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Doctrines of Salvation DOCTRINES OF SALVATION Volume I SERMONS & WRITINGS OF JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH Compiled by Bruce R. McConkie (c) 1954-56 Bookcraft PREFACE Joseph Fielding Smith is the leading gospel scholar and the greatest doctrinal teacher of this generation. Few men in this dispensation have approached him in gospel knowledge or surpassed him in spiritual insight, His is the faith and the knowledge of his father, President Joseph F. Smith, and his grandfather, the Patriarch Hyrum Smith. It was inevitable, therefore, that his sermons and writings should form the basis of a substantial contribution to the literature of the Church. This first-of-three volumes should find ready acceptance among gospel students everywhere. Source of the material is the published sermons and articles of President Smith as found in the various periodicals of the Church; also, the thousands upon thousands of personal letters he has written to give answers to questions raised by searchers who could not find the 2 desired information in any published work, It follows that a host of answers will be found herein to gospel questions frequently asked, but seldom answered with the authoritative finality of the oracles of God. When President Smith speaks, it is not as the scribes. The student will do well to read the scriptural references listed in the footnotes, and to approach his study in a spirit of faith and prayerful search for ultimate truth. To many I express deep appreciation for help and encouragement: Chiefly, to President Joseph Fielding Smith, himself, for his scriptural insight, his plain teachings, and his power of expression; to Elder Oscar W. McConkie, my father, for much counsel and for many helpful suggestions; to Elder Milton R, Hunter of the First Council of the Seventy, for like assistance; to Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., for setting the type and making many valued suggestions; to Velma Harvey and Shirley Stone Storrs, for typing the mountain of manuscripts from which the gems here published were selected; and to Harold Lundstrom, for a painstaking and careful reading of the proof. -- Bruce R, McConkie Salt Lake City, Utah November 10, 1954. CHAPTER 1 CHARACTER, ATTRIBUTES, AND PERFECTIONS OF GOD THE GODHEAD THE SUPREME COUNCIL. "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."1. 1 We accept these three personages as the supreme governing council in the heavens. The Father and the Son have tabernacles of flesh and bones, and the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit. 1. 2 We worship the Father in the name of the Son, who is the Mediator between God and man, and his is the only name given whereby man can be saved.1. 3 We accept Jesus as the Only Begotten Son of the Father in the flesh, although we are all his offspring in the spirit, and therefore his children.1. 4 FATHERHOOD OF GOD. We are taught in the scriptures that God is literally, and not in a figurative sense, our very Eternal Father. The words of our Redeemer spoken to Mary near the tomb from which he had risen and gained the victory over death, are most sublime and filled with glorious meaning: "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go 3 to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God." 1. 5 In these words the truth of the Fatherhood of God is emphatically pronounced by his Only Begotten Son, who declares that he is our brother and that we have the same Eternal Father. 1. 6 MODERN KNOWLEDGE OF GOD APOSTATE CONCEPTS OF GOD. In the year 1820, when the First Vision was received, the universal doctrine in the Protestant as well as the Catholic world, relating to the Godhead, in substance, was as follows: "There is but one only living and true God who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will," 2. 7 JOSEPH SMITH RESTORED KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. The vision of Joseph Smith made it clear that the Father and the Son are separate personages, having bodies as tangible as the body of man. It was further revealed to him that the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit, distinct and separate from the personalities of the Father and the Son. SCRIPTURES SHOW PERSONALITY OF GOD. This all-important truth staggered the world; yet, when we consider the clear expressions of holy writ, it is a most astounding and wonderful fact that man could have gone so far astray. The Savior said, "My Father is greater than I," 2. 8 and he invited his disciples, after his resurrection, to handle him and see that it was he, for, said he, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."2. 9 The apostles clearly understood the distinct entities of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to which they constantly referred in their epistles; and Paul informed the Corinthians of the fact that when all things are subjected to the Father, "Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."2. 10 Joseph Smith beheld the Father and the Son; therefore he could testify with personal knowledge that the scriptures were true wherein we read: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." 3. 11 This was to be understood literally, and not in some mystical or figurative sense. 3. 12 GAINING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT GOD. I know, as these my brethren know, that God lives; that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh, and the Redeemer of the world. But I have not learned all that there is to know about him and our Father; neither have you; for in this mortal life it is impossible for us fully to comprehend the mission of our Lord and Redeemer, to know him and just who and what he is, and the extent of the great work he accomplished. But if we shall be worthy to enter into the presence of God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son and there be crowned with exaltation, it will be necessary for us to 4 know them in the fulness. However, until we do enter into their presence and receive this great blessing, we will not fully know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.3. 13 ANY RIGHTEOUS MAN CAN SEE GOD. The Lord has established all things in order and has given us a perfect system. We cannot improve upon it. If we would carry out that which the Lord has revealed, as he has revealed it, then all things would be perfect; for the organization is a perfect organization: the theory of it, the plan of it, is without flaw. If we followed all the orders that have been given to us in the priesthood and otherwise; if we would put into practice the great doctrines which have been revealed in the revelations contained in the holy scriptures, it would only be a matter of a very short time until this great people would be in the same condition, absolutely, as were the people in the city of Enoch. We would be able to walk with God, we would be able to behold his face, because then faith would abound in the hearts of the people to the extent that it would be impossible for the Lord to withhold himself, and he would reveal himself unto us as he has done in times past.4. 14 GOSPEL AND PRIESTHOOD NEEDED TO SEE GOD. We cannot tie the hands of the Lord. The Father and the Son appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith before the Church was organized and the priesthood restored to the earth. Under those conditions the Lord could appear to one who sought for light as he did in the case of Joseph Smith. Now that the Church is organized, and the power of the priesthood is here, no one can see the face of God, even the Father, without the blessings of the gospel and the authority of the priesthood. 4. 15 WALKING WITH GOD. The statement that men anciently "walked with God" we accept, of course, as a figure of speech. It means that they were in perfect harmony and at the same time receiving constant guidance and revelation from the Lord. It does not mean that they were privileged to walk along the streets, for instance, as Jesus walked with the two disciples after his resurrection.4. 16 FEAR THE LORD. The Lord is merciful and kind and does not require of those who serve him that they be afraid and tremble before him. There is no delight in his heart in the "fear" of the wicked because of their sins. Most scriptural passages which tell us to "fear the Lord" have no reference to fright. The word "fear" has more than the one meaning which we so universally use. The scriptural meaning is "to have reverential awe." In Young's Concordance of the Bible, under the word "fear" we find several meanings, such as "terror," from the Hebrew word "emah"; "dread" from the Hebrew "pachdah"; reverence" from the Hebrew "yare." So we see that the word "fear" as used in the English language, had different shades of meaning in the Hebrew, and that language used different words to connote those shades of meaning.
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