Ether 3:15a contains a statement from the Lord that sets the brother
of Jared apart from everyone who had lived on earth up to his time:
"Never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created,
for never has man believed in me as thou hast."1
The uniqueness of Mahonri Moriancumer's faith justified the uniqueness
of the Lord's revelation to him.2 Never, the Lord told him,
had anyone experienced such a manifestation--a statement made even
more remarkable when we consider that such great individuals as
Adam, Eve, Enoch, and Noah had preceded the brother of Jared, and
each of these, according to the scriptures, had conversed with God.
In this brief essay I will present some ideas concerning the Lord's
statement in Ether 3:15a. After sketching the common explanations
proposed for the verse, I will suggest an alternative point of view
that is, in my opinion, true to the text and consistent with what
we know of the doctrine of God.
In response to the brother of Jared's efforts to provide light
for the Jaredite barges, the Lord first revealed to him His finger
(Ether 3:6) and then finally His entire person (Ether 3:13-16).
In the process He taught him much concerning the nature of Deity
and revealed His own identity as well: "Because of thy faith
thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood" (Ether
3:9); "Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body
of my spirit; . . . and even as I appear unto thee to be in the
spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh" (Ether 3:16).
Moroni, the narrator of the account, provided a valuable summary
and makes clear the identity of the deity who spoke: "Jesus
showed himself unto this man in the spirit, even after the manner
and in the likeness of the same body even as he showed himself unto
the Nephites" (Ether 3:17).3
Mahonri was speaking with the premortal Jesus Christ, who would
be born on earth over two thousand years later, receive a physical
body, and while in the flesh, atone for the sins of the world. We
cannot tell from the account what Mahonri knew about the nature
of God or the mission of Christ prior to his vision, but it appears
in verse 8 that he was startled to see what he thought was a body
of "flesh and blood." The Lord's comments in verse 16
seem to make it clear that it was a body of spirit that the prophet
saw.
The unprecedented faith of the brother of Jared is mentioned both
by Jesus and by Moroni as the factor that led to the unprecedented
revelation. The Lord said, "Never has man come before
me with such exceeding faith as thou hast" (Ether 3:9). Moroni
added further emphasis: "Having this perfect knowledge of God,
he could not be kept from within the veil. . . . The Lord
could not withhold anything from him, for he knew
that the Lord could show him all things" (Ether 3:20, 26).
The key statement from the Lord is found in Ether 3:15a: "Never
have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has
man believed in me as thou hast."
Whatever the first clause of verse 15 means, it is clear that
there was something extraordinary about this appearance of the Lord
to the brother of Jared. Yet we know from the scriptures that others
had in fact seen God. Adam and Eve conversed with the Lord in "the
presence of the Lord God" while in the Garden of Eden (Moses
4:14-27); Adam and many others saw him in a great meeting not long
before Adam's death (D&C 107:53-54); Enoch "saw the Lord"
and spoke with him "even as a man talketh one with another,
face to face" (Moses 7:4); and Noah and his sons "walked
with God" (Moses 8:27). Our problem, then, is to determine
the meaning of the Lord's statement to the brother of Jared in light
of what we know of these other pre-Jaredite theophanies.
The most common approach to understanding Ether 3:15a proposes
that the Lord's statement has reference to the degree to
which he revealed himself to the brother of Jared. President Joseph
Fielding Smith stated this position as follows:
I have always considered Ether 3:15 to mean that the Savior
stood before the Brother of Jared plainly, distinctly, and showed
him his whole body and explained to him that he was a spirit.
In his appearance to Adam and Enoch, he had not made himself manifest
in such a familiar way. His appearances to earlier prophets had
not been with that same fulness.
The scriptural accounts of talking face to face and of walking
with God should not be interpreted in the sense that the Savior
stood before those prophets and revealed his whole person. That
he may have done so at later periods in the cases of Abraham and
Moses is possible, but he had not done so in that fulness in the
antediluvian days. For the Brother of Jared he removed the veil
completely. He had never showed himself to man before in the manner
and way he did to that prophet.4
Elder Bruce R. McConkie interpreted the verse by restating it
as follows: "'Never have I showed myself in the manner and
form now involved; never has there been such a complete revelation
of the nature and kind of being I am; never before has the veil
been lifted completely so that a mortal man has been able to see
my spirit body in the full and complete sense of the word.'"5
This approach is expressed in similar terms by other Latter-day
Saint commentators.6
As another possible interpretation, Sidney B. Sperry suggested
that the word "man" in Ether 3:15a may mean "unbelieving
man." Never had the Lord shown himself to those who did not
believe on his name, whereas to the faithful--presumably including
individuals like Adam and Enoch--he had indeed shown himself as
he did to Mahonri Moriancumer.7
Daniel H. Ludlow pointed out one aspect of the brother of Jared's
experience that perhaps was unprecedented and may have something
to do with the statement in Ether 3:15a. Emphasizing verses 19,
20 ("he could not be kept from within the veil"), and
26 ("the Lord could not withhold anything from him"),
Ludlow wrote that the Lord "never had to show himself
unto man before."8 This explanation probably tells us
more about why the Lord gave him this unique experience than
what was unique about it.
These proposals are not, of course, mutually exclusive, and a
correct understanding of the verse may entail elements of more than
one of them. A starting point for interpretation is the idea that
the Lord showed himself to the brother of Jared to a greater degree
than to any earlier prophet. Yet that interpretation requires the
addition of several modifiers to the Lord's seemingly unequivocal
and absolute statement, "Never have I showed myself unto man
whom I have created." I would like to propose an explanation
that builds on this interpretation yet allows us to take the Lord's
statement literally as it stands.
In order to avoid ambiguity in the following discussion, I will
follow traditional Latter-day Saint usage and employ the name "Elohim"
exclusively for God, the Father of our spirits, and "Jehovah"
exclusively for the Lord Jesus Christ.9 This approach is
necessary for clarity because the scriptures refer to Christ as
both "God" and "the Father."
In Ether 3 the brother of Jared was speaking with Jehovah, who,
according to King Benjamin, is "the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth,
who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity. . . . the Father
of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning"
(Mosiah 3:5, 8; see also Alma 11:39). Under the direction of Elohim,
Jehovah is God of the universe, presiding over all things. Having
been endowed by Elohim with infinite power, glory, and authority,
Jehovah is the Father, as the Book of Mormon designates him
frequently.10 He is God who speaks to the prophets, who establishes
and reveals laws for the blessing of the world, and who directs
the affairs of the human family.
We know also that Jehovah is the same being who later was born
into the world as Jesus Christ. He became a being of dual nature:
he is both Father and Son as he is also both God
and Man (see Doctrine and Covenants 93:3-4).11 Prior
to his birth, he was the Lord Jehovah (Father, God); while he walked
the earth, he was also the mortal Jesus Christ (Son, Man).12
The standard Latter-day Saint view of Jehovah's role as God was
expressed by President Joseph Fielding Smith:
All revelation since the fall has come through Jesus Christ,
who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. In all of the scriptures,
where God is mentioned and where he has appeared, it was Jehovah
who talked with Abraham, with Noah, Enoch, Moses and all the prophets.
He is the God of Israel, the Holy One of Israel; the one who led
that nation out of Egyptian bondage, and who gave and fulfilled
the Law of Moses. (1 Ne. 19:10; 3 Nephi 11:10, 14; 15:2-9.) The
Father [Elohim] has never dealt with man directly and personally
since the fall, and he has never appeared except to introduce
and bear record of the Son.13
He noted further:
"The Father [Elohim] has honored Christ by placing his
name upon him, so that he can minister in and through that name
as though he were the Father; and thus, so far as power and
authority are concerned, his words and acts become and are
those of the Father."14
When the Lord appeared in ancient times, he did so as the Father,
and when he gave revelation to prophets, he spoke of the mortal
mission of Jesus Christ in the third person, with the words of and
from the perspective of God the Father, as though Jesus Christ were
someone else. This explains Jehovah's words concerning Jesus in
difficult passages such as Moses 1 and Isaiah 53.15
Each of the above-mentioned explanations of Ether 3:15a presupposes
a theology similar to that of Joseph Fielding Smith: "All revelation
since the fall has come through Jesus Christ. . . . The Father [Elohim]
has never dealt with man directly and personally since the fall,
and he has never appeared except to introduce and bear record of
the Son."16 Assuming that such is the case, this appearance
to the brother of Jared is the first recorded manifestation of Jehovah
in which he appeared and identified himself as the Son. Elsewhere
the scriptures record him appearing or speaking as God the Father
(for example, Moses 6:50-52, 58-59; 7:4, 32-33, 39; see also 1:1-6).
But to the brother of Jared he said, "Behold, I am Jesus
Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind
have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my
name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters. And never
have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has
man believed in me as thou hast" (Ether 3:14-15).
The uniqueness of this situation lies in the fact that Jehovah
appeared to Mahonri Moriancumer in his role as Jesus Christ--rather
than as the Father. Never before, as far as we can tell from the
scriptures, had Jesus Christ shown himself unto man. (And,
interestingly, nowhere else in the scriptures do we have a clear
example of Jehovah appearing as Jesus until his coming in the flesh.)17
As Moroni reported, "Having this perfect knowledge of God,
he could not be kept from within the veil; therefore he saw Jesus"
(Ether 3:20). To the brother of Jared, Christ revealed his complete
nature: God who would become Man--Jehovah, the Father, who would
become Jesus, the Son.
Perhaps the unprecedented nature of this appearance is a reason
why the Lord commanded that the account not be made known in the
world until after his mortal ministry (Ether 3:21).
Kent P. Jackson is an associate professor of ancient scripture
at Brigham Young University.
Notes
- All italics in scripture citations in this article are my own
emphasis.
- Our earliest source for the name Mahonri Moriancumer is George
Reynolds, who reported a reminiscent account of the Prophet Joseph
Smith identifying that as the name of the brother of Jared ("The
Jaredites," Juvenile Instructor 27 [1 May 1892]: 282n.). As the
name is commonly used in the Church, I will use it in this article
for the sake of convenience, though I am not unaware of the late,
secondhand nature of the story.
- Moroni was writing at least twenty-five hundred years after
the experience of the brother of Jared (depending on when one
dates the Jaredites, which I will not attempt here) and about
four centuries after Christ's coming to Lehi's children.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R.
McConkie, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-56), 1:37.
See also Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5
vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957-66), 2:123-26.
- Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of
Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978), 599-600.
- Sidney B. Sperry cited President Smith's Doctrines of Salvation
quotation and presented it as one of two possible interpretations
(Answers to Book of Mormon Questions [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1967], 48; published earlier under the title, Problems of the
Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964]; see also pp.
47-51 ). Daniel H. Ludlow repeated President Smith's statement
from Answers to Gospel Questions (see n. 4 above) in A Companion
to Your Study of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book
Co., 1976), 318-19. The most recent Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine
Teacher's Supplement (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, 1987), 173, cites President Smith's Doctrines
of Salvation statement, and the Church Educational System Book
of Mormon Student Manual (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1989), 137-38, cites the quotation
from Answers to Gospel Questions.
- Sperry, Answers to Book of Mormon Questions, 48-49. This is
Sperry's preferred explanation in his Book of Mormon Compendium
(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968), 467-68. Sperry mentioned but
did not endorse another possibility in which the Lord appeared
in vision to the brother of Jared in the very body that he would
have when he later came in the flesh (Answers to Book of Mormon
Questions, 49-51 ). A statement by President Harold B. Lee may
shed additional light on this approach: "And then he was amazed
because he said he saw not only the finger of a spiritual being
but his faith was so great that he saw the kind of a body that
He would have when He came down to the earth. It was of flesh
and blood--flesh, blood and bones. And the Master said, 'No man
has had this kind of faith'" ("To Be on Speaking Terms with God,"
devotional address, Salt Lake Institute of Religion, 12 October
1973, 8-9).
- Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study, 318; italics in original.
- See "The Father and the Son: A Doctrinal Exposition by the First
Presidency and the Twelve," in James E, Talmage, The Articles
of Faith, 12th ed. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, 1924), 466-73; James E. Talmage, Jesus the
Christ, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter day Saints, 1915), 38. See also Talmage, Jesus the Christ,
32-41; Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft, 1966), 224, 392; Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for
the Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985),
59, 61, 66-67.
- Some important Book of Mormon passages that discuss Jesus as
God, or the Father, are the Title Page; 1 Ne. 19:10; 2 Ne. 9:5;
Mosiah 3:5-9; and Alma 11:38-39.
- This is precisely the point that Abinadi made in Mosiah 15:1-5.
Rodney Turner describes Jehovah's father-son roles as follows:
"Literally possessing his Father's name and powers, the Son was
worthy and able to act as the Father's divine surrogate. To this
end, he became the Only Begotten Son in the flesh when he was
conceived by Mary, a mortal woman. Begotten of an immortal Father
and a mortal mother, Jesus possessed two natures (one divine,
one human) and, therefore, two wills (that of the Father, and
that of the Son). He could manifest either nature 'at will.' .
. . The atonement required the subjection and sacrifice of the
fleshly will of the 'Son' to the spiritual will of the 'Father.'
. . . The Son willed to let the cup pass; the Father willed that
it should be drunk to its dregs. Abinadi described Jesus' submission
as 'the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the
Father' (Mosiah 15:7; see also Luke 22:42; 3 Ne. 11:11). In a
sense, it was not the Son as Son, but the Father in the Son who
atoned. That is, Jesus not only did the will of his Father in
heaven, but the will of the Father in himself. The Father and
the Son--being 'one God'--came to earth in the person of Jesus
of Nazareth. 'God himself'--in perfect unity--atoned for the sins
of the world" ("Two Prophets: Abinadi and Alma," in Studies in
Scripture: Volume Seven, l Nephi to Alma 29, ed. Kent P. Jackson
[Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987], 245-46: italics in the
original).
- Paul described Christ's movement from God to Man to God in Philip.
2:5-11; see also Col.1:12-20.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 1:27.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 1:29-30; italics
added.
- For a detailed discussion of the role of Christ as Father, see
Robert L. Millet, "The Ministry of the Father and the Son," in
The Book of Mormon: The Keystone Scripture, ed. Paul R. Cheesman
(Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University,
1988), 44-72.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 1:27. If it was
Elohim, rather than Jehovah, in the earlier appearances, then
Ether 3:15a is easily understood: "Never have I [Jehovah] showed
myself unto man."
- Obviously our scriptural record does not contain an account
of every sacred event. We do not know all that transpired in the
recorded theophanies, nor what the prophets understood when they
experienced them. See, for example, 2 Ne. 11:2-3. The voice of
Christ is heard in 2 Ne. 10:7; 31:12, 14; Mosiah 26:14-32; 3 Ne.
1:12-14.
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