Difference between revisions of "D&C 18:1-47"

Revision as of 10:49, 22 July 2012

Doctrine & Covenants > Section 18

Subpages: Verses 1-5, Verses 6-10, Verses 11-15, Verses 16-20, Verses 21-25, Verses 26-30, Verses 31-35, Verses 36-40 Verses 41-47

                                                                 Next page: Verses 1-5

Historical setting

• Received: June 1829 at Harmony, Pennsylvania
• Prior section in chronological order: D&C 16
• Next section in chronological order: D&C 17

Oliver Cowdery began serving as Joseph Smith's scribe for the Book of Mormon translation on April 7, 1829. About the end of May, Joseph and Oliver left Harmony because of rising persecution to stay with the Whitmer family at Fayette, arriving probably not earlier than June 3. On June 14 Oliver Cowdery wrote a letter from Fayette to ____ at Manchester-Palmyra in which he quoted portions of D&C 18. The Book of Mormon translation was then completed about the end of June.

Little is known about the circumstances under which D&C 18 was received except that it was received at Fayette during June 3-14 while the Book of Mormon translation was progressing rapidly at the Whitmer home.

Brief outline and summary

D&C 18 is directed at first to Oliver Cowdery, then jointly to Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, and also to the Twelve who will be selected.

D&C 18 can be outlined as follows:

• to Oliver (1-8)

• to Oliver & David: worth of souls is great, so preach (9-25)

• Twelve will be sought out (26-30)

• duties of the Twelve (31-36)

• Three Witnesses will select the Twelve (37-40)

• to Oliver & David: worth of souls is great, so preach (41-45)

Detailed discussion

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Relation to other scriptures

Related sections and chapters

• D&C 18 and D&C 19 can be read as a pair in which D&C 18 to two of the Three Witnesses emphasizes the joy available through mercy, while D&C 19 to the other Witness emphasizes the dread of justice. In addition, D&C 18:10-18 provides the clearest statement of why missionaries preach, and D&C 18:21-22, 41-45 provides the most detailed instruction so far regarding what they are to preach: repentance, baptism and endurance to the end. D&C 19:21-22, 30-31 likewise instructs Martin Harris, the other of the Three Witnesses, to preach only faith, repentance, and baptism by water and the Holy Ghost, to not preach new doctrines, and to not contend.

Parallel passages

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Text transmission and circulation

• The oldest surviving copy of D&C 18 is ______.

• D&C 18:10-14, 21-25 is paraphrased in a letter from Oliver Cowdery to Hyrum Smith dated 14 June 1829, so it is likely that the content of at least those verses is soon known to many of the Saints at Manchester-Palmyra.[1]

• D&C 18 was first published in the 1833 Book of Commandments, the earliest edition of what we now call the Doctrine & Covenants.

• The text of D&C 18 in significant editions of the Doctrine & Covenants can be found at:

• 1833 Book of Commandments, chap. 15, p. 34-39
• 1835 Doctrine & Covenants, sec. 43, p. 172-74
• 1844 Doctrine & Covenants, sec. 43, p. 256-60
• 1876 Doctrine & Covenants, sec. 18, p. 104-08
• 1921 Doctrine & Covenants, sec. 18, p. 24-27
• current 1981 Doctrine & Covenants, sec. 18, p. 28-31

• Changes to the text of D&C 18:

Complete outline and pagemap

Items in blue or purple text indicate hyperlinked pages that address specific portions of this section.

Questions for further thought and study

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Footnotes

[1] Letter from Oliver Cowdery to Hyrum Smith (14 Jun 1829). Reprinted in Cook, Lyndon W. The Revelations of Joseph Smith, 29. Provo, Utah: Seventy's Mission Bookstore, 1981.

Additional sources and links

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                                                                 Next page: Verses 1-5