Friday, October 23, 2020

Useful Background Information to D&C 129 from the Joseph Smith Papers

 In the recent volume of the Joseph Smith Papers, we have this useful background to D&C 129:

 

JS’s remarks in February 1843 centered on an explanation of the ways to distinguish between various types of heavenly messengers and the devil. Among eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Protestants , there were several competing ideas about the identification of angels, most of them based on a passage in the epistle to the Hebrews that mentions “an innumerable company of angels” and the “spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23-23). Some religionists held that these verses refer to “those translated to heaven in their bodies, and those raised from the dead after Christ’s resurrection” (Alexander Campbell, “Materialism—No. 2,” Millennial Harbinger, Oct. 1836, 456).  Others believed they refer to more generally to “all in every age and nation who have feared God and wrought righteousness” (MacKnight, New Literal Translation, 572). Theologians also debated the substance and materiality of angels. Eighteenth-century Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg suggested that angels were corporeal beings who had lived on the earth and could converse with men face-to-face. While those who believed angels were translated or risen beings seemingly believed that all angels were corporeal beings, some concluded that “angles have no corporeal forms” (Stuart, Letters on the Trinity, 111).  Theologian Charles Buck explained  that “as to the nature of these beings we are told that they are spirits,” with the “more general opinion” being that “they are substances entirely spiritual.” At the same time, Buck allowed that “they can at any time assume bodies and appear in human shape” (“Angel,” in Buck, Theological Dictionary, 19, italics in original).

 

JS suggested a new idea, which classified heavenly messengers as either resurrected corporeal beings or disembodied spirits awaiting resurrection. These distinctions may have appeared in Latter-day Saint theology as early as 1829, when the Book of Mormon suggested a difference between “angels and ministering spirits” (New Testament Revision 2, p. 138 [second numbering] [Joseph Smith Translation, Hebrews 1:7]). In his 27 June 1839 discourse, JS emphasized that “an angel of God (which is an angel of light) is a Saint with his resurrected body” but also noted that it was possible to be visited by deceased believers who were not yet resurrected.  JS used this occasion in February 1843 to refine that explanation by distinguishing between “resurrected personages” and “the spirits of just men made perfect” who were still awaiting resurrection.

 

In addition to teaching periodically about the ways to distinguish between types of angels. JS had demonstrated a long-standing interest in recognizing the differences between true and false spirits. A circa 8 March 1831 revelation urged the Saints to “beware lest ye are deceived” and to do “all things with prayer & thanksgiving that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits or the doctrines of Devils or the commandments of men for some are of men & others of Devils” (Revelation, ca. 8 Mar. 1831-A, in JSP, D1:282 [D&C 46:7-8]). A revelation the following May was even more specific, explaining, “There are many spirits which are false spirits which have gone forth in the Earth deceiving the world & also Satan hath sought to deceive you that he might overthrow you” (Revelation, 9 May, 1831, in JSP, D1:306 [D&C 50:2-3]). In April 1842 JS reiterated this message in a lengthy editorial in the church newspaper, urging the Saints to “try the spirits” (selections from Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1842, in JSP, D9:324-337). The, recounting portions of his own personal history to the Saints in a September 1842 letter, JS alluded to an early experience “on the banks of the Susquehanna” when the devil had appeared to him “as an Angel of light” (Letter to the Church, 7 Sept. 1842, pp. 66-67 [D&C 128:20]). (Spencer W. McBride, Jeffrey D. Mahas, Brett D. Dowdle, and Tyson Reeder, eds., The Joseph Smith Papers: Documents Volume 11: September 1842-February 1843 [Salt Lake City: The Church Historian's Press, 2020], 402-3)

 

On the related issue of LD angelology, see:


Ancient Texts Supporting D&C 130:5