Feast upon the Word - User contributions [en]

D&C 3:1-5

2010-02-15T04:13:44Z

128.95.223.128:

D&C 3:1-5

2010-02-15T04:12:30Z

128.95.223.128:

[[Doctrine & Covenants]] > [[Doctrine & Covenants 3|Section 3]]
{|
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== Questions ==
===Verse 2===
What does it mean that the God's "course is one eternal round?"

== Lexical notes ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes''

== Exegesis ==
''Click the edit link above and to the right to add exegesis''

== Related links ==
===Verse 2===
* ''One eternal round'' Neal A. Maxwell thought this meant that God did the same work over and over: 'Repeatedly God has described His course as reiterative, "one eternal round."' ''Not My Will, But Thine'', p. 53. ISBN 088494672X

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D&C 1:17-33

2010-02-15T04:10:55Z

128.95.223.128:

D&C 1:17-33

2010-02-15T04:10:18Z

128.95.223.128:

[[Doctrine & Covenants]] > [[Doctrine & Covenants 1|Section 1]]
{|
| [[D&C 1:21-25|Previous (D&C 1:21-25)]] ||             || [[D&C 1:31-35|Next (D&C 1:31-35)]]
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== Questions ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add questions''

== Lexical notes ==

== Exegesis ==
''Click the edit link above and to the right to add exegesis''

== Related links ==
===Verse 30===
* ''Only true and living church.'' See Edje's blog post: [http://sciolisticnarc.blogspot.com/2006/04/only-adj-in-modern-scripture-part-1-of.html Only (adj) in Modern Scripture, Part 1 of ?.]

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D&C 1:11-16

2010-02-15T04:09:03Z

128.95.223.128:

[[Doctrine & Covenants]] > [[Doctrine & Covenants 1|Section 1]]
{|
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== Questions ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add questions''

== Lexical notes ==

== Exegesis ==
===Verse 18===
This verse introduces a most curious moment of divine logic, a moment in which the Lord Himself provides reasons for doing His work. Though other moments in scripture present the Lord offering reasons for a particular action, this might be the only occasion in all of scripture where the Lord simply lays out all the reasons He has for getting a plan of salvation under way, for sending messengers to bring further light and knowledge. The list of reasons is surprisingly long (several verses, at any rate), and all of these reasons present vital points of understanding. Each might be considered in turn.

The first of the Lord's reasons for putting together in the first place a plan of salvation is offered in this first verse, but the anticipatory sense that characterizes the first reason complicates it from the beginning. The first reason, quite clearly, is that "all this" is done so "that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets." The point seems quite clear: the prophets are to be fulfilled, and all of this is to that fulfillment. The Lord gets the work of salvation underway precisely so that the prophets are not ashamed, so that their word is confirmed by historical completion. But then there seems to be some difficulty here, because the next verse goes on as if it were quoted quite specifically the word of the prophets. It must be pointed out--even if a little early here--that verse 19 does not quote any known prophecy. It is closest, perhaps, to [[1 Cor 1:27]], but there is still something of an important gap between the phrasing of verse 19 and that saying by Paul. All in all, though the prophets are here cited, there does not seem to be any particular saying the Lord has in mind: one is to read verse 19 (and the verses that follow it) as a sort of summary of the prophetic message over all. A first--and a major--consequence: the great majority of the weight of the "reasons" the Lord offers to justify His saving activity in the last days is to be felt in this first mention of things, since the following verses are collectively a sort of explanation of the ancient prophet message. Hence, detailed attention must first be paid to this initiating verse 18.

The difficulty, however, of working out the meaning of verse 18 from the start is that the following verses, precisely because they summarize the prophetic work of so many millennia, seem to be the undergirding of why the Lord would desire to confirm the prophets at all. For present purposes, the work must begin, unfortunately, somewhat blindly.

The question to be asked, then, is this: is the whole plan of salvation, as issued through the Prophet Joseph and according to this "last dispensation," entirely motivated by a desire to confirm the ancient prophets? Or perhaps the question to ask is this: if the Lord feels to undertake a justification of sorts, is He here justifying Himself or the prophets? In the end, however the question is asked, the thrust of the difficulty here is bound up with the intertwined roles of the prophet and his God. One must interpret the relation between God and His messengers from the very beginning. The question is perhaps all the more important in the first part of the twenty-first century, because of the radical reinterpretation of the prophetic role that is underway in biblical criticism. If the prophet has been decided now to be a rather political figure, one attuned to contemporary events and one, hence, without the extra-temporal visions that allow his/her words to transcend her/his age, why on earth or in heaven would the Lord feel to justify words one might quite simply bury in the historical melieux of the past? A necessary answer emerges precisely here: the prophets are being misunderstood if they are completely swallowed up in their own history.

What verse 18, especially as it opens the following few verses, accomplishes is this: God is stripped, as it were, of His absoluteness. One must be careful in stating the point, but it seems quite clear. God is, according to the relativization at work in verse 18, not one to offer absolute reasons for things. The opening of a last dispensation is not simply to bring about "new things," unknown before, but also to hark back to the "former things," to bring the former things out in the new things, just as "Second Isaiah" works out and reinterprets "First Isaiah." In short, if Joseph is a prophet, he ''cannot''--absolutely ''must not''--be separated from the former prophets: the message is the same, and the sender of the messengers is the same. If only a few verses after this, the Lord will quite explicitly introduce the necessity of recognizing the historical context into which the modern prophetic activity falls, He quite explicitly introduces here the necessity of recognizing also that these same prophets transcend their historical context because they are fulfilling ancient prophecies. And with that, the Lord can turn to specifications in the next few verses.

===A chiasm===
As soon as one turns to the passage in which the Lord lays out His very broad interpretation of what has been prophesied all along, one notices that there is a specific structure at work in these verses:
And also gave ''commandments'' to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world;
and all this ''that'' it ''might'' be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets--
The ''weak'' things of the world shall come forth and break down the ''mighty and strong'' ones...
But that every man might ''speak in the name of God the Lord'', even the Savior of the world;
That faith also might increase in the earth;
That mine everlasting ''covenant'' might be established;
That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the ''weak'' and the ''simple''... before ''kings and rulers''.
Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these ''commandments'' are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness,
after the manner of their language, ''that'' they ''might'' come to understanding.
The chiastic structure highlights the fact that this is the Lord's voice in this revelation, but it also accomplishes a couple of interesting poetic things: verse 21 is set at the center of things, and the whole passage is wrapped about with the Lord's clear statement of purpose. Moreover, the everlasting covenant is set parallel to every man's speaking in the name of God the Lord, which is certainly suggestive. Also, the doubling of the word "commandments" seems to highlight the nature of what the Doctrine and Covenants (perhaps more strictly, the ''Book of Commandments'') is all about. At any rate, the structure opens the possibility of considering the passage as a whole.

===Verse 19===

== Related links ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links''

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D&C 1:1-10

2010-02-15T04:07:50Z

128.95.223.128:

[[Doctrine & Covenants]] > [[Doctrine & Covenants 1|Section 1]]
{|
|             ||             || [[D&C 1:6-10|Next (D&C 1:6-10)]]
|}
== Questions ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add questions''

== Lexical notes ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes''

== Exegesis ==

== Related links ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links''

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D&C 84:1-30

2010-02-15T04:04:19Z

128.95.223.128:

D&C 84:1-30

2010-02-15T04:03:24Z

128.95.223.128:

[[Doctrine & Covenants]] > [[Doctrine & Covenants 84|Section 84]]
{|
| [[D&C 84:11-15|Previous (D&C 84:11-15)]] ||             || [[D&C 84:21-25|Next (D&C 84:21-25)]]
|}
== Questions ==
===Verse 16===
* How was the priesthood passed from Abel to Enoch? Does this imply that Abel had and ordained his posterity before he was killed? Why is Abel listed here, rather than Seth?

===Verse 17===
* What does it mean that the priesthood is "without beginning of days or end of years?"

===Verse 19===
* What does it mean that the Melchizedek priesthood holds the key of the mysteries of the kingdom?

== Lexical notes ==

== Exegesis ==
===The Introduction of ''Two'' Priesthoods===
Beginning with verse 17 and running through about verse 30 is the passage in which the two-tiered structure of the priesthood is introduced to the Latter-day Saints. A number of interesting details here deserve attention. It should be noted that the two prieshtoods are never described as the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthoods: those "titles" would not be introduced into the Church as a whole until 1834-1835. The several offices of the Church are tied to the separate priesthoods for the first time as well (the Church seems to have understood all offices to belong to a kind of general priesthood until the revelation of the office of high priest in 1831; even after that and until this generation, the office of elder, for example, was understood to be an office of the lesser priesthood). The relationship between the two priesthoods, in this first introduction, is very clearly rooted in the Old Testament temple experience: the keys and powers of the priests and high priests are understood as connected with the duties and responsibilities of priests and high priests as outlined in the Pentateuch. The two priesthoods are introduced as at once permanently interconnected and yet founded by a particular ancient event. The two priesthoods are presented in skeleton form (priests and high priests) to which other "appendages" are attached. And all of this is rooted in an at once rather traditional and marvelously radical understanding of the Moses-to-John-the-Baptist story.

What all of these interesting details suggest, when brought together, is that the introduction of the ''two'' priesthoods as such is profoundly rooted in the Bible, in a kind of return to the Biblical way of being, though it offers up an undeniably unique hermeneutic on that scripture as a whole. In other words, this passage can be taken as a kind of reinterpretation of the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, one that is uniquely Mormon. The story it presents, of course, is quite familiar: it breaks ancient history up into three parts, namely, the pre-Mosaic era of the Melchizedek priesthood, the Mosaic era of the Aaronic priesthood, and the Christian era of restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood. And yet, the picture as it is presented is not quite so simple as this: though this picture is a good place to start, there is inevitably a great deal more happening here. For example, and just by way of introduction, it is important to note that the high priesthood—understood here as tied to the office of high priest—is not done away with or completely removed with the historical institution of the Aaronic priesthood; rather, it is ''limited'' in that high priests are far fewer in number and the office is no longer open to just anyone (though one should well ask whether it was so open before Moses either). The story, in a word, is obviously more complex than it might first appear.

== Related links ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links''

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{|
| [[D&C 84:11-15|Previous (D&C 84:11-15)]] ||             || [[D&C 84:21-25|Next (D&C 84:21-25)]]
|}

D&C 84:1-30

2010-02-15T04:02:40Z

128.95.223.128:

[[Doctrine & Covenants]] > [[Doctrine & Covenants 84|Section 84]]
{|
| [[D&C 84:11-15|Previous (D&C 84:11-15)]] ||             || [[D&C 84:21-25|Next (D&C 84:21-25)]]
|}
== Questions ==
===Verse 16===
* How was the priesthood passed from Abel to Enoch? Does this imply that Abel had and ordained his posterity before he was killed? Why is Abel listed here, rather than Seth?

===Verse 17===
* What does it mean that the priesthood is "without beginning of days or end of years?"

===Verse 19===
* What does it mean that the Melchizedek priesthood holds the key of the mysteries of the kingdom?

===Verse 20===
* Why does the verse begin with the word "therefore"?
* What does it mean that the power of godliness is present in the ordinances?
* What does "the power of godliness" mean?

== Lexical notes ==

== Exegesis ==
===The Introduction of ''Two'' Priesthoods===
Beginning with verse 17 and running through about verse 30 is the passage in which the two-tiered structure of the priesthood is introduced to the Latter-day Saints. A number of interesting details here deserve attention. It should be noted that the two prieshtoods are never described as the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthoods: those "titles" would not be introduced into the Church as a whole until 1834-1835. The several offices of the Church are tied to the separate priesthoods for the first time as well (the Church seems to have understood all offices to belong to a kind of general priesthood until the revelation of the office of high priest in 1831; even after that and until this generation, the office of elder, for example, was understood to be an office of the lesser priesthood). The relationship between the two priesthoods, in this first introduction, is very clearly rooted in the Old Testament temple experience: the keys and powers of the priests and high priests are understood as connected with the duties and responsibilities of priests and high priests as outlined in the Pentateuch. The two priesthoods are introduced as at once permanently interconnected and yet founded by a particular ancient event. The two priesthoods are presented in skeleton form (priests and high priests) to which other "appendages" are attached. And all of this is rooted in an at once rather traditional and marvelously radical understanding of the Moses-to-John-the-Baptist story.

What all of these interesting details suggest, when brought together, is that the introduction of the ''two'' priesthoods as such is profoundly rooted in the Bible, in a kind of return to the Biblical way of being, though it offers up an undeniably unique hermeneutic on that scripture as a whole. In other words, this passage can be taken as a kind of reinterpretation of the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, one that is uniquely Mormon. The story it presents, of course, is quite familiar: it breaks ancient history up into three parts, namely, the pre-Mosaic era of the Melchizedek priesthood, the Mosaic era of the Aaronic priesthood, and the Christian era of restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood. And yet, the picture as it is presented is not quite so simple as this: though this picture is a good place to start, there is inevitably a great deal more happening here. For example, and just by way of introduction, it is important to note that the high priesthood—understood here as tied to the office of high priest—is not done away with or completely removed with the historical institution of the Aaronic priesthood; rather, it is ''limited'' in that high priests are far fewer in number and the office is no longer open to just anyone (though one should well ask whether it was so open before Moses either). The story, in a word, is obviously more complex than it might first appear.

== Related links ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links''

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{|
| [[D&C 84:11-15|Previous (D&C 84:11-15)]] ||             || [[D&C 84:21-25|Next (D&C 84:21-25)]]
|}

D&C 84:1-5

2010-02-15T04:01:28Z

128.95.223.128:

[[Doctrine & Covenants]] > [[Doctrine & Covenants 84|Section 84]]
{|
| [[D&C 83:1-6|Previous (D&C 83:1-6)]] ||             || [[D&C 84:6-10|Next (D&C 84:6-10)]]
|}
== Questions ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add questions''

== Exegesis ==

== Related links ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links''

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{|
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D&C 84:1-5

2010-02-15T04:00:47Z

128.95.223.128:

[[Doctrine & Covenants]] > [[Doctrine & Covenants 84|Section 84]]
{|
| [[D&C 83:1-6|Previous (D&C 83:1-6)]] ||             || [[D&C 84:6-10|Next (D&C 84:6-10)]]
|}
== Questions ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add questions''

== Exegesis ==
===The structure of the revelation===
More so than most of the revelations in the D&C, this section is a pieced-together series of tangents or excurses that, in the end, can only be confessed to be woven together so beautifully that they form a single, even flawless story. The danger, however, of introducing such a broad reading of the complex structure of this revelation is that one immediately sets oneself to the task of deciding where one excursus begins and where another ends, to what one tangent attaches and what it implies as it closes, etc. In other words, reading this revelation as a series of patched-together pieces seems inevitably to point to text-critical studies rather than a hermeneutical approach. However, interpretation, in this case, probably cannot be done without some responsible textual criticism. Brought together, these two approaches open up one of the richest texts in the Doctrine and Covenants.

A preliminary reading of the structure of this revelation, then:

'''No. Verses Textual Status Theme'''
1 1-5 Main argument Location of Zion
2 6a Tangent to (1) Sons of Moses
3 6b-16 Tangent to (2) Priesthood lineage
4 17-28 Tangent to (3) Aaronic vs. Melchizedek Priesthoods
5 29-30 Tangent to (4) Appendage offices
6 31-32 Return to (2) Sacrifice in Zion
7 33-38 Tangent to (2)/(6) Becoming sons of Moses/Aaron
8 39-42 Tangent to (7) The oath and covenant
9 43 Return to (1) Commandment to heed the Word
10 44-48 Tangent to (9) The Word of the Lord
11 49-53 Tangent to (10) The status of the world
12 54-56 Another tangent to (10) The status of the saints
13 57 Return to (10) Repentance of the saints
14 58-61 Return to (1)/(9) A new commandment
15 62-95 Tangent to (14) Expounding the new commandment
16 96-102 Tangent to (15) Results of missionary effort
17 103-108 Return to (14) Details and specifics
18 109-110 Tangent to (17) Unity of the body
19 111-116 Return to (17) Details and specifics again
20 117-120 Return to (14) Final commission

Following this all-too-briefly considered parsing of this section, the main argument of the section is confined to verses 1-5, 43, 58-61, 103-108, and 111-120. The main argument, extracted from the remainder of the text, is quite simple: Zion has been located, and so the saints must be open to new revelation; and the new revelation that is issued immediately is a commandment to send forth missionaries to gather the people to Zion. Everything in this revelation should be read according to this underlying theme.

== Related links ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links''

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{|
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D&C 131:1-8

2010-02-15T03:59:44Z

128.95.223.128:

[[Doctrine & Covenants]] > [[Doctrine & Covenants 131|Section 131]]
{|
| [[D&C 130:21-23|Previous (D&C 130:21-23)]] ||             || [[D&C 131:6-8|Next (D&C 131:6-8)]]
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== Questions ==

== Lexical notes ==
* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes''

== Exegesis ==
===Verse 4===
Verse 3 tells us that one who does not enter into "this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]" cannot obtain the highest heaven or degree of the celestial glory. Here in this verse we read that such a person "may enter into the other" two heavens or degrees, "but that is the end of his kingdom, he cannot have an increase." This last statement may seem to support the view that once assigned to a degree one cannot move to another. In fact, this verse works well under both views; it doesn't support one view or the other.

If one believes that one cannot move to a higher degree once assigned to a lower degree, then to say that a person "may enter into the other" is to give them a fixed position. Under this reading for a person assigned to a lower kingdom, the phrase "he cannot have an increase" supports their already held view that such an assignment is permanently fixed.

On the other hand, if one believes that one may be able to move to a higher degree once assigned to a lower degree, then the phrase "he cannot have an increase" is read within the context of a person who does not enter into this order of the priesthood. Or in other words, verse 4 mainly becomes a restatement of verse 3, which itself is a restatement of verse 2. In that case all three verses say thee same thing: someone who doesn't enter into the order of the priesthood cannot obtain the highest degree in the celestial glory. In that case, these verses don't comment on whether or when there will be an opportunity later to enter into this covenant and progress to the highest degree.

===Verse 5===

The phrase "through the power of the Holy Priesthood" has reference to certain priesthood ordinances performed in the temple as promised to those who are true and faithful to the covenants entered into in the endowment.

== Related links ==

===Verses 1-2===
* [http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/03/is-the-celestial-kingdom-divided-into-three-subdegrees/#comments Is the Celestial Kingdom Divided into Three Subdegrees?] This post by Kevin Barney at the ''BCC'' blog considers the history of this verse and different possible interpretations.
===Verses 1-4===
* These verses are often cited in General conference addresses. These verses are often cited within the context of teaching that a men and women cannot be exalted alone--each needs the other. As Elder Nelson put it in a [http://www.lds.org/portal/site/LDSOrg/menuitem.b12f9d18fae655bb69095bd3e44916a0/?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=6f092150a447b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1 November 1989 address] "Men and women receive the highest ordinance in the house of the Lord together and equally, or not at all." To see other citations look at the[http://scriptures.byu.edu/ LDS General Conference Scriptural Index].

===Verse 4===
* [http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2007/06/on-the-necessity-of-marriage/395/ On the necessity of marriage (a theological conundrum)]. This post by Geoff J. at the ''New Cool Thang'' blog discusses various ways we might think about Jesus as Jehovah as being exalted in light of this passage.

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