For generations, society has been conditioned by Lord Acton’s cynical—and historically accurate—observation that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Because we see power abused every day to control, dominate, or exploit others, we naturally assume that giving anyone ultimate power would lead to ultimate tyranny. But does this hold true in the eternities? A notable new article over at the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, by historian Steven C. Harper, argues that the revelations of Joseph Smith completely upend this paradigm. Harper traces Joseph’s lifelong quest to understand “the power of godliness,” showing that in the Restored Gospel, absolute power doesn’t corrupt at all—in fact, it is the very definition of exaltation.

Does Absolute Power Corrupt? Joseph Smith’s Search for an Endowment of Power

A New Definition of Power

Harper takes the stance that Joseph Smith’s education in divine power began in the Sacred Grove, where he learned that the sectarian world had “a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” From that moment, Joseph spent his life learning what that missing power actually was.

The key insight is that God’s power looks little like the world’s power. It isn’t about coercion or gatekeeping.

The old maxim is wrong. Absolute power does not corrupt; the only beings who have absolute power are incorruptible…

What corrupts is our default instinct to use even a little power unrighteously—to control, dominate, or exploit others. It is the abuse of a little power that prevents us from ever being endowed with all of God’s power.

Through revelations like Doctrine and Covenants 88 and 93, the Lord gave Joseph an expanded vocabulary for this power. He defined it as light, life, truth, and law. “The glory of God is intelligence,” the revelation stated, equating divine glory directly with the power to give life and light to all things.

Glory = Power

Harper makes a fascinating exegetical move by showing how the words “glory,” “fullness,” and “power” act as synonyms in Joseph’s revelations. When we read Section 76 (the Vision of the Degrees of Glory), we aren’t just reading about where people will live; we are reading about how much power they are willing to receive.

Glory is the power of godliness. Fulness is all of the power of godliness. People who regain God’s presence “received of his fulness” and “he makes them equal in power” (D&C 76:94-95). Meanwhile, people who choose to receive some but not all of God’s power will receive a telestial or terrestrial degree of glory.

Harper applies this same lens to Doctrine and Covenants 132, noting that the command to “abide my law” to “attain to this glory” essentially means: “unless you receive my power, you cannot receive my power.”

The Pumpkin and the Corndodger

This paradigm shift was incredibly difficult for the early Saints to grasp. Harper includes a beautifully human detail about a frustrated Joseph Smith in 1844. Living on borrowed time, Joseph was trying to prepare the Saints to receive the full endowment of God’s power in the Nauvoo Temple, but they were still bogged down in tradition and distraction.

He was exasperated that the Saints still did not understand or truly desire what the Lord had been trying to give them. So Joseph used a metaphor they could feel. Teaching them to become endowed with the fulness of God’s power, he said, was like cutting through the knots in a hemlock tree with a corndodger for a wedge and a pumpkin for a hammer.

Joseph’s ultimate mission was to teach that God isn’t hoarding His power; He is desperately trying to endow us with it. Being endowed with power doesn’t make us tyrants—it makes us joint-heirs with Christ. For more on how Joseph Smith developed this theology through the crucible of Liberty Jail, the specific role of temple ordinances in receiving power, and why “receive” is the most important verb in the Doctrine and Covenants, head on over to the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, to read the full article by Steven C. Harper.

While you’re there, check out the new Spencer W. Kimball Quotes page!