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I will here make a remark concerning my own feelings. After the death of
Joseph Smith I saw and conversed with him many times in my dreams in the night
season. On one occasion he and his brother Hyrum met me when on the sea going
on a mission to England. I had Dan Jones With me. He received his mission from
Joseph Smith before his death; and the prophet talked freely to me about the
mission I was then going to perform. And he also talked to me with regard to
the mission of the Twelve Apostles in the flesh, and he laid before me the work
they had to perform; and he also spoke of the reward they would receive after
death. And there were many other things he laid before me in his interview on
that occasion. And when I awoke many of the things he had told me were taken
from me, I could not comprehend them. I have had [p.318] many interviews with
Brother Joseph until the last 15 or 20 years of my life; I have not seen him
for that length of time. (Wilford Woodruff, “Organization of the First Presidency—Responsibility
of the Saints, etc.,” October 10, 1880, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [Liverpool: Albert Carrington, 1881],
21:317-18)
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The following useful quotes are taken from Elden Watson, “Differing Thoughts--#10: Fundamentalist Falsehoods”:
Before leaving this topic I
wish to present one more pertinent item. Joseph Smith told the Saints in Nauvoo
how to always be able to distinguish the true church, and he gave it as a guide
to them that they could use ever afterwards. There was no stenographer present
so we do not have the full account of his discourse, but there were many
present who heard his comments, understood their importance, and recorded them.
I leave you the testimonies of five men who were there and left an enduring
witness:
Edward Stevenson
At the time of the martyrdom
of the Prophet Joseph, the Saints were being gathered and were building a
Temple, baptizing for the dead, etc., which work unceasingly has been kept up
by those who under the leadership of the Twelve came to the Rocky Mountains
notwithstanding the various factions which have separated themselves from the
true Gospel tree. The writer (Elder Stevenson) heard the prophet say on a stand
at the east end of the Nauvoo Temple, that the time was coming when there would
be many dissensions from the Church. "But," said he, "I now see
the time which I have long desired to see. Let me go where I may, the Gospel
tree is planted never more to be rooted up, for there are those present who are
prepared to carry on the Gospel, whatever may become of me." He also said:
"I will give you a key by which you may never be deceived, if you will
observe these facts: Where the true Church is, there will always be a majority
of the Saints, and the records and history of the Church also." (Infancy
of the Church p 5)
Lyman Littlefield
Once in Nauvoo I heard the
Prophet declare to the people how they might always know where to find the true
Church. He gave it as a guide for them ever afterwards, and said the day would
come when they would need it. He said: "Factions and parties will arise
out of this Church, and apostates will lead away many. But in the midst of all
this, keep with the majority, for the true leaders of God's people will always
be able to have a majority, and the records of the Church will be with them.
Keep with the majority, for where the carcass is, there will the eagles be
gathered together." (Lyman O. Littlefield, Millennial Star,
45:389)
Ezra T. Clark
I bear you this my
testimony:
Before I left Nauvoo, I
heard the Prophet Joseph say he would give the Saints a key whereby they would
never be led away or deceived, and that was: the Lord would never suffer the
majority of this people to be led away or deceived by imposters, nor would he
allow the records of this Church to fall into the hands of the enemy. I heard
Joseph say this, and I also heard him say that he would roll the burden of the
Apostleship upon the quorum of the twelve. I heard Joseph preach many times;
heard him, in the last sermon he ever delivered, bear testimony to the truth of
the work that God had called him to; also that the Lord had never suffered him
to be slain by his enemies, because his work had not been done, until a short
time ago. He had now laid the foundation of this work, and rolled the burden of
the priesthood upon the Twelve; and, having given them their washings and
anointings, they would now bear off this work triumphantly, and it would roll
on faster than ever before; and, if the Lord was willing to accept of him, he
was willing to go. (Ezra T. Clark, Improvement Era, 5:202,
written July 24, 1901.)
Orson Hyde #1
Now I look around this
congregation, and contemplate that there are, perhaps, some ten or twelve
thousand persons, and it may be more, I do not know, there is a very large
number; then when I think that numerous as we are here we are but the
representatives--not more than a tithing of those left behind, of the same
stripe, it reminds me of the words of Joseph the Prophet, when he said,
"Brethren, remember that the majority of this people will never go astray;
and as long as you keep with the majority you are sure to enter the celestial
kingdom." (Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 13:367, May
5, 1870)
Orson Hyde #2
Elder O. Hyde said that God
had placed in the church first apostles, not first the Bible. The Word of the
Lord came through the channel of the Priesthood. He inspired His servants to
write the Scriptures. And His purpose is to establish His authority on the
earth, and He has the power to do it. I should not deviate from the truth were
I to say that the living Priesthood is greater than the written word. You are
favored with a visit from the President of the church and his co-laborers,
their purpose being a disposition to bless you. Some would confine us entirely
to the Scriptures; herein the Christian world have made shipwreck of faith;
they have no living oracles, and they live in darkness. We sometimes may form
our opinions regarding the doctrines contained in the Scriptures, but
uninspired men would do better to impeach their own understandings than the
written word. What is written is written and cannot well be altered, but
apostles and prophets carry with them the spirit which has dictated the Scriptures.
When God has a people on the earth He gives them living powers which are
greater than the written word. These powers do not render the written word
obsolete, but we want the living word, to give the mind and will of God
constantly to His people. The true church of Christ, with its apostles and
prophets and living priesthood is the “pillar and ground of the truth.” Joseph
Smith said, some know that this work is of God, and some may not know, but if
they believe the testimony of those who do know and follow on they will go into
the Celestial kingdom. He also said, always follow the majority of the church,
for they will never go wrong. It is not by reason and philosophy, which are
after the world, that will regulate His church, but God will regulate it by the
power of the Holy Ghost through His representative on the earth. If any people
on the earth have reason to be faithful to God in all things it is the people
of the Latter-day Saints, who have in their midst His living oracles. (Deseret
News Weekly 16:106)
William G. Nelson
I have heard the Prophet
speak in public on many occasions. In one meeting I heard him say:
"I will give you a key
that will never rust,—if you will stay with the majority of the Twelve
Apostles, and the records of the Church, you will never be led astray."
The history of the Church has proven this to be true. (Young Woman's Journal 17,
no. 12 (December 1906): 543.
Although some have argued
the point, the majority of the Saints are and always have been in the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and there never has been any question or
argument about where the records and history of the Church are located. The
Lord himself said:
"For thus shall my
church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints"
(D&C 115:4, first
published in August 1838 in the Elder's Journal, p58)
How could he have made it
any plainer?
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Joseph said that the
sealing power is always vested in one man, and that there never was and never
would be but one man on the earth at a time to hold the keys of the sealing
power in the church that all sealings must be performed by the man holding the keys
or by his dictation, and that man is the president of the church.
Hyrum held the
patriarchal office legitimately, so do you. Hyrum was counselor, so are you,
but the sealing power was not in Hyrum legitimately, neither did he act on the
sealing principle only as he was dictated by Joseph. In every case this was
proven for Hyrum did in one case undertake to seal without counsel and Joseph
told him if he did not stop it he would go to hell and all those he sealed with
him. (Brigham
Young, Letter to William Smith, August 10, 1845)
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As for the foreigners Who attach themselves to the Lord,
To minister to Him, And to love the name of the Kird, To be His servants -- All
who keep the sabbath and do not profane it, And who hold fast to My covenant--I
will bring them to My sacred mount And let them rejoice in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices Shall be welcome on My altar; For My House
shall be called A house of prayer for all peoples." Thus declares the Lord
God, Who gathers the dispersed of Israel: "I will gather still more to
those already gathered." (Isa 56:6-8 | 1985 JPS Tanakh)
Thus said the Lord of Hosts: Peoples and the inhabitants
of many cities shall yet come--the inhabitants of one shall go to the other and
say, "Let us go and entreat the favor of the Lord, let us seek the Lord of
Hosts; I will go, too." The many peoples and the multitude of nations
shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of
the Lord. Thus said the Lord of Hosts: In those days, ten men from nations of
every tongue will take hold -- they will take hold of every Jew by a corner of
his cloak and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with
you."(Zech 8:20-23 | 1985 JPS Tanakh)
What these representative oracles suggest is that the
post-exilic prophetic tradition could envisage a future for the temple that was
universal, attended to not just by Israel but by the entire world community.
According to the Gospel writers, Jesus was influenced by this strand in the
prophetic tradition, as his citations of Isa 61 in Luke 4:16-21 and Isa 56:7 in
his attack upon temple customs demonstrate. Key moments in Paul’s letter to the
Romans give further purchase to the influence these prophets had upon his
vision of a mission to the nations. At a climactic moment, Paul cites LXX Isa
65:1-2: “Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, ‘I
have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who
did not ask for me.’ But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my
hands to a disobedient and contrary people” (Rom 10:20-21). (John
R. Levison, In Search of the Spirit, 2 vols. [Eugene, Oreg.: Cascade
Books, 2023], 1:267)
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Tosefta Sotah 13:2-4 reads as follows:
13:2 A.
When the first Temple was destroyed, the kingship was removed from the House of
David.
B. The Urim and Thummim ceased [M. Sot. 9:12A].
C. The cities of refuge came to an end,
D. as it is said, The
governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food until
there should be a priest to consult the Urim and Thummim (Ezra 2:63).
E. This is like a man who says to his friend, “Until the
dead will live,” or, “Until Elijah will come.”
13:3 A.
When the latter prophets died, that is, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, then
the Holy Spirit came to an end in Israel.
B. But even so, they made them hear [Heavenly messages]
through an echo.
C. M‘ŚH S̆: Sages gathered together in the upper room of
the house of Guria in Jericho, and a heavenly echo came forth and said to them,
“There is a man among you who is worthy to receive the Holy Spirit, but his
generation is unworthy of such an honor.”
They all set their eyes upon Hillel the elder.
D. And when he died, they said about him, “Woe for the
humble man, woe for the pious man, the disciple of Ezra.”
13:4 A.
Then another time they were in session in Yabneh and heard an echo saying,
“There is among you a man who is worthy to receive the Holy Spirit, but the
generation is unworthy of such an honor.”
B. They all set their eyes upon Samuel the Small.
C. At the time of his death what did they say? “Woe for
the humble man, woe for the pious man, the disciple of Hillel the Elder!”
D. Also he says at the time of his death, “Simeon and
Ishmael are destined to be put to death, and the rest of the associates will
die by the sword, and the remainder of the people will be up for spoils.
“After this, great disasters will fall.”
This he said in Aramaic.
E. Also concerning R. Judah b. Baba they ordained that
they should say about him, “Woe for the humble man, woe for the pious man,
disciple of Samuel the Small.” But the times did not allow it. (The Tosefta:
Translated from the Hebrew with a New Introduction, 2 vols. [trans. Jacob
Neusner; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002], 1:885-86)
John R. Levison offered the
following commentary on this text:
More serious is the misinterpretation of this text, which
is incorrectly interpreted to mean that, with the end of the succession of the
canonical prophets, the holy spirit was replaced by a voice, the bat qôl
(בַּת קוֹל). The bat qôl (lit. “daughter of the voice”) informs the sages who are gathered together
that Hillel is worthy of the spirit but cannot receive it because of the evil
generation to which he belongs. This interpretation violates the literary
context of t. Soṭah 13:2-4, which illustrates a straightforward principle: “When
a righteous person comes into the world, good comes into the world . . . and
retribution departs from the world” (10:1). Tosefta Soṭah 13:2-4, understood according
to this principle, indicates that the holy spirit is present because one
person, Hillel, is worthy of it. This affirms the spirit’s presence—not its
absence. (John R. Levison, In Search of the Spirit, 2 vols.
[Eugene, Oreg.: Cascade Books, 2023], 1:59)
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The following is the text of the dedicatory prayer of Ireland, October 23, 1985, offered by Elder Neal A. Maxwell in Loughbrickland, County Down. Loughbrickland was the site of the first Latter-day Saint baptism in Ireland.
Almighty God, Father of us all, Thou whose Power calls
worlds into existence and by whose word worlds pass away, receive this petition
from a handful of Thy children on this Emerald Isle on one of Thy planets. We
assemble Father, in near obscurity, but in deep humility, to acknowledge the
labors, during decades past, to bring the fulness of the gospel message to the
people of Ireland and to establish further Thy Kingdom here, including the
first baptism on this island in this very place by one who became a latter-day
prophet, John Taylor.
We acknowledge, Father, that we are mere mortals, and so
we see nations and we see borders, however, Thou seest but one flock-- all of
Thy children. We know Father, where we see races Thou seest one people and all
are Thine people. For all mortals are truly Thy spirit children, and for that
act of Fatherhood we praise Thy name and Thy plan.
In that spirit of gratitude, Father, we plead with Thee
to look with fresh favour upon all of Ireland to the end that this Emerald Isle
will know further greening through the fulness of the restored gospel.
Where there has been strife, may there be peace, and if
not full peace enough peace for Thy cause to move forward as never before. May
Thy soothing Spirit, Father, encourage reconciliation through the restoration,
and may Thy saints be kept from harm's way in the midst of all these things.
Bless them, Father, go with them and be with them in order that they may know
when to go to the right or to the left so as to be kept from harm's way.
Hasten the day, Father, the Millennial day, when spears
do become pruning hooks and swords plowshares. Meanwhile, may unnecessary
differences be dissolved, leaving only - as Thou hast said - Either the wide
gate and the wide way or the narrow gate and the needle's eye.
O Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye hear our
prayer this day for Thy purposes to be hastened here on this entire land.
May it be here, as during the mortal ministry of Thy Son,
that the common people hear Him and His message gladly. May it occur here also,
Father, that Thine elect women and men will be searched out from among the
people of Ireland; Thine elect women and men to take their place in the Kingdom
Thou hast established. We do know Father, that some in Ireland today, were, as
the Prophet Alma has said, called and prepared from before the foundation of
this world.
Father, hasten that day when every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, for then, Father, we know it
will not be possible to stand up. Meanwhile, Father, may the teaching and the
spreading of the gospel of Thy Son everywhere cause more and more people to
confess Him now, and gladly. and to worship Him now. and fully.
May Church members and missionaries alike in Ireland be
blessed to bring such a hastening to pass--a quiet hastening such as has never
been before on this island.
Father, in recognition of any past prayers of dedication
which may have included this island, in the power and authority of the Holy
Apostleship, I now humbly so dedicate this land to the spreading of the gospel
of thy Son and to the more complete establishment of His Church here to the end
that the elect will heed the call and call home to Thy Kingdom.
Father, may we now see Thy Spirit work upon peoples and
governments. May there be changes in attitude and sufficient tolerance. May
this glorious gospel move forward as never before. Bless Thy members and Thy
Saints here with deepened discipleship, deepened determination and the precious
guidance of the Holy Spirit.
May this day and this place mark the dawning of a new era
for Thy work on this island and hasten the perfect day. May Thy saints be
illuminated by Thy Spirit and may radiance flow from their countenances. May
their sons and daughters be married in holy temples and go on missions. May
added love be in their homes and in their hearts.
Bless Thy First Presidency and the leaders and members of
the Church everywhere, this day and always. May the fiery darts of the
adversary be quenched by the shield of faith held aloft by the leaders and
members of the Church in Ireland.
May our lives, Father, henceforth be more righteous, our
homes more happy, and the progress of Thy work more rapid, we pray gratefully,
humbly, and expectantly, Holy Father, in the sacred name of Thy Beloved Son,
Jesus Christ, Amen. (sources)
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As for the absence of the article, although it is
possible that the words are an indefinite unit that is subsequently defined by
a substantival participle, [71] ( it is more likely that the article that
goes with the participle makes µονογενὴς θεός definite also: [72]
Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε· µονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον
τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο.
No one has ever seen God: the only(born) god, who is in
the bosom of the Father, that one has made [him] known.
Whether or not µονογενὴς θεός is definite, when
taken as a noun phrase it means that the one who has made the invisible God
known is not just the Son who is also divine, but the god who is God’s
only Son, or (to pick up the alternative interpretation of µονογενής)
“the unique god” who has the peerless distinction of being uniquely close to
God. This amounts to two gods. As one scholar notes: [73]
Since µονογενής means ‘only Son’, if it
modifies θεός the resultant phrase is properly translated as ‘(the)
only-Son God’. But this so sharply distinguishes the God who is the Son from
the God who is not (i.e. the Father) as to posit the existence of two separate
Deities.
Thus, interpreting 1:18 as “the only Son, who is himself
God” (or “the unique one, who is God”) does not appear to be based on
linguistic considerations. It is more likely the result of the presupposition
that to the monotheistic author of the Gospel there can be no more than one
deity. [74] As a consequence of what this linguistic study has shown, that view
is open to debate. (Alexander Smarius, “Another God
in the Gospel of John? A Linguistic Analysis of John 1:1 and 1:18,” Horizons
in Biblical Theology 44 [2022]: 160-61)
Notes for the Above:
[71] Cf. κολυµβήθρα ἡ ἐπιλεγοµένη Ἑβραϊστὶ Βηθζαθά,
(5:2); Πολλοὶ … ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων οἱ ἐλ- θόντες πρὸς τὴν Μαριάµ (11:45). Other NT
examples are: παιδίοις τοῖς ἐν ἀγορᾷ καθηµένοις (Luke 7:32); σκηνὴ ἡ λεγοµένη Ἅγια
Ἁγίων (Heb 9:3).
[72] Other NT examples are: γυναῖκες αἱ συνακολουθοῦσαι αὐτῷ
(Luke 23:49); θεοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν (Gal 1:1); θεῷ τῷ
δοκιµάζοντι τὰς καρδίας ἡµῶν (1 Thess 2:4). It is also worthy of note that all
other instances of resumptive ἐκεῖνος in John refer back to an articular
subject, cf. 1:33; 5:11, 37; 9:37; 10:1; 12:48; 14:21, 26. Cf. Wallace, Greek
Grammar, 307, 330.
[73] Fennema, “John 1.18,” 128.
[74] Cf. Porter, Linguistic Analysis, 87: “it has
been very difficult for biblical scholars to rid themselves of some deeply
rooted preconceptions, since theological presuppositions are strong
motivators.”
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Testing Christ
The transgression of verse 9, putting Christ to the test,
continues the portrait of ancestral unfaithfulness, but with startling
language. The manuscript evidence is divided on whether or not
"Christ" is the one who is put to the test. The earliest witness
(p46) and a number of others read "Christ." Other witnesses, often
deemed reliable, vary on this issue. Codex Alexandrinus includes θεον, and Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus κυριον. These later variations echo Israel's
scriptures and are probably harmonizing. Putting the Lord to the test recalls
the destruction of some by serpents in Numbers 21. The people complain against
the Lord's provision in the wilderness, and God sends poisonous snakes to
plague them (Num 21:6-7; 1 Cor 10:9). Realizing that the snakes were sent by
God, the people tell Moses that they are being punished for speaking against
the Lord (Num 21:6-7). Furthermore, the retellings of exodus traditions in
Psalms 78 and 106 both equate the actions of the Israelites as putting God to
the test (Ps 78:18, 41, 56; 106:14; cf. 78:8, 37). Based on Paul's allusions to
Israel's exodus traditions, there is rationale for conforming Paul's language
to these exodus traditions and deliberately recalling the people's testing of
the Lord. As Metzger argues, "The difficulty of explaining how the ancient
Israelites in the wilderness could have tempted Christ prompted some copyists
to substitute either the ambiguous κυριον or the
unobjectionable θεον."
According to Metzger, since Paul inserts Christ into the story in 10:4, it
seems more reasonable that Paul is deliberately inserting Christ into the story
in verse 9.
Putting Christ to the test reads the plight of the
ancestors through the lens of the Corinthians’ situation, as Paul has been
doing throughout 10:1–13. The Corinthians are the ones in danger of putting
Christ to the test through their actions of eating and drinking in an idol’s
temple. Paul relates the dilemma of eating meat offered to idols to a matter of
testing Christ when he reminds the Corinthians in 8:4–6 that there is only one
God: “but for us one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we
exist and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we exist
through him” (8:6). Their status in Christ has implications for their life
together as the church. In 8:10–13, Paul warns them that causing someone with a
weak conscience to be led astray is tantamount to sinning against Christ. Their
flirtation with idolatry threatens to test Christ and places them in the
perilous position of all the Israelites who rejected the Lord either through
blatant idolatry or through speaking against God and thereby testing the Lord
(Num 21:4–5; Ps 78:18, 41, 56; 106:14). As Paul asks them in 10:22: “Shall we
provoke the Lord to jealousy?” (Carla Swafford Works, The Church in the
Wilderness: Paul's Use of the Exodus Traditions in 1 Corinthians
[Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament · 2. Reihe 379; Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 2014], 75-76)
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