Comments on: The Odd Double Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood

By: Nathan Tolman

Nathan Tolman — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Perhaps the first ordination was to the Aaronic priesthood and the second to an office. Who knows? Perhaps the Lord prefers redundancy sometimes.

By: Eric James Stone

Eric James Stone — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve noticed that, too, and concluded it that the ordination performed by John the Baptist was a sort of “bootstrapping.”

As a general pattern for the Church to follow, someone should be properly baptized before being ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. Also, proper baptism requires someone ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood — as does proper ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood.

Since no one on Earth had the Aaronic Priesthood, John the Baptist was sent to restore it, which was done in a rather unusual simultaneous double ordination.

That authority was sufficient for Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to then perform the ordinances in their proper order. We still follow that order today, never ordaining to the Aaronic Priesthood prior to baptism.

Of course, this is just my personal theory, as I’ve never seen it discussed anywhere else, either.

By: D. Fletcher

D. Fletcher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

How could Joseph baptize Oliver without having first received the Aaronic Priesthood?

It’s pretty clear to me. John the Baptist had to give some version of the Priesthood to Joseph, who then could baptize and ordain Oliver. But having done this, Oliver then had to use his Priesthood authority to reordain Joseph using the earthly keys we now know.

The unclear thing is why John gave both of them the Aaronic Priesthood — he could have simply given it to Joseph, who then would pass it on to Oliver.

The surprise in all of this is that John the Baptist was a resurrected being with a physical body. Couldn’t he have baptized and ordained both of them by himself?

By: Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I beleive Joseph Fielding Smith reponded to your question, Nate, and to your’s, Fletcher. I can’t recall if I read it in “Answers to Gospel Questions” or “Doctrines of Salvation”, but it’s there.

By: Ben Huff

Ben Huff — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah, Christ was baptized, as much to set the standard as anything, since he was free of sin anyway. Perhaps this is a lesser version of a similar idea. Presumably Joseph and Oliver were in good standing with the Lord, to be translating, receiving an angelic visit etc., so presumably they were worthy to receive the priesthood, but you don’t want to set the precedent wrong, so they ordained each other *again*, after being baptized. That way the proper order is there from the beginning (in addition to the exceptional order of their particular case).

By: lyle

lyle — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

D. Fletcher: Very interesting. I guess it would have been lots simpler if Jesus Christ himself, or God the Father, had simply done all of the ordination & ordinance work for Joseph Smith & then sat back & watched to make sure he did it right on Oliver.

By: danithew

danithew — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This question came up in our elders quorum priesthood meeting this last Sunday. The teacher raised the question and many of us tried to answer but finally we kind of moved on. I’d be interested to see what Joseph Fielding Smith wrote on the matter.

By: Nate Oman

Nate Oman — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gary: Thanks for the pointer to the Joseph Fielding Smith stuff. I will try to run it down this sunday in our ward library.

By: Eric James Stone

Eric James Stone — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

President Hinckley, in the First Presidencey messag in the May 1989 issue of Tambuli, addressed this:

“Those second ordinations, I suppose, were not necessary, but were done to emphasize a lesson. They already had received the authority from John. But they were taught that the receiving of the priesthood was to follow baptism and a pattern for conferring it was established.”

http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Liahona/1989.htm/tambuli%20may%201989.htm/first%20presidency%20message%20upon%20you%20my%20fellow%20servants%20.htm

By: Mark Butler

Mark Butler — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The answer is very simple. John the Baptist _conferred_ the priesthood, but did not ordain them to any particular office. Joseph and Oliver then proceeded to _ordain_ each other to offices in the priesthood.

The difference between the two is a bit of a mystery. I might suggest that prior to conferral Joseph had prevenient _authority_ but lacked the _power_ thereof. John himself was _ordained_ by an angel at the age of eight days – but did he really hold the priesthood until later, despite his early ordination? We might say the same of Jesus Christ’s early mortal ministry.