Wednesday, November 6, 2019

The US Constitution Being "Inspired" in a Lesser Sense than God-Breathed Scripture


William O. Nelson, at time of writing, the administrative assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles wrote the following about the nature of the inspiration of the US Constitution (i.e., a “lower” form of inspiration in comparison to Scripture):

Latter-day Saint doctrine clearly supports the view of an inspired constitution. By inspired, we mean that God miraculously impressed on the minds of the Founding Fathers the "just and holy principles" contained in the Constitution that would preserve the basic rights of the people. Also inspired were their efforts in producing a final document that represented the will of the majority of the Convention of 1787. A compelling motivation of Latter-day Saints to support the Constitution is the Lord's admonition by revelation to befriend "that law which is the constitutional law of the land." (D&C 98:6.) (William O. Nelson, The Charter of Liberty: The Inspired Origin and Prophetic Destiny of the Constitution [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1987], 1, emphasis added)

In an endnote to the above, Nelson notes that, notwithstanding some LDS leaders using the term “scripture” to describe the Constitution, it was not free from serious error at the time of its original reception, again showing that the inspiration behind it is a lesser form in comparison to (God-breathed/θεόπνευστος [2 Tim 3:16]) Scripture:

Do these statements mean that every provision in the Constitution is the inerrant word of the Lord? Obviously not, for the original document sanctioned slavery, whereas a revelation of the Lord said that “it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.” (D&C 101:79.) The sacredness and inspiration of the document is in the God-inspired principles that secure the liberty of all mankind. (Ibid., 145 n. 1)