Need for Divine Authorization

#The Need for Divine Authorization

Some religions claim that all the authority they need is the Bible: “We don’t need any further authority in our church, we have the Bible.”

A knowledge of the Bible does not give a man authority to act for God any more that a knowledge of the civil law of the land gives to any man the authority to administer (direct, enforce, or interpret) that law. In order to act for God, one must be authorized by God. The Bible is a source of knowledge, not a source of authorization.

We declare that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth. Our claim is centered on the concept of authority. Our belief is well stated by a modern-day prophet President Joseph F. Smith: “As to the question of authority, nearly everything depends upon it. No ordinance can be performed to the acceptance of God without divine authority. No matter how fervently men may believe or pray, unless they are endowed with divine authority they can only act in their own name, and not legally nor acceptably in the name of Jesus Christ, in whose name all things must be done” (Gospel Doctrine, 102).

In making this claim, we do not say that others have no truth. Some of them have much truth. Nor do we imply that members of other denominations are insincere in their attempt to follow their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ based upon their best understanding of his will. Often the clergy and adherents are not without dedication and many of them practice remarkably well the virtues of Christianity. They are, nonetheless, incomplete. The Lord described them as “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5).

Authority is a divine commission or calling from God. For example, Jesus gave his apostles specific authority to preach and to administer his gospel (Matthew 10:1; John 15:16), and certain individuals were empowered to baptize and perform miracles by this authority (Acts 5:12-16; 8:5-17). As conveyed by Jesus Christ, this authority meant that ordinances performed on earth would be honored in heaven and, conversely, to loose (dissolve an ordinance) on earth would mean it was loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:19). The name given to this kind of authority in the scriptures is priesthood (Hebrews 7:11-12, 14, 24; 1 Peter 2:5, 9).

As Christ’s authority was based on power from on high, so does the Church rest its claim as the only true and living church upon possessing the divine authority to act for God. This authority differentiates the Church from all others. Other systems and organizations may possess other types of authority, but the divine authority associated with Christ’s church, the priesthood, resides only in this one.

First, “no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (Hebrews 5:4). Divine authority cannot be obtained by study, graduation from school, or mere desire (Acts 19:13-16). It must be obtained in the divinely appointed way, as was the case with Aaron (Exodus 28:41).

Obtaining the authority to act in the name of God comes by the laying on of hands by one already holding this authority or priesthood (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6; Deuteronomy 34:9). Simon, for example, desired to purchase the apostles’ authority, as he might have done with other types of authority. He was condemned by Peter for desiring to obtain the “gift of God” with money (Acts 8:14-20).

Ordinances performed in the Church are spiritually binding only when performed under this divinely commissioned authority, received in the proper way (2 Samuel 6:6- 7). For example, Paul re-baptized certain Ephesians who had been previously baptized by an unauthorized person (Acts 19:1-6).

The priesthood authority was lost from the earth sometime after the resurrection and ascension of Christ into heaven, so a restoration of divine authority was needed (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-7). In 1829 heavenly messengers, previously endowed with divine authority by Christ himself, conferred authority upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as part of the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.