Preface: This file is an edited extract from a chapter in my book ONE LORD, ONE FAITH (Horizon Publishers, 1996). The complete text of the chapter, along with all references, can be found therein. Information on ordering the book is provided at the end of this article.
ARE THE HEAVENS ARE CLOSED?
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTINUOUS REVELATION
Michael T. Griffith
1996
@All Rights Reserved
POINT:
The New Testament church had prophets and apostles who received current revelation for the guidance and welfare of the saints and for the benefit of all mankind. Like the Savior's church of old, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a prophet and twelve apostles, and is guided by continuous revelation from our Heavenly Father. This is another sign that the LDS Church is the true church restored to the earth.
SELECTED BIBLE PASSAGES:
Amos 3:7: God will do nothing without revealing his secrets to his servants the prophets.
John 16:13: The Spirit will show us things to come.
Acts 11:12: Peter was prompted by the Spirit to go with a group of people.
Acts 15:28: The apostles were guided by the Holy Ghost "to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things."
Acts 16:6: Paul and his companions were instructed by the Holy Ghost not to preach the gospel in the province of Asia.
1 Corinthians 14:6: "Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how shall I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or prophecy or teaching?" (RSV)
Ephesians 1:17-18: Paul prays that the saints will be blessed with a spirit of "wisdom and of revelation."
Revelation 19:10: The testimony of Jesus "is the spirit of prophecy."
DISCUSSION:
A good example of the need for continuous revelation is given to us in Acts 15. I quote George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl:
Ought not a Gentile convert first be circumcised, and promise to keep the Law before he is baptized and incorporated into the Church? Many Jewish converts held that this was necessary. For to them the entrance into the Church ought to be through the Mosaic Dispensation to Gentiles as it had been to Jews. But the Gentiles considered this an unnecessary circuitous road into the Church, holding that the acceptance of Christ and his ordinances was all that should be required. Here was a difficult question to decide, and the principle involved was one of vital importance to the whole Christian community. The danger of a split was great, but the Church had inspired leaders, men who communed with God. To them the question was referred. And they decided it, not only according to the scriptures, but according to the revelation given for the occasion. "It seemed good," they said, "to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than those necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves ye shall do well." (Acts 15:28-29.) Here is a decision arrived at under the direct influence of the Holy Ghost, and one that brought unity into the Churches and joy among the various Gentile branches. (Reynolds and Sjodhal, COMMENTARY ON THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE, p. 40)
I might add that had the apostles simply followed the existing scriptures, i.e., the Old Testament, they would have been obliged to compel the Gentiles to be circumcised, for the Mosaic law required all those joining God's covenant people to undergo circumcision.
The Bible repeatedly shows us that the establishment of new economies, or dispensations, requires new revelation. Moses was quite familiar with the revelations given to the patriarchs who preceded him. But when he was called upon to bring forth the Law, he could not--and did not--do so without new guidance from heaven (Reynolds and Sjodahl 3-4, 20). Similarly, Zerubbabel could not have reestablished the dispensation of the Law after the return from Babylon without the aid of new revelation (Reynolds and Sjodahl 16-20).
Papias (early second century), the bishop of Hierapolis, wanted to obtain the most current scripture possible. He was more interested in the oral accounts of what the apostles said than in the books of his day (which, presumably, included the Old Testament):
If . . . any one who had attended on the elders came, I asked minutely after their sayings, what Andrew or Peter said, or what was said by Phillip, or by Thomas, or by James, or by John, or by Matthew, or by any other of the Lord's disciples; [and] which things Aristion and the presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I imagined that what was to be got from books was not so profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice. (Roberts and Donaldson, THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS, 1:153)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael T. Griffith holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Excelsior College in Albany, New York, and two Associate in Applied Science degrees from the Community College of the Air Force. He is a two-time graduate of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and of the U.S. Air Force Technical Training School in San Angelo, Texas. He is the author of four books on Mormonism and ancient texts. He has completed advanced Hebrew programs at Haifa University in Israel and at the Spiro Institute in London, England. While at Brigham Young University, he was a research assistant for Dr. Ross T. Christensen of the Society for Early Historic Archaeology. His published works on gospel subjects include Refuting the Critics (Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 1992) and A Ready Reply: Answering Challenging Questions About the Gospel (Horizon Publishers, 1994), and One Lord, One Faith: Writings of the Early Christian Fathers as Evidences of the Restoration (Horizon Publishers, 1996).
*** One Lord, One Faith can be purchased or ordered from your local LDS bookstore, or you can order it directly from Horizon Publishers via their toll-free number 1-866-818-6277. One Lord, One Faith documents dozens of parallels between Mormonism and ancient Christianity and is an excellent book for investigators and members alike. It is also an excellent companion book to the famous talk tape "The 17 Points of the True Church." If you'd like to order the book online, click here.
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