--our Father's house--to receive the blessings of your fathers that you
may be entitled to the highest blessings of the priesthood. "For without
this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live." (D&C
84:22.)
Our Father's house is a
house of order. We go to His house to enter into that order of priesthood which
will entitle us to all that the Father hath, if we are faithful. For as the
Lord has revealed in modern times, Abraham's seed are "lawful heirs"
to the priesthood. (See D&C 86:8-11.)
Now let me say something
else to all who can worthily go to the House of the Lord. When you attend the
temple and perform the ordinances that pertain to the House of the Lord,
certain blessings will come to you:
•You
will receive the spirit of Elijah, which will turn your hearts to your spouse,
to your children, and to your forebears.
•You will love your
family with a deeper love than you have loved before.
•Your hearts will be
turned to your fathers and theirs to you.
•You will be endowed with
power from on high as the Lord has promised.
•You will receive the key
of the knowledge of God. (See D&C 84:19.) You will learn how you can be
like Him. Even the power of godliness will be manifest to you. (See D&C
84:20.)
•You will be doing a
great service to those who have passed to the other side of the veil in order
that they might be "judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the spirit." (D&C 138:34.)
Such
are the blessings of the temple and the blessings of frequently attending the
temple.
So I say at this
centennial commemoration of the
I testify with all my
soul to the truth of this message and pray that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob will bless modern
Elder Dallin H. Oaks – Taking
Upon Us the Name of Jesus Christ April, 1985 CR
It is significant that
when we partake of the sacrament we do not witness that we take upon us the
name of Jesus Christ. We witness that we are willing to do so. (See D&C
20:77.) The fact that we only witness to our willingness suggests that
something else must happen before we actually take that sacred name upon us in
the most important sense.
What future event or
events could this covenant contemplate? The scriptures suggest two sacred
possibilities, one concerning the authority of God, especially as exercised in
the temples, and the other--closely related--concerning exaltation in the celestial
kingdom.
The name of God is
sacred. The Lord's Prayer begins with the words, "Our Father which art in
heaven, Hallowed by thy name." (Matt. 6:9.) From Sinai came the
commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in
vain." (Ex. 20:7, Deut. 5:11.) Latter-day revelation equates this with
using the name of God without authority. "Let all men beware how they take
my name in their lips," the Lord declares in a modern revelation, for
"many there be who … use the name of the Lord, and use it in vain, having
not authority." (D&C 63:61-62.)
Consistent with these
references, many scriptures that refer to "the name of Jesus Christ"
are obviously references to the authority of the Savior. This was surely the
meaning conveyed when the seventy reported to Jesus that "even the devils
are subject unto us through thy name." (Luke 10:17.) The Doctrine and
Covenants employs this same meaning when it describes the Twelve Apostles of
this dispensation as "they who shall desire to take upon them my name with
full purpose of heart." (D&C 18:27.) The Twelve are later designated
as "special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world," and as
those who "officiate in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the
Presidency of the Church." (D&C 107:23, 33.)
By way of further
illustration, the Old Testament contains scores of references to the name of
the Lord in a context where it clearly means the authority of the Lord. Most of
these references have to do with the temple.
When the children of
Similarly, in modern
revelations the Lord refers to temples as houses built "unto my holy
name." (D&C 124:39; D&C 105:33; D&C 109:2-5.) In the inspired
dedicatory prayer of the
All of these references
to ancient and modern temples as houses for "the name" of the Lord
obviously involve something far more significant than a mere inscription of his
sacred name on the structure. The scriptures speak of the Lord's putting his
name in a temple because he gives authority for his name to be used in the
sacred ordinances of that house. That is the meaning of the Prophet's reference
to the Lord's putting his name upon his people in that holy house. (See D&C
109:26.)
Willingness to take upon
us the name of Jesus Christ can therefore be understood as willingness to take
upon us the authority of Jesus Christ. According to this meaning, by partaking
of the sacrament we witness our willingness to participate in the sacred
ordinances of the temple and to receive the highest blessings available through
the name and by the authority of the Savior when he chooses to confer them upon
us.
Another future event we
may anticipate when we witness our willingness to take that sacred name upon us
concerns our relationship to our Savior and the incomprehensible blessings
available to those who will be called by his name at the last day.
King Benjamin told his
people, "There shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means
whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the
name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent." (Mosiah 3:17; see also 2 Ne. 31:21.)
Peter proclaimed "the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth" to the
leaders of the Jews, declaring that "there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts
The scriptures proclaim
that the Savior's atoning sacrifice was for those who "believe on his
name."
Thus, those who exercise faith in the sacred name of Jesus
Christ and repent of their sins and enter into his covenant and keep his
commandments (see Mosiah 5:8) can lay claim on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. Those who do so will be called by his name at the last day.
When the Savior taught the Nephites following his
resurrection, he referred to the scriptural statement that "ye must take
upon you the name of Christ." He explained, "For by this name shall
ye be called at the last day; And whoso taketh upon
him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall
be saved at the last day." (3 Ne. 27:5-6.) That same teaching is repeated
in a modern revelation, which adds the caution that "if they know not the
name by which they are called, they cannot have place in the kingdom of my
Father." (D&C
The Book of Mormon explains the significance of being called
by the name of Jesus Christ. When the Savior showed his spirit body to the
brother of Jared, he introduced himself as the Father and the Son, declaring
that through his redeeming sacrifice all mankind who believed on his name
should have life eternal through him, "and they shall become my sons and
my daughters." (Ether 3:14.) Abinadi said of those who believed in the
Lord and looked to him for a remission of their sins "that these are his
seed, or they are heirs of the
"For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are
they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now,
are they not his seed?" (Mosiah 15:12.)
Speaking through the prophet Alma, the Lord explained the significance
of this relationship: "For behold, in my name are they called; and if they
know me they shall come forth, and shall have a place eternally at my right
hand." (Mosiah 26:24.)
In these great scriptures from the Book of Mormon, we learn
that those who are qualified by faith and repentance and compliance with the
laws and ordinances of the gospel will have their sins borne by the Lord Jesus
Christ. In spiritual and figurative terms they will become the sons and
daughters of Christ, heirs to his kingdom. These are they who will be called by
his name in the last day.
According to this meaning, when we witness our willingness
to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ, we are signifying our commitment to
do all that we can to achieve eternal life in the
Those who are found
worthy to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ at the last day are described
in the great revelations recorded in the ninety-third and seventy-sixth
sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. Here the Savior revealed to Joseph
Smith that in due time, if we keep the commandments of God, we can receive the
"fulness" of the Father. (D&C 93:19-20.) Here the Savior bears
record that "all those who are begotten through me are partakers of the
glory of the [Father], and are the church of the Firstborn." (D&C
93:22.) "They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things. …
Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods" who "shall dwell in the
presence of God and his Christ forever and ever." (D&C 76:55, 58, 62.)
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3; see also D&C
88:4-5.) This is the ultimate significance of taking upon us the name of Jesus
Christ.
When the priest offers the scriptural prayer on the bread at
the sacrament table, he prays that all who partake may "witness" unto
God, the Eternal Father, "that they are willing to take upon them the name
of thy Son." (D&C 20:77; Moro. 4:3.) This witness has several
different meanings.
It causes us to renew the covenant we made in the waters of
baptism to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ and serve him to the end. We
also take upon us his name as we publicly profess our belief in him, as we
fulfill our obligations as members of his Church, and as we do the work of his
kingdom.
But there is something beyond these familiar meanings,
because what we witness is not that we take upon us his name but that we are
willing to do so. In this sense, our witness relates to some future event or
status whose attainment is not self-assumed, but depends on the authority or
initiative of the Savior himself.
Scriptural references to the name of Jesus Christ often
signify the authority of Jesus Christ. In that sense, our willingness to take
upon us his name signifies our willingness to take upon us the authority of
Jesus Christ in the sacred ordinances of the temple, and to receive the highest
blessings available through his authority when he chooses to confer them upon
us.
Finally, our willingness
to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ affirms our commitment to do all that
we can to be counted among those whom he will choose to stand at his right hand
and be called by his name at the last day. In this sacred sense, our witness
that we are willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ constitutes our
declaration of candidacy for exaltation in the celestial kingdom. Exaltation is
eternal life, "the greatest of all the gifts of God." (D&C 14:7.)
That is what we should
ponder as we partake of the sacred emblems of the sacrament. As we do so, we
glory in the mission of the risen Lord, who lived and taught and suffered and
died and rose again that all mankind might have immortality and eternal life.
Of this I testify in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose witness I
am, amen.
Accept the
ordinances and covenants of the gospel and live up to them, as did the people
of King Benjamin.
(Mosiah 5:5-9.)
5 And we are willing to
enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his
commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our
days, that we may not bring upon ourselves a never-ending torment, as has been
spoken by the angel, that we may not drink out of the cup of the wrath of God.
6 And now, these are the
words which king Benjamin desired of them; and therefore he said unto them: Ye
have spoken the words that I desired; and the covenant which ye have made is a
righteous covenant.
7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye
shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for
behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts
are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have
become his sons and his daughters.
8 And under this head ye
are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is
no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should
take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant
with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.
9 And it shall come to
pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he
shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name
of Christ.
Adam-Ondi-Ahman
is where the ordinances began, Adam brought the people to this point, it is a
very sacred and important place, and its role has yet to be completed!!
(Doctrine and Covenants
107:53.)
53 Three years previous to
the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all high
priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley
of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing.
The whole purpose is to bring the
righteous (sons and daughter of God) into the presence of God.
President Benson’s talk in these
notes discussed the events of Adam-Ondi-Ahman.
(Moses 5:10-11.)
10 And in that day Adam
blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families
of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my
transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again
in the flesh I shall see God.
11 And Eve, his wife,
heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression
we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and
the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the
obedient.
The Law of Adoption as stated by
Wilford Woodruff in a Conference address on
Men are in danger sometimes in being
adopted to others, until they know who they are and what they will be. Now,
what are the feelings of
(Brian H. Stuy,
ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [
4 :.)
The
Doctrine of
Adoption into the Family of God
Power to Become the Sons of God
The following scriptures
show the necessity of becoming sons of God:
- But as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name. (John 1:12)
- And as many as have received
me, to them have I given to become the sons of God; and even
so will I to as many as shall believe on my name, for behold, by me
redemption cometh, and in me is the law of Moses fulfilled. (3 Nephi
9:17)
- And after that he came men also
were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the
sons of God. . . . Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the
Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love,
which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus
Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall
appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may
have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. (
- But verily, verily, I say unto you, that as many
as receive me, to them will I give power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on my name. (D&C 11:30)
- Who so loved the world that he gave his own
life, that as many as would believe might become the sons of God.
Wherefore you are my son; (D&C 34:3)
- I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was
crucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will believe on my
name, that they may become the sons of God, even one in me as
I am one in the Father, as the Father is one in me, that we may be one. (D&C
35:2)
- I came unto mine own, and mine own received me
not; but unto as many as received me gave I power to do many
miracles, and to become the sons of God; and even unto them that
believed on my name gave I power to obtain eternal life. (D&C 45:8)
- AND it came to pass that Enoch continued his
speech, saying: Behold, our father Adam taught these things, and many have
believed and become the sons of God, and many have believed not, and have
perished in their sins, and are looking forth with fear, in torment, for
the fiery indignation of the wrath of God to be poured out upon them. (Moses
7:1)
Adam Became
a Son of God
Moses 6:64-68
And it came to pass, when
the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and
he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the
water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.
And thus he was baptized,
and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit,
and became quickened in the inner man.
And he heard a voice out
of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This
is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;
And thou art after the
order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all
eternity to all eternity.
Behold, thou art one in
me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons.
Adoption Comes Through
Ordinances
Ezra Taft Benson
When our Heavenly Father
placed Adam and Eve on this earth, He did so with the purpose in mind of
teaching them how to regain His presence. Our Father promised a Savior to
redeem them from their fallen condition. He gave to them the plan of salvation
and told them to teach their children faith in Jesus Christ, and repentance.
Further, Adam and his posterity were commanded by God to be baptized, to
receive the Holy Ghost, and to enter into the order of the Son of God. To
enter into the order of the Son of God is the equivalent today of entering into
the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood, which is only received in the house
of the Lord. ("What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children About the
Temple," Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
pp. 42-43; also, Ensign, Aug. 1985, p. 8; emphasis added.)
Adopted into the Family
of God Necessary to Become As God
John Taylor
A man, as a man, could arrive
at all the dignity that a man was capable of obtaining or receiving; but it
needed a God to raise him to the dignity of a God. For this cause it is
written, "Now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be: but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him." And
how and why like Him? Because, through the instrumentality of the atonement and
the adoption, it is made possible for us to become of the family of God, and
joint heirs with Jesus Christ; and that as He, the potential instrument,
through the oneness that existed between Him and His Father, by reason of
obedience to divine law, overcame death, hell and the grave, and sat down upon
His Father's throne, so shall we be able to sit down with Him, even upon His
throne. (Mediation and Atonement, pp. 145-146)
Bruce R. McConkie
As the literal Son of God
-- the Firstborn in the spirit, the Only Begotten in the flesh -- Christ is the
natural heir of his Father. It thus became his right to inherit, receive, and
possess all that his Father had. (John 16:15.) And his Father is possessor of
all things: the universe; all power, wisdom, and goodness; the fulness of truth
and knowledge; and an infinity of all good attributes. By heirship and by
obedience, going from grace to grace, the Son attained these same things. (D.
& C. 93:5-17.)
By obedience to the
fulness of gospel law, righteous men are adopted into the family of God so that
they also become heirs, Joint-heirs with Christ (Rom.
A joint-heir is one who
inherits equally with all other heirs including the Chief Heir who is the Son.
Each joint-heir has an equal and an undivided portion of the whole of
everything. If one knows all things, so do all others. If one has all power, so
do all those who inherit jointly with him. If the universe belongs to one, so
it does equally to the total of all upon whom the joint inheritances are
bestowed.
Joint-heirs are
possessors of all things. (D. & C. 50:26-28.) All things are theirs for
they have exaltation. (D. & C. 76:50-60.) They are made "equal"
with their Lord. (D. & C. 88:107.) They gain all power both in heaven and
on earth and receive the fulness of the Father, and all knowledge and truth are
theirs. (D. & C. 93:15-30.) They are gods. (D. & C. 132:20.) Celestial
marriage is the gate to this high state of exaltation. (Doctrines of Salvation,
vol. 2, pp. 24, 35-39; D. & C. 131:1-4; 132.) [Mormon Doctrine, pp.
394-395]
Power of Elijah-Link the
Family of God Together
Brigham Young
I will here refer to a
principle that has not been named by me for years. With the introduction of the
Priesthood upon the earth was also introduced the sealing ordinance, that the
chain of the Priesthood from Adam to the latest generation might be united in
one unbroken continuance. It is the same power and the same keys that Elijah
held, and was to exercise in the last days. "Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of
the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a
curse." By this power men will be sealed to men back to Adam, completing
and making perfect the chain of the Priesthood from his day to the winding up
scene. . . . I have had visions and revelations instructing me how to organize
this people so that they can live like the family of heaven, but I cannot do it
while so much selfishness and wickedness reign in the Elders of Israel. (Journal
of Discourses, 9:269)
There is Only One Family
of God
Joseph Fielding Smith
- Eventually, when this work is
perfected, and Christ delivers up to his Father the keys and makes his
report, and death is destroyed, then that great family from the days of
Adam down, of all the righteous, those who have kept the commandments of
God, will find that they are one family, the family of God, entitled to
all the blessings that pertain to the exaltation." (Doctrines of
Salvation, 2:68)
- When everything gets finished,
we will all be one family--every member of the Church a member of one
family, the family of God. And we will all be subject to our first
progenitor, Adam, Michael, the archangel, who has been appointed and given
authority under Jesus Christ to stand at the head and preside over all his
posterity. We are one family. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:173-174)
Brigham Young
- We now want to organize the Latter-day Saints,
every man, woman and child among them, who has a desire to be organized,
into this holy order. You may call it the Order of Enoch, you may call it
co-partnership, or just what you please. It is the United Order of the
Kingdom of God on the earth; but we say the Order of Enoch on the same
principle you find in the revelation concerning the Priesthood, which, to
avoid the too frequent repetition of the name of the Deity, is called the
Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. This order is the order of
heaven, the family of heaven on the earth; it is the children of our
Father here upon the earth organized into one body or one family, to
operate together. (Journal of Discourses, 17:44)
- It is lamentable to any person who understands by
the visions of eternity the plan of salvation, the providences of God to
His creatures, to see one who has his mind opened to see, understand, and
embrace the principles of life and salvation in his faith, and who has the
privilege of being adopted into the family of heaven, of becoming an heir
with the Saints that have formerly lived upon the earth, an heir with the
Prophets and with Jesus Christ, and of being numbered with the children of
the Most High, with a legal administrator to officiate for the attainment
of all these privileges, and to open the door of salvation and admittance
into the kingdom, neglect so great a salvation. (Journal of Discourses,
4:58-59)
We Cannot Be Saved
Without Our Kindred Dead
Joseph F. Smith
The same principles that
apply to the living apply also to the dead. … And so we are baptized for
those that are dead. The living cannot be made perfect without the dead, nor
the dead be made perfect without the living. There has got to be a welding
together and a joining together of parents and children and children and
parents until the whole chain of God's family shall be welded together into one
chain, and they shall all become the family of God and His Christ. (Teachings
of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smtih, p.
411).
Wilford Woodruff
When I went before the
Lord to know who I should be adopted to (we were then being adopted to prophets
and apostles), the Spirit of God said to me, "Have you not a father, who
begot you?" "Yes, I have." "Then why not honor him? Why not
be adopted to him?" "Yes," says I, "that is right." I
was adopted to my father, and should have had my father sealed to his father,
and so on back; and the duty that I want every man who presides over a temple
to see performed from this day henceforth and forever, unless the Lord Almighty
commands otherwise, is, let every man be adopted to his father. When a man
receives the endowments, adopt him to his father; not to Wilford Woodruff, nor
to any other man outside the lineage of his fathers. That is the will of God to
this people. I want all men who preside over these temples in these mountains
of
Joseph Fielding Smith
MEMBERSHIP IN FAMILY OF
GOD. When everything gets finished, we will all be one family -- every member
of the Church a member of one family, the family of God. And we will all be
subject to our first progenitor, Adam, Michael, the archangel, who has been
appointed and given authority under Jesus Christ to stand at the head and
preside over all his posterity. We are one family. And we all have to be joined
to that family. So it is not merely enough that we be baptized for our dead or
for ourselves, but also we have to be sealed to our parents. We must have the
parents sealed to their parents and so on, as far back as we can go, and
eventually back to Adam.
There will be cases where
some of our ancestors will not be worthy and will drop out, but the links will
have to be joined without them. So when the Prophet says we cannot be saved or
exalted without our dead, he had this in mind. Suppose we do not do any work
for our ancestors? Then where are we? We are out on a limb. We leave ourselves
on the side lines. We are not joined into this great family. We may be born
under the covenant and thus belong to our parents, but where there are breaks
in that lineage we are not united.
SEALINGS ESSENTIAL TO
MEMBERSHIP IN GOD'S FAMILY. And, therefore, when the Prophet says we cannot be
exalted without them, he is thinking of the family connections -- generation to
generation. And if we are going to sit down and do nothing and let our
ancestors whose history we can obtain go without having their work done, we are
just setting ourselves off on the side. We are not members; we do not have the
credentials which permit us into that family. You see how important it is that
we labor for our dead?
Why do we go into the
temples to be sealed, husbands and wives, and children to parents, and why are
we commanded to have this work done, not only for ourselves, but also to be
sealed to our fathers and mothers, and their fathers and mothers before them,
back as far as we can go? Because we want to belong to that great family of God
which is in heaven, and, so far as the Church is concerned, on earth. That is
why.
NO PERFECTION WITHOUT OUR
DEAD. Now, some members of the Church have wondered just what was meant by the
words of the Prophet, that we without our dead could not be made perfect. Will
not a man who keeps the commandments of the Lord, who is faithful and true so
far as he himself is concerned, receive perfection? Yes, provided his worthy
dead also receive the same privileges, because there must be a family
organization, a family unit, and each generation must be linked to the chain
that goes before in order to bring perfection in family organization. Thus
eventually we will be one large family with Adam at the head, Michael, the archangel,
presiding over his posterity. . . .
PERFECTION COMES THROUGH
CELESTIAL FAMILY ORGANIZATION. We are taught in the gospel of Jesus Christ that
the family organization will be, so far as celestial exaltation is concerned,
one that is complete -- an organization linked from father and mother and
children of one generation, to the father and mother and children of the next
generation, thus expanding and spreading out down to the end of time. If we
fail to do the work, therefore, in the temples for our dead, you see our links
in this chain -- genealogical chain -- will be broken; we will have to stand
aside at least until that is remedied.
We could not be made
perfect in this organization unless we are brought in by this selective or
sealing power, and if we have failed to do the work for those of our line, who
have gone before, we will stand aside until somebody comes along who will do it
for us. And if we have had the opportunity and have failed to do it, then
naturally we would be under condemnation, and I think all through eternity we
would regret the fact that we had failed to do the thing that was placed before
us to do and which was our duty to accomplish in the salvation of the children
of men.
NO SALVATION WITHOUT OUR
WORTHY DEAD. The expression about not being saved without our dead is greatly
misunderstood. We will all be saved without some of our dead, without any
question. The Lord cannot save the wilfully wicked,
and they will not be saved, nor will those be who refused to accept the work.
This expression means that we cannot be saved without our dead who prove
themselves worthy of salvation. The Lord will not save all of his family. One
third of them rebelled in pre-existence. We are doing the genealogical work for
those who died before the gospel was restored and who did not have the chance,
not for those who had all the chance in the world and would not receive it. (Doctrines
of Salvation, 2:173-176)
Sealing of Children
James E. Talmage
Children born to parents
thus married under the celestial law are heirs to the Priesthood; 'children of
the covenant' they are called; no ordinance of adoption or sealing is required
to give them place in the blessed posterity of promise. (The House of the
Lord, p.88.)
George Q. Cannon
It is not necessary,
where parents are thus sealed together by the authority of the Holy Priesthood
for time and for eternity that their children should be adopted or be sealed to
them. They are legitimate heirs of the Priesthood and of the blessings of the
new and everlasting covenant. But not so with those who have been born outside
of this covenant. There has to be some ordinance performed in order to make
them legitimate; and that ordinance, the Prophet Joseph revealed, was the
ordinance of adoption; that is, that which covers the ordinance or law,
although we do not use the word adoption when we seal children to parents; we
call that sealing. (Collected Discourses, Vol.4)
11:30 Hyrum's position was much like that
of the meridian twelve of whom the Savior said that they would "receive
power" after that the Holy Ghost had come upon them (Acts 1:8). He is
promised that he will be given power to become a son of God.
That is, he will be spiritually adopted by covenant into the family of God,
thus he becomes an heir of God and joint- heir with Christ (Romans
Revelations
of the Restoration, Joseph Fielding McConkie
From Adam to Joseph Smith:
The Initiation and Restoration of
Bruce Satterfield
BYUI – Religious Lecture Series
January 28, 2006
The Garden
of Eden is a type for the Celestial Room (God’s Presence). Adam and Eve were praying to learn how to get
back to the Father’s presence.
(Moses 5:4.)
4 And Adam and Eve, his
wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord
from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him
not; for they were shut out from his presence.
In Moses
5:5, the Lord gave Adam and Eve two commandments, verses 6-8 show how they were
obedient in keeping these commandments.
(Moses 5:5-8.)
5 And he gave unto them
commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the
firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was
obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.
6 And after many days an
angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices
unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.
7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice
of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.
8 Wherefore, thou shalt do
all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon
God in the name of the Son forevermore.
In the first chapter of the book Leviticus, we
learn the exact way an animal was prepared for sacrifice on the altar.
(Leviticus 1:1-9.)
1 And the LORD called unto
Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of
the congregation, saying,
2 Speak unto the children
of
3 If his offering be
a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall
offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation before the LORD.
4 And he shall put his
hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to
make atonement for him.
5 And he shall kill the
bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood,
and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation.
6 And he shall flay the
burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces.
7 And the sons of Aaron
the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the
fire:
8 And the priests, Aaron's
sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is
on the fire which is upon the altar:
9 But his inwards and his
legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to
be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
The fire
consuming the dismembered parts of the animal’s body is a type of the sacrifice
that we are required to make personally before the Lord. Our baptism by fire consists of giving our
heart, might, mind and strength to the Lord.
Inwards
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Heart
Legs
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Might
Head
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Mind
Fat
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Strength
By offering
this sacrifice, Adam and Eve were showing their faith in Christ and repentance
for their sins.
The Law of Worship and the Law of Sacrifice
Bruce Satterfield
Department of
[Found in New
Perspectives, Fall Semester Vol. 14, No. 2, November 1997, pp.
14-16.]
In holy temples, we enter
into covenants with God that are essential for our progress towards exaltation.
One such covenant centers on the law of sacrifice.(1)
It is important to understand the intent of the law of sacrifice in order to
honor the covenant associated with it. A study of the scriptures will greatly
aid our coming to understand the spirit of the law of sacrifice while at the
same time increasing our motivation and determination to live the law.
According to the scriptural
account, after Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden, they
"called upon the name of the Lord." What they prayed for is not
stated. But it must be certain that at least one of the things they wanted to
know was how to do to regain God's presence for as the account reads,
"they were shut out from his presence" (Moses 5:4). In response to
their prayers, the Lord said "that they should worship the Lord their God,
and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord"
(Moses 5:5).
The law of worship has been
given to man in every age. In our dispensation, the Lord told the Church,
"all men must repent and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, and worship
the Father in his name. . . . or they cannot be saved in the
The law of worship and the
law of sacrifice are inherently connected. The ritual associated with the law
of sacrifice is a visual representation of the law of worship. We are not told
specifically how Adam performed the ritual of the law of sacrifice. We do know,
however, that the law of sacrifice was passed on to Adam's posterity. It
continued to the time of Moses and was incorporated in the law of Moses. In
Leviticus chapter one, a detailed description of the ritual associated with the
law of sacrifice is given. This description is very revealing. Since the
"law of sacrifice is required of all disciples,"(3)
the description of the sacrificial procedure will help in understanding what is
meant by the law of sacrifice and the law of worship.
According to Leviticus 1,
the offering was first killed (vs. 5). After it was killed, the animal was
flayed, or skinned (vs. 6). The skin was not to be burnt for that would produce
an offensive smell; the sacrifice was to be a "sweet savour
unto the Lord" (vs. 9), meaning that this sacrifice was acceptable to God.
The animal was then cut into pieces and laid in a specified order on the altar
(vss. 6-9). First, the head was removed and placed on the altar. Second, the
fat was cut off and laid next to the head. Then the inwards were taken out and
laid next to the fat. After that, the legs were cut off the carcass and laid
next to the inwards. Finally, the carcass was placed on the altar. After all
this was done, the entire animal was consumed in flames. It seems that the
sacrificial offerings performed at the time of Adam were similar to the
procedure described in Leviticus 1 for we are told that Abel "brought of
the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof" (Genesis
4:4;Moses 5:20; emphasis added).
The Hebrew name of the burnt
offering is olah ("that which goes
up"), meaning the offering that goes up or is given up to God. The
translation of olah in the King James
Version is the "burnt offering" because the entire animal was
consumed in the flames of the fire, and, unlike other sacrifices, no part was
eaten by the offerer or priest. The symbolism of this
is clear: the burnt offering was a consecration offering. In other words, the
entire offering was consecrated to God. It can be seen from this that the law
of sacrifice is not only inherently connected with the law of worship but also
with another covenant made in the temple, the law of consecration. Of this,
Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught: "Sacrifice and consecration are
inseparably intertwined"(4)
But what was being
sacrificed or consecrated to God? The answer was given to Adam and Eve. After
"many days" of performing the ritual associated with the law of
sacrifice, "an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou
offer sacrifices unto the Lord?" Adam responded by saying, "I know
not, save the Lord commanded me." Then the angel explained the meaning of
the sacrifice in these words: "This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice
of the Only Begotten of the Father" (Moses 5:6-7). That is, the lamb
symbolized the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in behalf of Adam and Eve and their
posterity.
The cutting of the lamb into
pieces and placing the pieces on the altar to be entirely consumed by the
flames was a representation of the worship, sacrifice, and consecration of
Jesus Christ to God's work and glory. His worship and sacrifice was evidenced
by his consecrating all he had to the building of the
Just as Jesus Christ would
sacrifice and consecrate all he had to God's work and glory so must Adam and
Eve (and their posterity) sacrifice all they have for the same purpose.(5)
Therefore, the angel told Adam and Eve that from that day forward, everything
they did was to be done "in the name of the Son" (Moses 5:7-8). Paul
stated it this way: "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1). It
is in this way that many in the past "who had been faithful in the
testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality" had "offered
sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God"
(D&C 138:12-13).
The scriptures also reveal
many other insights relative to the law of sacrifice that are helpful. For
instance, as already noted, the ritual associated with the law of sacrifice
became an important part of the law of Moses. In fact, the burnt offering was
to be offered "day by day" in both the morning and the evening
(Numbers 28:3-4). This was to continually remind
The Old Testament is clear
that performing the ritual of sacrifice was not as important as the intent of
the rite. When Saul was commanded by the prophet Samuel to lead the Israelites
in battle against their age old enemy, the Amalekites,
he was told to "utterly destroy all that they [the Amalekites]
have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox
and sheep, camel and ass" (1 Samuel 15:3). However, Saul was disobedient
to the command of the Lord through Samuel. After defeating the Amalekites, and killing all the people, he spared "the
best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs"
that he might offer "sacrifice unto the Lord" (1 Samuel 15:9-21).
Saul's disobedience violated the very intent of the law of sacrifice.
Therefore, Samuel rebuked Saul saying, "Hath the LORD as great delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1
Samuel 15:22). Likewise, a later prophet chided
The relationship between the
intent of the law of sacrifice and the ritual is well illustrated in the story
of Lehi. When Lehi was commanded to leave
Note the similarity in the
life of Abraham. After the Lord had told him to "Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I
will shew thee," Abraham obediently left his
land and people and came into the
In fact, the whole life of
Abraham is a paradigm of how the law of sacrifice should be lived. At various
times, he was asked to give up mortal things for higher ideals. In all cases,
Abraham was obedient to the law of sacrifice (see Genesis 12-22) and therefore,
he achieved his exaltation (see D&C 132:29-37). Abraham epitomizes what
Joseph Smith said about the law of sacrifice. He explained that the law of
sacrifice requires a "man to lay down his all, his character and
reputation, his honor, and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his
lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his own life
-- counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency
of the knowledge of Jesus Christ."(6)
The example of Abraham and
Lehi is found in other places in the scriptures. For instance, the law of
sacrifice permeates the entire gospel of Matthew. Note the following examples.
Upon seeing the star that signaled the birth of the Messiah, the wise men
demonstrated their willingness to make a sacrifice for a higher cause by
leaving their homeland and making an extended journey to find the Christ child
and pay homage to him. The giving of their treasure, which included the
expensive gifts of "gold, and frankincense, and myrrh," was a further
demonstration of their willingness to sacrifice what they had to the child who
would bring salvation to all men (see Matt. 2:1-12). In stark contrast, Herod,
the king of the Savior's own people, was not willing to sacrifice anything to
worship the Savior but instead attempted to assassinate his would be rival
(Matt. 2:1-18). Matthew also records the sacrifice made by some of the Savior's
disciples. When Peter, Andrew, James, and John were asked to follow the Savior,
"they straightway left their nets [occupation], and followed him."
Interestingly enough, the account reveals that James and John not only left
their nets, but their father also (Matt. 4:18-22). Speaking of this kind of
sacrifice, Matthew records the Savior saying, "He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of
me" (Matthew 10:37). Again, on another occasion, the Savior said:
"And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall
receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life" (Matt. 19:29).
Matthew also records that the ultimate sacrifice made by any man was made by
the Savior himself when he retired to
The scriptures inform us that with the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ the ritual associated with the law of sacrifice, the killing of an animal
was done away with. After the great destruction had come upon the land
associated with the death of Christ, the Lord said to the people: "ye
shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and
your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your
sacrifices and your burnt offerings." Instead of offering blood
sacrifices, the Lord required a new sacrifice: "And ye shall offer for a
sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit" (3 Nephi 9:19-20).
In the Doctrine and Covenants, the latter-day Church was given the same
commandment: "Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in
righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit" (D&C
59:8).
For one to offer a sacrifice of a broken heart and a
contrite spirit, he must recognize his spiritual poorness, mourn his sins, and
come unto Christ for forgiveness. When that happens, the sacrifice of Christ
will come into his heart and comfort him through the miracle of forgiveness
(see 3 Nephi 12:3-4). Elder Neal A. Maxwell spoke of this in these terms:
"So it is that real, personal sacrifice never was
placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal
in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed! Such is the "sacrifice
unto the Lord . . . of a broken heart and a contrite spirit," (D&C
59:8), a prerequisite to taking up the cross, while giving "away all [our]
sins" in order to know God (
But this is only the beginning of honoring the intent of the
law of sacrifice. President Spencer W. Kimball taught :
“. . . we must lay on the altar and sacrifice whatever is
required by the Lord. We begin by offering a "broken heart and a contrite
spirit." We follow this by giving our best effort in our assigned fields
of labor and callings. We learn our duty and execute it fully. Finally we
consecrate our time, talents and means as called upon by our file leaders and
as prompted by the whisperings of the Spirit. In the Church, as in the Welfare
system also, we can give expression to every ability, every righteous desire,
every thoughtful impulse. Whether a volunteer, father, home teacher, bishop, or
neighbor, whether a visiting teacher, mother, homemaker, or friend--there is
ample opportunity to give our all."(8)
In conclusion, the law of
worship and the law of sacrifice are interrelated laws that are designed to put
God at the center of our lives. Those who enter into these laws by covenant,
place all they have on the altar. Their minds, energy, heart, and course of
life will be devoted to God's work and glory which is to bring to pass
"the immortality and eternal life of man." In other words, they will
"love and serve God with all their mights,
minds, and strength" (D&C 20:31). In so doing, they will lose their
life in the service of others. By losing their life in the building of the
"If in this day the
Church rises to the call of the First Presidency, and if Church members
sacrifice of their means, their time, their talents for the upbuilding
of the kingdom of God, not withholding their own lives, if that were necessary,
then there will come to this people, and to that individual who thus is willing
to consecrate himself, the greatest joy that can come to the human soul."(9)
References
1.
President Harold B. Lee taught, "We have in sacred places what we call the
law of sacrifice" (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, Ed. Clyde J.
Williams, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996] p.318).
Likewise, President Ezra Taft Benson stated, "In the course of our visits
to the temple, we are given insights into the meaning of the eternal journey of
man. We see beautiful and impressive symbolisms of the most important events --
past, present, and future -- symbolizing man's mission in relationship to God.
We are reminded of our obligations as we make solemn covenants pertaining to
obedience, consecration, sacrifice, and dedicated service to our Heavenly
Father" (Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, [Salt
Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988] p. 251).
2. Dallin
H. Oaks, Pure in Heart,
3. Bruce
R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah. The Messiah Series, vols. 2-5.
4.
Conference Report, Apr. 1975, p. 74; or Ensign, May 1975, p. 50.
"The law of
consecration is that we consecrate our time, our talents, and our money and
property to the cause of the Church: such are to be available to the extent
they are needed to further the Lord's interests on earth.
"The law of sacrifice
is that we are willing to sacrifice all that we have for the truth's sake--our
character and reputation; our honor and applause; our good name among men; our
houses, lands, and families: all things, even our very lives if need be"
(Conference Report, Apr. 1975, p. 74; or Ensign, May 1975, p. 50).
7.
Conference Report, Apr. 1995, p. 91; or Ensign, May 1995, p. 68.
8.
Conference Report, Apr. 1978, pp.12324; or Ensign, May 1978, p.81.
9. The
Teachings of Harold B. Lee, Ed. Clyde J. Williams, [
Reference #1
1. Moses
5:1-9 - Adam offers sacrifice
Question: Where did this take place?
Answer:
Heber C. Kimball:
The Prophet Joseph called upon Brother Brigham, myself and
others, saying, "Brethren, come, go along with me, and I will show you
something," He led us a short distance to a place where were the ruins of
three altars built of stone, one above the other, and one standing a little
back of the other, like unto the pulpits in the Kirtland Temple, representing
the order of three grades of Priesthood; "There," said Joseph,
"is the place where Adam offered up sacrifice after he was cast out of the
garden." The altar stood at the highest point of the bluff. I went and
examined the place several times while I remained there. (Life of Heber C.
Kimball, pp. 209-210)
Wilford Woodruff:
The very first principle was faith in the Messiah; this was
the first principle ever taught to man. When Adam, after being driven from the
Garden of Eden, went to Adam-ondi-Ahman to offer sacrifice, the angel of the
Lord asked him why he did so. Adam replied that he did not know, but the Lord
had commanded him to do it. He was then told that the blood of bulls and goats,
of rams and lambs should be spilt upon the altar as a type of the great and
last sacrifice, which should be offered up for the sins of the world. The first
principle, then, ever taught to Father Adam was faith in the Messiah, who was
to come in the meridian of time to lay down his life for the redemption of man.
The second principle was repentance. (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff,
p.18)
In the 6th chapter of
Moses, we read the story of Enoch, beginning with the 51st verse we
learn more about Adam’s experience when the Holy Ghost came upon him.
(Moses 6:51-54.)
51 And he called upon our
father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men
before they were in the flesh.
52 And he also said unto
him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and
repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name
of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus
Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation
shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be
given you.
53 And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must
repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy
transgression in the Garden of Eden.
54 Hence came the saying
abroad among the people, that the Son of
God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be
answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the
foundation of the world.
We learn
from verses 53-54 that through Christ’s atonement original sin (our first
spiritual death) was paid for everyone on this earth.
However, in
verse 55 we learn at the time of our birth, everyone experiences a second
spiritual death because of our spirits entering into our tabernacles of clay,
becoming natural men. Christ’s atonement
covers our sins during our early years, but once we reach the age of
accountability, then it is our responsibility to repent to overcome this
spiritual death.
Verses
56-62 – The plan we must follow to overcome the natural man, to be spiritually
born again so we may return to the presence of Heavenly Father.
(Moses 6:55-62.)
55 And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are
conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth
in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the
good.
56 And it is given unto
them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I
have given unto you another law and commandment.
57 Wherefore teach it unto
your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise
inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in
his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and
the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous
Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.
58 Therefore I give unto
you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying:
59 That by reason of
transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth
death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the
spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must
be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be
cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified
from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal
life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
60 For by the water ye
keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are
sanctified;
61 Therefore it is given
to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of
immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth
all things, which maketh alive all things; that which
knoweth all things, and hath all power according to
wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.
62 And now, behold, I say
unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine
Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time.
Verses
64-68 – Adam shows us the way for all men to receive the necessary ordinances
to be born again and become the sons and daughters of God.
(Moses 6:64-68.)
64 And it came to pass,
when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord,
and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the
water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water. (Baptism)
65 And thus he was
baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the
Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.
(Gift of the Holy Ghost)
66 And he heard a voice
out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost.
This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever; (Baptism by Fire and the Holy Ghost)
67 And thou art after the
order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all
eternity to all eternity. (
68 Behold, thou art one in
me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen.
Reference #2
2. Moses
6:51-68 - Adam receives the ordinances of salvation
Question: What is the "order of
him who was without beginning of days or end of years"?
Answer:
Ezra Taft
Benson
When
our Heavenly Father placed Adam and Eve on this earth, He did so with the
purpose in mind of teaching them how to regain His presence. Our Father
promised a Savior to redeem them from their fallen condition. He gave to them
the plan of salvation and told them to teach their children faith in Jesus
Christ and repentance. Further, Adam and his posterity were commanded by God to
be baptized, to receive the Holy Ghost, and to enter into the order of the Son
of God.
To enter into the order of the Son of God is the
equivalent today of entering into the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood,
which is only received in the house of the Lord.
Because Adam and Eve had complied with these requirements,
God said to them, “Thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of
days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.” (Moses 6:67.)
[From “What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children about the
In Moses 6:68, we learn
a very important doctrine – how to become a “Son of God”. After we have completed all of the necessary
ordinances, then we can fully partake of the at-one-ment that Christ has offered us as
we:
- Are “one” with God
- Become
a Son of God
- Help
all to become sons and daughter of God
This is the
purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to receive all of the ordinances
necessary in order to become joint-heirs with Christ of all the Father has.
(Doctrine and Covenants
11:30.)
30 But verily, verily, I
say unto you, that as many as receive me, to them will I give power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on my name. Amen.
Adam and
Eve were also married for time and all eternity in the Garden of Eden, before
they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth. If this was not done, they would have
committed sin once the Fall took place.
The transgression of Adam did not
involve sex sin as some falsely believe and teach. Adam and Eve were married by
the Lord while they were yet immortal beings in the Garden of Eden and before
death entered the world.
(Joseph
Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3 vols., edited by Bruce R.
McConkie [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-1956], 1:
114.)
The events associated with the Garden
of Eden make it the archetype of our temples. Here Adam received the
priesthood, here Adam and Eve walked and talked with God; here our first
parents were eternally married by God himself; here they learned of the tree of
good and evil and of the tree of life; here they were taught the law of
sacrifice and clothed in garments of skin; and from here they ventured into the
lone and dreary world that they and their posterity might prove themselves
worthy to return again to that divine presence.
(Joseph
Fielding McConkie, Gospel Symbolism [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1999], 258.)
(Doctrine and Covenants
107:40-53.)
40 The order of this
priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly
belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises
were made.
41 This order was
instituted in the days of Adam, and came down by lineage in the following
manner:
42 From Adam to Seth, who
was ordained by Adam at the age of sixty-nine years, and was blessed by him
three years previous to his (Adam's) death, and received the promise of God by
his father, that his posterity should be the chosen of the Lord, and that they
should be preserved unto the end of the earth;
43 Because he (Seth) was a
perfect man, and his likeness was the express likeness of his father, insomuch
that he seemed to be like unto his father in all things, and could be distinguished
from him only by his age.
44 Enos was ordained at
the age of one hundred and thirty-four years and four months, by the hand of
Adam.
45 God called upon Cainan in the wilderness in the fortieth year of his age;
and he met Adam in journeying to the place Shedolamak.
He was eighty-seven years old when he received his ordination.
46 Mahalaleel
was four hundred and ninety-six years and seven days old when he was ordained
by the hand of Adam, who also blessed him.
47 Jared was two hundred
years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam, who also blessed him.
48 Enoch was twenty-five
years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam; and he was sixty-five
and Adam blessed him.
49 And he saw the Lord,
and he walked with him, and was before his face continually; and he walked with
God three hundred and sixty-five years, making him four hundred and thirty
years old when he was translated.
50 Methuselah was one
hundred years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam.
51 Lamech
was thirty-two years old when he was ordained under the hand of Seth.
52 Noah was ten years old
when he was ordained under the hand of Methuselah.
53 Three years previous to
the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all high
priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley
of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing.
Reference #3
3. D&C
107:40-53 - Adam meets with his posterity at Adam-ondi-Ahman three years
before his death
Question: What was the purpose of this meeting?
Answer:
Ezra Taft
Benson
Three years
before Adam’s death, a great event occurred. He took his son Seth, his grandson
Enos, and other high priests who were his direct-line descendants, with others
of his righteous posterity, into a valley called Adam-ondi-Ahman. There Adam
gave to these righteous descendants his last blessing.
The Lord then appeared to them. ...
The Prophet Joseph Smith said that Adam blessed his posterity
because “he wanted to bring them into the presence of God.” (Teachings of
the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book Co., 1938, p. 159.) ...
How did Adam bring his descendants into the presence of the
Lord?
The answer: Adam and his descendants entered into the
priesthood order of God. Today we would say they went to the House of the Lord
and received their blessings.(From “What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children
about the Temple,” Ensign, Aug. 1985, p. 9)
Adam, in the
Enoch used
the same “blessings” and the order he entered into to teach his posterity,
eventually leading them back to the presence of God. These priesthood keys and ordinances were
passed from generation to generation.
Reference #4
4. Adam held
the Keys of the Kingdom, which includes the right to perform the ordinances of
salvation.
Joseph
Smith
The Priesthood was first given to Adam; he obtained the
First Presidency, and held the keys of it from generation to generation.
He obtained it in the Creation, before the world was formed, as in Genesis
1:26, 27, and 28. He had dominion given him over every living creature. (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.157)
Following
the death of the Apostles, these keys were taken from the earth and the
Apostasy took place. Apostasy = loss of
ordinances, “order”
Reference #5
5. Restoration
of the
A. Joseph
Smith History 1:38-39
Joseph
Fielding Smith
When
To prepare the way for the coming of Elijah and the
restoration of the sealing power, because of which men may receive the fullness
of the priesthood, John the Baptist came in May of 1829 and conferred upon
Joseph and Oliver the Aaronic Priesthood. A short time later Peter, James, and
John came and gave them the Melchizedek Priesthood.
Then on April 3, 1836, in the
The
priesthood was restored as follows:
- Aaronic Priesthood – John the Baptist
- Melchizedek Priesthood – Peter, James and John
- The Fulness of the Priesthood – Moses, Elias and Elijah
(D&C 110:11-15)
(Doctrine and Covenants
110:11-16.)
11 After this vision
closed, the heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us,
and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of
12 After this, Elias
appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that
in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed.
13 After this vision had
closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the
prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and
said:
14 Behold, the time has
fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he
[Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—
15 To turn the hearts of
the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole
earth be smitten with a curse—
16 Therefore, the keys of
this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that
the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.
Moses
restored the gathering = the gathering to the temple of the Lord to obtain the
necessary ordinances to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.
Elias
restored the marriage ordinance (Abrahamic Covenant)
- Posterity
- Land
- Descendants would have the
priesthood
Elijah
restored the sealing powers, so that which was bound on earth would be bound in
heaven. The spirit of Elijah is the same
as the Holy Spirit of Promise and is sufficient to make one’s calling and
election sure. This is only possible
when we have sacrificed our heart, might, mind and strength unto the Lord.
When we are married in the temple and sealed for time and all eternity, it is only a temporary sealing. In order for the sealing to be eternal it must be ratified by the Holy Spirit of Promise.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the First Council of the Seventy
We believe in the law of
justification. By virtue of this law, if a man walks, acts, and lives in this
life in such a manner that his conduct is justified by the Spirit, he
eventually will attain an inheritance in the celestial world.
On the day the Church was organized,
April 6, 1830, the Prophet, writing by way of prophecy and revelation,
summarized the basic doctrines of the Church. Among other things he wrote this:
And we know that justification
through the grace of our lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true. (D
& C 20:30.)
In the summary of the gospel law
given in the days of Father Adam, we find this sentence:
For by the water ye keep the
commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are
sanctified. (Moses 6:60.)
In the early 1830's, when the Lord
was talking to the Prophet about what is called the new and everlasting
covenant—that is, about the fulness of the gospel—he revealed this further
truth relative to this great law of justification, and I think these following
words are a perfect one sentence summary of the whole law of the whole gospel.
The Lord said:
. . . All covenants, contracts,
bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or
expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit
of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity,
and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of
mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power . . . are
of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead.
(D & C 132:7.)
One more expression in the
revelations has bearing on this. The Lord said:
. . . the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all
those who are just and true. (D & C 76:53.)
Now, to justify is to seal, or to ratify, or to approve; and it is very
evident from these revelations that every act that we do, if it is to have
binding and sealing virtue in eternity, must be justified by the Spirit. In
other words, it must be ratified by the Holy Ghost; or in other words, it must
be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise.
All of us know that we can deceive
men. We can deceive our bishops or the other Church agents, unless at the
moment their minds are lighted by the spirit of revelation; but we cannot
deceive the Lord. We cannot get from him an unearned blessing. There will be an
eventual day when all men will get exactly and precisely what they have merited
and earned, neither adding to nor subtracting from. You cannot with success lie
to the Holy Ghost.
Now let us take a simple
illustration. If an individual is to gain an inheritance in the celestial
world, he has to enter in at the gate of baptism, that ordinance being
performed under the hands of a legal administrator. If he comes forward
prepared by worthiness, that is, if he is just and true, and gains baptism
under the hands of a legal administrator, he is justified by the Spirit in the
act which has been performed; that is, it is ratified by the Holy Ghost, or it
is sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. As a result it is of full force and
validity in this life and in the life to come.
If an individual thereafter turns
from righteousness and goes off and wallows in the mire of iniquity, then the
seal is removed, and so we have this principle which keeps the unworthy from
gaining unearned blessings. The Lord has placed a bar which stops the progress
of the unrighteous; he has placed a requirement which we must meet. We must
gain the approval and receive the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost if
eventually and in eternity we are to reap the blessings that we hope to reap.
The same thing that is true of
baptism is true of marriage. If a couple comes forward worthily, a couple who
is just and true, and they enter into that ordinance under the hands of a legal
administrator, a seal of approval is recorded in heaven. Then assuming they do
not thereafter break that seal, assuming they keep the covenant and press
forward in steadfastness and in righteousness, they go on in the next world as
husband and wife; and in and after the resurrection, that ordinance performed
in such a binding manner here has full force, efficacy, and validity.
I think perhaps this doctrine, as
almost all other doctrines that we teach in the Church, leads us back to the
same central conclusion, which is that it is obligatory upon us to keep the
commandments of God if we ever expect to inherit the blessings that he has
promised the Saints. We should remind ourselves again and again of these words
which he has spoken:
. . . he who doeth the works of
righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal
life in the world to come. (D & C 59:23.)
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
(Elder Bruce
R. McConkie, Conference Report, April 1956, Afternoon Meeting 64.)
(Doctrine and Covenants
124:25-28.)
25 And again, verily I say
unto you, let all my saints come from afar.
26 And send ye swift
messengers, yea, chosen messengers, and say unto them: Come ye, with all your
gold, and your silver, and your precious stones, and with all your antiquities;
and with all who have knowledge of antiquities, that will come, may come, and
bring the box-tree, and the fir-tree, and the pine-tree, together with all the
precious trees of the earth;
27 And with iron, with
copper, and with brass, and with zinc, and with all your precious things of the
earth; and build a house to my name, for the Most High to dwell therein.
28 For there is not a
place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost
unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood.
In Nauvoo
the member of the church were once again commanded to build a temple so that
the sealing powers (fulness of the priesthood) could once again be found on the
earth.
The
Reference #6
B. The restoration of the temple ordinances
Joseph
Smith
Wednesday, 4.--I spent the day in the upper part of the
store, that is in my private office (so called because in that room I keep
my sacred writings, translate ancient records, and receive revelations) and in
my general business office, or lodge room (that is where the Masonic fraternity
meet occasionally, for want of a better place) in council with General James
Adams, of Springfield, Patriarch Hyrum Smith, Bishops Newel K. Whitney and
George Miller, and President Brigham Young and Elders Heber C. Kimball and
Willard Richards, instructing them in the principles and order of the
Priesthood, attending to washings, anointings,
endowments and the communication of keys pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood,
and so on to the highest order of the Melchisedek
Priesthood, setting forth the order pertaining to the Ancient of Days,
and all those plans and principles by which any one is enabled to secure the
fullness of those blessings which have been prepared for the Church of the
First Born, and come up and abide in the presence of the Eloheim
in the eternal worlds. In this council was instituted the ancient order of
things for the first time in these last days. And the communications I made
to this council were of things spiritual, and to be received only by the I
spiritual minded: and there was nothing made known to these men but what
will be made known to all the Saints of the last days, so soon as they are
prepared to receive, and a proper place is prepared to communicate them, even
to the weakest of the Saints; therefore let the Saints be diligent in
building the Temple, and all houses which they have been, or shall hereafter
be, commanded of God to build; and wait their time with patience in all
meekness, faith, perseverance unto the end, knowing assuredly that all these
things referred to in this council are always governed by the principle of
revelation.
Thursday, 5.--General Adams started for
Just as
Father Adam had blessed his posterity with his “last blessing”, the Prophet
Joseph Smith restored the ordinances necessary for us to return to our Heavenly
Father, in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. With these ordinances, we can fully partake
of the Lord’s atonement and become sons and daughters of God, joint heirs with
Christ and receive all that our Father hath.
The Endowment of Jacob
(Genesis 28)
Of this
event, Joseph Smith stated:
"Wherefore,
we again say, search the revelations of God; study the prophecies, and rejoice
that God grants unto the world Seers and Prophets. They are they who saw the
mysteries of godliness; they saw the flood before it came; they saw angels
ascending and descending upon a ladder that reached from earth to heaven
..." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.12)
"Paul ascended into the third heavens, and he could
understand the three principal rounds of Jacob's ladder—the telestial, the
terrestrial, and the celestial glories or kingdoms, where Paul saw and heard
things which were not lawful for him to utter. I could explain a hundred fold
more than I ever have of the glories of the kingdoms manifested to me in the
vision, were I permitted, and were the people prepared to receive them." (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.304)
That Jacob
was experiencing a temple endowment is made clear by Elder Marion G. Romney of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
Pondering upon the subject
of temples and the means therein provided to enable us to ascend into heaven
brings to mind the lesson of Jacob’s dream. You will recall that in the
twenty-eighth chapter of Genesis there is an account of his return to the land
of his father to seek a wife from among his own people. When Jacob traveled
from
Because he had met the Lord and entered into covenants with him there, Jacob
considered the site so sacred that he named the place
Jacob not only passed through the gate of heaven, but by living up to every
covenant he also went all the way in. Of him and his forebears Abraham and
Isaac, the Lord has said: “… because they did none other things than that which
they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, according to the
promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels but are gods.” (D&C
132:37.)
Religious Lecture Series
1st Corinthians
February 24, 2007
(Acts 1:6-10.) – The end
of Christ’s mortal and immortal ministry with His apostles.
6 When they therefore were
come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore
again the kingdom to
7 And he said unto them,
It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put
in his own power.
8 But ye shall receive
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in
9 And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out
of their sight.
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel;
First take the gospel to the Jews,
then to the Samaritans, then to the entire world.
(Acts 6:1.) – 2 types of
Jews
1 And in those days, when
the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the
Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily
ministration.
There were 3 groups within
the Early Christian church during the time of the Apostles, Acts 6.
1. Hellenized Jews – Accepted the Greek
and Roman ways of life while still being Jews
2. Orthodox Jews – They wanted to go
back to living the Law of Moses, tied to tradition, they thought every one else
should live the law before becoming a Christian. The Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 addressed
the issue
3. Gentile converts – Came into the
church after the revelation to Peter in Acts 10
We have traditions in the
Church today, missionary farewells and banquets after church on Sunday’s when
the missionary talks! President McKay
told the Church decades ago to stop the practice.
Paul was a persecutor of
the Church in his early years. He was
doing missionary work in spreading the gospel during these times. Christians left for other areas when he
showed up in a city! Thus the gospel
spread to other areas! ;-)
Paul leaves no doubt about his
orthodox training: "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of
This event poses searching but
unanswerable questions. Gamaliel's tolerance for
Christian leaders was not long after the crucifixion. Was he also a member of
the Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus? Since he surely heard Jesus sometime, had
he been so shaken by Jesus' manhood that he entertained the possibility of
godhood? An inner-circle Pharisee, he knew many resurrection stories behind the
public testimony of Peter and John. And where was Paul during these events? And
did he ask Gamaliel about his cautious tolerance of
Christian leaders? Paul was born about the beginning of the Christian era,
since Acts calls him a "young man" when Stephen was stoned about A.D.
33 (Acts 7:58). fn His formal study under Gamaliel
would fall before A.D. 20, long before Jesus' public ministry began. Paul
nowhere hints that he saw or heard the earthly Jesus. Perhaps he was pursuing
family and business interests at
Paul's credentials illuminate the
debated question of his marriage. He is mislabeled a bachelor or chauvinist,
for careful study of 1 Corinthians strongly suggests his marriage. There are
three elements of this problem in Paul's early life: the Jewish ideal of
marriage as a religious duty; Paul's obedience to every possible Jewish duty;
Paul's acceptance into high Jewish councils. The last point is often stated as
though Paul was a member of the highest Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, whose
members supposedly were married. Yet the evidence for marriage of Sanhedrin
members is the same as for any other successful Israelite—religious and
cultural conformity. Wisdom and trustworthiness came only through marriage; in
the time of the Mishnah "an unmarried man may
not be a teacher of children." The Mishnah
includes marriage in the life pattern of the male, who was fit "at
eighteen for the bride chamber." No one could fault Paul for disobedience
to any commandment, he insisted, "touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless" (Philip. 3:6). In Paul's view, no one exceeded him in
keeping every requirement, none of his "peers" or "equals of
age," the key term in his autobiographical survey—"I advanced in
Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I
for the traditions of my fathers" (Gal. 1:14, RSV). Since he had done
everything right in his religion up to that point, he must have been married.
Against accused Christians Paul gave
his "voice," a Greek word meaning "vote," as modern
translations recognize (Acts 26:10). But the full Sanhedrin would not supervise
details of Christian persecutions, so Paul's vote is probably that of a trusted
assistant in small executive sessions. As mentioned, he was then a "young
man" (Acts 7:58), which must be put in the Jewish context of thirty for
temple service and mature status in the
Paul represented the Sanhedrin's
inner circle, as he said of his power as persecutor "in
Jerusalem"—"and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having
received authority from the chief priests . . . and I punished them oft in
every synagogue" (Acts 26:10-11). Years before, the Savior warned his
first apostles of the misplaced zeal of oppressors: "The hour is coming
when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God" (John
16:2, RSV). That is just how Paul explains himself—he carefully concluded that
duty required persecution of Jesus' disciples (Acts 26:9); out of
"zeal" for God, he persecuted Christians (Philip. 3:6). He later
obtained forgiveness, he said, because he had persecuted "ignorantly in
unbelief" (1 Tim. 1:13). He was a formidable foe, using every tool except
moderation (Gal. 1:13). He forced some to renounce their faith (Acts 26:11),
but many firmly faced pain and punishment because of their inner certainty.
Short of the death penalty, the Romans freely allowed Jewish councils the right
to discipline as a sort of common law. This meant that Paul supervised
investigation, interrogation, and sentencing. Of this last role, he says,
"I imprisoned and beat" the believers "in every synagogue"
(Acts 22:19). Moses had allowed a maximum of forty stripes (Deut. 25:1-3), and
the Mishnah shows that such punishment was widely
used for a variety of legal transgressions, including breaking vows. The
Gospels also portray Jesus as close to stoning for blasphemy on more than one
occasion, and Paul was an official observer at the unauthorized execution of
Stephen, for the crowd took Stephen from the council "out of the city, and
stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet,
whose name was Saul" (Acts 7:58). Luke thus introduces Paul into the
Christian story, significantly not with a vision, but with the persecution
before the vision.
(Richard Lloyd Anderson, Understanding
Paul [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 23.)
Paul’s missions were very
successful, but problems developed when Gentiles came in among Jewish
Christians, they weren’t treated the same.
Paul was a very zealous missionary; he rubbed people the wrong way, he
was forceful in declaring Christ, Acts 17 at Mars Hill.
(Acts 17:21-32.)
21 (For all the Athenians
and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to
tell, or to hear some new thing.)
22 ¶ Then Paul stood in
the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of
23 For as I passed by, and
beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN
GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world
and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped
with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life,
and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath
determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek
the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not
far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and
move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we
are also his offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we
are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto
gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
30 And the times of this
ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men
every where to repent:
31 Because he hath
appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that
man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men,
in that he hath raised him from the dead.
32 ¶ And when they heard
of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear
thee again of this matter.
The Greek and Roman culture
did not see sin in the same way those in the church did. Doctrine dictates behavior not our culture.
BIBLE
DICTIONARY
Pauline Epistles
Epistles to the Corinthians
Analysis of 1
Corinthians
1.
Salutation and Thanksgiving (1 Cor. 1: 1-9).
2.
Rebuke of the
a.
The spirit of partisanship and insubordination (1 Cor. 1: 10 - 4: 21).
b.
The case of impurity (1
Cor. 5: 1-13; 1 Cor.
6: 9-20).
c.
The lawsuits (1 Cor. 6:
1-9).
3.
Paul's reply to inquiries made by them as to
a.
Marriage (1 Cor. 7: 1-40).
b.
Meat offered to idols (1
Cor. 8: 1 - 11: 1).
c.
The order of worship, with special reference to the Lord's Supper and the use
of spiritual gifts (1 Cor.
11: 2 - 14: 40). This section contains 1 Cor. 12: 31 - 13: 13)
a magnificent description of love, the greatest in the trio of things that
abide forever.
4.
Doctrine of the resurrection -
a.
Of Christ (1 Cor. 15:
1-19).
b.
Of the dead (1 Cor.
15: 20-34).
c.
Degrees of glory (1
Cor. 15: 35-58).
5.
Directions about a collection for the Christian poor at
Soon
after writing the first epistle Paul was driven from
The culture in
Zion in the Midst of Babylon
Elder David R. Stone – He was born and raised in
Of the Seventy
We do not need to adopt
the standards, the mores, and the morals of
Last summer, my wife and I
had the opportunity to travel to
When I heard that, I thought
how useful it would be to have an early-warning system which would tell us
about the approach of evil and allow us to be prepared for it. Evil is coming
toward us, whether or not we have an early-warning system.
On a later occasion, my wife
and I were driving cross-country one night and were approaching a great city.
As we came over the hills and saw the bright lights on the horizon, I nudged my
wife awake and said, "Behold the city of
Of course, there is no
particular city today which personifies
However, that sensuality,
corruption, and decadence, and the worshipping of false gods are to be seen in
many cities, great and small, scattered across the globe. As the Lord has said:
"They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god,
whose image is in the likeness of the world" (D&C 1:16).
Too many of the people of
the world have come to resemble the
One of the greatest
challenges we will face is to be able to live in that world but somehow not be
of that world. We have to create
"
And with the encroachment of
During the days of ancient
How could
What an insidious thing is
this culture amidst which we live. It permeates our environment, and we think
we are being reasonable and logical when, all too often, we have been molded by
the ethos, what the Germans call the zeitgeist, or the culture of our place and
time.
Because my wife and I have had the opportunity to live in 10
different countries, we have seen the effect of the ethos on behavior. Customs
which are perfectly acceptable in one culture are viewed as unacceptable in
another; language which is polite in some places is viewed as abhorrent in
others. People in every culture move within a cocoon of self-satisfied
self-deception, fully convinced that the way they see things is the way things
really are.
Our culture tends to determine what foods we like, how we
dress, what constitutes polite behavior, what sports we should follow, what our
taste in music should be, the importance of education, and our attitudes toward
honesty. It also influences men as to the importance of recreation or religion,
influences women about the priority of career or childbearing, and has a
powerful effect on how we approach procreation and moral issues. All too often,
we are like puppets on a string, as our culture determines what is
"cool."
There is, of course, a
zeitgeist to which we should pay attention, and that is the ethos of the Lord,
the culture of the people of God. As Peter states it, "But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye
should shew forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
It is the ethos of those who
keep the Lord's commandments, walk in His ways, and "live by every word
that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God" (D&C 84:44). If that makes us peculiar, so
be it.
My involvement with the
building of the
The answer was in the
construction of the temple. The temple was built within the walls of an
existing building, and the inner walls of the temple were connected to the
outer walls at only a very few junction points. That is how the temple (
There may be a lesson here
for us. We can create the real
When, about 600 years B.C.,
Nebuchadnezzar came from
Among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They were to be the favored ones among the young
people brought to
Let us clearly understand
the pressures that the four young men were under. They had been carried away as
captives by a conquering power and were in the household of a king who held the
power of life or death over them. And yet Daniel and his brothers refused to do
that which they believed to be wrong, however much the Babylonian culture
believed it to be right. And for that fidelity and courage, the Lord blessed
them and "gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom" (Daniel 1:17).
Seduced by our culture, we
often hardly recognize our idolatry, as our strings are pulled by that which is
popular in the Babylonian world. Indeed, as the poet Wordsworth said: "The
world is too much with us" ("The World Is Too Much with Us; Late and
Soon," in The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth [1924],
353).
In his first epistle, John
writes:
"I have written unto
you . . . because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
"Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world" (1 John 2:14–15).
We do not need to adopt the
standards, the mores, and the morals of
We can live as a
We have always been
entranced by tales of courage of those who faced fearsome odds and overcame.
Courage is the basis and foundation for all of our other virtues; the lack of
courage diminishes every other virtue that we have. If we are to have
Have you ever imagined that,
when it came to the test, you would perform some act of bravery? I know I did,
as a boy. I imagined that someone was in peril and that, at the risk of my own
life, I saved him. Or in some dangerous confrontation with a fearsome opponent,
I had the courage to overcome. Such are our youthful imaginations!
Almost 70 years of life have
taught me that those heroic opportunities are few and far between, if they come
at all.
But the opportunities to
stand for that which is right—when the pressures are subtle and when even our
friends are encouraging us to give in to the idolatry of the times—those come
along far more frequently. No photographer is there to record the heroism, no
journalist will splash it across the newspaper's front page. Just in the quiet
contemplation of our conscience, we will know that we faced the test of
courage:
Make no mistake about it:
much of
If
Wherever we are, whatever
city we may live in, we can build our own
We do not need to become as
puppets in the hands of the culture of the place and time. We can be courageous
and can walk in the Lord's paths and follow His footsteps. And if we do, we
will be called
I pray that we will be
strengthened to resist the onslaught of
We seek
In the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.
It is hard to be a Mormon
in the American culture,
Purpose of the Honor Code – To help
create a more righteous culture to help promote the Holy Ghost in the lives of
the students
THE HOLY GHOST BRINGS TESTIMONY,
UNITY, AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
Rex C. Reeve Jr.
Rex C. Reeve Jr. is associate
professor of ancient scripture at
The Greek world in Paul's day had
very little concern for moral law. There was an emphasis on the joys of
physical existence, and typical of many societies, outward appearance,
rhetoric, discussion, and physical possessions were more important than
personal righteousness.
"This trade center was also a
center of wickedness. . . . The big cities of the
Paul first visited
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians about A.D.
57 while he was in
Seek the Companionship of the Holy Ghost
Having the companionship of the Holy
Ghost is the key gift that all should seek and develop. With that companionship
individuals can know and testify that Jesus is the Lord and can have access to
a diversity of other spiritual gifts. "Wherefore I give you to understand,
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth
Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy
Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit" (1
Corinthians 12:3-4). Individuals may say things without the aid of the Holy
Ghost, but they may not be assured of eternal truths without the influence of
that member of the Godhead. The Prophet Joseph Smith said that 1 Corinthians
12:3 should be translated "no man can know that Jesus is the Lord,
but by the Holy Ghost." fn As members have more companionship with the Holy
Ghost, in addition to a stronger personal testimony of Christ, they will
experience the spiritual gift of unity, which is essential in the church of
Christ.
Unity in Christ
By building on the foundation of a
personal testimony of Jesus Christ, members of the Church in
Paul's answer is simple yet profound.
He said: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the
members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by
one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
For the body is not one member, but many" (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). The
body of Christ represents the Church, which is made up of many different people
who have different backgrounds and different gifts but who are united with
Christ through baptism and the reception of the Holy Ghost. Each member of the
Church is part of the body of Christ (or part of the
Paul continues teaching by comparing
members of the Church, the body of Christ, to a human physical body, with such
different parts as eyes, ears, and so forth. Just as all parts of the body are
necessary, so are all the members necessary and important in the
To achieve the unity in the Church
that Christ requires, each member must view himself first and foremost as a
true follower of Jesus Christ. Members must also recognize that every other
member, regardless of background and circumstance in life, is a true follower
of Christ. Whether they be Jew, Gentile, bond, free, male, female, black, or
white, all are united in Christ. If members see themselves or others primarily
as Jew or Gentile, or bond or free, or male or female, the Spirit is offended
and unity is destroyed.
Paul builds on his theme of unity by
teaching: "God hath tempered the body together . . . that there should be
no schism in the body [church]; but that the members should have the same care
one for another. And whether one member suffer, all members suffer with it; or
one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with
it" (1 Corinthians 12:24-26). Unity requires that members care for others,
serve one another, and share the sorrows and joys of this life. The key is to achieve
unity while at the same time remembering that each member is unique and has the
potential to make a special contribution. Paul said it this way, "Now ye
are the body of Christ, and members in particular" (1 Corinthians 12:27).
Spiritual Gifts: The Lord's System of Service
Adding to the uniqueness of each
individual is the doctrine that through the administration of the Holy Ghost
each member of the Church has access to differing spiritual gifts. Paul said:
"Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are
differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of
operations, but it is the same God which worketh all
in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
withal" (1 Corinthians 12:4-7).
Paul listed some of the spiritual
gifts Church members may experience. "For to one is given by the Spirit
the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to
another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same
Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another
discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the
interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that
one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will"
(1 Corinthians 12:8-11). fn
At first glance one might think that
every person's experiencing a different spiritual gift would emphasize
differences and further divide the Saints. Nevertheless, the opposite is true:
spiritual gifts are given by the Lord to perfect and unite the Saints in true
service one to another. Paul's words combined with the other scriptures clearly
teach the uniting power of spiritual gifts.
According to the wisdom and pleasure
of the Lord, every Church member has at least one spiritual gift, as Paul said,
"dividing to every man severally as he will" (1 Corinthians 12:11).
How is it possible to benefit from
the spiritual gift of another person? It could work this way. Let's say I was
not given the gift of faith. My faith may be weak, and I may be struggling with
things in the Church or in my life. I have the opportunity to associate with
Jim, who has the special gift of strong faith. As the Lord's system works, if
my faith is weak, I can associate with Jim and benefit from his gift of faith.
As we continue to associate, my faith can actually increase; he can render real
service to me in sharing his spiritual gift. Now think of other members with
different spiritual gifts. As we associate with them, we can grow in testimony,
wisdom, knowledge, and so on. In turn we share our individual spiritual gifts
with others, and we are edified together. There are no unimportant gifts in the
Lord's system. Just as every part of a physical body is important, so every
individual Church member, with his or her special gift, is important to other
members and to the welfare of the Church as a whole.
Each member of the Church is
responsible to identify his or her spiritual gifts, develop them, and share
them with others. Through this process the individual and the whole Church are
united in Christ and are blessed.
To safeguard the purity and purpose
of spiritual gifts and to ensure that gifts come from God and are used for his
purposes, some Church leaders are given the gift of discernment. "And unto
the bishop of the church, and unto such as God shall appoint . . . are to have
it given unto them to discern all those gifts lest there shall be any among you
professing and yet be not of God" (D&C 46:27). Paul is an example of
how this gift works. As a Church leader responsible for the Corinthian Saints,
he was able to discern and correct the false gifts and the misuse of true gifts
that existed among them.
The prophet of God is given all of
the spiritual gifts, so he can stand as an example and as a light to the Saints
who will follow him. "That unto some it may be given to have all those
gifts, that there may be a head, in order that every member may be profited
thereby" (D&C 46:29). By looking to the prophet, individual members
can see the functioning of every spiritual gift. Just as members benefit from
sharing spiritual gifts with other members, they benefit from sharing the
spiritual gifts of the prophet.
The Gifts of Tongues, Prophecy, and Charity
The spiritual gifts most visible to
other people are the gift of speaking in tongues and the gift of prophecy. Paul
discussed those two gifts, compared their importance, and outlined their proper
use. Their external visibility made the proper use of these gifts very
important to the functioning of the true Church. Joseph Smith said: "There
are several gifts mentioned here, yet which of them all could be known by an
observer . . . ? There are only two gifts that could be made visible—the gift
of tongues and the gift of prophecy. . . . The greatest, the best, and the most
useful gifts would be known nothing about by an observer." fn
In the use of these two gifts,
especially speaking in tongues, the Corinthian Saints had been deceived. They
seemed to think the confusion of many people speaking in some unknown tongue at
the same time was the highest gift and indicated a superior level of
spirituality for those involved. They were judging the worth of individuals
according to their use of these more visible spiritual gifts.
To help the Corinthian Saints gain a
proper perspective, Paul stated very strongly that the less-visible gifts of
faith, hope, and charity, especially charity—which is the pure love of
Christ—exceed all others. He said, "Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a
tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, . . . and have not
charity, I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-2). Elder Bruce R. McConkie
taught: "Above all the attributes of godliness and perfection, charity is
the one most devoutly to be desired. Charity is more than love, far more; it is
everlasting love, perfect love, the pure love of Christ which endureth forever. It is love so centered in righteousness
that the possessor has no aim or desire except for the eternal welfare of his
own soul and for the souls of those around him." fn
To further emphasize the importance
of charity over that of other spiritual gifts, Paul taught that the need for
the gifts of tongues and prophecy, as we know them, will end when Christ
returns to the earth, but charity, the pure love of Christ, will never end. It
will abide forever. He said: "Charity never faileth:
but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues,
they shall cease; . . . But when that which is perfect is come, then that which
is in part shall be done away. . . . And now abideth
faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity"
(1 Corinthians 13:8-13).
Elder McConkie taught, "Shall
the gifts of the Spirit cease? Is there to be a day when the saints shall no
longer possess the gifts of prophecy and tongues? . . . Yes, in the sense that
these shall be swallowed up in something greater, and shall no longer be needed
in the perfect day." fn Keeping in mind their relative importance and
their temporary nature, we can see that the spiritual gifts of speaking and
interpreting tongues are important when used in the right way and for the right
reasons. Both gifts should be used to edify and uplift the Church.
The gift of tongues works in two
ways. The first, to "speak with the tongues of men," is to speak to
people in their own language even when the speaker does not know that language.
One proper use of this gift of tongues was on the day of Pentecost. The
apostles spoke and were clearly understood by many people who spoke different
languages (Acts 2:1-18). The result was that those hearing the gospel
understood and were edified. The second, to "speak with the tongue of
angels," is for an individual to speak in a language unknown to both the
speaker and the hearer. Elder McConkie suggested, "Sometimes it is the
pure Adamic language which is involved." fn For
this gift to be beneficial it must be communicated in an orderly way and there
must be someone with the gift to interpret the unknown language. Paul said,
"If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most
by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no
interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and
to God" (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). The purpose of this gift is for the
individuals possessing it to receive revelation, knowledge, prophesying, or
doctrine, that all may be edified.
Joseph Smith warned the Saints about
the gift of tongues: "Speak not in the gift of tongues without
understanding it, or without interpretation. The devil can speak in tongues;
the adversary will come with his work; he can tempt all classes; can speak in
English or Dutch. Let no one speak in tongues unless he interpret, except by
the consent of the one who is placed to preside; then he may discern or
interpret, or another may." fn The Prophet also said: "Be not so
curious about tongues, do not speak in tongues except there be an interpreter
present; the ultimate design of tongues is to speak to foreigners. . . . The
gifts of God are all useful in their place, but when they are applied to that
which God does not intend, they prove an injury, a snare and a curse instead of
a blessing." fn
Paul taught the Corinthians that
their false understanding and application of the gift of tongues would not help
the Church or those investigating the Church: "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh
not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth
him; . . . If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and
all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or
unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?" (1 Corinthians 14:2, 23).
In the Lord's church, all speaking and teaching should be understandable and
done in proper order to edify the individual and the Church. To emphasize this
point Paul said, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by
my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown
tongue" (1 Corinthians 14:18-19).
In a hierarchy of spiritual gifts,
the gift of prophecy is greater than the gift of tongues. Elder Bruce R.
McConkie said: "Prophecy is revelation; it is testimony; it is Spirit
speaking to spirit; it is knowing by revelation that Jesus is the Lord, that
salvation is in Christ, that he has redeemed us by his blood. Prophecy is
walking in paths of truth and righteousness; it is living and doing the will of
Him whose we are. . . . Prophecy is for all: men, women, and children, every
member of the true Church; and those who have the testimony of Jesus have the
spirit of prophecy." fn Paul said, "Desire spiritual gifts, but
rather that ye may prophesy. . . . He that prophesieth
speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation,
and comfort. . . . He that prophesieth edifieth the church. . . . Wherefore, brethren, covet [be
eager, zealous] to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues" (1
Corinthians 14:1, 4, 39).
Even with the special gift of
prophecy it is important to avoid confusion and disorder in the Church. Paul
instructs the Corinthian Saints that when the prophets (those who have the
testimony of Jesus) speak, others should listen and give their full attention,
so that by partaking of the same Spirit as the speaker all may be edified
together: "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge .
. . For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be
comforted. . . . For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in
all churches of the saints. . . . Let all things be done decently and in
order" (1 Corinthians 14:29, 31, 33, 40). When things are done according
to the will of the Lord and when the spirit is right, "he that preacheth and he that receiveth,
understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together"
(D&C 50:22).
Summary
The companionship of the Holy Ghost
brings a true testimony of Jesus Christ, unity in Christ, and access to
spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts come from God, through the Holy Ghost, and are
one sign of the true Church in every age. Christ taught the Nephites, "And
if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father show
forth his own works in it" (3 Nephi 27:10). Spiritual gifts are one of the
manifestations of the works of the Father. Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught:
"Whence come spiritual gifts? Paul says they come from the Spirit, meaning
the Holy Ghost. The latter-day revelation on spiritual gifts says they come
from God, meaning the Father.
"And all of these inspired
declarations are true; each is in perfect harmony with all of the others.
Certainly they are the gifts of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost . . . which exemplifies the perfect unity and oneness of the members of the
Godhead." fn
Members of the Church must seek
spiritual gifts. The Lord will not force them upon an individual, but they are
available to all who make the effort to obtain them. One way a person
demonstrates love for the Lord is by seeking and sharing spiritual gifts.
President David O. McKay said: "The only thing which places man above the
beasts of the field is his possession of spiritual gifts. Man's earthly
existence is but a test as to whether he will concentrate his efforts, his
mind, his soul upon things which contribute to the comfort and gratification of
his physical instincts and passions, or whether he will make as his life's end
and purpose the acquisition of spiritual qualities." fn Elder McConkie
taught, "By the grace of God—following devotion, faith, and obedience on
man's part—certain special spiritual blessings called gifts of the Spirit
are bestowed upon men. Their receipt is always predicated upon obedience to
law, but because they are freely available to all the obedient, they are called
gifts. They are signs and miracles reserved for the faithful and for none else.
. . . Their purpose is to enlighten, encourage, and edify the faithful so that
they will inherit peace in this life and be guided toward eternal life in the
world to come." fn Whenever the gospel and the priesthood are on the earth
these gifts will be available, through the Holy Ghost, to members of the Church
who seek them. One sign of apostasy for individuals and for the Church is the
absence of spiritual gifts.
There are many different gifts,
including healing, tongues, faith, prophecy, and so forth. The purpose of each
gift is to encourage, edify, unite, and help perfect the individual and, in
turn, to bless other members of the Church. Every member has at least one gift;
some may have several; but only the prophet has them all. Individuals have the
responsibility to identify, develop, and share their gifts with others. In
sharing their gifts, members render real service to others, and each member
with his or her special gift is an important part of the Church.
Spiritual gifts can be misused, their
purpose can be misunderstood, and there are even false gifts that do not come
from the Lord. To protect Church members from these deceptions, the Lord gives
Church leaders the gift of discernment. Another sure protection for Church
members is a personal relationship with Heavenly Father, a firm testimony of
Christ, and the companionship of the Holy Ghost.
There should be order and peace in
the use of spiritual gifts, especially such gifts as prophecy and speaking in
tongues, which are outwardly visible. To Paul the gift of charity, the pure
love of Christ, is the ultimate, lasting gift. After the coming of Christ, most
gifts will become part of the outpouring of the Lord's Spirit, but the gift of
charity, which never faileth, will endure forever.
When the gifts of the Spirit are used
properly and in unity with the will of the Lord, all will understand, rejoice,
and be edified together.
Notes
1. Richard Lloyd Anderson, Understanding
Paul (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983), 93-94.
2. Joseph Smith, Teachings of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret
Book, 1938), 223.
3. In other places and at other times
4. Smith, Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, 246.
5. Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal
New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1965-73), 2:378.
6. Ibid., 2:380.
7. Ibid., 2:383.
8. Smith, Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, 162.
9. Ibid., 247-48.
10. McConkie, Doctrinal New
Testament Commentary, 2:386-87.
11. Ibid., 2:371.
12. David O. McKay, in Conference
Report, Oct. 1951, 9.
13. Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon
Doctrine, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1966), 314.
(The Apostle Paul, His
Life and His Testimony: The 23d Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1994], 161.)
They loved the physical
life and hated the spiritual life. It
was an anything goes environment.
There were 2 other letters
written before this letter. This is
actually 2nd Corinthians.
(1 Corinthians 1:10-12.) –
Divisions in the ward, class distinctions
10 Now I beseech you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same
thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it hath been
declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of
Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12 Now this I say, that
every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
(1 Corinthians 2:1-7.) –
Taught by the Spirit (testimony and witness) not by intellect. Not wanting to get too deep with them, he
would lose them.
1 And I, brethren, when I
came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of
wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to
know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in
weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my
preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom
among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the
princes of this world, that come to nought:
7 But we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained
before the world unto our glory:
The ward was divided by members
following different teachers and not uniting, of course this wasn’t the
intention of those who visited
(1 Corinthians 9:5.)
5 Have we not power to
lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the
brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?
(Doctrine and Covenants
76:99-101) – Whatever was going on in
99 For these are
they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas.
100 These are they who say
they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and
some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias,
and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch;
101 But received not the
gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the
everlasting covenant.
The culture was the main
problem in the ward; they went out on the limb with doctrinal issues.
(JST 1 Corinthians 6:12.)
– We are in Christ’s family and now we do His will not our own.
12 All these things are
not lawful unto me, and all these things are not expedient. All things are not
lawful for me, therefore I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Meats for the belly,
and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body
is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14 And God hath both
raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your
bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and
make them the members of a harlot? God forbid
Prostitution was a great
evil in
(1 Corinthians 8:4-13.)
4 As concerning therefore
the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know
that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none
other God but one.
5 For though there be that
are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and
lords many,)
6 But to us there is
but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and
one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
7 Howbeit there is
not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this
hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being
weak is defiled.
8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we
the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.
9 But take heed lest by
any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock
to them that are weak.
10 For if any man see thee
which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience
of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to
idols;
11 And through thy
knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
12 But when ye sin so
against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
13 Wherefore, if meat make
my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth,
lest I make my brother to offend.
Sacrament meetings were
held in rich member’s homes, but the house was divided where the rich ate in
one room and the poor in another. The
rich had a huge meal and lots of wine etc, while the poor didn’t enjoy such
amenities. It defeated the whole purpose
of the Sacrament.
(1 Corinthians 11:18-22.)
– The problem of culture in the Sacrament
18 For first of all, when
ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I
partly believe it.
19 For there must be also
heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among
you.
20 When ye come together
therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
21 For in eating every one
taketh before other his own supper: and one is
hungry, and another is drunken.
22 What? have ye not
houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the
"IS CHRIST DIVIDED?"
UNITY OF THE SAINTS THROUGH CHARITY
(1, 2 Corinthians)
DAVID R. SEELY
Paul wrote his epistles to the
Corinthians (1 and 2 Corinthians) from
Historical Background
The ancient Greek city-state of
Therefore the Corinth of Paul's time
was not the ancient Greek city but rather a Roman colony founded by decree of
Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. on the ancient site, which had lain virtually desolate
for more than a century. Its new population initially consisted of freedmen
from
Chapter 18 of the book of Acts
narrates Paul's founding of the first Christian community in
The social conditions at
Within a relatively short time, news
came to Paul of moral laxity among the Corinthian saints. He refers in 1
Corinthians 5:9 to a letter, no longer extant, that he had written previously
advising them "not to company with fornicators." Further disturbing
news of dissension among the saints came by way of messengers from the house of
Chloe (1 Cor. 1:11) and a later delegation (1 Cor. 16:17), as well as by way of
a letter from the church at Corinth asking his counsel on several of the
divisive issues involved (1 Cor. 7:1). These reports provided the impetus for
the writing of 1 Corinthians in which Paul addressed the issue of dissension as
well as answered the doctrinal questions. He wrote 1 Corinthians in the early
summer of A.D. 57, shortly before Pentecost (1 Cor. 16:8); and as a follow-up
to this letter, he sent Timothy to see that his counsel was heeded and that the
situation in
We have only a portion of one side of
the correspondence between Paul and the saints at
1 Corinthians: Structure and Contents
An outline of the contents of 1
Corinthians demonstrates that what at first glance may appear to be a random
collection of Paul's teachings is really a carefully constructed letter of four
parts:
A. Salutation (1:1-3)
B. Thanksgiving/blessing (1:4-9)
II. Chapters 1 to 6: Paul's response
to reports from the house of Chloe
A. Divisions in the church and a plea
for unity
(1:10-4:21)
1. Dissensions at
2. The wisdom of the world and of the
spirit
(1:18-2:16)
3. Teachers (3:1-4:21)
B. Immorality (chs.
5-6)
1. Fellowship of sinners (ch. 5)
2. Lawsuits and courts (6:1-8)
3. Sexual laxity (6:9-20)
III. Chapters 7 to 15: Paul's
response to questions posed by the church at
A. Marriage (ch.
7)
B. Idol sacrifices (8:1-11:1)
C. Divine worship and the new
covenant (11:2-15:58)
1. Women and worship (11:2-16)
2. The Lord's Supper (11:17-34)
3. Spiritual gifts (ch. 12-14)
a. Charity (ch.
13)
b. Speaking in tongues (ch. 14)
4. Resurrection (ch.
15)
IV. Chapter 16: Conclusion
A. Exhortations (16:1-18)
B. Salutation (16:19-24)
The first part of the letter is a
short formal introduction (1:1-9), followed by the body of the letter. The body
of the letter is evenly divided between Paul's addressing the reports he had
received from people in the house of Chloe of dissension and immorality that
had crept into the church at Corinth (1:10-6:20), and his careful response to a
series of questions written to him by the church (7:1) on subjects that had
contributed to the contention in the church, such as marriage, idol sacrifices,
the proper place of spiritual gifts, and the resurrection (chs.
7-15). The letter then ends with a formal conclusion. This study will
systematically discuss each major section of the epistle, focusing on one of
the major themes found throughout—unity among the saints.
I. Introduction: Salutation and Thanksgiving
Paul begins the first epistle to the
Corinthians, just as he begins his other letters, with an introduction
consisting of a salutation and a blessing (1:1-3) and a formal statement of
thanksgiving (1:4-9). The salutation identifies Paul as the sender of the
letter, writing in the official capacity of "an apostle of Jesus Christ
through the will of God," along with Sosthenes,
a fellow saint whom he identifies as "our brother." The letter is
addressed to the members of the church at
Paul begins his thanksgiving by
expressing gratitude for the grace of God that is given to the saints in
II. Paul's Response to Reports from the House of Chloe
Divisions in the Church and a Plea for Unity
Paul immediately addresses one of the
disturbing developments at
Apparently the contentions and
divisions among the members of the church had been manifested by the division
into groups, each proclaiming their allegiance to Paul, Apollos, or Cephas. Paul's response to this situation is a series of
rhetorical questions: "Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or
were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" (1:13.) Once again Paul has
prepared the rhetoric for his argument to follow, mentioning the name of Jesus
Christ—who should be the sole focal point of allegiance—nine times in verses 1
through 9 before he explicitly reveals the subject of the letter in verse 10.
At the same time he has carefully pointed out, as a model of oneness, the
united efforts of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in administrating the
gospel. (1:1, 3, 4, 9.)
It has been suggested that the
factionalism in the church at Corinth may have been due in part to a division
between the Greek (Gentile) and the Jewish members—the Greeks aligning
themselves with Apollos, the charismatic and eloquent orator from Alexandria,
and the Jews, originally from Syro-Palestine,
identifying themselves with Cephas, the Apostle
Peter. (John 1:42.) fn At the same time, those who had been greatly influenced
by Paul during his ministry at
Paul describes the doctrine of
"Christ crucified" as a "stumblingblock"
to the Jews, who "require a sign" (1:22-23), perhaps a reference to
the widespread Jewish expectation of a powerful Messiah who, rather than dying
the death of a criminal, was to have brought them mighty acts of political
deliverance. To the Greeks who seek wisdom, the crucified Christ is
"foolishness." (1:22-23.) But to those who are "called" (become
members of the church), "both Jews and Greeks," Christ is the
"power of God, and the wisdom of God." (1:24.) Just as there are not
many "wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble"
found in the congregation at Corinth (1:26), so God has chosen everywhere
"the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and . . . the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty" (1:27).
Paul's discussion about the wisdom of
the world and the wisdom of the Spirit (1:18-2:16) is directed at the problem
of dissension in the church. For members of the church to claim their
allegiance to the wisdom of the Jews or Greeks, or to Apollos, Cephas, or even Paul, is to demonstrate a basic
misunderstanding of the gospel message of Christ crucified, which transcends
all worldly wisdom. Perhaps directing his remarks to those who claimed to be
"of Paul," he points out that when he came, he purposely avoided
preaching with "enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power: that [one's] faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God." (2:4-5.) True conversion, he explains, comes
when the natural man—who "receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him" (2:14)—is
changed by the power of the Holy Ghost into a spiritual man, who is able to
receive "the spirit which is of God," that he "might know the
things that are freely given" to him by God (2:12).
The contention manifested at
Paul concludes his teaching about the
role of teachers with a summary of the whole principle: "Therefore let no
man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is
God's." (3:21-23.)
Immorality among the Saints
In chapters 5 and 6, Paul deals with
the report of immorality among the saints in
Reversing the imagery of the
well-known saying of Jesus (Matt. 13:33) comparing the kingdom of God, although
small, to leaven that could influence the whole world for good, Paul compares
the leaven to the one guilty of serious transgression who can also have a great
influence on the whole: "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old
leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened." (5:6-7.) In
cases of serious sin, judgment is necessary and some may need to be cast out in
order not to compromise the whole church.
At the same time that some saints are
overly tolerant of those who deserve ecclesiastical discipline, others are
taking their brothers to court to be judged by the unbelievers. (6:1-8.) Paul
tells them that most of these disputes are over issues so trivial that they
should be overlooked, and in the more serious cases they should be solved
within the jurisdiction of the church. Finally he exhorts the Corinthians to
refrain from any sexual immorality (6:9-20), because such sin defiles the body,
which is the "temple of the Holy Ghost" (6:19).
III. Paul's Response to Questions Posed by the Corinthians
The introductory verses in chapters
7, 8, and 12 indicate that Paul's teachings in chapters 7 through 15 are
responses to questions posed by the Corinthians in a previous letter concerning
marriage (7); idol sacrifices (8-11:1); proper worship—including questions
about the place of women, the administration of the sacrament and spiritual
gifts (11:2-14:40); and the resurrection (15). Apparently many of these issues
had contributed to the contention among the saints.
Questions on Marriage
The Joseph Smith Translation is an
invaluable aid in helping us to understand the perplexing passage contained in
chapter 7. On the surface it appears that Paul is telling the Corinthians that
celibacy is preferable to marriage. The Joseph Smith Translation changes the
first verse—"It is good for a man not to touch a woman"—into a
statement made in the letter from the Corinthians rather than a statement of
Paul, so that verses 2 through 5 are Paul's response to this statement. This
simple clarification radically changes the tone of Paul's response, from the
implication that the institution of marriage is a concession made to mortals in
order to avoid immorality, to a defense of marriage as an essential part of the
gospel, one in which sexual relations are essential.
Because Paul claims to have fulfilled
all of the religious requirements of Jewish law (Philip. 3:6; Gal. 1:14), which
included marriage, many scholars accept the fact that Paul must have been
married at some point in his life. fn In light of this fact, Paul's apparently
positive attitude toward celibacy and his disparagement of marriage in this
passage seem odd. Paul himself says that these instructions are given not as
doctrine ("commandment of the Lord") but as his own personal opinion
(1 Cor. 7:25), and that his approval of the unmarried state is a temporary
injunction "good for the present distress" (7:26). Many interpret
this "distress" (Gr. anagke) to be
reference to Paul's belief that the end of the world and the Second Coming were
imminent and therefore the commandment of marriage was suspended for a time.
This assumption, however, contradicts other statements made by Paul himself
(i.e., 2 Thes. 2) where it is clear that he
understood that the apostasy and restoration (and therefore a considerable
period of time) must precede the return of the Savior. fn
The Joseph Smith Translation confirms
that indeed this counsel is a temporary injunction and explains that it is
given specifically to those who are involved in missionary work, rendering 1
Corinthians 7:29: "But I speak unto you who are called unto the ministry.
For this I say, brethren, the time that remaineth is
but short, that ye shall be sent forth unto the ministry. Even they who have
wives, shall be as though they had none; for ye are called and chosen to do the
Lord's work."
Sacrifice to Idols
The second question that Paul
addresses is whether it is permissible for the saints to eat meat that had been
sacrificed to idols. This was a problem commonly faced by Christians in many
Hellenistic and Roman cities. Much of the meat sold in the markets had
originally been sacrificial offerings in the local temples. Partially burned as
offerings to the idols of the pagan deities, the remainder of the meat belonged
to the priests, who sold and distributed it to the butchers in the area.
Furthermore, festive meals held in the homes of pagans, often social events to
which they would invite their Christian neighbors, consisted of sacrificial
animals that were dedicated to the gods on those occasions.
In chapters 8 through 11:1, Paul
discusses the complexities of this difficult issue and gives counsel. In
chapter 8 he begins his argument, identifying the relevant principles. First he
recognizes that many of the saints have the knowledge that there is only one
God and that "an idol is nothing in the world" (8:4-6), and because
of this knowledge they are not bothered by eating idol sacrifices. This
knowledge, however, "puffeth up" and makes
those who are not bothered proud. (8:1.) On the other hand, some saints do not
enjoy this knowledge, and when they eat meat offered to idols, "their
conscience being weak is defiled." (8:7.) Under the circumstances Paul
reminds them that "charity edifieth."
(8:1.) It is true that many have the knowledge that eating such meat neither
commends nor condemns (8:8), but charity dictates that all members of the
church be sensitive to those with less understanding, lest eating meat
sacrificed to idols becomes "a stumblingblock to
them that are weak" (8:9). The first priority is unity, and while the
eating of idol sacrifice may be in and of itself of no import, if it affects
the fellowship of the saints it is an important issue. Paul reminds the Corinthians,
who would eat such meat in the pride of their knowledge, "When ye sin so
against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against
Christ." (8:12.)
Divine Worship and the New Covenant
Paul's teachings throughout the New
Testament are enriched by frequent references to the Old Testament. In his
letters he introduces direct quotations from scripture by the phrase "for
it is written" (see, for example, the citation of Isa. 29:14 in 1 Cor.
1:19 and Isa. 64:4 in 2:9). At other times he makes general reference to Old
Testament history and imagery to illustrate and more effectively communicate a
point. When he makes his plea to the Corinthians to remain pure from the impure
"leaven" of fornicators, he compares it to the fastidious purging of
leaven necessary for the feast of Unleavened Bread associated with Passover.
From a concrete example well understood from the law of Moses, he teaches the
spiritual principle that the saints should "keep the feast, not with old
leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5:7-8.)
In his appeal for chastity Paul
declares, "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own." (6:19.) Giving the reason
that the body belongs in part to deity, he cites the Old Testament imagery of
God redeeming Israel from slavery by means of the miraculous deliverance at the
Red Sea and quotes Exodus 15:16: "For ye are bought with a price." (1
Cor. 6:20.) The image, well known in
In chapter 10 Paul builds on this
image of Israel's miraculous preservation in the wilderness and compares the
present saints with their physical, if not spiritual (in the case of the
Gentiles), forefathers. They, just as their forefathers, had been baptized, had
"passed through the sea," and had eaten the spiritual meat and drink
from the Rock that guided them in the wilderness. (10:1-4.) The author of the
old covenant as well as the new is the same—Jesus Christ. Through this
comparison, Paul shows the miracles in the desert to be a type of the new
covenant instituted by Jesus, made efficacious through baptism and the
partaking of the spiritual meat and drink of the sacrament. At the same time,
the sacred history of the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of the mighty act of
redemption, also a mighty act of divine intervention, accomplished by the
Atonement. The point of Paul's masterful sermon is to remind the Corinthians of
the darker side of the story of the children of Israel in the wilderness—that
they, just as the covenant people of old, were capable of murmuring, idolatry,
fornication, and blasphemy. (10:5-12.)
In chapters 12 through 14, Paul turns
to the problem of spiritual gifts that had also apparently become a source of
contention in the congregation at
The advancement of the cause of God
and the building up of
The crowning gift of the Spirit is
charity—"the pure love of Christ" (Moro. 7:47)—which every Saint
should seek (1 Cor. 14:1), for without love one is "as sounding brass, or
a tinkling cymbal" (13:1). fn Paul's discourse on love has been
immortalized in the traditional language of the King James Version and
incorporated in part into the thirteenth Article of Faith. Echoing the themes
found throughout the letter, Paul identifies charity as that which "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth
in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth
all things." (13:6-7.) Of all of the enduring gifts of God—faith, hope,
and charity—"the greatest of these is charity." (13:13.) Charity is
the answer to many of the problems among the saints in
Resurrection in 1 Corinthians
The final problem that Paul addresses
in 1 Corinthians is resurrection. In response to those who apparently doubt the
resurrection of the dead (15:12), he presents to the Corinthians in chapter 15
one of the most explicit and complete doctrinal expositions of resurrection
found anywhere in the New Testament. He reaffirms the historical reality of
Christ's crucifixion and resurrection and cites the witnesses of the
scriptures: Peter, the Twelve, and the five hundred. (15:3-7.) Last of all he
adds his own personal witness, as the "least of the apostles"
(15:8-9), that He who once was dead lives. The victory over death is universal,
"for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
(15:22.) But while resurrection will be enjoyed by all, Paul reminds the
Corinthians that in the hereafter there are three glories to be gained
(15:40-41), according to one's performance in mortality. The doctrine of resurrection
and judgment reminds the saints that the relevance of Paul's letter transcends
the cause of local tranquillity and extends to the
eternities.
IV. Conclusion: Exhortations and Salutation
In conclusion, Paul mentions the
collection for the poor saints in
Paul sends greetings from the
churches of Asia, from
2 Corinthians: Historical Background
The events leading up to the writing
of 2 Corinthians must be reconstructed from scattered references in the
epistles to the Corinthians. After writing 1 Corinthians in
Meanwhile, still concerned about the
Corinthians, Paul sent Titus and another unnamed brother to
2 Corinthians: Structure and Contents
The epistle in 2 Corinthians is a
personal and emotional letter and gives us much insight into the person of
Paul. Most of the material in the letter is relevant to his relief at the
repentance of many Corinthians and an explanation and defense of his ministry,
directed toward those who have not yet repented. Thus there are passages
reflecting many emotions, ranging from love and joy to impatience and anger.
Perhaps due to its emotional nature, the letter does not contain a clear-cut
structure as does 1 Corinthians, and much of the material can be divided many
different ways. The following should be considered only as a general guide to
the major themes and not as a comprehensive outline:
I. Introduction (1:1-14)
A. Salutation (1:1-2)
B. Thanksgiving/blessing (1:3-11)
II. Paul's apostolic ministry
(1:15-9:15)
A. Paul's recent relations with the
Church (1:15-2:13)
B. Paul's apostolic ministry
(2:14-5:9)
C. Appeal for reconciliation
(5:10-7:16)
D. The collection for
III. Paul's defense of his ministry
and call to repentance (10:1-13:10)
A. Initial appeal for obedience
(10:1-18)
B. Paul replies to charges
(11:1-12:13)
C. Concerns and warnings
(12:14-13:10)
IV. Conclusion (13:11-14)
Following the formal introduction
(1:1-14), the body of the letter is a loosely organized collection of material.
In the first half of the letter Paul expresses his concern for the church at
I. Introduction: Salutation and Thanksgiving
It is apparent that Timothy had
returned to Paul from
II. Paul's Apostolic Ministry
The epistle in 2 Corinthians
demonstrates that Paul understood well, as a priesthood leader, the eternal
principle outlined by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Liberty Jail that
"no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the
priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness,
and by love unfeigned; . . . reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon
by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward
him whom thou hast reproved." (D&C 121:41-43.) In a previous letter,
and by his visit, Paul had sharply rebuked the saints at
Increased love should be exercised by
the saints toward each other as well. In 2:5-11 Paul refers to a specific
individual who had apparently been involved in a serious act of rebellion and
who had subsequently repented. He advises the saints that they ought to
"forgive him [the individual] and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one
should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow." (2:7.) Paul is teaching the
principle that after he, representing the church, has forgiven someone, the
members of the congregation must also find the capacity to forgive as well,
"lest Satan should get an advantage." (2:11.)
Paul rejoices in his missionary
labors and describes them as a "triumph in Christ." (2:14.) In
chapter 3 he eloquently teaches how the new covenant instituted by Christ
replaces the old covenant embodied in the law of Moses. The ancient prophets
Jeremiah and Ezekiel had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the
scattering of her people, which were the disastrous results of centuries of
Israel's disobedience (systematically recorded in the Old Testament) to the old
covenant inscribed on tables of stone. They must have wondered if mortals could
ever be obedient to the conditions of the covenant. To both of these prophets
the Lord gave a vision of hope for the future. The Lord promised Jeremiah that
he would establish a "new covenant," which he described thus: "I
will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." He
then echoed the same promise attached to the Mosaic covenant: "And [I]
will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Jer. 31:31-33.) To
Ezekiel came the word of the Lord couched in similar language: "I will
give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take
the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: that
they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God." (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26-27.)
Paul declares that Christ has now
established this new covenant, and, building on the prophetic metaphor of stone
and flesh, he describes it as a covenant "written . . . not in tables of
stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." (2 Cor. 3:3.) He adds that
ultimately we look through Christ to God the Father, and it is he who has
"made us able ministers of the new testament [covenant]." (3:4, 6.)
fn Continuing with the imagery of stone and flesh, he teaches that the power of
the new covenant—which makes it possible to fulfill its conditions—is found
"not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life." (3:6.)
Paul explains that the manifestation
of God to Moses in the revelation of the old covenant was so glorious that
Moses had to "put a vail over his face, that the
children of
Paul reveals that it is through the
Spirit that the covenant becomes internalized (written on the "fleshy
tables of the heart"), and this internalization is a process by which a
mortal, gradually becoming more like God, can acquire the power to comprehend
and obey the conditions of the new covenant: "But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (3:18.)
In the next section Paul explains the
reconciliation of fallen man to God made possible through the gospel.
(5:11-7:16.) It is God who has initiated this process, "who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ." (5:18.) An individual who enters
into the new covenant in Christ becomes a "new creature" (5:17), and
the Atonement makes it possible for that person to repent of
"trespasses" and achieve reconciliation with God the Father (5:19).
Paul links this concept to his defense of the divine authority of his
apostleship that follows, noting to the Corinthians: "Now then we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us." (5:20.) His
role as their priesthood leader has been a painful one, and he has had the
unpleasant task of calling them to repentance. (7:4-9.) He is relieved that
finally they have humbled themselves and that they "sorrowed to
repentance." (7:9.) While God has initiated the possibility of
reconciliation, it is the duty of the individual saints to finally make it effective
in each of their lives by repentance and righteous living.
Years earlier, probably around A.D.
44, the council in
III. Paul's Defense of His Ministry and Call to Repentance
At the heart of the contention in the
church at
Paul acknowledges that such charges
against him, or any of the authorities of the church, are a sure sign of
apostasy and therefore a very serious matter. He fears that the saints in
In his defense, Paul gives a detailed
account of his ministry. (11:1-12:13.) Employing the Old Testament imagery of
Israel as the bride of the Lord, he portrays himself as the father (founder) of
the church at Corinth who has betrothed his daughter (the church) as a chaste
virgin to her husband, Christ. (11:2.) In spite of his weaknesses of body and
speech—he sarcastically refers to himself as a fool—Paul has given all of his
time and energy to building up the church. He recounts at length some of the
great persecutions, dangers, and afflictions he has endured (11:24-33) as a
witness to his dedication, and he also refers to the great visions and
revelations he has enjoyed. (12:1-7.) He declares, "I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for
Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." (12:10.)
Paul then solemnly warns the Saints,
"Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in
signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." (12:12.) He informs them of his
plans for another visit (12:14-13:10), reminding them once again, "We do
all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying (12:19). He also includes a
warning against continued dissension, contention, and immorality, expressing
the fear that when he returns, he will find "debates, envyings,
wraths, strifes, backbitings,
whisperings, swellings, tumults," and those who "have sinned already,
and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness
which they have committed." (12:20-21.)
IV. Conclusion
Paul's conclusion to 2 Corinthians is
short and to the point. Echoing the theme of love and unity well-known from his
letter in 1 Corinthians, and with great emotion, he sums up the totality of his
ministry to the Corinthians in the final four verses. He bids the Saints
farewell and exhorts them, "Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one
mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you."
(13:11.) Whereas Paul included salutations from numerous individuals in his
conclusion to 1 Corinthians (16:19-20), here he sends the greetings of
"all the saints," presumably the members of the church in
His final succinct benediction
includes a special blessing from each member of the Godhead: "The grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Ghost, be with you all. Amen." (13:14.) He may have been describing a
process here whereby through the atonement of Christ and the gift of love from
God, the Saints may enjoy fellowship with each other and "communion with
the Holy Ghost." fn In light of the emphasis on love, brotherhood, and
unity prevalent in Paul's two surviving letters to the Corinthians, it is a
fitting blessing for the saints there—and for that matter for the saints
everywhere.
Joseph Smith, in a letter dated
October 19, 1840, to the Twelve laboring in the mission field in
Let the Saints remember that great
things depend on their individual exertion, and that they are called to be
co-workers with us and the Holy Spirit in accomplishing the great work of the
last days; and in consideration of the extent, the blessings and glories of the
same, let every selfish feeling be not only buried, but annihilated; and let
love to God and man predominate, and reign triumphant in every mind, that their
hearts may become like unto Enoch's of old, and comprehend all things, present,
past and future, and "come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ." [1 Cor. 1:7.] fn
In the introductory section of the
Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord has revealed, just as Paul wrote to the
Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:27), that "the weak things of the world shall come
forth and break down the mighty and strong ones." (D&C 1:19.) The
source of the power of the weak is unity, and great is the power of love,
brotherhood, and friendship through which the saints become one. Jesus taught
that love among mortals is patterned after the divine and is an expected fruit
of the gospel: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one
another; as I have loved you. . . . By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:34-35.) The Lord has
strongly reemphasized this injunction in our dispensation: "I say unto
you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine." (D&C 38:27.)
But the greater power of the weak is
found in a higher oneness to which mortal unity is but a prerequisite. Jesus
prayed to his Father for his disciples "that they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in three, that they also may be one in us." (John
17:21.) As Latter-day Saints, we—just as the Corinthians—can begin to
comprehend (though as mortals "we see through a glass, darkly"—1 Cor.
13:12) and receive that power which derives from this divine unity, by first
loving each other.
Notes
David R. Seely
is assistant professor of ancient scripture at
Footnotes
1. The exact chronology of Paul's
life and the order of his epistles present many problems for the historian. For
the most part this study follows the reconstruction found in Richard Lloyd
Anderson, Understanding Paul (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983). See
especially his discussion in pages 390-98.
2. Richard Kugelman,
"The First Letter to the Corinthians," in The Jerome Biblical
Commentary: Volume II The New Testament, ed. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy (Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1968), p. 254. The meaning of korinthiazomai
"to practice fornication" was known in Classical Greek as well; see Aristophanes
Fr. 354, Liddell, Scott, and Jones Greek-English Lexicon, p. 981.
3. Paul's arrival at
4. Aquila and Priscilla may have been
among those Jews expelled from
5. 1 Corinthians 12:2 suggests that
the majority of the members were Gentiles.
6. See discussion in David R. Seely, "From Unprofitable Servant to Beloved Brother
in Christ," chapter 11 in this volume. See also William F. Orr and James
A. Walther, 1 Corinthians, Anchor Bible Series 32 (Garden City, New
York: Doubleday & Co., 1976), p. 143.
7. Kugelman,
"The First Letter to the Corinthians," p. 256.
8. For further discussion of Paul and
marriage see Anderson, Understanding Paul, pp. 24-25, 104-6.
9. Ibid., p. 106.
10. Peter, like Paul, portrays the
imagery of
11. Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book,
1976), p. 231.
12. For a more complete discussion of
1 Corinthians 13, see Richard Lloyd Anderson's excellent treatment in Understanding
Paul, pp. 117-25.
13. The Greek translators of the Old
Testament translated the Hebrew term for covenant (berit)
as diatbeke, a term in a broad sense
referring to an arrangement made between two parties, but specifically
referring to a legal will. This is the term used in the New Testament for covenant.
From the legal connotation of diatbeke derived
the Vulgate testamentum and the English testament.
Therefore "the new testament" in 2 Corinthians 3:6 refers to
"the new covenant," as opposed to the "old" Mosaic
covenant.
14. "Communion with the Holy
Ghost" — be koinonia tou
hagiou pneumatos. Koinonia is the word often translated as fellowship
that denotes a close relationship between human beings, often used in Greek in
referring to the intimate relationship of marriage. The genitive "the Holy
Ghost," tou hagiou
pneumatos, can be taken with koinonia
to mean "communion (or fellowship) with the Holy Ghost" or it
may be understood as a subjective genitive or a genitive of quality meaning
"fellowship brought about by the Holy Spirit." See Walter
Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, rev. and ed. by F.
Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1979), pp. 438-39. Often such grammatical ambiguity purposely
suggests both interpretations. The context linking it with grace and love
indicates that in either case, unity of the saints is directly related to
"communion of the Holy Ghost." Joseph Smith taught that "through
the love of the Father, the mediation of Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy
Spirit, [the Saints] are to be heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus
Christ." (Lectures on Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985],
5:3.)
15. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith, pp. 178-79.
(Robert L. Millet, ed., Studies
in Scripture, Vol. 6: Acts to Revelation [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co.,
1987], 57.)
The saints in
The Resurrection
Human hopes never exploded with more
power than in Paul's doctrinal climax of 1 Corinthians 15. Can the Resurrection
be doubted? This chapter's brilliant beginning, middle sequences, and final
completeness become vivid realities as one perceives its blending of prophecy
and clear knowledge of the apostles. These truths can be ignored or ridiculed
but not refuted, for here they come from an eyewitness who soberly reports
personal knowledge and that of the Twelve. The fiery dawn of immortality glows
in the triumphant words of the apostle. Who can be indifferent to the future
that all will meet? What intelligent choice remains but to learn and prepare?
Paul's rich explanations reveal how weakly modern Christian theologians understand
the rich knowledge possessed by Paul.
"How do some among you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead?" (1 Cor. 15:12, NKJB.) Paul's whole
discussion centers around this clear question and one other. Reminding the
Saints of the certainty of Christ's resurrection, he asks how one could believe
in that without believing in the resurrection of mankind. Before the Gospels
were written, Paul lists resurrection appearances to leading apostles, to all
the apostles, and to "above five hundred brethren at once," most of
whom were still alive (1 Cor. 15:6). These were not vague rumors, but virtual
challenges to ask available people about their personal experiences. The
Paul started 1 Corinthians 15 with
the testimony that "Christ died for our sins" (1 Cor. 15:3, also 17),
but his real subject was the resurrection of mankind that must follow Christ's
own resurrection: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). Thus there will be a general or universal
resurrection, and death itself will disappear (1 Cor. 15:26). Thus Paul refutes
the terrible thought that those who have "fallen asleep in Christ"
might have perished (1 Cor. 15:18). But what of those who have "fallen
asleep" without Christ? The universal resurrection must include them. Is
this apparently missing group really missing? The powerful section on the
general resurrection is prefaced by the category of those "fallen asleep
in Christ" (1 Cor. 15:18) and concluded by concern over those dead for
whom baptisms are being done (1 Cor. 15:29). Paul's thinking is strictly
logical if he is saying that the universal resurrection will bring forth both
believers and those dying as unbelievers, whose work was being done for them.
The Resurrection is not universal unless that majority without Christ are
resurrected. And the Resurrection is unjust unless the dead without Christ have
the opportunity to accept him. Thus, baptism for the dead is not incidental to
Paul's argument. Nor is it casually thrown into the chapter; everything else in
1 Corinthians 15 is strict and relevant truth. Peter's first letter shows that
the
"How are the dead raised up—and
with what body do they come?" (1 Cor. 15:35.) This second question raises
issues of the timing and kinds of resurrection. The plural here is scripturally
necessary, for no one responsibly interprets Paul's three glories in 1
Corinthians 15 without correlating them with Paul's three heavens in 2
Corinthians 12. Also, Paul unites with John in teaching a resurrection of those
that are "Christ's at his coming" and a final resurrection later (1
Cor. 15:23 and Rev. 20:6-13). Are not these two distinct "glories"?
Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon puzzled over this problem in John 5:29,
reasoning that various degrees of faithfulness should bring various rewards.
And their resulting vision (D&C 76) became the basis of the detailed
knowledge of the life to come held by Latter-day Saints. That revelation does
not depend on Bible interpretations, though Paul's words contradict the
traditional idea of a heaven and hell and support Joseph Smith's revelation of
the three degrees of glory. So does a remarkable early Christian source. Irenaeus, bishop of
As the elders say, then also shall
they which have been deemed worthy of the abode in heaven go there, while
others shall enjoy the delight of paradise, and others again shall possess the
brightness of the city; for in every place the Savior shall be seen, according
as they shall be worthy who see him. They say moreover that this is the
distinction between the habitation of them that bring forth a hundred-fold, and
them that bring forth sixty-fold, and them that bring forth thirty-fold; of
whom the first shall be taken up into the heavens, and the second shall dwell
in paradise, and the third shall inhabit the city; and that therefore our Lord
has said, "in my Father's house are many mansions." fn
Paul pictured multiple glories in
answering what kind of body could come forth in the Resurrection. Some scoffed,
claiming that physical imperfections were inconsistent with a physical
resurrection (1 Cor. 15:35). Paul's sharp answer was that the insignificant
seed was left behind as the new crops flourished, a symbol of human change from
mortality to "incorruptible" immortality. But there must be more than
that simple metaphor, for Paul took time to develop the varieties of the
harvest. The mortal planting stage is singular in his language
("body"), but the Resurrection yields "celestial bodies"
and "bodies terrestrial." Since these adjectives usually mean
"heavenly" and "earthly," some translations write that
alone, suggesting that Paul is simply contrasting the sowed earthly bodies with
the resurrected, heavenly bodies. But that causes a severe problem of
definition. Generally in Paul, and in this chapter, "glory" is the
stage of resurrection: "It is sown in dishonour;
it is raised in glory" (1 Cor. 15:43). Thus "celestial" and
"terrestrial," would be states of resurrected "glory" (1
Cor. 15:40), followed by comparisons of eternal brilliance: "There is one
glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars;
for one star differs from another star in glory" (1 Cor. 15:41, NKJB). And
the concluding sentence summarizes all these as future: "So also is the
resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor. 15:42). Sun, moon, or stars are not
images of "corruption" but of "glory." fn
Is the resurrection physical? Modern
revelation plainly says so: "Every limb and joint shall be restored to its
body" (
With a few exceptions, Presbyterians
do not interpret the phrase in the Apostles' Creed, "the resurrection of
the body," as meaning the physical body.
Thus "physical properties"
are left behind as educated ministers now define resurrection. But their
position is dangerously close to the Corinthian heresy that Paul was
correcting. Jesus told Peter that "flesh and blood" had not revealed
his knowledge of Christ (Matt. 16:17), and Paul told the Galatians that he did
not confer "with flesh and blood" right after his conversion (Gal.
1:16). In both cases, the phrase is simply a metaphor for mortality.
Thus Paul answered Corinthian scoffers by saying that the mortal,
flesh-and-blood body would not come up in the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:50). But
as a "body" it retains its physical properties. Jesus contrasted his
resurrected body to a spirit: "A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see
me have" (Luke 24:39). And instead of Christ being an
"evidential" exception, Paul told the Corinthians and others that
Christ was the example of the resurrection of mankind: "The second man is
the Lord from heaven. . . . We shall also bear the image of the heavenly"
(1 Cor. 15:47, 49).
Modern revelation gives many insights
into the Resurrection. A "spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:44; D&C
88:27) would better be called a "glorified body," for it is the
mortal body perfected. "They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive
the same body which was a natural body . . . and your glory shall be that glory
by which your bodies are quickened" (D&C 88:28). The glorified frame
will be flesh and bone, though not "flesh and blood" (mortal) for
Joseph Smith repeatedly spoke "as one having authority," saying,
"When our flesh is quickened by the spirit, there will be no blood in the
tabernacles." fn All will "raise by the power of God, having the
spirit of God in their bodies and not blood." fn
(Richard
Lloyd Anderson, Understanding Paul [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co.,
1983], 125.)
The culture
destroyed the Church from within and without; the members didn’t have strong
enough testimonies to withstand the onslaught from their environment.