It would seem reasonable to me that someone attempting to determine which one of the many modern-day, competing Christian churches is true might use as a template the structure of the Church the Savior Himself established during His mortal ministry as a point of departure for their study. Ought there not to be conspicuous similarities between the offices of the Priesthood in Christ’s original Church and those existing in His Church of modern times? We Latter-day Saints believe so. Thus the sixth Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reads: “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.”
I do not believe that we should be surprised to find some dissimilarities between the organizations of the two Churches given the relatively larger Church that exists in this dispensation. The structure needed to administer today’s Church of over thirteen million members scattered as we are over a majority of the earth’s surface is of necessity going to be different from the one that administered far fewer members within mostly the bounds of near Asia in the meridian of time. The differences can be noted right at the top of the organization. From the scriptural record, the Presidency of the High Priesthood in the original Church composed of Peter, James, and John served also as members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Today, the First Presidency is its own Quorum and exists in addition to a full Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Our Church members today sustain these fifteen brethren as “prophets, seers, and revelators.”
Following the wording of the sixth Article of Faith, the office of a pastor should be considered next. A pastor is someone who is responsible for a congregation of the Saints. In the modern Church, brethren are not called to be “pastors” by title but rather are called to be bishops or branch presidents, for example. Taking this thought one step further, it might not be inappropriate to view stake presidents, district presidents, and quorum presidents as being pastors to their flocks as well. Concerning the office of a bishop in the original Church, Paul taught Timothy the following: “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)” (1 Timothy 3:1-5).
The word “teachers” in this Article of Faith has reference to an office of the Priesthood specifically, an office within the Aaronic Priesthood. The offices of the Aaronic Priesthood are bishop, priest, teacher, and deacon. Having already referred to the position of a bishop, our brief consideration here is for the other three offices. Priests, teachers, and deacons existed in the original Church and do so today as well. References to priests in the Bible are numerous including Acts 6:7 and Revelation 1:6. References to teachers include Acts 13:1 and Ephesians 4:11. As with bishops, Paul instructed Timothy concerning the necessary attributes of deacons (1 Timothy 3:8-13).
The references to teachers and priests in the Book of Mormon are not concerned with offices of the Priesthood. Lehi was a descendant of Manesseh, and Ishmael was a descendant of Ephraim. There is no reference to any member of the party being a descendant of Levi. Apparently then, those who traveled with Lehi to the New World were of the blood of Joseph. If that was the case, then Lehi’s descendants exercised solely the Melchizedek Priesthood. In 2 Nephi 5:26, we read the following: “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did consecrate Jacob and Joseph, that they should be priests and teachers over the land of my people.” The use of the plural form is complicating if Nephi had reference to Priesthood offices. But quite clearly, he did not intend such a reference. In chapter six, Jacob begins to teach the people, and in verse two he says, “Behold, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, having been called of God, and ordained after the manner of his holy order, and having been consecrated by my brother Nephi, unto whom ye look as a king,” etc. “His holy order” is the Melchizedek Priesthood. Jacob did not function under the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood.
“An Evangelist is a Patriarch, even the oldest man of the blood of Joseph or of the seed of Abraham. Wherever the Church of Christ is established in the earth, there should be a Patriarch for the benefit of the posterity of the Saints, as it was with Jacob in giving his patriarchal blessing unto his sons, etc.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 151). And so it is that when a district within Church government is reorganized into a stake organization, the Saints living in the new stake will receive the blessings made possible by the calling and ordaining of a stake patriarch as a member of this enhanced Priesthood organization.
All of the offices enumerated in the sixth Article of Faith have been considered briefly in this writing. However, there were additional Priesthood offices that existed in the original Church that also exist in the Lord’s Church today: high priests, seventies, and elders. New Testament references to these three offices of the Melchizedek Priesthood are as follows: high priests - Hebrews 5:1-5; seventies - Luke 10:1-11; and elders - Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5-6, James 5:14-15.
Hopefully, this writing will be of assistance to any individual who is an earnest seeker of the truth and a reinforcement of the truth for those of us who are believers.
No comments:
Post a Comment