What is scripture?
“And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation” (D&C 68:4).
This verse is more than a license for the Lord’s modern prophets—assurance that the capacity to receive revelation, together with the authority to write it and have it stand as the Lord’s own instruction to mankind, is with us again. It also defines what scripture itself is; the Lord’s will, mind, word, voice, and power unto salvation. The scriptures testify primarily of Jesus Christ, since He is our Savior, the One who makes our salvation possible.
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).
How important are the scriptures to the Lord?
“And a commandment I give unto thee—that thou shalt write for him; and the scriptures shall be given, even as they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of mine own elect…” (D&C 35:20).
They are near and dear to Him, not expendable or secondary. When He visits the Nephites in the Book of Mormon, the Lord tells His prophet, “Bring forth the record which ye have kept” (3Ne. 23:7). He then begins editing the record and adding missing fulfilled prophecy and scripture.
“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle (even the punctuation is important here) shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt. 5:18).
A massive responsibility and accountability are on the shoulders of all who are blessed to own the scriptures.
“…I, Jesus Christ, your Lord and your God, have spoken it.
“These words are not of men nor of man, but of me; wherefore, you shall testify they are of me and not of man;
“For it is my voice which speaketh them unto you; for they are given by my Spirit unto you, and by my power you can read them one to another; and save it were by my power you could not have them;
“Wherefore, you can testify that you have heard my voice, and know my words” (D&C 18:34-36).
“What I the Lord have spoken…shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:38).
“And he that will contend against the word of the Lord, let him be accursed…for unto them will I show no greater things (i.e. damned), saith Jesus Christ; for I am he who speaketh” (Ether 4:8).
A Candle to Read By
Reading the scriptures without the Spirit is like reading in the dark. The scriptures were given by revelation, and they are meant to be understood by the it.
The Salem witch trials were the result of one misconstrued verse of scripture; they thought they were doing the will of God per the Bible. “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” reads the King James
translation of the Bible. But the word “witch” should actually say
“murderer,” (JST Ex. 22:18). Oops.
“Puritan” does not mean “pure living;” it references the belief that authority can and should be derived solely (purely) from the scriptures, not living authorities, nor revelation, nor the Holy Spirit.
There are a few human smudges in the scriptures, and it is possible to misconstrue and overemphasize one verse that was poorly translated or handed down incorrectly and go flying off into confusion. “…in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (D&C 6:28; cf. 2Cor. 13:1, Matt. 18:16, Deut. 19:15). If something is repeated in the scriptures we can adopt it as doctrine (according to the law of witnesses). We should compare scripture with other scripture before we set up the tent of our beliefs, lest we set up camp in the wrong place.
The members of the Sanhedrin who debated with Jesus knew the scriptures forwards and backwards, intellectually, but God was a stranger to them. They could recite the Torah well, but they were deaf to the voice of the Spirit.
The Holy Ghost came upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery after they used the Aaronic Priesthood authority they had just received to baptize each other.
“Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the scriptures laid open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of their more mysterious passages revealed unto us…” (JS—H 1:74). Revelation and scripture do not conflict or replace each other, but augment and supplement each other.
It was the confusion about the Bible among preachers that drove young Joseph Smith to the Sacred Grove to inquire of God. “…for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible” (JS—H 1:12).
Without the guidance of the Spirit, it is possible to make all sorts of false assumptions based on personal scripture study. Among the various tasks Joseph Smith performed, members of the Church frequently reference restoration of priesthood, its attendant keys, Temple blessings, and passing new scripture from God to us. He translated and published the Book of Mormon, received almost all the revelations published as the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price (which teaches us about what happened before Genesis 1:1).
One role he played that has snapped into focus for me of late is his mission to help the Latter-day Saints understand personal revelation. He taught key after key to understand and know truth as taught by the Spirit. He was very much like an usher, helping people enter and navigate the castle of revelation. He was called to help others enjoy what he had—personal revelation, rapport with his Maker (through the whisperings of the Holy Spirit, not just open visions).
“It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 296).
“I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all” (TPJS, p. 331).
If we are to understand the scriptures we must approach them with flexibility. The Lord will not surprise us with anything new if we are unprepared to modify our beliefs. I spoke with a man once who apostatized from the Church. “I can read the Book of Mormon in less than a month,” he said, and he had stopped learning anything new from it. As far as he was concerned, he had thoroughly juiced it.
When the Spirit is our guide, and we read by the its light of divine guidance, the scriptures are fresh each time we search them diligently, adding “line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10).
Yours or Mine?
Joseph Smith characterized the kind of attitude we need to bring to our study of the scriptures. “I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it” (History of the Church, 2:170).
It is easy to see the scriptures as yet another tool in our kit of things we own designed to make us happier here and now. But if we see the scriptures as a tool to solve what we assume are our problems, we may be disappointed.
“And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.
“For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
The problems we obsess about in our daily lives are only a small part (if a part at all) of what the Lord is working on. We are trying to stay alive, healthy, and to maintain our relationships and property. The Lord is trying to exalt the human race.
The scriptures are written from that eternal vantage. Instead of seeing the scriptures as a manual to help us achieve success in earthly mortal endeavors, we can see them as a way to learn about our Father in heaven. We can learn about His priorities, His questions for us. We can learn what we need to do to prepare to live with Him forever, as His sons and daughters (true, permanent At-One-ment).
The primary purpose of the scriptures is not to teach us how to win friends or influence people, to obtain the amenities of this world (though they promise that those who keep the commandments will “prosper in the land”). The scriptures will surely help us become the friends, servants, and daughters and sons of God.
We might have to lose earthly friends, wealth, even health or our lives in the process, but as Jesus taught, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). It is too easy to forget God and become at ease and comfortable with the ways and things of this world. The scriptures draw us away from those passing concerns of mortal life, and aim our thoughts on the life to come.
“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
“(For after all these things to the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:31-33).
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:19-20).
His priorities are very different from ours in many ways.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). (The heavens are not simply above the earth; they encompass it, and are infinite.)
“Our heavenly father is more liberal in his views, and boundless in his
mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive, and at
the same time is as terrible to the workers of iniquity, more awful in
the executions of his punishments, and more ready to detect every false
way than we are apt to suppose him to be” (The Personal Writings of
Joseph Smith, ed. Dean C. Jessee, p. 509).
To open the scriptures is like walking into a Temple. We have left the world of time, and have entered eternity. We check our boots, tools, cell phones, and other distractions at the door. (Elder John A. Widtsoe defined a Temple as anything God puts us into or through to endow us with power, and the scriptures fit that definition well.)
Fiery Furnace For Us
“…for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
“And he shall…purge them as gold and silver…” (Mal. 3:2-3).
No one is surprised when people at the evilest end of the spectrum suffer from the effects of sin, but we are often dismayed when the most righteous we know are suffering. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
“But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings…” (1Pet. 4:12-13).
There is “opposition in all things” (2Ne. 2:11), as father Lehi instructed his posterity. “When I do the best that I can—when I am accomplishing the greatest good, then the most evils and wicked surmising are got up against me…
“But it will be but a little season, and all these afflictions will be turned away from us, inasmuch as we are faithful…” (History of the Church, 5:140-41, Joseph Smith, given 31 Aug 1842).
“The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?” (D&C 122:6).
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph…” (D&C 121:7-8).
We can expect better than Jesus suffered, but not complete bliss either, if we are doing His work. This is far removed from the quaint and watered-down conceptualization
of the Lord and His plan for us we often prefer. This life is a trial by fire, among other
things, administered by the Lord as instructor and referee.
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). That sounds easy until we learn how dear a price we must often pay to know Him. We tend to come to know Him in our extremity; little wonder:
"...ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions” (Mosiah 24:14). He comes when we need Him most; He is very close to us when we need to be saved.
“For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” (Mosiah 5:13).
The scriptures are given as they are in the Lord’s “own bosom;” if we would know the thoughts and intents of His heart (instead of obscuring them with our passing priorities and concerns), we can turn to the scriptures.
