Doctrine and Covenants 129-132

<p>There are some who claim that even though they are excommunicated from the Church, their priesthood and temple blessings are not taken away. Let us remind those persons that the power to seal is also the power to loose, for the Lord has said of his true servants that &ldquo;whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.&rdquo; (Matt. 16:19; D&amp;C 132:46) Excommunication takes away all rights, privileges, and blessings of the Church.</p>

<p>Doctrine and Covenants 132:37–39 mentions two of the most controversial aspects of plural marriage as it was practiced in the Old Testament. The Lord speaks of Abraham, David, Solomon, and Moses as having “wives and concubines” (D&C 132:37–39). A concubine was seen as a secondary wife. One biblical scholar has noted, “The biblical narratives demonstrate that another major motivating factor [for plural marriage] was the securing of offspring.”<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a> For instance, the form of plural marriage practiced by Abraham appears to have been an exception to the law of marriage that a man should have one wife (D&C 49:16; Jacob 2:27–30). He acted so that he could secure his posterity (see Genesis 15). </p> <p>Abraham’s engagement in the practice of plural marriage took place under the guiding hand of revelation. Joseph Smith taught, “Abraham was guided in all his family affairs by the Lord; was told where to go, and when to stop; was conversed with by angels, and by the Lord; and prospered exceedingly in all that he put his hand unto; it was because he and his family obeyed the counsel of the Lord.”<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="see-footnote">[2]</a> The practice of concubinage is mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 132, but it was part of the cultural environment of the early biblical period, not part of marriage relationships in the eternities.<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3" title="" class="see-footnote">[3]</a></p> <p>David and Solomon also had many wives. Speaking of them, the Lord declares, “In nothing did they sin save in those things which they received not of me” (D&C 132:38). Both of these Israelite rulers took the practice too far because they were later condemned in the Book of Mormon by the Prophet Jacob, who rebuked the Nephites for invoking David and Solomon to justify “whoredoms” (Jacob 2:23). Jacob taught, “David and Solomon had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord” (Jacob 2:24). In the same discourse, Jacob established that monogamous marriage was the rule in God’s kingdom, while plural marriage was an exception granted under unusual circumstances. He specified: </p> <blockquote> <p>Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one <a href="#note27c">wife</a>; and concubines he shall have none; For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes. For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things. (Jacob 2:27–30) </p> </blockquote> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a>Lexham Bible Dictionary. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> Editorial, 15 July 1842–A, p. 857, JSP. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3" title="" class="footnote-label">[3]</a> Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, <em>A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants,</em> 4:244, 255. </p> </div>

<p>In Doctrine and Covenants 132:40–45 the Lord provided a second reason for the reintroduction of plural marriage. Joseph Smith was given a commission to “restore all things” (D&C 132:40, 45). In an 1840 instruction on the priesthood, Joseph taught, “All the ordinances and duties that ever have been required by the priesthood under the directions and commandments of the Almighty in any of the dispensations, shall all be had in the last dispensations. Therefore, all things had under the authority of the priesthood at any former period shall be had again, bringing to pass the restoration spoken of by the mouth of all the Holy prophets.”<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a></p> <p>The Saints of the early Restoration understood plural marriage as a biblical practice that was part of the prophesied “restitution of all things” (Acts 3:19–21). Benjamin F. Johnson, near the end of his life, recalled, “In 1835 at Kirtland I learned from my sister’s husband, Lyman R. Sherman, who was close to the Prophet, and received it from him. That the ancient order of plural marriage was again to be practiced by the Church.”<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="see-footnote">[2]</a> Helen Mar Kimball remembered, “[Joseph] astonished his hearers by preaching on the restoration of all things, and said that as it was anciently with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so it would be again, etc.”<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3" title="" class="see-footnote">[3]</a></p> <p>Eliza R. Snow also contextualized plural marriage as part of the restoration of all things. She wrote: </p> <blockquote> <p>In Nauvoo I first understood that the practice of plurality of wives was to be introduced into the church. The subject was very repugnant to my feelings—so directly was it in opposition to my educated prepossessions, that it seemed as though all the prejudices of my ancestors for generations past congregated around me: But when I reflected that I was living in the Dispensation of the fulness of times, embracing all other Dispensations, surely Plural Marriage must necessarily be included, and I consoled myself with the idea that it was far in the distance, and beyond the period of my mortal existence. It was not long however, after I received the first intimation, before the announcement reach[ed] me that the “set time” had come—that God had commanded his servants to establish the order, by taking additional wives—I knew that God . . . was speaking. . . . As I increased in knowledge concerning the principle and design of Plural Marriage, I grew in love with it.<a href="#_ftn4" id="_ftnref4" title="" class="see-footnote">[4]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>It is also clear from Doctrine and Covenants 132:40–45 that Joseph Smith worried over the possibilities of plural marriage being perceived as adultery. The Lord assured him that such marital relationships are not adultery if they are performed by the proper authority (D&C 132:41). However, if either a husband (D&C 132:43) or a wife (D&C 132:41) enters into a plural marriage without the Lord’s sanction, it is a sin.</p> <p>The Lord also taught a comforting truth in Doctrine and Covenants 132:44: a spouse who engages in sin does not condemn a spouse who remains faithful to their covenants. The Lord taught that the spouse who has remained faithful can still obtain the blessings of exaltation. President Lorenzo Snow confirmed this teaching, saying, “There is no Latter-day Saint who dies after having lived a faithful life who will lose anything because of having failed to do certain things when opportunities were not furnished to him or her. In other words, if a young man or young woman has no opportunity of getting married, and they live faithful lives up to the time of their death, they will have all the blessings, exaltation, and glory that any man or woman will have who had this opportunity and improved it. That is sure and positive.”<a href="#_ftn5" id="_ftnref5" title="" class="see-footnote">[5]</a></p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> Instruction on Priesthood, circa 5 October 1840, p. 8, JSP. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> Dean R. Zimmerman, <em>I Knew the Prophets: An Analysis of the Letter of Benjamin F. Johnson to George F. Gibbs,</em> 1976, 37–38</p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3" title="" class="footnote-label">[3]</a> Helen Mar Whitney, <em>Plural Marriage as Taught by the Prophet Joseph: A Reply to Joseph Smith [III], Editor of the Lamoni Iowa “Herald,”</em> 1882, 11 </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref4" id="_ftn4" title="" class="footnote-label">[4]</a> Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, ed., <em>The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow, </em>2000, 16–17 </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref5" id="_ftn5" title="" class="footnote-label">[5]</a> Clyde J. Williams, comp., <em>The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow,</em>1984,138; see Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, <em>A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants,</em> 4:244, 255. </p> </div>

<p>Doctrine and Covenants 132:46–50 speaks of the sealing keys, a divine power that makes covenants binding on earth and in heaven, or in this life and the next. In a March 10, 1844, discourse recorded by Wilford Woodruff, Joseph Smith declared: </p> <blockquote> <p>The doctrine or sealing power of Elijah is as follows: If you have power to seal on earth and in heaven then we should be crafty—the first thing you do, go and seal on earth your sons and daughters unto yourself and yourself unto your fathers in eternal glory and go ahead and not go back. Seal all you can, and when you get to heaven, tell your father that what you seal on earth should be sealed in heaven. I will walk through the gate of heaven and claim what I seal and those that follow me and my counsel.<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>This power to seal is held by the President of the Church and is used under his direction to bless the lives of the members of the Church. In his own lifetime Joseph Smith carefully oversaw the use of the sealing power. His history records, “[I] gave instructions to try those persons who were preaching, teaching, or practicing the doctrine of plurality of wives; for according to the law I hold the keys of this power in the last days, for there is never but one on Earth at a time on whom the power and its keys are conferred—and I have constantly said no man shall have but one wife at a time, unless the Lord directs otherwise.”<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="see-footnote">[2]</a></p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> Discourse, 10 March 1844, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff, p. 211, JSP, spelling and punctuation modernized. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> JS History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844], p. 1746, JSP. </p> </div>