Blake Ostler on Christology and Christification in Mosiah 15 and D&C 93

The following from Blake Ostler is a useful exposition of Mosiah 15 and D&C 93 (that is more, reading Mosiah 15 in light of D&C 93 is another nail in the coffin of the case made by those who claim early Latter-day Saint theology was that of Modalism):

5. Christ is divine because of his relation of unity with the father. Divinity arises from a relationship of unity in oneness. Christ is divine only because the glory of the Father dwells within him. According to Doctrine and Covenants 93:12-13, Christ did not receive “of the fullness at first,” but only after he had “continued from grace to grace.” He was “called the Son of God, because he received not the fullness at first” (D&C 93:24). A “fullness” refers to fully receiving the light and glory of the Father. The light and glory are received by entering into a relationship of oneness with the Father. Thus, Christ is divine because of his relationship to the Father. As the Mormon scriptures put it, Christ is the “Father” to the extent that he embodies the will and glory of the Father, and the Son to the extent that he becomes moral (all emphasis mine):

D& 93	Mosiah 15
I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one. (v. 4)	Thus becoming the Father and the Son. And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and earth. (v. 4)
The Father because he gave me of his fullness,	The Father because he was conceived by the power of God (v. 3)
and the Son because I was in the world and made flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men . . . . And thus he was called the Son because he received not of the fullness at the first. vss. (4, 14)	and the Son because of the flesh . . . And God himself shall come down among the children of men . . . And because he dwelleth in the flesh he shall be called the Son of God, having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father. (vss. 2-3)

6. Humans become divine in the same way as Christ. The Mormon scriptures also teach that divinity can be communicated to humans. “Divinity” is not viewed as a logically distinct nature or set of mutually exclusive properties apart from humanity. Rather, “divinity” is a fullness of what it is to be human. “Humanity” and “divinity” refer to the sets of properties which are severally necessary and jointly sufficient to be human and divine respectively. However, they are not distinct sets but are rather sets describing what the other can become when fully developed. For example, an acorn looks very different than an oak. The properties of the acorn are different but not logically exclusive of those of the oak. However, an acorn is not a different natural kind than an oak; it is simply a fully mature oak. Similarly, a son grows into what his father is. In this same sense, divinity is humanity fully matured in relationship with God the Father. This relationship between divinity and humanity was made clear in an 1833 revelation:

The Son of God	The Sons of God
In the beginning the Word was . . . the light and Redeemer of the world, the Spirit of truth . . . . and in him was the life of men and light of men . . . Men were made by him; all things were made by him. (D&C 93:8-10)	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)
I was in the beginning with the Father. (D&C 93:21)	Ye were also in the beginning with the Father. (D&C 93:23)
In the beginning the Word was, for he was . . . the light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of Truth who came into the world. (D&C 93:8-9)	Ye were in the beginning with the Father, that which is Spirit, even the Spirit of truth. (D&C 93:23)
I am the firstborn. (D&C 93:21)	All those who are begotten through me are partakers of the glory of [the Firstborn] and are the church of the Firstborn. (93:22)
And he received not of the fullness at first, but continued from grace to grace, and he received a fullness. (D&C 93:13)	If you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fullness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; you shall receive grace for grace. (93:20)
I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one . . . And the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him . . . I . . . received a fullness of the glory of the Father. (D&C 93:3, 16-17)	You shall . . . be glorified in me as I am in the Father. (D&C 93:20)
He received a fullness of truth, yea, even of all truth (D&C 93:26)	He that keepeth my commandments received truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things ((3:28)
He received all power both in heaven and on earth (D&C 93:17)	Then shall they be gods because they have all power. (D&C 132:30)
And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fullness at first. (D&C 93:14)	Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God. (D&C 76:57)

The message of the revelation is unmistakable: there are not two natures in Christ but one. The exalted Christ has actualized certain properties which were previously possessed only in potentiality. Even as a mortal, Christ possessed the properties of divinity; however, Christ has some of these properties only in potentiality qua moral. Christ possesses what we may term the “omni attributes” only potentially as a mortal. Thus, the relevant divine property possessed by Christ while mortal is not omniscience per se, but “omniscience-in-potentiality,” not omnipotence per se, but “omnipotence-in-potentiality.” However, he possessed the moral attributes not merely in potentiality but in actuality.

The Son does not possess the divine glory essentially but contingently in dependence on the Father. Nevertheless, the Son possesses the fullness of all the divine properties logically and chronologically after he has been exalted and grown from grace to grace. Humans may also possess the divine nature by participating in the Father’s glory mediated to them in and through the Son. Like the Son, humans must grow from grace to grace in truth until they know all things and have all power. Humans may actually become all-knowing and all-powerful by participating fully in God’s glory or nature. The Mormon revelation expresses the conviction that the revelation of Christ as both God and man means that human nature, when fully mature in the glory of God through grace, is capable of participating fully in the divine nature and possessing all of the divine properties. Christ is both the mediator of grace and the chief exemplar of growing to Godhood “grace for grace.”

The Christology of Joseph Smith’s revelations assumes the grace theory, for Christ received “a fullness of the glory of the Father; and he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him” (D&C 93:16-17). Christ shares the divine nature with the Father because of the gracious indwelling of the Father’s glory, spirit or intelligence in the Son. However, Christ is not merely another mortal, for he dwelt in the beginning with the Father and possessed glory even before the world was (D&C 93:7). Thus, implicit in this revelation is that Christ gave up, at the time he became human, his glory which he enjoyed in the preexistence. Like every human, he did not have a fullness of glory. He was truly a human. However, he regained his exalted status by keeping the Father’s commandments—that is, by doing the Father’s will—and participated fully in the Father’s glory or indwelling spirit. (Blake T. Ostler, Exploring Mormon Thought, Volume 1: The Attributes of God [Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2001], 455-59)