Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

12:1-3 - After recounting many examples of people who had the power of faith work in their lives, Paul makes a simple summary basically saying, “seeing all these example of righteous and faithful people, let’s rid ourselves of sin and be patient in the challenges we have in our lives.” If there is immense power in faith, then Paul says, “Jesus (is) the author and finisher of our faith.” The IM comments that this phrase “can also be rendered as ‘the Leader and Perfecter of our faith.’” The word “author” denotes a sense of creation. I wonder if it makes sense to say that Jesus is the creator of our faith. I mean, he’s the one who gives us something to believe in, he’s the one who created this world and gave us the ability to repent. The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com says, “Jesus is the author of our faith because he ‘wrote the book’ on our individual salvation. He ‘wrote the book’ on salvation so that we may find our names written in his special book of remembrance- the...

11:23-30 – On to Moses. Interestingly, Paul doesn’t start the story when Moses was old enough to make his own decisions, but cites Moses’ parents’ decision to have him and then hide him for 3 months because “they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.” That commandment of course was for baby boys to be killed to inhibit population growth, or maybe it was all babies, girls too. Anyway, Moses’ parents’ faith is commented on here, and even though it says they weren’t afraid of Pharaoh, I can’t imagine anyone who wasn’t. I mean it’s one thing to believe in God’s will for you, but actually thwarting imperial command as a slave is a very dangerous prospect. Most of us don’t have to demonstrate our faith that way, but Moses’ parents’ did. It’s a very interesting concept here because we are commanded to obey the law of the land, but I guess there wasn’t birth control back then so Moses’ parents’ probably weren’t actively trying to have a baby. Maybe the “faith” part came when they hid Mose...

11:7 - Next in line is Noah who was “warned of God of things not seen as yet” and commanded to build an ark. I think we remember how viciously Noah was ridiculed for doing what he was commanded by God. And if we think about it, building a huge boat and gathering animals and plants and supplies and all that was probably just as bizarre back then as it would be today. So imagine building an ark today and what all that would entail as far as societal pressures go. Sometimes not drinking alcohol or coffee can seem just as bizarre in our society today as Noah building an ark back then, who knows. But if Noah can withstand the mistreatment because people thought what he was doing to obey God was strange, then we certainly can do it too. 11:8-16 - On to Abraham, Israel’s father. When Abraham left Ur “he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker it God.” But he couldn’t find one, so he went off to create his own. He traveled where the Lord showed him “not knowing whith...

11:1-2 - Chapter 11 is incredibly deep, heavy, and powerful and I’m very busy at work tonight so let’s see how much we can get through tonight. Chapter 10 ends with Paul comparing the saints to those of perdition who “draw back” in the faith, meaning that they forsake it at some point and give up the commandments. He clarifies for the rest of us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The KJV says “substance” instead of “assurance” but the JST makes the change so I just went with that. Perdition might imply that there is a level of “faith” or “knowledge” that we have to obtain before the consequences of our obedience or disobedience is significant. If there is a point where you can go too far in sinning against the Holy Ghost, just how much do you have to obey in order for have the same level of “far” on the other end of the extreme. If you can know so much and still choose against the gospel, can you know so little and still have mighty work...

I am really struggling with what Paul is talking about in chapter 10 because there are so many concepts and ideas mentioned so briefly that I can’t keep up. Even the IM and the article written about this chapter don’t have tons of coverage for it, so I’m going to do my best but this might end up being more of an overview than an analysis. 10:1-18 - The best way to explain chapter 10 comes from the IM which says, “The Epistle to the Hebrews repeatedly emphasizes the difference between sacrifice under the law of Moses, which had to be offered over and over again, and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which was made ‘once for all.’” I guess kind of like taking the sacrament every week, the purpose of annual animal sacrifices “is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” Part of the importance is the frequency with which is it done so the people (and us) keep the atonement at the forefront of our minds. ...

9:15-17 - There’s an important note here, the JST replaces all the words “testament” in verses 15-20 to “covenant.” This is nice for me because I associate the word “testament” with a written or verbal statement and here we are discussing the old vs. the new law. Because Christ is the one who’s actually able to save us through his atonement, “he is the mediator of the new covenants.” He’s the one who performed the atonement, he’s the one who experienced all our pains and suffering, so he is actually the only person qualified to stand between us and Heavenly Father and decide both justice and mercy. Because he’s the one and only person ever to exist who knows when both are satisfied. There is an analogy that Paul makes that has to do with a legal agreement where a man, or “testator” must die because “a testament is of force after men are dead.” The IM quotes Bruce R. McConkie as describing the legal definition of “testator,” which is ‘one who leaves a valid will or testament at his de...

9:1-5 - The best introduction to chapter 9 comes from the IM which says, “Paul continued his comparison between the Levitical high priest and Jesus Christ by discussing the work of the high priest on the Day of Atonement.” If we remember from a few days ago, the Day of Atonement was held once a year on Yom Kippur. On this day the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and perform sacrifices atoning for the sins of not only himself and his fellow priests, but for all the people of Israel. This is something that Paul discusses in this epistle because his audience is Jewish-Christian converts and so they are familiar with and deeply devoted to Judaism. I’ve debated how in depth I want to get with the coverage of these verses because Paul goes into such detail about the furniture and the decorations, etc. that I don’t know how much of the details will come across as important to the overall interpretation. First Paul talks about the “Tabernacle.” The article on this chapter from gosp...

8:1-4 - Chapter 8 is a summary of chapter 7 because it was pretty deep and covered a lot of information. First Paul again refers to Jesus as “an high priest” like he did in the previous chapters. But he adds another part here, “who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” I didn’t think anything of this phrase, but the article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com says, “Romans testified that Christ was ‘at the right hand of God’ making ‘intercession for us’ (Romans 8:27, 34). And Hebrews unfolds the Atonement with the same picture of the Lord ‘on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty of the heavens,’ living in eternity ‘to make intercession for them.’” I think it’s interesting that Paul is using some of these same things in multiple epistles. Not that it really matters because it could be explained as simply this being a part of Paul’s writing patterns. Continuing with Jesus as the ultimate high priest, Paul continues that the duty of the high p...

7:17-18 - We learned previously that the Jews at the time of Paul knew that there was a higher level of priesthood than the Levitical one that they were using at that time. And if there was going to be a higher priesthood, then there would have to be an ordained holder of that priesthood to administer it. I read somewhere and I can’t find it now that when Paul says, “For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek,” he’s referencing Psalm 110:4 which says the same thing and this is the “Oath” portion of the “oath and covenant” of the priesthood. I also read somewhere else that the covenant part of that phrase is where we make promises to God, but the oath part is where God makes promises to us. I’m not exactly sure what Paul’s trying to say in verse 18, but the way that I’m taking it is that when Christ came there was a fulfillment of the law of Moses because it was not able to save anyone, only Christ could do that. 7:19-28 - I know that we discussed v...

7:4-10 - Yesterday we learned about Melchizedek and he apparently was a super amazing guy, so much so that there were none greater. And let’s keep in mind that when it comes to who the Jews considered to be the most important person in the patriarchy, it’s Abraham. Paul is asking the Jewish Christian converts to “consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.” Clearly even Abraham recognized that Melchizedek held a higher priesthood office than he did. So if Abraham is their “father” of Israel, and even he deferred to Melchizedek, then in an “If A=B and B=C then A=C” type of higher math we can deduce that Melchizedek held a higher office than Abraham. The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com says that Melchizedek “was superior to Abraham because Abraham paid tithes to him. He was superior because Abraham was blessed by him… And what of Levi? The Jewish traditions appropriately held that Levi was inferior to Abraham. If A...

This chapter is very deep and I like it a lot but it’s really heavy with content. Paul finished chapter 6 saying that he wanted to move on to more complex gospel doctrine so he starts talking about the concept of the priesthood which he has mostly avoided when addressing gentile audiences, and this makes sense because they probably had no concept of what the priesthood is thus didn’t have a problem accepting that Jesus had the highest of it. But for the Jewish Christian converts who Paul is addressing, the role of the priesthood in both ancient Judaism and recent Christianity might have been a stick in the bicycle wheel. Those Jews who accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ probably knew more about the scriptures and the Law of Moses than the average, “don’t really think about it much” member of Judaism. This would provide a firm foundation for them to transition from the law of Moses to the higher law, but it could also be problematic because it seems to me that there isn’t a clear cut d...

6:1-3 - This next chapter is really difficult for me to understand so we’ll be using the NIV as well as the KJV this time because both are important here. It appears that Paul has decided that it’s time to move the discussion forward because, as the IM says, “The Saints addressed in Hebrews had already received the first principles, ordinances, and doctrines of the gospel (including faith, repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost). They were not to abandon those principles but were to continue growing toward spiritual maturity from that beginning point.” This where a lot of members are because we’ve been baptized and confirmed, so we need to keep that same foundation of belief, but also move forward by learning and growing spiritually. Along with the first four principles and ordinances of the gospel, Paul notes two more for a total of six, which are “the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” The article on this chapter from gospeldoctr...

5:1-3 - After referring to Jesus as the “great high priest” in chapter 4, Paul expands on that as we move into chapter 5. It’s interesting because when I first read Paul calling Jesus the “great high priest” I had imagined him as simply the highest priesthood holder at the time, kind of like how Jesus is the Savior, this was just another name for him. But in chapter 5 we can see that Paul meant it to be more than just another name, but instead references the structure of Judaism to help the Jewish Christians he’s addressing to understand Jesus’ position in a way that they would already be familiar with. The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com explains that when calling Jesus the “great high priest,” “Paul is not speaking of the office of high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood. There was one man who held the office of high priest as the presiding authority of the Levitical priesthood.” Maybe it’s because all the Apostles hold the keys to the priesthood, or because our l...

4:6-7 - If God has tried to give his children the gospel all throughout time, because the people rejected it, it would make sense that He would try repeatedly. Paul demonstrates this when he says “God again set a certain day, calling it ‘Today.’” God tried to teach the people the gospel not only through Moses, but also through Joshua and David. Paul quotes Psalm 95:7-8 warning those who “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” I think at the overall message that Paul is trying to convey to the Jewish Christian converts in his audience, and it seems to me that he is saying, “Look, God has tried to give the Israelites the gospel repeatedly, but because they will not be obedient, they aren’t given the blessings of it. The gospel has been the same from the beginning of time, it just has been fulfilled now. Don’t be like the Israelites who rejected the gospel previously.” I guess that’s the whole purpose of this letter, “this is the same gospel as before, just don’t be lik...