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Questions

==

• Critics claim that no restoration of priesthood authority was required.
• Critics claim that the "laying on of hands" is not necessary in order to receive priesthood authority.
• Critics claim that the concept of priesthood authority and ordinations came from Sidney Rigdon.

To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here

Subtopics

• Aaronic priesthood
  • Hebrews 7 and the Aaronic priesthood
• Melchizedek priesthood
  • Date of the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood

Detailed Analysis

==

Some do not believe that any 'divine authority' was deemed necessary by the apostles or early Christians to act in the name of God. This section briefly explores several Biblical instances in which authority is clearly given and clearly required to act in God's name.

Religious authority not given to everyone in Old Testament times

In Old Testament times, the authority to act in a religious capacity did not belong to everyone. Even kings could not act as priests of the Lord without authority:

Samuel and Saul

8 ¶ And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. 9 And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. 10 And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. 11 ¶ And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; 12 Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. 13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. 14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.(1 Samuel 13:11–14).

King Uzziah

18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. 19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar.(2 Chronicles 26:18–19).

The Bible teaches that priests were called by God through a prophet

Priests in the Old Testament were called by God through a prophet, and the New Testament letter to the Hebrews teaches that the same principle applies.

The letter to the Hebrews teaches that no one 'takes the honor' of acting for God without being called in the same way as Aaron was:

1 FOR every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. 3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. 4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.(Hebrews 5:1–4).

How was Aaron chosen? By direct revelation from God to a prophet:

And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.(Exodus 28:1).

Jesus gave authority to the Twelve apostles and others

Jesus clearly delegated authority to the Twelve apostles and to others in order to authorize them to act in His name:

And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.(Matthew 10:1).

After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.(Luke 10:1).

Jesus clearly stated that he was giving authority to the apostles

Jesus made it clear that those whom he called had been given authority:

For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.(Mark 13:34).

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.(Matthew 16:18).

A new apostle was chosen by the remaining members of the Twelve

Following the death of Judas, the apostles met to choose a new apostle: thus, the Twelve apostles were meant to continue as a group, and new members were to be called by revelation from God:

Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. 23 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, 25 That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.(Acts 1:21–25).

The apostles transferred authority by the laying on of hands

The apostles themselves called others to assist them and gave them authority by laying on of hands. These men did not select themselves, and they did not begin to act as assistants to the Apostles until they were given authority:

1 AND in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. 5 ¶ And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: 6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.(Acts 6:1–6).

Paul and Barnabas were chosen in the same manner: those with authority received revelation from God (via the Holy Ghost) about who should be chosen, and then gave them authority by the laying on of hands:

2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.(Acts 13:2–3).

The ability to give the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands was clearly understood to be a power from God that had to be conferred:

18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, 19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. 20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.(Acts 8:18–23).

Simon the magician tried to buy the power, and was rebuked by Peter: notice, though, that Simon understands very clearly that he cannot do what the apostles are doing without the authority: he simply tries to get the authority in the wrong way.

Jesus taught that one does not choose himself to receive authority

Jesus taught that one does not choose himself to receive His authority. Jesus chooses those whom He will, and then has the recipient ordained (by Himself or by someone with delegated authority, as the apostles did):

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.(John 15:16).

The Bible later illustrates, in conjunction with this principle, that using the name of Christ or having good intentions does not confer the authority which He gave. Witness what happens when someone without authority from Christ tries to do what the apostles do:

13 ¶ Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.(Acts 19:13–16)

Here the Jews use the name of Christ, use the same type of language as used by the apostles, and even use the name of an apostle (Paul). They are trying to do a good thing: to cast out an evil spirit. However, they have no authority from God: they lack the power given to the apostles by Jesus, and later given to others (such as Paul).

Answer

== Clearly, the conferral and proper transfer of authority is of key importance within the Old and New Testaments. One must accept one of two positions: either this authority continued, unbroken, through the Church of the Middle Ages down to the present day, or the authority was lost and a restoration was necessary. Priesthood authority from designated sources was a common theme in the Old and New Testaments, and ought to be continued into the modern Church.

Further reading

FairMormon Answers articles

The early Christian Church and the Great Apostasy

Jump to Subtopic:

• Evidence of a total apostasy
• Extent of the apostasy
• Reasons why the apostasy occurred
• The office of Apostle within the ancient Church of Jesus Christ

Evidence of a total apostasy

Jump to Subtopic:

• Biblical evidence of an apostasy after Christ
• Evidence of an apostasy after Christ from early Christian history other than the Bible
• Visible evidence of the apostasy

Biblical evidence of an apostasy after Christ

Jump to details:

• Question: Is there any Biblical evidence that the apostasy began?
• Question: Was the apostasy predicted by the Bible not complete?

Evidence of an apostasy after Christ from early Christian history other than the Bible

Summary: Do the Early Church Fathers and other post-Biblical documents shed any light on the apostasy?

Jump to details:

• Question: Is there any evidence of the apostasy from materials from early Christian history besides the Bible?
• Clement of Rome: "For this reason righteousness and peace are now far departed from you"
• Hegesippus: "These also, as there were none of the apostles left, henceforth attempted, without shame to preach their false doctrine against the gospel of truth"
• Ignatius: "the false prophets and the false apostles"
• Irenaeus: "evil is spread abroad among men"
• Tertullian: "Away with all attempts to produce a mottled Christianity of Stoic, Platonic, and dialectic composition!"
• Cyprian: Cyprian argued that since the Saints had sunk to such low levels of depravity they rightly deserved the harsh judgments of God
• Cyril of Jerusalem: "For men have fallen from the right faith; and some preach the identity of the Son with the Father...This, therefore, is the falling away"

Visible evidence of the apostasy

Jump to details:

• Question: Wouldn't some Christian author or members have noticed the apostasy?

Extent of the apostasy

Jump to Subtopic:

• Complete apostasy after Christ
• Apostasy and the "gates of hell"
• Priesthood on the earth during the apostasy

Complete apostasy after Christ

Summary: Do other Christian denominations believe that no other church on earth is complete, or is this an arrogant belief assumed only by the "Mormons"?

Jump to details:

• Question: Did Christ establish a Church while on the earth?
• Question: Was the apostasy after Christ complete?
• Question: What is the Catholic view of the apostasy?
• Question: What is the reformation view of the apostasy?
• Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that no genuine Christians exist outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
• Scholarly quotes on the historical evidence for apostasy

Apostasy and the "gates of hell"

Summary: Is Jesus' teaching about "the gates of hell" prevailing against "the rock" inconsistent with a belief in a universal apostasy?

Jump to details:

• Question: Does the fact that Jesus said, "upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" mean that universal apostasy was impossible?
• Question: What are the "gates of hell" or "gates of Hades?"

Priesthood on the earth during the apostasy

Jump to details:

• Question: Was the priesthood on earth during the apostasy?
• Question: Since John the Apostle and the three Nephites did not die, then how could there have been a "complete apostasy" on the earth?

Reasons why the apostasy occurred

Jump to Subtopic:

• God permitted the apostasy to occur
• Relationship of Mormonism to other branches of Christianity

God permitted the apostasy to occur

Summary: If there were some people who would have accepted the Gospel as taught in Mormonism, why did God allow the earthly Church to pass from the earth?

Jump to details:

• Question: Why did God allow the Apostasy to occur?

Relationship of Mormonism to other branches of Christianity

Summary: What does the apostasy doctrine mean with respect to the relationship of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to other branches of Christianity?

Jump to details:

• Question: How does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints relate to other branches of Christianity?
• Non-LDS Christian Stephen H. Webb: Creedal Christians can learn from LDS views about Jesus Christ and creation

The office of Apostle within the ancient Church of Jesus Christ

Jump to details:

• Question: Was Paul a "real" apostle, with authority over the Church like the original Twelve?
• Question: Were the early apostles married?
• Question: Was the Apostle Paul Married?
• Question: Does the Biblical reference by Paul to "apostles and prophets" refer to Church offices?
• Question: Why did Jesus call Twelve Apostles?

Mormonism and priesthood

Jump to Subtopic:

• Restoration of the priesthood
• Administration of priesthood authority
• Criticisms of the Mormon priesthood

Restoration of the priesthood

Jump to Subtopic:

• The manner in which the priesthood was restored
• Date of the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood

Administration of priesthood authority

Jump to Subtopic:

• Exercising priesthood authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Granting of priesthood authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Criticisms of the Mormon priesthood

Jump to Subtopic:

• Criticisms by traditional Christians of the Mormon concept of priesthood
• Claims by ex-Mormons that Church leaders have lost priesthood authority
• Evidence that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Possesses Priesthood Authority

FairMormon web site

Apostasy FairMormon articles on-line

• Roger Keller, "The Apostasy," FAIR 2004 conference. FAIR link
  Dr. Keller is a former Presbyterian minister.

External links

⍗

Learn more about the Great Apostasy

Key sources	Noel B. Reynolds (editor), Early Christians in Disarray: Contemporary LDS Perspectives on the Christian Apostasy (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2005), 1. ISBN 0934893020. off-site
FAIR links	Barry Bickmore, "Joseph Smith Among the Early Christians," Proceedings of the 2014 FAIR Conference (August 2014). link John Gee, "The Corruption of Scripture in the Second Century," Proceedings of the 1999 FAIR Conference (August 1999). link John Hall, "As Far as it is Translated Correctly: The Problem of Tampering with the Word of God in the Transmission and Translation of the New Testament," Proceedings of the 2007 FAIR Conference (August 2007). link Roger Keller, "The Apostasy," Proceedings of the 2004 FAIR Conference (August 2004). link Daniel C. Peterson, "What Has Athens to do with Jerusalem?: Apostasy and Restoration in the Big Picture," Proceedings of the 1999 FAIR Conference (August 1999). link
Online	David Stewart, Jr., "The Christian Apostasy," cumorah.com off-site Roger D. Cook, "'How Deep the Platonism? A Review of Owen and Mosser's Appendix: Hellenism, Greek Philosophy, and the Creedal Straightjacket of Christian Orthodoxy'," FARMS Review 11/2 (2000). [265–299] link Dallin H. Oaks, "Apostasy and Restoration," Ensign (May 1995): 84.off-site Hoyt W. Brewster Jr., "I Have A Question: What Was There in the Creeds of Men that the Lord Found Abominable, as He Stated in the First Vision?”," Ensign (July 1987): 65–67. off-site Hyde M. Merrill, "The Great Apostasy as Seen by Eusebius," Ensign (November 1972): 34.off-site Kent P. Jackson, "Early Signs of the Apostasy," Ensign (December 1984): 8.off-site Richard L. Anderson, "Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp: Three Bishops between the Apostles and Apostasy," Ensign (August 1976): 51.off-site Matthew L. Bowen, "'Unto the Taking Away of Their Stumbling Blocks': The Taking Away and Keeping Back of Plain and Precious Things and Their Restoration in 1 Nephi 13–15," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 53/9 (7 October 2022). [145–170] link William J. Hamblin and Daniel C. Peterson, "The Evangelical Is Our Brother (Review of How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation)," FARMS Review 11/2 (2000). [178–209] link
Video	The Apostasy, Roger Keller (Former Presbyterian minister), 2004 FAIR Conference Part 1: The Apostasy Part 2: The Apostasy Part 3: The Apostasy Part 4: The Apostasy Part 5: The Apostasy Part 1: The Apostasy 1 Part 1: The Apostasy 2 Part 1: The Apostasy 5 Part 1: The Apostasy 4 Part 1: The Apostasy 3
Print	Hugh W. Nibley, "Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum," Vigiliae Christianae 20 (1966):1-24; reprinted in "Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum: The Forty-day Mission of Christ-The Forgotten Heritage," in Mormonism and Early Christianity (Vol. 4 of Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Todd Compton and Stephen D. Ricks, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1987),10–44. direct off-site Matthew B. Brown, "Evidences of Apostasy," in All Things Restored, 2d ed. (American Fork, UT: Covenant, 2006),1–32. AISN B000R4LXSM. ISBN 1577347129.
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Priesthood links to articles

• Brian Q. Cannon, "Priesthood Restoration Documents," Brigham Young University Studies 35 no. 4 (1995–96), 162. PDF link (Key source)
• Donald Q. Cannon, Larry E. Dahl, and John W. Welch, "The Restoration of Major Doctrines through Joseph Smith: Priesthood, the Word of God, and the Temple," Ensign 19 (February 1989): 7. off-site
• William G. Hartley, "Review of Gregory L. Prince's Power from On High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood," Brigham Young University Studies 37 no. 1 (1997), 225–230.off-site
• John A. Tvedtnes, "Jesus' Apostles and Early Church Organization," Meridian Magazine (2 February 2007)off-site.

Printed material

Apostasy printed materials

• Matthew B. Brown, "Evidences of Apostasy," in All Things Restored, 2d ed. (American Fork, UT: Covenant, 2006),1–32. AISN B000R4LXSM. ISBN 1577347129.
• Noel B. Reynolds (editor), Early Christians in Disarray: Contemporary LDS Perspectives on the Christian Apostasy (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2005), 1. ISBN 0934893020. off-site  (Key source)

Priesthood printed materials

• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Second Witness of Priesthood Restoration," Improvement Era (71/9 (September 1968)), 15–24.
• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Second Witness on Priesthood Succession," Improvement Era (September 1968), 14–20.
• Brain Q. Cannon and BYU Studies staff, "Seventy Contemporaneous Priesthood Restoration Documents," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844 (Documents in Latter-day Saint History), edited by John W. Welch with Erick B. Carlson, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press / Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 215–263. ISBN 0842526072. This book has recently been reprinted, in paperback. BYU Studies and Deseret Book (July 13, 2011) (Key source)

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