Week 21

1 November 2010

Power and Authority: The Priesthood of God
Joseph Smith’s teachings concerning priesthood constitute a
distinctive part of Latter-day Saint religion. The term priesthood, as
used by Latter-day Saints, has at least two specific meanings.
Priesthood is both authority from God to act in his name and actual
power to accomplish God’s purposes. Joseph Smith proclaimed that he
received such authority and power directly from heavenly messengers
and that religious ordinances performed without divine authority have
no binding effect outside this life. Baptism, for example, is valid
only when someone possessing divine authority performs it.

Joseph Smith taught that priesthood authority and power had to be
restored to the earth because it had been lost through apostasy. 2
Historical evidences of this apostasy include denials of spiritual
gifts, uncertainty about doctrines and the roles of Church officers,
changes in covenants and ordinances, and overindulgence in pomp and
splendor. These external manifestations reflected the internal loss of
divine authority.

As early as 1823, Moroni promised Joseph Smith that the priesthood
would be revealed to him by the hand of Elijah. (See D&C 2:1.)
Priesthood restoration began on 15 May 1829 when John the Baptist—by
then a resurrected being of glory—appeared to the young prophet and
Oliver Cowdery to confer the Aaronic Priesthood upon them. (See D&C
13; JS—H 1:68–72.) Shortly thereafter, the Apostles Peter, James, and
John came and conferred upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood. 3 (See
D&C 27:12–13.)

In 1836 Joseph Smith received, in the Kirtland Temple, additional
fundamental priesthood keys. These priesthood powers included the keys
of the gathering of Israel, the keys of the gospel of Abraham, and the
keys of the sealing power, each set of powers restored personally by
Moses, Elias, and Elijah. (See D&C 110.) At other times, additional
keys and powers of the priesthood were also restored. (See D&C
128:21.) These included the keys of the kingdom pertaining to the
dispensation of the fulness of times, keys that have subsequently
passed to Joseph Smith’s successors, including President Ezra Taft
Benson today. (See D&C 90:1–5.)

As this process of priesthood restoration unfolded, Joseph Smith’s
understanding of the nature of priesthood power and authority
increased. Sometime in April or May 1829, he translated the passage in
Alma 13 about the high priesthood after the holy order of the Son of
God. He also learned that the priesthood is eternal, a concept that he
more fully expressed in 1839 when he said, “The Priesthood is an
everlasting principle & Existed with God from Eternity.” 4 Soon
afterward, he received the lesser priesthood, the priesthood of Aaron.
(See D&C 13; D&C 84:25–27.) By this, he learned that two types of
priesthood exist and that they would be operative in this
dispensation. In May 1829, he also learned that priesthood power is
necessary in order to baptize, to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost,
and to administer the sacrament of the Lord’s supper. (See 3 Ne.
11:22; 3 Ne. 18:37; Moro. 2–6.)

In April 1830, Joseph organized The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, based upon a foundation of Apostles, prophets,
elders, priests, teachers, and deacons; and in June 1830, he witnessed
“glorious manifestations of the powers of the Priesthood.” 5

In March 1835, he gained further insight into the distinctions between
the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods: “The Melchizedek Priesthood
holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all
offices in the church” (D&C 107:8), while the Aaronic Priesthood “is
called the lesser priesthood … because it is an appendage to the
greater, or the Melchizedek Priesthood” (D&C 107:14). Two years later,
the Prophet recorded, “The higher the authority, the greater the
difficulty of the station.” 6

Joseph Smith also learned that temples had to be constructed to
“enable all the functions of the Priesthood to be duly exercised.” 7
Near the end of his life, he reemphasized to the Saints that although
ministers of other faiths did not have divine authority, he did. 8

The teachings of Joseph Smith concerning the nature of authority and
the need for a restoration differ markedly from other
nineteenth-century creeds. Most Protestants believed that the written
words of the Bible constituted the only authority necessary and saw
the congregation of believers as a “royal priesthood” in Christ.
Catholics asserted priesthood authority in the traditions of the
church and through the popes, who they claimed received authority from
Peter. 9

Neither Protestants nor Catholics generally recognized the need for a
restoration of priesthood authority or for an organization of
priesthood offices and functions similar to what existed in the early
church. Early Christians, however, had priesthood offices and
authority quite similar to those established by Joseph Smith.

The New Testament contains evidence of that view. Differences between
the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, for example, are outlined in
Hebrews 7. The concept “that a man must be called of God, by prophecy,
and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority” (A of F
1:5) is expressed in Hebrews 5:4, which says, “No man taketh this
honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” (See
1 Tim. 4:14.)

Ephesians 2:19–20 and 4:11–14 affirm that Apostles and prophets form
the essential foundation of the Church, and the New Testament contains
references to bishops, seventies, elders, priests, deacons, and other
offices. (See Luke 10:1; Acts 14:23; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; Rev. 20:6.) Traces
of this organization survived in the first few centuries after Christ.
Clement and Ignatius, for example, mention bishops, elders, and
deacons in the local structure of church authority. 10 With the death
of the Apostles, however, priesthood keys no longer existed in the
church, and apostate ideas soon replaced these earlier teachings.
Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, correct concepts and divine
authority were restored.