{"id":42099,"date":"2021-09-25T07:31:48","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T12:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/?p=42099"},"modified":"2021-09-25T07:31:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-25T12:31:48","slug":"to-ordain-and-set-in-order-all-the-other-officers-of-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2021\/09\/to-ordain-and-set-in-order-all-the-other-officers-of-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;To ordain and set in order all the other officers of the church&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Section 107 has one of the more complicated histories out of the documents presented in the Doctrine and Covenants.\u00a0 It is not a single revelation, but rather a few that were compiled together and expanded in significant ways, with the individual portions reflecting their original context and some of the later context of the time in which it was combined into the document we experience today.\u00a0 It is, as Richard Lyman Bushman put it, \u201cit is best understood as an archeological site, containing layers of organizational forms, each layer created for a purpose at one time and then overlaid by other forms established for other purposes later.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>\u00a0 It is, in many ways, a capstone document in the Doctrine and Covenants meant to provide structure and organization to the Church.\u00a0 And, in providing some of that structure, Section 107 helped laid the foundation for the institution of the Church to function and thrive in enduring ways past Joseph Smith.<\/p>\n<p>There are several sections in the Doctrine and Covenants that effectively functioned as the handbook of the Church at the time they were developed.\u00a0 As some of the most prominent among them, we have the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Section 20 (Articles and Covenants)<\/li>\n<li>D&amp;C 42 (the Law)<\/li>\n<li>D&amp;C 84 (On Priesthood)<\/li>\n<li>D&amp;C 86 (On Priesthood)<\/li>\n<li>D&amp;C 88<\/li>\n<li>D&amp;C 102 (Minutes of the organization of the High Council of the church\u00a0of Christ of Latter Day Saints)<\/li>\n<li>D&amp;C 107 (On Priesthood)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most of these sections were placed at the front of the \u201cCovenants\u201d section of the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, indicating their importance and function in the early Church.\u00a0 Section 107 of the current Doctrine and Covenants, while being the last revelation to be received that was included in the original edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, was placed very near the front of these as Section 3, only proceeded by the preface (Section 1 today) and the Articles and Covenants of the Church (Section 20 today).\u00a0 In a way, the 1835 document that we have as Section 107 was an effort to capture and consolidate instructions on how to run the Church that had rapidly evolved since the Church\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n<p>Partly because of the ongoing evolution of the Church, Section 107 is drawn from a couple different time periods of the early Church.\u00a0 For example, much (though not all) of the content presented today as verses 60-100 is a relatively early revelation, being recorded in November 1831 as instructions for the Saints in Missouri.\u00a0 The revelation instructed them to establish additional administrative positions in the Church, such as presiding officers over priesthood groups, additional bishops, and the President of the High Priesthood to function as leader of the Church.\u00a0 It also laid out additional instructions on how to proceed with Church discipline cases.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a>\u00a0 This early revelation was expanded in April 1835 in response to a request by the newly-organized Quorum of the Twelve to have further instructions on how to organize the priesthood and Church governance as they prepared to visit the eastern branches of the Church.\u00a0 There are some indications that Joseph Smith had a revelation earlier in 1835 that was incorporated into the document, while other portions seem to draw on the September 1832 revelation that is now Section 84.\u00a0 Getting even more granular, William V. Smith has proposed that the 1831 revelation itself may have been a combination of two separate revelations, with the modern 107:60-72 corresponding to the first revelation and 107:74-100 corresponding to the second revelation (and with Section 69 being received on the same day as part of the context of the revelation).\u00a0 He also noted that the 1835 portion of the text seems to be several different visions or revelations woven together, including a \u201cvision of the Seventy, the vision of Adam, the esoterica of bishops, the \u2018Enoch\u2019 text and others.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a>\u00a0 This means that sections of the text reflect an 1831 and other sections reflect an 1835 context in the early Church.<\/p>\n<p>Since snapshots of priesthood structure across the first five years of the Church are woven together into the text of Section 107, not all of the language used lines up internally.\u00a0 That is why Bushman compared it to the layers of an archeological site.\u00a0 For example, in the 1831 section, the term \u201cpriesthood\u201d seems to be used as a reference to the office of a priest rather than a broader term for authority.\u00a0 The structure of Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood as authority pools from which priesthood offices are drawn was introduced in 1835 with the early verses of Section 107 (\u201cThere are, in the\u00a0church, two\u00a0priesthoods,\u00a0namely: the\u00a0Melchizedek, and the\u00a0Aaronic, including the Levitical priesthood\u201d),<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> so that concept is absent in the discussion of the different offices of the priesthood in the 1831 portion of the document.\u00a0 There is also some tension in the use of the terms \u201cMelchizedek Priesthood\u201d, \u201chigh priest,\u201d and \u201chigh priesthood\u201d in the revelation since it\u2019s not entirely clear if the Melchizedek priesthood is meant to be synonymous with the term \u201chigh priesthood\u201d or whether \u201chigh priesthood\u201d is synonymous with the office of a high priest.\u00a0 (Based on the use of the term elsewhere by Joseph Smith, it seems likely to have been intended to be equated to the office of the high priest, though readings of the revelation in later generations shifted to equate it with the Melchizedek Priesthood.)<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a>\u00a0 There is some changes in terminology over the course of the text due to different eras combined in the sections of the text.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, the text of 107 outlines an expanded outline for Church authority and structure in the priesthood that laid the foundation for the Church\u2019s structure as we know it today.\u00a0 We have, for example, the development of \u201cThe twelve travelling counsellors are called to be the\u00a0twelve apostles,\u201d \u201cthe\u00a0seventy [who]\u00a0are also called to preach the gospel,\u201d \u201ca general assembly of the several quorums which constitute the spiritual authorities of the church,\u201d and \u201cthe standing\u00a0high councils, at the\u00a0stakes\u00a0of\u00a0Zion.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0A chain of authority between these groups, with the presidency of the Church at the top, the Quorum of the Twelve acting under their direction, and the Seventy acting under the direction of the Quorum of the Twelve, is also laid out.<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Publishing the 1831 revelation in this context, with the note that: \u201cIt is the duty of the\u00a0twelve, also, to ordain and set in order all the other officers of the church, agreeably to the\u00a0revelation,\u201d broadcasted the development of organization in priesthood quorums used in the Church today. \u00a0All of this allowed for decentralization of authority, sharing it beyond the Presidency of the High Priesthood to councils like the Quorum of the Twelve, the high councils, the Seventy, etc.\u00a0 This ultimately allowed the Church to function more fully in Joseph Smith\u2019s absence and to flesh out local Church structures in stakes, wards, and branches. \u00a0Richard Bushman observed some of the immediate impact of these developments:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>After the organization of the Twelve Apostles, the frequency of canonical revelations dropped precipitously. \u2026 Instead, Joseph\u2019s history was filled with the minutes of the Twelve Apostles\u2019 meetings, as if they had become the source of inspiration. \u2026 At a moment when Joseph\u2019s own revelatory powers were at their peak, he divested himself of sole responsibility for revealing the will of God and invested that gift in the councils of the Church, making it a charismatic bureaucracy.<a href=\"#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While technically the number of revelations was already on the decline after the peak year in 1831 (see Figure 1), Bushman does get at the importance of councils in the Church moving forwards (particularly the Quorum of the Twelve)\u2014they set it up for organizational success by claiming revelation as a group.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_42100\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42100\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-42100\" src=\"http:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Revelations-per-year-800x478.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"478\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Revelations-per-year-800x478.jpg 800w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Revelations-per-year-360x215.jpg 360w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Revelations-per-year-260x155.jpg 260w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Revelations-per-year-160x96.jpg 160w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Revelations-per-year.jpg 883w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42100\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 1. Revelations per year during the era Joseph Smith was active (1823-1843) in the current edition of the Doctrine and Covenants<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Section 107 is both one of the more complicated documents in the Doctrine and Covenants and one of the most pivotal.\u00a0 It brought together revelations received in 1831 and 1835, publishing them as instructions on how to organize priesthood groups in the Church.\u00a0 This laid much of the foundation of the Church today.\u00a0 Because of documents like this section, the original Doctrine and Covenants (which was published not long after Section 107 was compiled) functioned both as scripture and as an early edition of the handbook of the Church that laid the foundation for how the Church functions today, even with subsequent developments in priesthood organization being taken into account.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Richard Lyman Bushman, <em>Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling<\/em>, 253.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> &#8220;Revelation, 11 November 1831\u2013B [D&amp;C 107 (partial)],&#8221; p. 122, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed September 24, 2021, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-11-november-1831-b-dc-107-partial\/1\">https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-11-november-1831-b-dc-107-partial\/1<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> William V. Smith, \u201cEarly Mormon Priesthood Revelations: Text, Impact, and Evolution,\u201d <em>Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought<\/em>, 46, no. 4 (Winter 2013), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dialoguejournal.com\/articles\/early-mormon-priesthood-revelation-text-impact-and-evolution\/\">https:\/\/www.dialoguejournal.com\/articles\/early-mormon-priesthood-revelation-text-impact-and-evolution\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> &#8220;Instruction on Priesthood, between circa 1 March and circa 4 May 1835 [D&amp;C 107],&#8221; p. 82, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed September 25, 2021, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/instruction-on-priesthood-between-circa-1-march-and-circa-4-may-1835-dc-107\/1\">https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/instruction-on-priesthood-between-circa-1-march-and-circa-4-may-1835-dc-107\/1<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> See Smith, \u201cEarly Mormon Priesthood Revelations,\u201d 45-46.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> &#8220;Instruction on Priesthood, between circa 1 March and circa 4 May 1835 [D&amp;C 107],&#8221; p. 84, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed September 25, 2021, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/instruction-on-priesthood-between-circa-1-march-and-circa-4-may-1835-dc-107\/3\">https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/instruction-on-priesthood-between-circa-1-march-and-circa-4-may-1835-dc-107\/3<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> Bushman: <em>Joseph Smith<\/em>, 257-258.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Section 107 has one of the more complicated histories out of the documents presented in the Doctrine and Covenants.\u00a0 It is not a single revelation, but rather a few that were compiled together and expanded in significant ways, with the individual portions reflecting their original context and some of the later context of the time in which it was combined into the document we experience today.\u00a0 It is, as Richard Lyman Bushman put it, \u201cit is best understood as an archeological site, containing layers of organizational forms, each layer created for a purpose at one time and then overlaid by other forms established for other purposes later.\u201d[1]\u00a0 It is, in many ways, a capstone document in the Doctrine and Covenants meant to provide structure and organization to the Church.\u00a0 And, in providing some of that structure, Section 107 helped laid the foundation for the institution of the Church to function and thrive in enduring ways past Joseph Smith. There are several sections in the Doctrine and Covenants that effectively functioned as the handbook of the Church at the time they were developed.\u00a0 As some of the most prominent among them, we have the following: Section 20 (Articles and Covenants) D&amp;C [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":42100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2895,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-history","category-come-follow-me-currculum","category-scriptures"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Revelations-per-year.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42101,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42099\/revisions\/42101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}