D&C 107:18-20

107:18-20 - The Lord sets out the privileges and duties of the different priesthoods, and most of them are straightforward. The Melchezidek priesthood has “the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.” Those make sense, they are pretty straight forward, but the Aaronic priesthood is more complicated for me. “The power and authority of the lesser, or Aaronic Priesthood, is to hold the keys of the ministering of angels, and to administer in outward ordinances, the letter of the gospel, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, agreeable to the covenants and commandments.” The first point in this description is that the Aaronic Priesthood has governance over the physical side of covenants. For instance, the Aaronic Priesthood (AP from now on) can baptize the body but not confer the Holy Ghost because that’s spiritual. The AP can bless and pass the sacrament because those are physical actions in administering the covenant of “outward ordinances.” Likewise, the 10 Commandments received by Moses are known as the “carnal commandments” and they are linked with the AP. Carnal, physical commandments were administered by the AP, whereas the spiritual commandments given by Christ at his coming are administered by the Melchezidek Priesthood (MP from now on.) But what I really have been thinking about today is how the AP is connected with the keys of the ministering of angels. Ministering of angels I get, but what are the keys of the ministering of angels, what does that even mean. The first quote is from President Gordon B. Hinckley saying, “John next said that he conferred the Priesthood of Aaron- Aaron who held this marvelous power and authority. John went on to say that this priesthood ‘holds the keys of the ministering of angels.’ What are keys? They represent the authority to unlock and make available certain specific and wonderful blessings including the ‘ministering of angels.’ What are keys? They represent the authority to unlock and make available certain specific and wonderful blessings including the ‘ministering of angels.’ Every boy who holds the Aaronic Priesthood is entitled to the ministering of angels if he lives worthy of it. That means that he may call upon divine power for protection, for guidance, for comfort, for strength. I believe that John was not using idle words when he spoke of ministering angels. I think he was conferring a resource of priceless worth to be made available to those holding the priesthood provided the sought it and lived for it.” There’s a really good explanation given by someone on a blog, I like it very much but it’s not doctrinal so take that with a grain of salt. The post says, “keys lock and unlock objects. They allow the key holder to control access to things. Holding the keys to the ministering of angels means that those with the Aaronic Priesthood do not just receive the ministering of angels, they are able to call upon angels when needed. So instead of being passive recipients of the comfort and protection of angels, those with the Aaronic Priesthood can actively call for the blessings and comfort of angels. All of this, or course, is dependent upon worthiness and God’s will but God gives His priesthood to men so that they have opportunities to use His power, not independently from God but inter-dependently with Him. It’s a remarkable power that God gives to men.” I think that when it says that AP holders have the keys to actively call for angels, I believe that it’s not just for themselves but for others. I also like that he says that the priesthood isn’t for use away from God but with God. It probably sounds stupid but I never thought about it like that.