"Priesthood: 'The Power of Godliness'" Pre-Class Post

From Smith & Sjodahl's Doctrine & Covenants Commentary, I give you the following remarks regarding the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood:

"These two terms [i.e., oath and covenant] stand for the arrangement between God and man regarding the plan of salvation. The covenant is, in the Scriptures, sometimes called God's "counsel," and sometimes His "oath," and His "promise" (Compare Ps. 89: 3, 4, 105:8, 11; Heb. 6: 13-20; Luke 1: 68-75; Gal. 3: 15-18). All these terms mean His "covenant." Here in these verses (84: 33-41) we learn that the Lord has promised to all those who are faithful, and who magnify their calling, that they shall be in fellowship with both the Father and the Son, and if they continue faithful, they shall eventually inherit "all that my Father hath." This means that they shall become the sons of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and as expressed in Section 76: 55-60, they shall receive the fullness of His glory. When the Lord offers the fullness of his glory on conditions of faithfulness, he attaches a penalty for the breaking of such a glorious and far-reaching covenant. Therefore he has decreed that all those who trample this covenant (which every person receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood receives) under his feet, "and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come." This means that all who treat this covenant of the Priesthood with contempt shall never have the privilege of exercising it in the world to come. Therefore they will be barred from celestial exaltation. The Prophet has written: The Melchizedek Priesthood holds the right from the eternal God, and not by descent from father and mother; and that priesthood is as eternal as God Himself, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. The 2nd Priesthood is Patriarchal authority. Go to and finish the temple, and God will fill it with power, and you will then receive more knowledge concerning this priesthood. The 3rd is what is called the Levitical Priesthood, consisting of priests to administer in outward ordinance, made without an oath; but the Priesthood of Melchizedek is by an oath and covenant" (Aug. 27, 1843; DHC 5: 554-556)." [Smith & Sjodahl, p. 507]

When we consider the importance given to the priesthood, as outlined above, it is especially amazing that so many religious sects today are completely void of it. For example, not a single Protestant denomination lays claim to any of the three priesthoods described above. Only the Catholic Church claims authority from Peter (through Apostolic succession through the Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, etc.) to exercise "the Priesthood;" and even then the nomenclature of Melchizedek and Aaronic or Levitical is completely lost. It is as though all of Christianity acknowledges that indeed a general apostasy has taken place. How else to explain the loss of such prominent authoritative bodies as these aforementioned priesthoods.

Elder Orson F. Whitney seized on the effective "if-this-then-this" logic of the priesthood authority claim when he published "A Catholic Utterance" in his original tract entitled The Strength of the "Mormon" Position [BTW this was later included in Legrand Richards' A Marvelous Work and a Wonder]:

A Catholic Utterance
Many years ago a learned man, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, came to Utah and spoke from the stand of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. I became well acquainted with him, and we conversed freely and frankly. A great scholar, with perhaps a dozen languages at his tongue's end, he seemed to know all about theology, law, literature, science, and philosophy. One day he said to me: "You Mormons are all ignoramuses. You don't even know the strength of your own position. It is so strong that there is only one other tenable in the whole Christian world, and that is the position of the Catholic Church. The issue is between Catholicism and Mormonism. If we are right, you are wrong; if you are right, we are wrong; and that's all there is to it. The Protestants haven't a leg to stand on. For if we are wrong, they are wrong with us, since they were a part of us and went out from us; while if we are right, they are apostates whom we cut off long ago. If we have the apostolic succession from St. Peter, as we claim, there was no need of Joseph Smith and Mormonism; but if we have not that succession, then such a man as Joseph Smith was necessary, and Mormonism's attitude is the only consistent one. It is either the perpetuation of the Gospel from ancient times, or the restoration of the Gospel in latter days."

My reply was substantially as follows: "I agree with you, Doctor, in nearly all that you have said. But don't deceive yourself with the notion that we 'Mormons' are not aware of the strength of our position. We are better aware of it than anyone else. We have not all been to college; we cannot all speak the dead languages; we may be 'ignoramuses,' as you say; but we know that we are right, and we know that you are wrong." I was just as frank with him as he had been with me. [visit: http://www.cumorah.com/language/strengtheng.html]

I'm looking forward to our discussion of the Priesthood on Sunday. See you there!