Joseph Smith Jr. - Lectures on Faith

CFI
Springville, Utah

First published in the United States in 1835 as part of the Doctrine and Covenants and has now entered the public domain.

ISBN 13: 978-1-4621-0579-3

Published by CFI, an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc., 2373 W. 700 S., Springville, UT 84663
Distributed by Cedar Fort, Inc., www.cedarfort.com

Cover design by Tanya Quinlan
Cover design 2010 by Lyle Mortimer

Contents

F aith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of the restored gospel.

It was a scripture about exercising faith to pray, nothing doubting, that led the young Joseph Smith into the Sacred Grove where he experienced his First Vision (see James 1:56). Faith is a spiritual attribute that each person can develop and strengthen. Faith increases when we willingly receive the word of the Lord and give place for it in our hearts (Alma 32:28). Faith gives people an anticipatory joy and lights hope in souls that heaven is actually attainable. This kind of hope assures us of a better and brighter future, even a place at the right hand of God; it comes from faith and maketh an anchor to the souls of men which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God (Ether 12:4).

On March 26, 1830, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ was published. This volume of scripture is the groundwork in the Restoration for all theology about God and Jesus Christ. The study of theology is the study of Godwhat God is like, and how we can return to Him and become as He is.

Almost immediately after the Book of Mormon came off the press, the Savior commanded Joseph Smith to make a new translation of the Bible. For the next three years, from June 1830 to July 1833, the Prophet Joseph Smith revised and retranslated the King James Version of the Bible as a branch of his calling as prophet (see LDS Bible Dictionary, Joseph Smith Translation). Over half of the revelations now contained in the Doctrine and Covenants were received as a direct result of Josephs work translating the Bible. The translation was a great learning experience for Joseph Smith, which resulted in numerous doctrinal revelations.

While preparing to publish these revelations, the Prophet started a school at Kirtland, Ohio, held in Newell K. Whitneys store, from the fall through the winter of 183435. The primary purpose of the school was to take advantage of the winter monthswhen farming slowedto prepare future missionaries. The participants studied the scriptures (the words and teachings of the ancient prophets), under the direction of the living prophet, so their school was appropriately referred to as The School of the Prophets. The faith of those in that small group enabled them to experience many gifts of the Spirit, and, on one occasion, even an appearance of the Father and the Son.

Seven doctrinal lectures were presented in the School of the Prophets in December 1834 and became known as the Lectures on Faith . They were first included as the Doctrine section of the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God (later known simply as the Doctrine and Covenants), which was first published in 1835. The word Covenants in the book Doctrine and Covenants referred to revelations received by the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Details are sketchy about precisely who prepared each lecture, but Sidney Rigdon was apparently the primary author and presenter of the lectures, with the oversight and approval of Joseph. Joseph approved the final written version and supervised its publication. The lectures were presented in December of 1834 and then prepared for publication in January 1835. Joseph Smith wrote, During the month of January, I was engaged in the School of the Elders [the School of the Prophets], and in preparing the lectures on theology for publication in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, which the committee appointed last September were now compiling.

Two of the lectures were published in the periodical The Latter-day Saint Messenger and Advocate before they appeared in the Doctrine and Covenants.

The committee charged with assembling and printing the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants (Joseph Smith Jr., Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams) determined to include all the Lectures on Faith in consequence of their embracing the important doctrine of This series of lectures was originally titled Of Faith, with each lecture assigned a section, numbering 1 through 7.

The Lectures on Faith were included in editions subsequent to the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, which happened to be the second edition. The first edition, titled the Book of Commandments, was destroyed during its printing in 1833 in Jackson County, Missouri. The Lectures on Faith were also included in the 1844, 1876, and 1879 editions of the Doctrine and Covenants. Elder Orson Pratt, Church Historian and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was given the responsibility to prepare the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants wherein he renamed the series the Lectures on Faith .

The Lectures on Faith remained with the Doctrine and Covenants until a new edition was prepared under the direction of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1921 by Elder James E. Talmage. Since the Lectures were never presented to nor accepted by the Church as being otherwise than theological lectures or lessons, they were removed at that time and published in a separate booklet. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith explained that since the lectures were not received as revelation by the Prophet, since they were general explanations of faith but not necessarily doctrine, since they were not complete in their teachings regarding the Godhead (compare with the more complete descriptions given in D&C 130, for example), and to avoid confusion about this primary doctrine about the Godhead, it was decided to not have the lectures bound in the same volume as the commandments and revelations that make up the main portion of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Since that time, however, the Lectures on Faith have continually been received as an important work of doctrine. They occupy a station of respect as part of original literature produced by the Prophet of the Restoration, and the bright minds associated with him, on doctrine. These lectures were formerly studied intently but now are not often read. They go in and out of print every decade or so. This version of the Lectures on Faith is printed in order to help keep these doctrinal diamonds accessible. There is a Restoration way of thinking about the gospel of Jesus Christ embodied in these precious lectures. They constitute a substantial doctrinal heritage from the Restoration. They give readers a point of view that cannot be easily gained any other way. Thus, studying the Lectures on Faith will yield incredible blessings. They are light-intensive The seven Lectures on Faith focus on seven important ideas:

• addresses the question of what faith is.
• is intended to show the object on which faith rests, or how to obtain faith in Christ.
• is a discussion of the character and nature of God.
• describes the attributes of God (just, merciful, true, powerful, and so forth).
• discusses the makeup of the Godhead: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and how we can become one with them.