{"id":52309,"date":"2026-01-01T04:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T11:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=52309"},"modified":"2025-12-29T06:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T13:08:09","slug":"as-far-as-it-is-translated-correctly-the-bible-and-the-fulness-of-the-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/as-far-as-it-is-translated-correctly-the-bible-and-the-fulness-of-the-gospel\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAs Far as It Is Translated Correctly\u201d: The Bible and the Fulness of the Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been lots of talk about the church granting more allowance additional biblical translations<\/a> beyond the KJV, but I\u2019m arguing in this post that I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what Joseph Smith meant by the eighth article of faith \u201cas far as it is translated correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n

JS of course did a revision of the Bible, but it contained very little of the fuller truth he taught in Nauvoo. The Articles of Faith also contained very little of JS\u2019s fuller doctrine: no preexistence, plan of salvation, deification, eternal marriage, etc.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not only had the great and abominable church removed \u201cplain and precious things\u201d from the Bible, but JS went further in his introduction to DC 76 in his official history:<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important points, touching the Salvation of man, had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled.\u201d (Joseph Smith, History, A-1, p. 183. See the current heading to DC 76). JS, therefore, claimed that prior to receiving DC 76, he already knew that a whole lot of \u201cimportant points\u201d were missing from the Bible and then stated that reading John 5:29 prompted the question that led to DC 76.<\/p>\n

Yet DC 76 changed the wording of John 5:29. The KJV of that verse says, \u201cAnd shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation,\u201d but DC 76 changes it to \u201cAnd shall come forth; they who have done good, in the resurrection of the just; and they who have done evil, in the resurrection of the unjust\u201d (76:17).<\/p>\n

Using the words \u201cjust\u201d and \u201cunjust\u201d instead of \u201clife\u201d and \u201cdamnation\u201d is noteworthy because\u00a0 just <\/em>and unjust<\/em> matches the wording in Dacier\u2019s translation of Plato\u2019s Phaedo <\/em>right before Socrates\u2019s description of the afterlife. There the dead \u201care all tried and judged, both those that liv\u2019d a holy and just Life, and those who wallow\u2019d in Injustice and Impiety.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

This matching is significant, I argue, because Socrates then goes on to describe four afterlife states for four different kinds of people quite similar to the four afterlife states of DC 76.<\/p>\n

Some of the details vary a little, but the overall structures is the closest to DC 76. The lowest, \u201cguilty of Sarcilege and Murder, or such other Crimes, are by a just and fatal Destiny, thrown headlong into Tartarus<\/em>, where they are kept Prisoners for ever.\u201d[2]<\/a> The next two who will get out of torment like DC 19 said, then the highest is for \u201cthose who distinguish\u2019d themselves by a holy Life \u2026 are receiv\u2019d into yet more admirable and delicious Mansions, which I cannot easily describe, neither do the narrow Limits of my Time allow me to launch into the Subject.\u201d[3]<\/a> (pages 171-72<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Good biblical translations were good, but were not the way to get at the full truth the Bible was missing. As JS said in the King Follett Discourse:<\/a> \u201cI sup[pose] I am not all[ow]d to go into investing[atio]n but what is cont[aine]d in the Bible & I think is so many wise men who wo[ul]d put me to death for treason.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fuller truth was in sources in addition to the Bible. As JS wrote to Isaac Galland in 1839,\u201cThe First Fundamental principal of our holy religion is, that we believe that we have a right to embrace all, and every item of truth, without limitation or without being circumscribed or prohibited by the creeds or superstitious notions of men.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bible has truth, better translations help, but looking beyond that to sources like Plato get us to the fuller truth that JS felt the Bible was missing.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Dacier, Plato Abrig\u2019d<\/em>, 2:171.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Dacier, Plato Abrig\u2019d<\/em>, 2:171.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Dacier, Plato Abrig\u2019d<\/em>, 2:172.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been lots of talk about the church granting more allowance additional biblical translations beyond the KJV, but I\u2019m arguing in this post that I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what Joseph Smith meant by the eighth article of faith \u201cas far as it is translated correctly.\u201d JS of course did a revision of the Bible, but it contained very little of the fuller truth he taught in Nauvoo. The Articles of Faith also contained very little of JS\u2019s fuller doctrine: no preexistence, plan of salvation, deification, eternal marriage, etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10406,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latter-day-saint-thought"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52309","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\/10406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52309"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52312,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52309\/revisions\/52312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}