Elias and Elijah at the Kirtland Temple

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Early Christianity Joseph Smith, Jr.

Criticism

Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon reported a vision in the Kirtland Temple on 3 April 1836 (see DC 110꞉1-16). They reported that they received priesthood keys from three angelic messengers:

• Moses (verse 11)
• Elijah (verse 12)
• Elias (verses 13-16)

Critics points out that "Elias" is merely the Greek name of the Hebrew prophet "Elijah." Thus, they charge, Joseph Smith made a fatal error by having Elias and Elijah be two different people, when they are in fact one and the same.

Response

It is certainly true that "Elias" is the Greek form of the Hebrew "Elijah." And, there are times within scripture where "Elias" is clearly meant to refer to the Elijah of 1 Kings. (See, for example, Matthew 27꞉47-49, Romans 11꞉2, James 5꞉17).

However, there are also cases when the name "Elias" is applied to someone besides Elijah. For example, Jesus himself applied it to John the Baptist (see Matthew 11꞉13-15.)

"Elias" as name-title

Jesus' use of "Elias" to refer to another forerunner prophet (John the Baptist) illustrates the LDS concept of "Elias" as a calling or name-title for someone in a prepratory role.^[1] And, the angel Gabriel applied the "spirit of Elias" to John even prior to his birth. (See Luke 1꞉15-17.)

The Mount of Transfiguration account (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke ꞉9) has Jesus speaking to Moses and "Elias." Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible expands upon the concept of "Elias" as name-title:

10. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things, as the prophets have written.

11. And again I say unto you that Elias has come already, concerning whom it is written, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and they knew him not, and have done unto him, whatsoever they listed.

12. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.

13. But I say unto you, Who is Elias? Behold, this is Elias, whom I send to prepare the way before me.

14. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist, and also of another who should come and restore all things, as it is written by the prophets. (JST] | Matthew 17:10 - 14, italics represent differences from KJV and JST text)

The JST of Mark makes John the Baptist's appearance explicit:

3. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses or in other words, John the Baptist and Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. (JST | Mark 9:3)

Interestingly, the LDS Bible Dictionary (prepared under the direction of Elder Bruce R. McConkie) says that "[t]he curious wording of JST Mark 9:3 does not imply that the Elias at the Transfiguration was John the Baptist, but that in addition to Elijah, the prophet, John the Baptist was present."^[2]

And, elsewhere, the JST associates the "Elias" role with Jesus himself:

27. John answered them, saying; I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;

28. He it is of whom I bear record. He is that prophet, even Elias, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose, or whose place I am not able to fill; for he shall baptize, not only with water, but with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. (JST | John 1:27 - 28)

Identity of Elias at Kirtland

Having shown that "Elias" may refer to someone other than the Hebrew "Elijah," both Biblically and in Joseph Smith's thought (see DC 77꞉9,14 for other uses as forerunner), we can now ask: Who, then, appeared with Elijah and Moses at Kirtland? There are several possible options:

John the Baptist?

Elias as John the Baptist: this is analogous to the JST usage of the term. However, this seems unlikely given that a previous appearance of John the Baptist identified him as such.(See DC 13꞉1

Unknown prophet from era of Abraham?

Elder Bruce R. McConkie suggested that this Elias was a prophet who lived at the time of Abraham.^[3]

Abraham?

Elder McConkie was apparently not wedded to interpretation #2, since he later suggested that this "Elias" might be Abraham himself.^[4]

Noah?

The association of Noah with Elias is based in part upon D&C 27:

6 And also with Elias, to whom I have committed the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began, concerning the last days;

7 And also John the son of Zacharias, which Zacharias he (Elias) visited and gave promise that he should have a son, and his name should be John, and he should be filled with the spirit of Elias;(DC 27꞉6-7.)

Elias is here said to be the person who came to Zacharias to announce the birth of John the Baptist. The angel Gabriel is well known to have been the messenger of John's birth (see Luke 1꞉19 Who is Gabriel in LDS thought? Joseph Smith taught that Gabriel was the mortal Noah.^[5]

Person	Keys	Mission of the Church?
Moses	Gathering of Israel; leading the 10 tribes	Proclaiming the gospel
Elijah	Turn hearts of the children to the fathers	Redeem the dead via sealing power; vicarious work for the dead
Elias	Dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham	"Through you [the Church members] all generations after us should be blessed”—Perfecting the Saints, by the restoration of all things in the gospel.

Some other individual?

Elder John A. Widtsoe wrote of these theories:

From this reference to "the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham," it has been concluded that Elias was a prophet who lived near the time of the patriarch, Abraham. Really, nothing more definite is known about the person Elias and his activity on earth… It should be said that some students believe that Elias who appeared in the Kirtland Temple was Noah, the patriarch. Modern revelation informs us that Elias visited Zacharias to inform him that he should have a son known later as John the Baptist. (D.& C. 27:7) The Bible says that it was the angel Gabriel who visited Zacharias. (Luke 1:19) Joseph Smith said that Gabriel is Noah. These students conclude therefore, that Elias is another name or title for Noah. This inference may or may not be correct. The name Gabriel may be borne by more than one personage or it may be a title as in the case of Elias. When Elias, the man, lived, and what he did in his life, must for the present remain in the field of conjecture.^[6]

Conclusion

Elder McConkie provides a good summary:

There is no valid reason for confusion as to the identity and mission of Elias. There was a man named Elias who came to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple to restore "the gospel of Abraham." (D&C 110:12.) Whether he was Abraham himself or someone else from his dispensation, we do not know. Elias is one of the names of Gabriel who is Noah, and it was in this capacity that Gabriel visited Zacharias the father of John the Baptist. (D&C 27:6-7.) Elias is the Greek form of the Hebrew Elijah, and in this sense has reference to the prophet from Tishbe. Elias is also the title or name of a forerunner who goes before to prepare the way for someone who is greater; this is the doctrine of Elias, and in this sense John the Baptist was both Elias and an Elias. John came in the way that Gabriel (who is Elias) promised, that is, "in the spirit and power of Elias, . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:17.)… But, as we have seen, there is also an Elias of the Restoration, meaning that there is also a doctrine of Elias that pertains not to preparation alone, but to restoration. Christ was Elias in his day because he restored the gospel for those then living. In our revelations the Lord says that Gabriel (Noah) is the "Elias, to whom I have committed the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began, concerning the last days." (D&C 27:6.) The one who holds the keys is the one who directs the work; keys are the right of presidency. Thus Gabriel, who stands next to Michael (Adam) in the heavenly hierarchy, has a great directing and supervising work in connection with the restoration of all things.^[7]

Endnotes

1. [note] LDS KJV, Bible Dictionary, "Elias," 663. off-siteDirect jump off-site
2. [note] LDS KJV, Bible Dictionary, "Elias," 663. off-siteDirect jump off-site
3. [note] Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd edition, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), 219. GL direct link
4. [note] Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982), 102–104. ISBN 0877478961. GL direct link
5. [note] Joseph Smith, Jr., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected by Joseph Fielding Smith, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1976), 157. off-site GL direct link
6. [note] John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations: Aids to Faith in a Modern Day, arranged by G. Homer Durham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1960), 243–244. GL direct link
7. [note] Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982), 102–104. ISBN 0877478961. GL direct link

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

FAIR web site

Apostasy FairMormon articles on-line

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

FairMormon Priesthood FairMormon articles on-line

• John A. Tvedtnes, "Is There a Priesthood of All Believers?" FAIR link

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)