TrueRevivalFires Mormon and Biblical Studies
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The Restoration of Major Doctrines
through Joseph Smith: The Godhead,
Mankind, Creation, priesthood, the word of God and the temple
Although the Prophet Joseph Smith’s mortal ministry was relatively
brief—little more than fifteen years—his accomplishments and influence
are eternal. Not only did he restore both the gospel and the church of
Jesus Christ, as directed by the Lord, he also introduced, through the
revelations he received and through his teachings, most of the major
doctrines, practices, and ordinances that characterize The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Few things are more crucial to the “restitution of all things” (Acts
3:21) than the doctrines Joseph Smith taught. He spoke definitively and
clearly on each of them, though his knowledge grew progressively. At
times it came in leaps and bounds, as when he and Sidney Rigdon saw the
Lord and the degrees of glory (see D&C 76); at other times, it came
“line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a
little” (2 Ne. 28:30). 1
Sometimes the doctrines came quietly to him; other times they were
riveted to his mind through galvanizing tribulations and remarkable
manifestations. Sometimes they came in a logical sequence, expanding
his knowledge from year to year; other times they came in seemingly
disjointed segments. Generally, they came in response to questions
Joseph Smith and his companions asked. No matter how the inspiration
came, it is a marvelous work and a wonder how coherently all the pieces
fit together.
The doctrines Joseph Smith taught do several things. They clarify
scripture; they restore knowledge that had been revealed ages ago but
had become lost or corrupted; they provide new knowledge; and they
organize his many insights into a broad vision of eternity.
Many of the Prophet’s teachings amazed and surprised others, revealing
things that they had never before supposed. Brigham Young, for example,
noted how his ideas were transformed by the knowledge Joseph Smith
received and recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 76:
“You can understand, from the few remarks I make with regard to the
Gospel, that many things which were revealed through Joseph came in
contact with our own prejudices: We did not know how to understand
them. I refer to myself for an instance. … My traditions were such,
that when the Vision came first to me, it was directly contrary and
opposed to my former education.” 2
The effects of time and familiarity lead us to forget how “directly
contrary and opposed to” prevailing notions some of the revelations
were. Joseph Smith, however, perceived their profound import. He said,
“I calculate to be one of the instruments of setting up the kingdom of
Daniel by the word of the Lord, and I intend to lay a foundation that
will revolutionize the whole world.” 3 (See Dan. 2:44-45.)
A sampling of six of Joseph’s teachings will illustrate these points.
This article will discuss the first three—the nature of God and the
Godhead, man’s nature and his premortal existence, and the Creation. A
follow-up article will discuss the next three—the priesthood of God,
scripture, and temples and their ordinances. The doctrines in each of
these important areas will be briefly summarized, and the development
of these doctrines in the life and words of Joseph Smith will be
explained and compared with the ideas and attitudes of his day. In some
cases, the insights Joseph received were highly original for his time;
in other cases, he reshaped or validated common ideas. In instances in
which we know something about these teachings in previous
dispensations, we find significant similarities. It is evident that the
Prophet’s life was spent in learning more about these doctrines. They
did not issue fully explained on the day of the First Vision—or on any
other single occasion.
The Personal Nature of God and the Godhead
Though most people who believe the Bible accept the idea of a Godhead
composed of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Joseph Smith revealed an
understanding of the Godhead that differed from the views found in the
creeds of his day. The main Christian sects of the nineteenth century
taught of “one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither
confounding the persons: nor dividing the Substance” and of “one only
living and true God, … a most pure spirit, invisible, without body,
parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible.” 4
Although other churches and individuals held that the Father and the
Son are separate entities, 5 Joseph Smith uniquely taught that the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three distinct personages, with the
Father and the Son having bodies of “flesh and bones as tangible as
man’s,” and with the Holy Ghost being a “personage of Spirit.” (D&C
130:22.) 6
God the Father. The truths about God that Joseph Smith restored are of
paramount importance. In 1844, he taught that “it is the first
principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God,
and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with
another.” 7 Ten years earlier, the Lectures on Faith, which Joseph
Smith directed and approved, taught that to acquire faith unto
salvation one needs a correct idea of God’s character, perfections, and
attributes, and that one needs to know that the course of life one is
pursuing is according to God’s will. 8 He also added, “If men do not
comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves.” 9
The Prophet explained that “God himself was once as we are now, and is
an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens”; that “he was
once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt
on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did”; and that he “worked
out his kingdom with fear and trembling.” 10 Through the Prophet, we
learn that we “are begotten sons and daughters unto God” and that
Christ is the Firstborn. (D&C 76:24; see D&C 93:21-22; Heb.
12:7-9.) As God’s children, we may become gods ourselves through
Christ’s atonement and the plan of salvation, being joint heirs of
Christ of “all that [the] Father hath.” (D&C 84:38; see also Rom.
8:17; D&C 76:58-60; D&C 132:19-21.) Along with these concepts
is the concept of divine parents, including an exalted Mother who
stands beside God the Father. 11
The LDS doctrine of Heavenly Father has led one recent commentator to
write, “The Mormons espouse a radical, anthropomorphic conception of
God that sets them far apart from other religions.” 12 That concept
includes the truth that man and woman are created in the image of God.
(See Moses 6:9; Gen. 1:27.) These truths draw all men and women into a
relationship with God built upon familial love, trust, feelings of
self-worth, hope, and humility, all in proper balance.
Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith learned early of the distinctness of Jesus
Christ and God the Father. In the Sacred Grove, fourteen-year-old
Joseph saw “two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all
description, standing above [him] in the air.” He learned of their
relationship when one of the personages declared, “This is My Beloved
Son. Hear Him!” (JS—H 1:17; italics in original.) He saw that the
Father and the Son were two separate beings. He experienced the fact
that a man could actually converse with Jesus Christ “as one man
converses with another.” We do not know all that he learned during that
marvelous vision; he later testified, “Many other things did he say
unto me, which I cannot write at this time.” (JS—H 1:20.)
From his many translations 13 and revelations from God, the Prophet
received much more information about the Savior. While the Bible is
full of information about Christ, the knowledge revealed to Joseph
Smith affirms, clarifies, and offers even more. The following teachings
of the Prophet describe the Lord in the context of history and the plan
of salvation.
Premortal existence. Jesus was in the beginning with the Father and was
the Father’s firstborn spirit child. (See D&C 93:21; John 17:1,
4-5; Col. 1:15-16.) He volunteered and was chosen, sustained, and
foreordained in the premortal existence to be the Savior of the world.
(See Ether 3:14; Moses 4:1-4; Abr. 3:22-28; 1 Pet. 1:20.) He created
the earth and is thus called the “very Eternal Father of heaven and of
earth.” (Mosiah 15:4; see also Mosiah 3:8; Hel. 14:12; John 1:1-3.) He
was Jehovah—the God of the Old Testament, the Holy One of Israel. As
Jehovah, he “gave the law” of Moses and “covenanted with [his] people
Israel.” (3 Ne. 15:5; see also 2 Ne. 25:29; D&C 110:1-4; 1 Cor.
10:1-4.)
Mortal existence. He was the Son of God, the “Only Begotten of the
Father” in the flesh. (D&C 76:20-23.) He fulfilled all
righteousness by demonstrating his obedience to his Father and by
setting an example for the rest of mankind. (See 2 Ne. 31:5-9; Heb.
5:8-9.) In working out the Atonement, Christ took upon himself the sins
of all mankind, suffering “more than man can suffer, except it be unto
death” (Mosiah 3:7), trembling because of pain and bleeding at every
pore (see D&C 19:18; Luke 22:44), so that “he may know according to
the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities”
(Alma 7:12; Heb. 4:8-9). He laid down his life and took it up again.
These things he did that we “might not suffer if [we] would repent”
(D&C 19:16), and that he might “bring to pass the resurrection of
the dead” (2 Ne. 2:8). Because of these things, he is our advocate,
pleading our cause before the Father. (See D&C 38:3-5; 1 Jn. 2:1.)
Postmortal existence. Between his death and resurrection, the Savior
visited the world of departed spirits. There he taught the righteous
and authorized faithful spirits to preach the gospel to all the dead,
including the wicked, so that everyone would have the opportunity to
accept the full gospel of salvation. 14 He is now exalted and perfected
like his Father. (See 3 Ne. 12:48; Acts 7:55.) Ultimately, he will take
the role of the Father as the Father will “take a higher exaltation,”
and God will be “thus glorified and exalted in the salvation and
exaltation of all his children.” 15
The Holy Ghost. The Bible gives little detail about the personage of
the Holy Ghost. The Prophet, however, gave us a number of insights
about that spirit being and his office. On several occasions,
especially in Nauvoo in 1842-43, the Prophet spoke of the Holy Ghost as
a being “in the form of a personage,” 16 as a “spirit without
tabernacle,” separate and distinct from the personages of the Father
and the Son. 17 According to the George Laub journal, on another
occasion Joseph taught that “the Holy Ghost is yet a spiritual body and
waiting to take to himself a body.” 18
Joseph Smith also explained the difference between a testimony from the
Holy Ghost and the gift or right to the constant companionship of the
Holy Ghost. 19 In translating the Book of Mormon, he unfolded the
meaning of the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost. (See 2 Ne.
31:13-14; Mosiah 27:24-26; Matt. 3:11.) Speaking to the Saints, Joseph
distinguished between the roles of the First Comforter—the Holy
Ghost—and the Second Comforter—the Savior himself. 20 (See John
14:15-21.)
In the beginning, Adam, Seth, and other ancient patriarchs knew these
truths about the Godhead because the gospel was declared to them “by
holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice,
and by the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Moses 5:58.) Joseph Smith
testified that prophets such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, John, and Paul were
among those taught “face to face,” who had the heavens opened to them,
had “the personage of Jesus Christ to attend [them] … from time to
time,” and even had the Father manifest himself unto them. 21
Not only Paul, but also the early Christians understood the true nature
of God. 22 For example, they were often charged with abandoning
monotheism and worshiping two Gods. They did not deny this. “We
reasonably worship Jesus,” wrote Justin Martyr in the second century
A.D., “having learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself, and
holding Him in second place, and the prophetic spirit in the third.” 23
With the apostasy and the loss of many plain and precious truths that
were once part of the gospel (see 1 Ne. 13:26), the true knowledge of
God was lost. The surviving fragments of truth were subsequently
interpreted into mystery, and those who continued to believe in the
basic truths about God were denounced as heretics. By the fourth
century A.D., little remained of mankind’s original understanding of
God. 24
It is not surprising that the true knowledge of God would be one of
Satan’s prime targets and one of the first fundamental doctrines to be
lost. With the loss of the priesthood held by the original Apostles,
the “key of the knowledge of God” (D&C 84:19), or “the fulness of
the scriptures” (JST, Luke 11:53), was gone. That key was restored
through Joseph Smith.
Man’s Eternal Nature and Premortal Existence
Another major doctrine that Joseph Smith restored tells us about our
eternal roots. All people are different from one another, with varying
talents, interests, and inclinations. Why do such differences exist?
Can they be adequately explained in terms of biological and
environmental factors? The doctrine of man’s premortal existence
answers these questions.
From 1829 through 1844, the Prophet learned much about the pre-earth
life. As early as 1830, while working on the inspired translation of
the Bible, it was revealed to him that “all the children of men” were
created “spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the
earth.” (Moses 3:5.) Some years later, while translating the Book of
Abraham, he learned that Abraham saw in vision “the intelligences that
were organized before the world was”—the spirits who stood in God’s
presence in that pre-earth existence. Abraham saw that there “were many
of the noble and great ones” among those spirits. (Abr. 3:22-23.)
Speaking of these things, Joseph Smith said, “At the first organization
in heaven, we were all present and saw the Savior chosen and appointed
and the plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it.” 25
There were others, however, who were less noble. Many of the spirits,
exercising their agency, chose to follow Lucifer in rebellion against
God. (See D&C 29:36; Jude 1:6.) Lucifer, as the Lord revealed to
Joseph Smith, was once “an angel of God who was in authority in the
presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son” and
“sought to take the kingdom of our God and his Christ.” (D&C 76:25,
28; see Isa. 14:12-15.) Lucifer’s proposals that “one soul shall not be
lost” (tempting as it sounds, it would nevertheless suspend our agency
to choose) and that he be given God’s place and glory were rejected.
(See Moses 4:1-3.) War followed, and because of his rebellion, Lucifer
“was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son, and was called
Perdition.” (D&C 76:25-26; see Rev. 12:7-9.)
Some spirits who sanctioned our Heavenly Father’s plan were
foreordained to special callings on earth. Such spirits come to earth
not predetermined but predisposed to recognize and obey the voice of
truth. Not only were Abraham and Jeremiah called in this way (see Abr.
3:23; Jer. 1:5), but also, as Joseph Smith taught, “every man who has a
calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to
that very purpose in the grand Council of Heaven before this world
was—I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that grand
council.” 26
Joseph Smith taught that “all the spirits that God ever sent into this
world are susceptible of enlargement.” 27 In the Doctrine and
Covenants, he said that the Spirit gives light to everyone who is born
and that it enlightens everyone who hearkens to its voice. (See D&C
84:46; John 1:9.) Those who continue in obedience to God receive more
light, and that light can grow “brighter and brighter until the perfect
day.” (D&C 50:24; see also Alma 12:9-11; John 8:12.) With such
assistance, men and women are able to rise above the negative aspects
of their earthly training and environment. Thus, it is possible for
everyone to receive the blessings of heaven.
Eternal life is also possible, in part, because an element of every
human being is divine and eternal. Joseph Smith used several different
terms to refer to that eternal essence—spirit, soul, mind, and
intelligence. He received the knowledge that “man was also in the
beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not
created or made, neither indeed can be.” (D&C 93:29.) He taught
that “the mind of man is as immortal as God himself” 28 and that “the
Spirit of Man [meaning intelligence] is not a created being.” 29
He did not define, however, this element’s form and substance, nor did
he identify its attributes, other than its eternal nature. This eternal
element of intelligence or light of truth is something other than the
spirit bodies God created later; these later entities were “the
intelligences that were organized” and were the spirits that Abraham
saw.
From revelations given to Joseph Smith (see D&C 131-32) and from
his own comments about them, plus subsequent statements from later
prophets, 30 we know that spirit bodies are procreated by resurrected,
exalted couples who have “a fulness and a continuation of the seeds
forever and ever.” (D&C 132:19.) Spirits are “begotten and born of
heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the
Father.” 31 In our own primeval births, the eternal intelligence part
of us was “organized” and provided opportunity to become part of God’s
plan of salvation—with the potential to become like him. This doctrine
is ennobling and intriguing—a subject that we hope will be among the
many great and important things about which God will yet reveal more.
(See A of F 1:9.)
That the ancient prophets knew of the doctrine of man’s premortal
existence is clear. (See Abr. 3; Moses 3-4; Gen. 2:4-5; Jer. 1:5.) The
doctrine also circulated among early Christians but was declared
anathema in the fifth century A.D. 32 An early Christian poem known as
“The Pearl,” for example, begins: “In my first primeval childhood … I
was nurtured in the royal house of my Father. … Then my parents sent me
forth from our home in the East (the source of light), supplied with
all necessities. … They removed from me the garment of light … and they
made a Covenant with me, and wrote in my heart, lest I go astray.” 33
Nevertheless, at the time of Joseph Smith, little trace of the doctrine
had survived. No part of man was thought to have existed eternally, for
God was said to have created all things out of nothing. Most Christian
churches today do not teach that mortals existed as spirits prior to
their mortal births. They generally acknowledge that Christ existed
before his birth and that God created other beings who exist in the
universe but who do not become mortal. The most common view is that God
creates a person’s spirit at the time of his or her mortal birth. This
view interprets biblical passages that suggest premortal existence as
referring to Christ or saying that all things existed only in the mind
and plans of God before their actual creation. 34
Joseph Smith, however, restored the doctrine of man’s premortal
existence. The doctrine can be both comforting and
unsettling—comforting in that it tells us we are literally of the
family of God with unlimited potential; unsettling because it tells us
that we are responsible for what we are now and for what we will become.
Embracing Materiality: The Creation
Hand in hand with the doctrine that man is eternal came Joseph Smith’s
teachings about the creation of the world. While others taught that God
created the world ex nihilo (out of nothing), he taught that God formed
the earth from material that already existed. In defining creation as
“organization,” the Prophet made a distinct contribution to our
understanding of the nature of physical matter and bodies, the
attributes of God, and the purposes of this mortal existence.
Understanding the creation helps us to see that God is a God of order
and of laws who is not capricious. The universe truly has system and
order.
An examination of Joseph Smith’s teachings about the Creation shows
that he gradually learned a great deal between 1820 and 1844. In 1820,
in the Sacred Grove, he received a new understanding of the fact that
“God created man in his own image.” (Gen. 1:27; see JS—H 1:16-17.) Man
literally was created in the image of God. In 1830, the infinite number
of God’s creations became apparent as the Lord told Joseph, “Worlds
without number have I created.” (Moses 1:33.) That year, in another
revelation, Joseph was also informed that all things were created twice
by the Lord: the first time spiritually, the second time physically.
(See D&C 29:31-32; Moses 3:5.)
In 1830, Joseph Smith had learned clearly that God the Father created
“this heaven, and this earth” through his Only Begotten Son, Jesus
Christ. (See Moses 2:1; John 1:10-14.) But in 1835, the Prophet
translated a record that revealed more concerning who created the earth
and how it was done. He learned from the book of Abraham that Jesus
Christ acted in concert with other Gods to create our world: “Then the
Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and
they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the
earth.” (Abr. 4:1.)
Unfortunately, Christian literature through the third century A.D. does
not refer much to the Creation. The tradition of divine beings
participating in the work of creation, however, was well established
among the gnostic Christians. 35 Whether this was an extrapolation or a
perversion of the more orthodox Christian belief concerning the
Creation is impossible to discern. Clearly, though, Joseph Smith was
conveying something known to Abraham but lost since then.
Joseph Smith also discovered that the Creation was the result of
organization. During the Nauvoo period, he continued to speak about the
Creation in terms of organization. William Clayton, the Prophet’s
private secretary, reported Joseph Smith as saying in 1841, “This earth
was organized or formed out of other planets which were broke up and
remodeled and made into the one on which we live.” 36 In the famed King
Follett discourse, delivered at general conference in April 1844,
Joseph Smith presented an extensive treatise on creation as
organization. He told the Saints that the word create comes from the
Hebrew word baurau [bara], which means to organize, and that “God had
materials to organize the world out of chaos … [which] may be organized
and reorganized but not destroyed.” 37
Although these teachings were new for his time, Joseph Smith’s ideas
received little attention from his non-LDS contemporaries. Members of
other sects in the nineteenth century accepted the idea of ex nihilo
creation without reservation. Consequently, Christians dismissed any
alternative as irrelevant. Most accepted the Westminster Confession of
Faith, which stated that God made the world “of nothing.” 38 To the
people of his day, steeped in such traditions, Joseph Smith’s ideas on
creation must have seemed implausible.
In contrast to nineteenth-century Christians, the early Christians
believed in a concept of creation through organization similar to that
Joseph Smith taught. The Christians in the first two centuries after
Christ indeed believed that God created the earth by organizing it from
material that had existed eternally. Justin Martyr, for example, wrote
about A.D. 165 that “[God] in the beginning did create all things out
of unformed matter.” 39
Two currents of thought may be largely responsible for the change in
traditional Christian doctrine: gnostic ideas and Greek philosophy.
Both gnostics and Greek philosophers taught that only the spirit is
pure, and that body and matter are corrupt. It was therefore
inconceivable for them to believe that material things could proceed
from spiritual things. Because of such ideas, ex nihilo creation became
a pillar of faith in traditional Christianity. 40 This commonly
accepted view of creation was what Joseph Smith challenged as he
initiated a return to the view of earlier Christians.
Since the time of Peter, the Saints have looked forward to “the times
of restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:21.) For centuries, mankind was
tossed to and fro among the multitude of differing doctrines on the
nature and being of God and man. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude
to the Lord Jesus Christ and his latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith, for
revealing to us in the present-day world the true nature of God, man,
and the Creation, that we may know who and what we worship and what our
relationship to God is.
Early Sources Containing the Doctrinal Teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith
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1. Recorded in 1831, 1835, 1839, 1840, 1843, 1844. It has been
published in many places and at many times. For a summary see Milton V.
Backman, Jr., Joseph Smith’s First Vision (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1980).
2. An early Church minute book containing the proceedings of many
Church meetings and councils. Donald Q. Cannon and Lyndon W. Cook,
eds., The Far West Record (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983).
3. A Church newspaper published in Ohio, similar to the Deseret News.
It was later published under a slightly different title and in a larger
size in Missouri (see note 6).
4. A collection of diaries, letters, and other written documents from
Joseph Smith. Dean C. Jessee, ed., The Personal Writings of Joseph
Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1984).
5. This newspaper was a sequel to the earlier newspaper in Ohio. It was
published in 1969 (Basel, Switzerland: Eugene Wagner, 1969) but is now
out of print.
6. This paper was published in Ohio and contained mostly doctrinal
matters. It was similar to today’s Church News.
7. These lectures were given by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in
Kirtland, Ohio. They were published in the Doctrine and Covenants in
each edition until 1921. More recently they have been published
separately. N. B. Lundwall, Comp., Lectures on Faith (Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft, n.d.).
8. An LDS publication at Kirtland, Ohio. It was a priesthood
publication. Indexes to the journal are available at the Harold B. Lee
Library, BYU, but the journal has not been published.
9. An LDS newspaper devoted to Church matters, similar to the Church
News, published in Nauvoo. Times and Seasons (Independence, Missouri,
1986).
10. A collection of available reports of Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo sermons.
Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, eds., The Words of Joseph Smith
(Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1980).
11. This periodical was published in England and eventually became the
longest-running Church periodical. It had a largely doctrinal content.
Priesthood, the Word of God, and the Temple
Modern-day prophets have testified that Peter’s words have been
fulfilled in our age, “the dispensation of the fulness of times.”
(D&C 128:18.) The Restoration is among the most important tasks God
has ever entrusted to a man—without it, “the whole earth would be
utterly wasted at his coming.” (D&C 2:3.)
The world’s debt to Joseph Smith is great. As prophet, seer, and
revelator, he is central in this dispensation. Last month, we examined
his impact on our understanding of God, man, and the Creation. This
month, we consider three more crucial topics about which he taught
much: priesthood, scripture, and the temple.
Power and Authority: The Priesthood of God
Joseph Smith’s teachings concerning priesthood constitute a distinctive
part of Latter-day Saint religion. The term priesthood, as used by
Latter-day Saints, has at least two specific meanings. Priesthood is
both authority from God to act in his name and actual power to
accomplish God’s purposes. Joseph Smith proclaimed that he received
such authority and power directly from heavenly messengers and that
religious ordinances performed without divine authority have no binding
effect outside this life. Baptism, for example, is valid only when
someone possessing divine authority performs it.
Joseph Smith taught that priesthood authority and power had to be
restored to the earth because it had been lost through apostasy. 2
Historical evidences of this apostasy include denials of spiritual
gifts, uncertainty about doctrines and the roles of Church officers,
changes in covenants and ordinances, and overindulgence in pomp and
splendor. These external manifestations reflected the internal loss of
divine authority.
As early as 1823, Moroni promised Joseph Smith that the priesthood
would be revealed to him by the hand of Elijah. (See D&C 2:1.)
Priesthood restoration began on 15 May 1829 when John the Baptist—by
then a resurrected being of glory—appeared to the young prophet and
Oliver Cowdery to confer the Aaronic Priesthood upon them. (See D&C
13; JS—H 1:68-72.) Shortly thereafter, the Apostles Peter, James, and
John came and conferred upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood. 3 (See
D&C 27:12-13.)
In 1836 Joseph Smith received, in the Kirtland Temple, additional
fundamental priesthood keys. These priesthood powers included the keys
of the gathering of Israel, the keys of the gospel of Abraham, and the
keys of the sealing power, each set of powers restored personally by
Moses, Elias, and Elijah. (See D&C 110.) At other times, additional
keys and powers of the priesthood were also restored. (See D&C
128:21.) These included the keys of the kingdom pertaining to the
dispensation of the fulness of times, keys that have subsequently
passed to Joseph Smith’s successors, including President Ezra Taft
Benson today. (See D&C 90:1-5.)
As this process of priesthood restoration unfolded, Joseph Smith’s
understanding of the nature of priesthood power and authority
increased. Sometime in April or May 1829, he translated the passage in
Alma 13 about the high priesthood after the holy order of the Son of
God. He also learned that the priesthood is eternal, a concept that he
more fully expressed in 1839 when he said, “The Priesthood is an
everlasting principle & Existed with God from Eternity.” 4 Soon
afterward, he received the lesser priesthood, the priesthood of Aaron.
(See D&C 13; D&C 84:25-27.) By this, he learned that two types
of priesthood exist and that they would be operative in this
dispensation. In May 1829, he also learned that priesthood power is
necessary in order to baptize, to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost,
and to administer the sacrament of the Lord’s supper. (See 3 Ne. 11:22;
3 Ne. 18:37; Moro. 2-6.)
In April 1830, Joseph organized The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, based upon a foundation of Apostles, prophets,
elders, priests, teachers, and deacons; and in June 1830, he witnessed
“glorious manifestations of the powers of the Priesthood.” 5
In March 1835, he gained further insight into the distinctions between
the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods: “The Melchizedek Priesthood
holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all
offices in the church” (D&C 107:8), while the Aaronic Priesthood
“is called the lesser priesthood … because it is an appendage to the
greater, or the Melchizedek Priesthood” (D&C 107:14). Two years
later, the Prophet recorded, “The higher the authority, the greater the
difficulty of the station.” 6
Joseph Smith also learned that temples had to be constructed to “enable
all the functions of the Priesthood to be duly exercised.” 7 Near the
end of his life, he reemphasized to the Saints that although ministers
of other faiths did not have divine authority, he did. 8
The teachings of Joseph Smith concerning the nature of authority and
the need for a restoration differ markedly from other
nineteenth-century creeds. Most Protestants believed that the written
words of the Bible constituted the only authority necessary and saw the
congregation of believers as a “royal priesthood” in Christ. Catholics
asserted priesthood authority in the traditions of the church and
through the popes, who they claimed received authority from Peter. 9
Neither Protestants nor Catholics generally recognized the need for a
restoration of priesthood authority or for an organization of
priesthood offices and functions similar to what existed in the early
church. Early Christians, however, had priesthood offices and authority
quite similar to those established by Joseph Smith.
The New Testament contains evidence of that view. Differences between
the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, for example, are outlined in
Hebrews 7. [Heb. 7] The concept “that a man must be called of God, by
prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority”
(A of F 1: 5) is expressed in Hebrews 5:4, which says, “No man taketh
this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.”
[Heb. 5:4] (See 1 Tim. 4:14.)
Ephesians 2:19-20 and 4:11-14 affirm that Apostles and prophets form
the essential foundation of the Church, and the New Testament contains
references to bishops, seventies, elders, priests, deacons, and other
offices. [Eph. 2:19-20, Eph. 4:11-14] (See Luke 10:1; Acts 14:23; 1
Tim. 3:1, 8; Rev. 20:6.) Traces of this organization survived in the
first few centuries after Christ. Clement and Ignatius, for example,
mention bishops, elders, and deacons in the local structure of church
authority. 10 With the death of the Apostles, however, priesthood keys
no longer existed in the church, and apostate ideas soon replaced these
earlier teachings. Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, correct concepts
and divine authority were restored.
What Constitutes Scripture?
Unlike traditional Christianity, which remains a religion of the book
(the Bible), the restored gospel from its beginning has been a religion
of books. Joseph Smith’s contribution to the concept of scripture is
important and unique.
The translation of the Book of Mormon assured from the birth of the
Church an openness to scriptural texts outside the Bible. Its
appearance established that God still speaks through prophets and that
the Bible is not an exhaustive collection of scripture. The Book of
Mormon expressly cautions readers: “Because that ye have a Bible ye
need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose
that I have not caused more to be written.” (2 Ne. 29:10.)
It goes even further, pronouncing a woe upon those who say, “We need no
more of the word of God, for we have enough.” (2 Ne. 28:29.)
From the writings of Nephi, Joseph Smith learned that the Book of
Mormon would be only one of many books to come forth in the last days.
(See 1 Ne. 13:39; 2 Ne. 27:11.) The pages of the Book of Mormon also
contain interpretations, additions, and corrections to chapters from
Isaiah, as well as quotations from heretofore unknown prophets of
ancient Israel (Zenos and Zenock, for example), together with a
precious account of the resurrected Savior’s personal ministry among
inhabitants of ancient America.
From the Book of Mormon, Joseph had his concept of scripture greatly
expanded. The translation of the Nephite scripture gave concrete
evidence that the Lord had spoken to “all men, both in the east and in
the west, and in the north, and in the south,” and that they had
written God’s words by which he “will judge the world.” (2 Ne. 29:11.)
New scripture promotes faith in other sacred texts. Mormon 7:9 adds
that the Nephite records were “written for the intent that ye may
believe [the Bible].” [Morm. 7:9]
Between the time the Book of Mormon was published and the Kirtland
Temple was dedicated, Joseph Smith learned that God had given power and
knowledge to man in a series of dispensations. (See D&C 27:12-13;
D&C 110:12, 16.) Beginning with Adam, each dispensation had been
given holy scripture “according to their language, unto their
understanding.” (2 Ne. 31:3.) Restoring lost knowledge from those
earlier dispensations was a part of the restoration of all things, as
the receipt of the Book of Moses in 1830 richly illustrated. 11
In none of these things, however, did Joseph Smith think any less of
the Bible as far as it was translated correctly. (See A of F 1:8.)
Indeed, as early as 1830, Joseph devoted great energy to improving our
understanding of the King James Bible. He considered this work a
“branch of [his] calling,” 12 and he spent many hours studying and
restoring proper meaning to many passages. In all, Joseph Smith altered
about 3,400 verses in the Bible—about 10 percent of the total. Because
this task was not completed—and for other reasons—we use the King James
Version. 13
In addition to restoring ancient principles, Joseph Smith added new
revelations to the body of scripture: the volume of sacred writ was not
to be closed. Many of these revelations were communicated during
regular conferences, then printed in official reports. Significantly,
these revelations stand as scripture itself: “What I the Lord have
spoken, I have spoken, … my word shall not pass away, but shall all be
fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it
is the same.” (D&C 1:38.)
Thus, by experience and revelation, Joseph learned and taught (1) that
scripture is nothing more or less than the word of the Lord, (2) that
the book of God’s word is not closed, (3) that God speaks to all
dispensations, (4) that scripture must be correctly understood through
the spirit of truth, and (5) that the words of the Lord’s servants when
moved upon by the Holy Ghost are scripture, too. (See 2 Pet. 1:20-21;
D&C 68:4.)
These doctrines came into Joseph Smith’s world as radical ideas.
Joseph’s Christian contemporaries accepted as scripture only the books
of the Bible. They considered that volume to be a single, complete, and
absolute source to be understood quite literally. Thus, the laws of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony described the Old and New Testaments as
“containing in them the infallible and whole Will of God, which he
purposed to make known to Mankinde,” the denial of which was punishable
by fines, whippings, banishment, or death. 14
To people of such persuasion, the ideas of continuous revelation,
additional scripture, dispensations, inspired versions, and gifts of
prophecy evoked sharp reactions. For example, two months after the
publication of the Book of Mormon, the Palmyra Reflector warned Oliver
Cowdery that he might be sent as a convict to the Simsbury Mines if he
dared to proclaim its message in “the principal cities of the Union.” 15
The rejection of new revelation in the 1830s was similar to the
rejection of new revelation by the Jews at the time of Christ. Many
Jews whom Jesus encountered insisted that the receipt of new scripture
was impossible, that the law was complete (as they interpreted Lev.
27:34 to say), and that prophecy had ceased after the second century
B.C. 16
For the early Christians, however, the floodgates of revelation had
just opened again. The Epistle to the Hebrews begins with a bold
declaration of new revelation: “God, who at sundry times and in divers
manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” (Heb. 1:1-2.)
John declares likewise: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass.” (Rev. 1:1.)
To these early followers of Jesus, the scriptures were not a closed set
of writings. To the Apostle Paul, for example, all writings 17 inspired
by God were good for doctrine and the promotion of righteousness. (See
2 Tim. 3:16.)
In Paul’s day, there was no fixed collection of books, even among the
Jews, that exclusively counted as scripture. Thus, Jude 1:14-15 quotes
without reservation the nonbiblical book of Enoch as scripture. Indeed,
not until the fourth century did the New Testament canon become fixed,
and not until the Reformation in the sixteenth century did the church
regard the Old Testament as Jerome did—that is, as the Hebrew canon. 18
Matthew, Paul, and Jesus himself led the way in showing, as Joseph
Smith did, the need for expounding, searching, and interpreting the
scriptures in light of current conditions and true perceptions (see
Matt. 22:23-33; Matt. 24:27; John 5:39), and in issuing new
commandments (see John 13:34; 1 Cor. 6:7-8). They recognized the
impossibility of restricting their spiritual knowledge to a finite
number of pages. 19 (See John 21:25.) Thus we see an open and complex
idea of scripture in the early Christian movement that is comparable to
the expanding view of scripture understood by Joseph Smith. 20
Temples and Eternal Marriage
Also unique among the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith in his day
were those regarding temple covenants, baptism for the dead, and the
eternal sealing of families. No other religion offered people then, nor
do any offer today, the opportunity to receive these rich and wonderful
blessings. Joseph Smith taught that while resurrection from death is a
gift of God to all mankind through the death and resurrection of Christ
(see 1 Cor. 15:21-22), exaltation through the power of the priesthood
comes only to those who are sanctified through the Spirit and who keep
sacred covenants (see D&C 84:19-24, 33-41.) The most important of
these covenants are made in holy temples.
Early in his ministry, Joseph Smith learned the importance of temples
in the Lord’s plan of salvation. Before his martyrdom, the Saints had
built temples at Kirtland and Nauvoo and dedicated sites in
Independence, Adam-ondi-Ahman, and Far West.
In this dispensation, the pattern of temple building was first revealed
through the Book of Mormon. This ancient record indicates that in the
lands of Nephi, Zarahemla, and Bountiful, the righteous Nephites
constructed temples to perform their ordinances. (See 2 Ne. 5:16;
Mosiah 2:1; 3 Ne. 11:1.) With the coming of Christ, the Nephite temple
remained significant, as Jesus appeared and taught there, instructing
his people to keep certain commandments (see 3 Ne. 12:20-13:24) and
entering into a covenant with them (see 3 Ne. 18:6-10).
In January 1831, the Lord commanded Joseph Smith to go to Kirtland,
where he would be “endowed with power from on high.” (D&C 38:32.)
Shortly thereafter, a temple site was selected there. In July and
August 1831, the word of the Lord instructed the Saints that another
temple site should be dedicated in Independence, Missouri. (See D&C
57:3; D&C 58:57.) In the ordinances of these sacred houses, the
Lord said, the “power of godliness” and “the mysteries of the kingdom”
(D&C 84:19-21) would be made manifest. There the Saints could
worship, give thanks, receive counsel, and be endowed with power. (See
D&C 95:7-17.)
Joseph’s understanding of specific temple ordinances grew from these
concepts in 1831 to a crescendo in 1844. In 1834, the need for a
restoration of all the ordinances of the gospel was revealed: “We all
admit that the Gospel has ordinances, and if so, had it not always
ordinances, and were not its ordinances always the same?” 21
The Lord promised that ordinances would be performed in the temple,
where “a great endowment and blessing [will] be poured out.” (D&C
105:12; see also D&C 105:18, 33.) In 1835, the Saints learned that
they needed an endowment to “be prepared and able to overcome all
things.” 22 After the completion of the Kirtland Temple in 1836,
washing, anointing, and sealing the anointing were performed there. 23
During the Nauvoo period, Joseph Smith taught more about the keys of
the kingdom necessary to be born again, to be sealed unto eternal life
by the holy spirit of promise, and to recognize Satan. He also revealed
that the early Apostles Peter and Paul knew these things. 24 He
explained that Adam “was the first to hold the spiritual blessings” and
knew “the plan of ordinances for the Salvation of his posterity unto
the end.” 25 Through the priesthood in the temple, the Prophet
explained, eternally vital matters are to be revealed from heaven.
On 15 August 1840, at the funeral sermon for Seymour Brunson, Joseph
Smith gave the first discourse on baptism for the dead. 26 This
ordinance was being performed in the font at the Nauvoo Temple by
November 21 of the next year. 27
Also, toward the end of 1840, the Lord promised that certain keys and
names by which one may ask and receive would be taught. (See D&C
124:95, 97.) 28
In 1842, the women of the Relief Society learned of the vital role they
would play in the kingdom. 29 Joseph Smith further taught that there
existed “certain signs and words by which false spirits and personages
may be detected from true, which cannot be revealed to the Elders till
the Temple is completed.” 30
By 1843, the temple’s full import and design seem to have crystallized
in the Prophet’s teachings. The doctrines of sealing and of becoming
kings and queens, priests and priestesses were often discussed. Joseph
Smith taught that “except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting
covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the
power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, they will cease to increase
when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the
resurrection,” 31 nor can they obtain the highest degree of the
celestial glory. (See D&C 131:1-4.)
Accordingly, Joseph and Emma Smith were sealed for time and eternity on
28 May 1843. 32 Sometime between 29 August 1842 and 16 July 1843,
Joseph Smith discussed the full concept of temple ordinances with Hyrum
Smith, Brigham Young, Willard Richards, and others of the Twelve. 33 He
explained how Abraham’s endowment was the patriarchal order of marriage
for time and eternity. 34 The members of the Quorum of the Twelve then
received both the Aaronic and Melchizedek portions of the endowment,
and within a year they and their wives had been sealed for eternity.
Finally, in his last year, Joseph completed his doctrinal instruction
about the temple. He taught that Jesus received the fulness of the
priesthood on the Mount of Transfiguration. 35 He said that knowledge
of “our condition and true relation to God … can only be obtained by
experience through the ordinances of God set forth for that purpose.” 36
He also explained the power of Elijah in connection with the sealing of
parents to children. 37 He stated that ordinances are to be performed
for the living and for the dead, in “a place where all nations shall
come up from time to time to receive their endowments.” 38
In Joseph’s own day, these ideas met with resistance and disdain. 39
Nevertheless, the idea of sacred temple worship was indigenous to early
Christianity. The early Saints in Jerusalem did not repudiate the
temple but worshipped there daily. (See Acts 2:46.) Paul brought alms
to the Jews—such offerings were traditionally offered in the temple.
(See Acts 24:17-18.) In John’s vision of Jesus Christ, the temple was
featured prominently. (See Rev. 3:12, Rev. 7:15, Rev. 11:1.) In early
Christianity, a considerable “envy of the temple” lingered long after
the loss of the temple. 40
Since we know almost nothing for certain about Christ’s confidential
teachings to his Apostles, it is impossible to know, except through
revelation, the esoteric doctrines he taught anciently. We are also not
sure what “the mysteries of the kingdom” were that Jesus and the
Apostles occasionally referred to. Most traces of this aspect of early
Christianity were systematically eradicated in the third and fourth
centuries. 41
Increasingly, however, scholars are accepting the idea that early
Christians knew sacred teachings and observed sacred rites necessary
for the perfecting of the Saints. 42 What those teachings and rites
might have been anciently can be partially pieced together from
disparate fragments and scattered clues that, against the odds, have
survived: We know, for example, that the early Saints performed
baptisms for the dead. 43 (See 1 Cor. 15:29.) Some writings mention a
secret and sacred ordinance of the “mirrored bridal chamber” associated
with “the Holy of the Holies.” 44 A few texts speak of the Apostles and
their wives forming a circle so that Jesus could teach them “the
ordinances of the treasury of light, they being conducted by him
through all the ordinances and thereby learning to progress in the
hereafter.” 45
Thus, a body of Christian texts attests that secret teachings and
sacred rites had formerly existed but had been lost to the main church
early in its history. 46 While conventional scholarship is unable to
reconstruct with any confidence the nature of early Christian liturgy
and ordinance work, we can see enough in the dim records of the past to
appreciate that Joseph Smith indeed restored eternal truths regarding
temples and ordinances.
As these doctrines and the others we have discussed show, the Prophet
Joseph Smith’s greatest contributions to the welfare of mankind came in
the divine truths and power he restored. These truths were not given
him all at once, however; his knowledge grew line upon line, precept
upon precept, and he shared his new understandings with the Saints as
they were prepared to receive them. In many respects, these teachings
were different from the teachings of his day. Even so, some of these
most distinctive doctrines of the church he organized are demonstrably
similar to specific teachings of early Christianity.
The world owes a great debt to Joseph Smith—a debt not yet completely
understood. Our present studies point toward horizons that extend far
beyond what we have glimpsed here. Through Joseph Smith indeed has come
“the times of restitution of all things” and “the times of refreshing …
from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19-21.)
The Restored Doctrine of the
Atonement
The truths of the Atonement remain hidden from a society that has
been cleverly persuaded that the Church knows least—when in fact it
knows most—about Jesus Christ’s role as our Savior. The adversary has
ben engaged in one of history’s greatest cover-ups.
Some of these puzzling attitudes are caused by widespread and
completely erroneous perceptions about Latter-day Saint doctrines
concerning the atonement and grace of Jesus Christ. As Newsweek
magazine incorrectly put it a few years ago, “Unlike orthodox
Christians, Mormons believe that men … earn their way to godhood by the
proper exercise of free will, rather than through the grace of Jesus
Christ. Thus, Jesus’ suffering and death in the Mormon view were
brotherly acts of compassion, but they do not atone for the sins of
others.” (1 Sept. 1980, p. 68.)
There is massive irony in these mistaken impressions, because the
doctrines of the Restoration actually make the Savior’s grace and
atonement meaningful and accessible to people in a way that traditional
Protestant and Catholic doctrines have simply been unable to do. And
this has occurred at a time when society is literally starving with
spiritual hunger.
For example, Yale University Press recently published a book called Heaven:
A History, in which two historians, Colleen McDannell and Bernhard
Lang, describe both popular and religious beliefs about the concept of
heaven in Western history. The authors studied this subject because “it
reflects a deep and profound longing in Christianity … to experience
more fully the divine.” Indeed, they think their subject is “a key to
[understanding] Western culture.” (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1988, p. xiii.)
Their study concludes with an assessment of the concept of heaven in
twentieth-century Christianity. They note two major findings. First, 71
percent of modern Americans believe “there is a heaven where people who
have led good lives are eternally rewarded.” (Ibid., p. 307.) In
attitudes reflected in cultural symbols ranging from cemeteries to love
songs, people from all Christian denominations still express their
instinctive belief in “the eternal nature of love and the hope for
heavenly reunion,” especially with their family members. (Ibid., p.
312.)
This yearning for eternal belonging also reflects attitudes toward
God. A 1983 survey in a prominent Catholic publication revealed that
many American Catholics “want to ‘hug God’ when they arrive in heaven.”
To these writers, this response echoes “the hopes of earlier
generations: God will be a personal character willing to be hugged,
individuals will retain their personalities, [and] families will
reunite.” (Ibid., p. 309.)
Reading of this hunger to “hug God” in the light of gospel teachings
on that sacred subject makes me want to let all these hopeful people
know the glad tidings of the Restoration: In the Lord’s words to Joseph
Smith and Oliver Cowdery, “Be faithful and diligent in keeping the
commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love.” (D&C 6:20.)
A Longing for Everlasting Ties
Let us consider now the second and more sobering finding about the
idea of heaven in modern America. McDannell and Lang observe that
despite the surprising strength of today’s personal beliefs in a real
heaven, the mainline Christian churches offer little serious
theological response to the natural intuition of their members. Rather,
today’s “ideas about what happens after death are only popular
sentiments and are not integrated into Protestant and Catholic
theological systems.” (Heaven: A History, p. 308.) These
systems seem to assume that ideas about immortality are no longer
socially relevant and that they are too speculative to be acceptable to
modern scholarship.
But then these historians note one “major exception” to their
generalization regarding today’s theological vacuum about
heaven—namely, “the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.” They summarize a range of LDS teachings, from
eternal marriage to genealogy and ordinances for the dead, then
conclude that “the understanding of life after death in the LDS Church
is the clearest [known] example of the continuation of the modern
heaven into the twentieth century.” (Ibid., p. 320.)
How poignant that so many people today yearn for everlasting ties to
God and to each other, yet how sad and ironic that other Christian
denominations’ theology offers no developed reply to these deeply felt
needs. The Restoration offers these people not only the hope of an
embrace with the Lord but also a full understanding of what that
embrace can mean. For being “clasped in the arms of Jesus” (Morm. 5:11) symbolizes the
fulfillment of his atonement in our lives—becoming literally “at one”
with him, belonging to him, in mortality as well as in heaven.
Just as the restored Church offers the most complete available
theology about heaven, the Restoration also fills a similar—and more
substantial—theological void about the Atonement. Moreover, the
Restoration teaches of Christ’s mission in a way that lets his life and
his death speak to our most profound human needs in everyday life, just
as an understanding of heaven fulfills our hopes for life after death.
This bold assertion of the Restoration’s revolutionary implications
for Christianity’s most central doctrine finds strong support in the
work of a noted scholar on the Protestant Reformation, John
Dillenberger. In a 1978 essay comparing Martin Luther with Joseph Smith
on the question of grace and works, Dillenberger wrote: “Mormonism
brought understanding to what had become an untenable problem within
evangelicalism: how to reconcile the new power of humanity with the
negative inherited views of humanity, without abandoning the necessity
of grace.” (“Grace and Works in Martin Luther and Joseph Smith,” in Reflections
on Mormonism: Judeo-Christian Parallels, ed. Truman G. Madsen,
Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1978, p. 179.)
Doctrines of Grace: A Brief History
To explore Dillenberger’s provocative insight, we must take a brief
journey through history that will show how the great apostasy changed
the underlying premises of the Atonement and mission of Christ. Since
the fourth century A.D., the teachings of
traditional Christianity regarding man’s nature and the need for
Christ’s grace began with the assumption that each person has an
inherently evil nature. According to Catholic teachings, this effect of
original sin can be overcome only by the grace of Christ as dispensed
through the official sacraments (ordinances) of the Church. Protestant
theology is even more pessimistic about humankind’s fallen nature, and
it departs from Catholic doctrine by teaching that grace comes not from
Church sacraments but only from the unearned gift that God may bestow
directly upon an elect few.
Significantly, the idea of man’s fallen and evil nature originated
not in the teachings of Christ, but in St. Augustine’s personal
struggles with sexual sin in the fourth century A.D.
As Princeton religion scholar Elaine Pagels has recently written,
Augustine’s highly original teaching on “original sin” reordered the
very foundations of Christianity, even though his ideas essentially
abandoned the moral freedom taught by the Old Testament and the
doctrine of free will and personal responsibility that had prevailed
among Christians since the time of Christ. In exploring why Augustine’s
unorthodox views were so widely accepted, Pagels notes the great
intellectual power of his writing. But she also finds a broader
explanation in historical and political reality.
The Roman emperor Constantine had declared Christianity the official
religion of the vast Roman empire not long before Augustine’s time.
Augustine’s views provided a believable justification for the emperor’s
assertion of governmental and religious power over an unruly
population: because people by their fallen nature could not govern
themselves, they required a powerful state and a forceful church
structure. This political imperative moved Augustine’s ideas into the
center of Western history, surpassing the influence of any other church
father.
In the centuries that followed, the church of the Middle Ages
erected an elaborate structure of doctrine and practice on the
foundation of Augustine’s assumptions about man’s evil nature. In about
1500 A.D., Martin Luther’s experience
reinforced these assumptions as the linchpin of Christian theology.
Luther struggled with his personal weaknesses in an ordeal similar to
Augustine’s, trying in vain to satisfy his desperate need for grace
through the church’s sacraments. He agreed with Augustine that his
problem lay in his unavoidably depraved nature, but in a massive
theological “Protest”—the basis for the Protestant break with
Catholicism—Luther concluded that God bestows undeserved grace not
through the sacraments of the Catholic church but directly on chosen
individuals. This idea removes any need for the church as an
intermediary.
By breaking the Catholic church’s control over grace, Luther
permanently undermined the church’s social and political authority.
Indeed, just as Augustine’s views were used earlier to justify
authoritarian regimes, Luther provided a rationale for the claims of
new individualistic political forces that sought to overthrow
centralized authoritarian structures. Luther was courageous and
articulate, but as had happened with Augustine, historic need gave
wings to his thought that its religious merit alone might not have
warranted.
This sketch illustrates Professor Dillenberger’s comments about the
“negative inherited views” and “the misery of humanity” in Christian
history. (Ibid., p. 179.) By 1820, these ideas had created an
impossible theological problem, because neither the intellectual
developments of recent centuries nor popular common sense took
seriously the notion of man’s uncontrollably evil nature. For example,
a leading authority on Puritanism writes that within a century after
the Puritans (who traced their theological lineage to Luther through
John Calvin) came to America in 1620, “the theory of the utter
dependence of man on … God ceased to have any relevance to the facts of
the Puritan experience. [Still,] the preachers continued to preach it
and the laymen continued to hear it; not because either of them
believed it, but because they cherished it.” (Herbert W. Schneider, The
Puritan Mind, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1958,
pp. 34-35.)
One reason people stopped believing in man’s natural depravity was
that European and American history between Luther’s time and Joseph
Smith’s time amassed irresistible evidence of the wonder of human
abilities. Drawing on classical Greek optimism about man’s powers, the
Renaissance and the Enlightenment fueled true revolutions in the
sciences, in the arts, in the commercial/industrial world, and in the
political sphere—as witnessed by the French and American revolutions.
The independent and robust America of the early nineteenth century was
fairly bursting with confidence in the ability of men and women to
subdue the earth and take charge of their lives.
These widely recognized powers contradicted traditional beliefs in
humankind’s evil nature to the point that many people not only saw
little practical need for God’s grace, they adopted the humanistic
assumption that humans are good by nature. Given the centuries-old
belief that we need grace primarily to overcome our evil nature, the
assumption that man is naturally good eliminated, in the minds of many,
the need for Christ’s grace. Individuals still violated divine laws,
but this new line of thinking concluded that poverty and other
collective urban failures were more persuasive explanations for these
failings than was any idea of inborn depravity.
The abstractions of Christian theology seemed increasingly out of
touch with daily experience in the twentieth century—to such an extent
that in 1965, Protestant theologian Harvey Cox pronounced traditional
Christianity totally irrelevant to modern society. His book was called The
Secular City. (New York: The MacMillan Co.) This title
deliberately and symbolically rejected the preoccupation with the evil
of this world and the goodness of God’s world evident in Augustine’s
famous book from the fourth century, The City of God. Cox urged
the Christian churches to give up dreaming of heavenly cities and focus
instead on the social problems of earthly cities; until they did so, he
said, Christianity would play no meaningful role in American life.
Despite the continuing belief in Augustine’s assumptions among a few
theologically conservative Protestant groups today, experience
demonstrates that most churches and theologians have taken Cox’s
advice. That is one reason why there is such a vacuum of religious
teaching about heaven in today’s world.
As we survey the modern wreckage of a once-elaborate Christian
theological structure, Dillenberger’s observation about Mormon doctrine
seems even more compelling. “In stressing human possibilities,” he
wrote, “Mormonism brought things into line, not by abandoning the
centrality of grace but by insisting that the powers of humanity
were [also] real and that they reflected the actual state of humanity
as such.” (“Grace and Works,” p. 179; emphasis added.)
With the error and the impracticality of Augustinian teaching now
clearly unmasked, consider briefly the Restoration’s distinctive
teachings on the relationship among human nature, the Atonement, and
the way in which belonging to Christ can sustain us in times of
personal need. I am drawn toward this personal dimension because I am
saddened by seeing so many decent people outside (and inside) the
Church who have no theological support for embracing and belonging to
the authentic, personal Christ—not only on heaven but on earth. The
Restoration, like the Atonement, offers not only an abstract historical
message but an intensely personal one.
According to Christ’s original doctrine as restored through Joseph
Smith, the Fall made both possible and necessary the Savior’s atoning
for our sins. Human nature is neither inherently evil nor inherently
good. We become evil or good based on interaction between the
Lord’s influence and the choices we make—choices unavailable in the
garden before Adam and Eve fell and only made possible because of the
Savior’s atonement.
In fulfillment of his intended purpose, God expelled Adam and Eve
from Eden into a world that was subject to the forces of life and
death, good and evil. Yet He soon taught them that “the Son of God hath
atoned for original guilt”; therefore, Adam’s children were neither
evil nor good but were “whole from the foundation of the world.”
(Moses 6:54; emphasis
added.) Thus, “every spirit of man was innocent in the
beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again,
in their infant state, innocent before God.” (D&C 93:38; emphasis
added.)
As Adam’s and Eve’s descendants become accountable for their own
sins at age eight, they all taste sin to one degree or another because
of their experiences in a free environment. Those who come to love
“Satan more than God” (Moses
5:28) will to that degree become “carnal, sensual, and devilish”
(Moses 5:13; Moses 6:49) by
nature—“natural men.” On the other hand, those who accept Christ’s
grace by their faith, repentance, baptism, and continued striving will
ultimately put off “the natural man” and become “a saint through the
atonement of Christ the Lord.” (Mosiah 3:19.) They will then be good by
nature.
In LDS theology, then, grace is the absolutely indispensable source
of three categories of blessings. First are the unconditional
blessings—gifts requiring no individual action on our part. God’s grace
in this sense includes the very Creation, as well as making the
plan of salvation known to us. It also includes resurrection
for all from physical death and forgiveness for Adam and Eve’s
original transgression.
Second, the Savior has atoned for our personal sins on the
condition of our repentance. Personal repentance is a necessary
condition of salvation but is not by itself sufficient to assure
salvation. Without the Atonement, our repentance will not save us. One
must also accept the ordinances of baptism and receive the Holy Ghost,
by which one is born again as a spiritual child of Christ.
Third comes the bestowal of grace after baptism along the
path toward a Christlike nature. Once we have repented and are baptized
unto forgiveness of sin, we have only “entered in by the gate” to the
“strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life.” (2 Ne. 31:17-20.) This
postbaptism stage of spiritual development does not require perfection
in mortality, but it does require our good-faith effort to “endure to
the end” (2 Ne. 31:20)
and to become perfect, “even as [our] Father which is in heaven is
perfect” (Matt. 5:48).
This effort includes the ordinances of the temple and an ongoing
repentance process as needed to retain a remission of our sins from day
to day. (See Mosiah 4:12, 26.)
Developing the Attributes of Christ
In the teachings of Augustine and Luther, man’s fallen nature made
self-generated righteous acts impossible. In LDS doctrine, by contrast,
“men should … do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass
much righteousness;
“For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves.”
(D&C 58:27-28.)
Yet we clearly lack the capacity to develop a Christlike nature by
our own effort alone. Thus, the perfecting attributes, which include
hope, charity, and finally the divine nature that is inherently part of
eternal life, are ultimately “bestowed upon all who are true
followers of … Jesus Christ” (Moro. 7:48;
emphasis added) by the grace that was made possible by the Savior’s
atonement. In LDS theology, this interactive relationship between human
will and divine powers derives from the significance the gospel
attaches to free will and from optimism about the “fruit of the Spirit”
(Gal. 5:22)
among “those who love me and keep all my commandments, and him that
seeketh so to do” (D&C 46:9;
emphasis added).
God bestows these additional, perfecting expressions of grace
conditionally, as he does the grace that allows forgiveness of sin.
They are given “after all we can do” (2
Ne. 25:23)—that is, they are given as an essential
supplement to our best efforts. We prove worthy and capable of
receiving these gifts not only by obeying particular commandments but
also by demonstrating certain personal attitudes and attributes, such
as “meekness and lowliness of heart” (Moro.
8:26) and “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Ne. 9:20).
In addition, those who enter into the covenants of the gospel of
Jesus Christ may also be spiritually sustained by him. This is the
relationship we celebrate and renew each time we partake of the
sacrament. Through it, the Savior grants not only a continuing
remission of our sins, but he will also help compensate for our
inadequacies, heal the bruises caused by our unintentional errors, and
strengthen us far beyond our natural capacity in times of acute need.
Both we and our friends outside the Lord’s church need this
Atonement-based relationship more than we need any other form of
therapy or support: “O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee,
I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame
kindle upon thee.
“For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.” (Isa. 43:1-3;
emphasis added.)
Encircled in the Arms of His Love
Sometimes we do not fully recognize the strength of the Church’s
position on the most crucial doctrines of Christianity. This remarkable
strength derives not just from family values and healthy living, as
important as those are. It derives from the pure theology of the
restored gospel—which is the last, best, and only hope of Christianity
and of all humankind. The Restoration not only resolves
post-Augustinian Christianity’s central doctrinal dilemmas, it also
offers the most complete solution to our greatest problems, social or
personal.
Yet the gospel’s insights remain relatively hidden from a society
that has been consciously and cleverly persuaded by the evil one that
the church of the Restoration knows least—when in fact it knows
most—about Jesus Christ’s role as our personal Savior. The adversary
has known exactly what he is doing. He has been engaged in one of
history’s greatest cover-ups.
But now, not only the restored church’s lifestyle but the more
fundamental contribution of the restored church’s doctrine is beginning
to come forth from obscurity. The widespread circulation in major
libraries of the new Encyclopedia of Mormonism is a wonderful
step in that direction. Also significant, a random survey in the United
States of five thousand readers by the Book of the Month Club recently
asked people what was the most influential book in their lives. They
reported that the Bible still ranks first, and the Book of Mormon now
ranks eighth. (The Daily Universe, 22 Nov. 1991, p. 1.) As the
Book of Mormon’s influence spreads, so will the good news that access
to the living grace of the living God has been restored
in fulness.
Today, many people feel a longing for heaven, where, they want to
believe, they will be welcomed not only into the arms of their families
but into the arms of God. The Restoration offers a complete fulfillment
of that longing, not just as some momentary emotion but as the fully
developed doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We hear him saying to
all those within and outside the Church who hunger and thirst to find
him in times of personal famine: “Behold, ye are little children and ye
cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the truth.
“Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome
the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me;
“And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost; …
“And inasmuch as ye have received me, ye are in me and I in you.” (D&C 50:40-43.)
“Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I
will encircle thee in the arms of my love.” (D&C
6:20.)
