The Know

In a revelation received in July 1830, the Lord offered several wonderful callings and instructions to Emma Smith that she would strive to follow for the rest of her life.1 At the beginning of this revelation, the Lord also gave Emma a recognition that would have special significance for her ministry: “Thou art an elect lady, whom I have called” (Doctrine and Covenants 25:3).

The full meaning of this designation would be especially manifested on March 17, 1842, almost twelve years after the revelation was received, when the Relief Society was formally organized. The Relief Society had informally begun with the desire of several Nauvoo women to form “a sewing society to provide clothing for construction workers on the Nauvoo Temple,” a benevolent group that likely resembled many women’s societies throughout America at that time.2 When Sarah M. Kimball and Eliza R. Snow showed Joseph Smith a proposed constitution for this society, Sarah Kimball recalled that Joseph “pronounced it the best constitution that he ever read, then remarked this is not what the sisters want, there is something better for them.”3

When the Relief Society was organized, Emma Smith was elected to be the first president. Following that decision, Joseph Smith read from Doctrine and Covenants 25, emphasizing the Lord’s promise that Emma would indeed “be ordained under his hand to expound scriptures, and to exhort the church, according as it shall be given thee by my Spirit.” (Doctrine and Covenants 25:7).4 Joseph then connected Emma’s recognition as an “an elect lady” to the Second Epistle of John, which was addressed to “the elect lady and her children” (2 John 1:1). This was done “to show that respect was then had to the same thing; and that why she was called an Elect lady is because, [she was] elected to preside.”5 Joseph similarly stated in his journal, “Elect meant to be Elected to a certain work.”6 Joseph also recorded that Doctrine and Covenants 25:3 was “fulfilled by Sister Emma’s Election to the Presidency of the Society.”7 For a time, the title Elect Lady would also be used to refer to other Relief Society General Presidents in the years after Emma Smith’s death.8

The organization and works of the Relief Society also served as an important and necessary event in the Restoration of the gospel as a whole. When Joseph first spoke about his desire to organize the Relief Society, he said he would “organise the Sisters in the order of the Priesthood.”9 That is, as Jennifer Reeder explained, “He wanted to organize them officially in the same way other early Latter-day Saint councils and quorums had been organized—after the order of the priesthood, with a president and two counselors, and with ecclesiastical sanction and authority.”10

While the sisters would not be ordained to the priesthood, they would be able to officiate in Church business—thereby acting through its authority—in many ways that women in other religious organizations could not.11 Furthermore, the Relief Society was organized to help prepare women for their temple endowment, which President Russell M. Nelson taught allows men and women alike to “receive a gift of God’s priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power.”12

Joseph also stressed to the women of the Nauvoo Relief Society that “the organization of the Church of Christ was never perfect until the women were organized.”13 Eliza R. Snow similarly taught, “Although the name may be of modern date, the institution is of ancient origin. We were told by our martyred prophet that the same organization existed in the church anciently.”14

While the New Testament itself does not give many details concerning the organization of women in a way comparable to the Relief Society as it is structured today, it hints at what the ancient organization may have entailed. As Lincoln H. Blumell and Spencer Kraus have observed, Joseph Smith’s statements “are supported by certain statements found in Paul’s epistles, showing how important women were in the early Christian church. Early Christians often met in houses for worship, and the woman of the house served in a prominent position in that congregation.”15

Indeed, many such house-churches are connected to the woman of that house in the New Testament. Acts 12:12 mentions “the house of Mary” the mother of John Mark as a central place in Jerusalem “where many were gathered together praying.” In Philippi, the home of Lydia served a similar function, and in Corinth there was a house-church in the home of a woman named Chloe, who initially told Paul about some of the concerns in the Corinthian branch (Acts 16:14–15, 40; 1 Corinthians 1:11). Other such house-churches are mentioned in Colossians 4:15, which contains greetings to “Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.” Elsewhere Paul refers to a congregation meeting in the home of Aquila and Priscilla (Romans 16:3, 5).

Regarding these women, Carolyn Osiek has observed, “While husbands or other males represented authority . . . in both home and public forum, it was their wives who knew intimately the house and its inhabitants, who could truly welcome visitors into a place that they knew well. . . . In a Christian context, accordingly, it was no less natural for them to be hostess” of certain functions.16 While discussing their important role in the early Church, Lynne Hilton Wilson stated these women were “leaders in the same sense that we refer to a Relief Society president as a leader.”17

The Second Epistle of John was written to a notable elect lady, likely such a leader, making the comparison between Emma with this ancient woman more pertinent (2 John 1:1).18 Throughout this epistle, John refers to the woman and her “children,” likely a reference to members of the local congregation.19 At the end of that epistle, John also mentions an “elect sister,” likely a female leader from another house-church (2 John 1:13). It was this organization of women, which helped administer some of the temporal and spiritual needs of the ancient Church, that Joseph Smith restored and through which Emma Smith was to become the first elect lady of the restored Church.

The Why

Emma Smith had devoted her life and energy to following the Lord and sustaining her husband, Joseph Smith. Much of what she had done prior to the organization of the Relief Society foreshadowed her service there and underscored why she was called and chosen to be an elect lady. As Jennifer Reeder summarized, “Emma gathered women to pray for Joseph when he was imprisoned in 1830. She organized women to sew clothing for missionaries. She and other women housed and fed men working on the Kirtland Temple. . . . Emma was foreordained to work with women to provide relief to the Saints and to prepare for the temple.”20

Emma was a significant spiritual leader for the Church between 1842 and 1844. Though “she did not attend every single meeting of the Relief Society, nor did she devote her life entirely to its service,” Emma nonetheless was a central figure for women in the Church during this time. She was remembered by those who met her as “gifted by nature with a logical mind, and inspiration in her genius,” and Emmeline B. Wells also recalled, “Sister Emma was benevolent and hospitable; she drew around her a large circle of friends, who were like good comrades.”21

Under her leadership, the women of Nauvoo were able to assist in building the temple and prepare to receive temple ordinances. Emma, having received her own endowment in September 1843, “became the first female officiator of [initiatory] temple rites” around November 1843, halfway through the construction of the temple. “Following her precedent,” Reeder continues, “Eliza R. Snow, Zina D. H. Young, and Bathsheba Smith each served concurrently as Relief Society General President and temple matron. The sacred connection between Relief Society and the temple was significant in preparing women to understand priesthood in the temple ordinances.”22

Thus, the Lord’s description of Emma as an elect lady was a fitting one, one that not only foreshadowed Emma’s future in the Church but also fit well with the New Testament’s description of certain female leaders who helped maintain the Church anciently. Through the Relief Society, as established in the modern and ancient Church, women have a great role to play in sharing the gospel with the world.