In general, the committee’s expansions increased the Account of John’s
intertextual relationship with the Bible. In the early text, only one
phrase—“if I will that he tarry until I come what is that to thee”—was clearly
a quotation from the KJV. As noted above, adding “in my glory” after “till I
come” may have been intended to allude to Matthew 25:31, and the emphasis on
the “desires” of Peter and John may have had an implicit parallel with Mark
10:35. The 1835 expansions to the Account of John paralleled language in at
least five other biblical passages—in Psalms, Matthew, John, Hebrews, and
Revelation—which were used to clarify and further develop the meaning of the
text. The added language built upon the early text’s answers to the
interpretive difficulties of John 21, extending and clarifying specific points
regarding the identity of the Beloved Disciple and his fate. The 1835 editors
drew on scriptural language from a variety of texts to reveal a continuity
between the ancient and antebellum worlds. That is, their expansion of the
Account of John with biblical phrasing elaborated it as a manifestation of the
foundational theme that Mormon Christianity was a restoration of lost ancient
truth. The expanded Account of John reiterated to early church members that the
ecclesiastical structure of the restored church was patterned after the
structure of the primitive church.
As noted above, the Account of John differed from John 21 in that the early
text imputed agency to the Beloved Disciple, with Jesus asking the Disciple what
he desired. The 1835 expansion augmented the section by having Jesus state,
“For if ye shall ask, what ye will, it shall be granted unto you.” This language
closely paralleled John 15:7, “If ye shall abide in me, and my words abide in
you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”
(emphasis added). The 1835 expansion further developed the nature of John’s
desire, making explicit a point that was ambiguous in the early text.
Initially, John stated his desire thus, “give unto me power that I may bring
souls unto thee.” The 1835 text clarified that John requested “power over
death, that I may live and bring souls unto thee” (emphasis added).
The D&C committee attempted to harmonize the Account of John with
elements of 3 Nephi 28. With John’s power over death, the expanded text
clarified that the apostle would “prophesy before nations, kindreds, tongues,
and people,” alluding to Revelation 14:6, in which John the Revelator saw an
angel preaching the “everlasting gospel . . . to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people.” As noted above, the description of the Three Nephites
likewise alluded to Revelation 14:6; it was therefore a logical intertextual
expansion in the 1835 Account of John.
This coordination with 3 Nephi 28 was also apparent in another
significant expansion to the 1835 text, in which Jesus made John the “Beloved”
the angel who would take the gospel to all nations: “Therefore I [Jesus] will
make him [John] as a flaming fire and a ministering angel; he shall minister
for those who shall be heirs of salvation who dwell on the earth.” This passage
elaborated the story of John’s post- biblical life as an angel by combining
biblical phraseology from Psalm 104 and Hebrews 1. Psalm 104 is a hymn of
praise acclaiming Yahweh for creating the world and celebrating his glory and
grandeur. Verse 4 depicts God making “angels spirits” and “his ministers a
flaming fire.” Hebrews 1 presents an argument for Jesus having divine status,
holding authority over the angels, with verses 7 and 14 elaborating on Psalm
104:4. The 1835 Account of John synthesized these biblical verses and applied
them to John, simultaneously identifying the change that permitted the Beloved
Disciple to tarry and his proselytizing mission among the “heirs of salvation”
on the earth. Who precisely were the “heirs of salvation” was left unstated,
although 3 Nephi 28 and Smith’s teachings in the early 1830s suggested that the
term may have included remnants of the House of Israel.
It is noteworthy that Smith and his associates did not identify John
as a translated being, like Enoch, in the 1835 expansions. Beings who
were either “translated” or “tarried” were later conflated in Latter- day Saint
thought—both in scholarly and popular literature—rendering John a translated
being.
The Account of John, however, did not use that term, although the
concept may have been implied when the Lord made John a ministering angel,
suggesting a change in bodily state. As surveyed above, Joseph Smith Sr.’s
patriarchal blessings seemed to treat “tarrying” on the earth and “translation”
to heaven as related and yet separate and distinct options for the faithful,
perhaps reflecting broader usage in the early church. This may explain why the
1835 Account of John did not adopt the latter designation.
The D&C committee also harmonized the 1835 Account of John with
the emergence of Smith’s presidency in the early 1830s. The revised text had
Jesus instructing Peter: “I will make thee to minister for him [John] and for
thy brother James: and to you three I will give this power and the keys of this
ministry until I come.” Although the early Account of John confined its
comments on Peter to his desire to “come unto me [Jesus] in my kingdom,” the
revised account indicated that Peter, along with John and his brother James,
would hold “the keys of this ministry” until Christ’s coming.
Taken together, these 1835 revisions to the Account of John reflected
the interests of Smith and his associates in clarifying and expanding the early
text’s initial interactions with John 21. The changes also augmented the
Account of John’s intertextual relationship with the KJV. While the early text
was almost entirely preserved in the 1835 revisions, the expansions sought to
enrich, update, and harmonize the Account of John with Smith’s subsequent
scriptures and teachings. The expanded Account followed 3 Nephi 28 in
transforming the Beloved Disciple into a ministering angel who would preach
unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. In addition, the 1835 text was
coordinated with ecclesiastical developments by indicating that John, along
with Peter and James, held the keys of the ministry and administration of
Christ’s kingdom on earth.
The D&C committee made one final decision as the revised Account
of John was prepared for typesetting. They retained the BoC’s interpretive
heading, thereby framing the expanded Account of John as a translation of a
text written by the apostle John on parchment and hidden up in anticipation of
providential recovery in the Lord’s due time. This heading, a version of which
remained attached to the text in all subsequent editions of the Doctrine and
Covenants, continues to frame how contemporary Latter-day Saints approach the
Account of John. (David W. Grua and William V. Smith, “The Tarrying of the
Beloved Disciple: The Textual Formation of the Account of John,” in Producing
Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of
Mormon Christianity, ed. Michael Hubbard MacKay, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and
Brian M. Hauglid [Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2020], 256-60)
