4. Jesus is not
just my Elder Brother. Latter-day Saints have insight into our eternal
existence that persons of other faiths do not have. For example, we view that
persons of other faiths do not have. For example, we view many of the things
that happen to us in this life, including traumas and tragedies, with a more elevated
perspective, given what we know about our having lived as spirits before we
were born into mortality. In our first estate, our premortal existence, we were
taught, trained, and prepared to come to earth and take on a wonderous mortal
body, all as a very significant part of the overall plan of salvation. John the
Beloved opened his magnificent Gospel with this statement: “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not
any thing made that was made” (john 1:1-3). That is, in the premortal life Christ,
here designated as the Word, was with our Heavenly Father. In fact, Christ was
God in that first estate. As God and leader of the ”noble and great ones”
(Abraham 3:22; 4:1), he created worlds without number (Moses 1:33; 7:30). IT is
appropriate, therefore, that we refer to Jesus Christ as our Elder Brother as
pertaining to the premortal life.
It is of great
interest to me, however, that of the almost one hundred names given to our Lord
and Savior by the Nephite prophets, the term “Elder Brother” is never used
once. He is called the Almighty, the Almighty God, Alpha and Omega, Creator,
Eternal Father, Eternal God, Eternal Head, Eternal Judge, Everlasting God,
Father of heaven and of earth, God, God of Abraham, God of nature, Holy
Messiah, Holy One of Israel, Immanuel, Keeper of the gate, Lamb of God, Lord
God Almighty, Lord God Omnipotent, Lord God of hosts, Mighty One of Israel,
Most High God, Redeemer of Israel, Supreme Being, True and Living God, True
Messiah, but never “Elder Brother.” In other words, I’m convinced that because
the Nephites looked upon Christ with such aw and viewed him with such majesty,
it did not occur to them to refer to him as Elder Brother. He was God.
Elder M. Russell
Ballard explained: “We occasionally hear some members refer to Jesus as our
Elder Brother, which is a true concept based on our understanding of the
premortal life with our Father in Heaven. But like many points of gospel
doctrine, that simple truth doesn’t go far enough in terms of describing the
Savior’s role in our present lives and His great position as a member of the Godhead.
Thus, some no-LDS Christians are uncomfortable with what they perceive as a
secondary role for Christ in our theology. They feel that we view Jesus as a
spiritual peer. They believe that we view Christ as an implementer for God, if
you will, but that we don’t view Him as God to us and to all mankind, which, of
course, is counter to biblical testimony about Christ’s divinity.
“Let me help us
understand, with clarity and testimony, our belief about Jesus Christ. We declare
He is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Creator, the Savior, the Captain of
our Salvation, the Bright and Morning Star. He has taught us that He is in all things,
above all things, through all things and round about all things, that He is
Alpha and Omega, the Lord of the Universe, the first and the last relative to
our salvation, and that His name is above every name and is in fact the only
name under heaven by which we can be saved . . .
“[W]e can understand
why some Latter-day Saints have tended to focus on Christ’s Sonship as opposed
to His Godhood. As members of earthly families, we can relate to Him as a
child, as a Son, and as a Brother because we know how that feels. We can
personalize that relationship because we ourselves are children, sons and daughters,
brothers and sisters. For some it may be more difficult to relate to Him as a
God. And so in an attempt to draw closer to Christ and to cultivate warm and
personal feelings toward Him, some tend to humanize Him, sometimes at the
expense of acknowledging His Divinity. So let us be very clear on this point:
it is true that Jesus was our Elder Brother in the premortal life, but we belief
that in this life it is crucial that we become ‘born again’ as His sons and
daughters in the gospel covenant” (Ballard, “Building
Bridges of Understanding”). (Robert L. Millet, Coming to Know Christ [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012], 113-16)