Note: A question came up in our lesson discussion on Sunday. I am just now posting some further clarification of the issue.
QUESTION: “In Moses 1, Who spoke to Moses? God the Father or His Son Jehovah?”
RESPONSE:
Various prophets and general authorities have stated:
It was Jehovah, Jesus Christ.
“It should be remembered that it was Christ before he was in the flesh who gave the law and the commandments to Moses, and who spoke for the Father, as He explained to the Nephites when he appeared to them after his resurrection. (3 Nephi 15:5) he ‘was in the beginning with God and was God’ according to John 1:1. The Father was represented by Him and He acted and spoke for the Father, in the creation and from that time forward in all the divine dispensations” (The First Presidency: Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund, and Charles W. Penrose, in James R. Clark, comp. Messages of the First Presidency, 4:271).
Further,
“all revelation since the fall has come through Jesus Christ, who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. In all of the scriptures, where God is mentioned and where he has appeared, it was Jehovah who talked with Abraham, with Noah, Enoch, Moses and all the prophets…. The Father has never dealt with man directly and personally since the fall, and he has never appeared except to introduce and bear record of the Son” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:27; both quotes cited in The Pearl of Great Price, 73-74). This ability and authority of the Savior to speak as if He were the Father is defined by the First Presidency as “divine investiture of authority” (see James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith, 421; citing a First Presidency statement dated in 1916).
Here is a reprint (2002 Ensign Article-”The Father and the Son“) of the statement of The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued in 1916 to clarify the meaning of certain scriptures where Jesus Christ, or Jehovah, is designated as the Father. The reprinting of this statement in 2002 will be helpful to us in our study of the Old Testament this year.
Reflecting upon the text in Moses 1, I find it particularly ambiguous on this point. The scriptures seem to imply that Moses is speaking to God the Father in Moses 1:6 and Moses 1:32-33. This conflict is clarified for me by the doctrine of Divine Investiture of Authority discussed in the Ensign article above. It states:
“a…reason for applying the title “Father” to Jesus Christ is found in the fact that in all His dealings with the human family Jesus the Son has represented and yet represents Elohim His Father in power and authority. This is true of Christ in His preexistent, antemortal, or unembodied state, in the which He was known as Jehovah; also during His embodiment in the flesh; and during His labors as a disembodied spirit in the realm of the dead; and since that period in His resurrected state.”
With these statements in mind, I believe that we need to study the text of the scriptures carefully for ourselves, inviting the Holy Spirit through thoughtful reflection and prayer in doing so. Herein is our definitive answer. Ultimately, I rely on the fact that since Jesus is one with the Father in all of the attributes of perfection, and since he exercises the power and authority of the Father, the Father puts his own name on the Son and authorizes him to speak in the first person as though he were the Father.
pax vobiscum
Filed under: Gospel Doctrine Tagged: | Book of Moses, Christianity, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, God the Father and Jesus Christ, Gospel Doctrine, LDS, Mormon, Old Testament Study, Religion
