1 “Upon You My Fellow Servants”

If asked when and how the priesthood was restored, most Church members would answer, “In 1829, John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John gave Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the Aaronic and the Melchizedek priesthoods.” Such a simple answer, however, is but a part of the story, the beginning segment of Joseph Smith’s receiving authority and implementing it. For priesthood to be restored, it must not only be bestowed but also implemented—put into effect.1

Priesthood, which encompasses powers, keys, ordinances, offices, duties, organizations, and attitudes, did not come to Joseph Smith in full bloom. Like a tree, priesthood restoration unfolded from seed to shoot, to trunk, to branches, to leaves, to blossoms. Moroni promised priesthood would be restored. From that announcement (the seed) until 1843, when Joseph first exercised the highest temple sealing powers (the blossom), priesthood progressively unfolded.

Joseph Smith did not record all he experienced or was taught about priesthood, so our picture of priesthood restoration is incomplete. In 1835 he lamented that gaps in his and others’ records meant that “we cannot bear record to the Church and to the world, of the great and glorious manifestations which have been made to us with that degree of power and authority we otherwise could.”2 Unlike the details he recorded about John the Baptist’s visit, Joseph mentioned visits from Peter, James, and John, Adam, Elijah, Elias, Moses, and other messengers but gave few details of what they said or how they gave him keys and authority. Joseph received a revelation about the seventy that he did not put into writing.3

Preliminaries to Priesthood

In 1823, when Joseph Smith was seventeen, Moroni planted the priesthood seed in Joseph’s heart by instructing him not only about plates but also about priesthood. Quoting Malachi, Moroni four times said the Lord would reveal “the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet” (D&C 2:1). Moroni said nothing of John the Baptist or Peter, James, and John, only that Elijah would reveal priesthood to someone, someday.

While Joseph Smith was translating the plates, priesthood seed found roots. Joseph encountered many Nephite references to priesthood, which made him ponder what priesthood was. The Book of Mormon was his first primer on priesthood and how it functioned in ancient times. He learned that even the people of Limhi, who desired baptism, could not receive it, because “there was none in the land that had authority from God.” Lacking authority, “they did not . . . form themselves into a church” (Mosiah 21:33–34). Alma, their contemporary who was hiding in the wilderness, however, received “authority from the Almighty God” by which he began baptizing (Mosiah 18:13).

Joseph Smith no doubt paid keen attention to the Nephite account of church operations at Zarahemla. Alma, Joseph learned, was a “high priest” and “founder of their church,” and “none received authority to preach or to teach except it were by him from God” (Mosiah 23:16–17). In time, Alma established churches throughout the land of Zarahemla and ordained priests and teachers “over every church” (Mosiah 25:19). A priest preached “according as it was delivered to him by the mouth of Alma” (Mosiah 25:21).

Among the Nephites there was a priestly “order of God” or “holy order of God.” Alma the Younger “ordained priests and elders, by laying on his hands according to the order of God, to preside and watch over the church” (Alma 6:1). Alma referred to “the order after which I am called” (Alma 5:49) and explained in detail the “high priesthood being after the order of his Son,” which made men “high priests forever” (Alma 13:7, 9). Melchizedek, Alma taught, was “a high priest after this same order” (Alma 13:14). Alma and his co-workers “preached after the holy order of God by which they were called” (Alma 43:2). Further, Joseph Smith learned that Ammon was a “high priest” in Jershon (see Alma 30:19–20) and that Helaman and “high priests” guided the church (Alma 46:38).

Beginning in his youth and continuing into adulthood, Joseph Smith Jr. received many revelations concerning Christ's church and his priesthood.  If the young translator grew curious about the high priest’s office and consulted his Bible, he would have found one reference to Jesus Christ being a high priest after the order of Melchizedek (see Heb. 5:10) and one reference in the Psalms to “the order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 110:4). But such references produce questions, not answers. What does “the order of Melchizedek” refer to? Why would Jesus be a high priest in that order? What connection did Jesus’ being a high priest after the order of Melchizedek have with the Book of Mormon’s “order of the Son of God”? In Genesis, Joseph found that Melchizedek was a contemporary of Abraham, a king of Salem, and a “priest of the most high God” who blessed Abraham and received tithes from him. Genesis is silent about any order of priests that Melchizedek headed (see Gen. 14:18–20).

While translating, Joseph Smith learned that Nephi, son of Helaman, taught that “there were many before the days of Abraham who were called by the order of God; yea, even after the order of his Son” (Hel. 8:18). This same Nephi, much like Moses, who parted the sea, possessed power from God to smite the earth, split a temple, level a mountain, and have God smite people (see Hel. 10:6–10). This Nephi received from God “power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Hel. 10:7). Probably the translator recognized that this power Nephi received was the same binding and loosening power that Jesus gave his apostle Peter (see Matt. 16:18–19).

By the time Joseph Smith finished translating the plates, they had taught him that baptisms must be performed only by proper authority, God must give that authority, there exists “an order” of priesthood, and the churches had high priests, priests, and teachers. He knew that before Abraham’s time there existed “an order of God,” that Moses and other prophets received great power over the elements, and that Nephite prophets had power to seal on earth, an act which heaven would honor.

From Jesus’ ministry in the Americas, Joseph Smith learned that Jesus chose twelve disciples to lead his church, gave men power to baptize (see 3 Ne. 11:21), to ordain others, to administer the sacrament (see 3 Ne.18:5), to bestow the Holy Ghost (see 3 Ne. 18:37), to form churches (see 4 Ne. 1:1), and to choose replacements for the Twelve (see 4 Ne. 1:14). Joseph found that Jesus’ twelve disciples had authority to bestow the Holy Ghost and to ordain priests and teachers, and that elders and priests could administer the sacrament (see Moro. 2–6).

It needs to be stressed that Joseph Smith, during the priesthood restoration process, firmly believed in the Book of Mormon and revered its teachings about priesthood. He did not treat them casually or lightly.

Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood

When Joseph Smith told others what the translations said, believers asked what they should do. He inquired of the Lord, who said that believers who were “called to the work” should thrust in their sickles and study (D&C 4:3).4 At first the believers needed no particular priesthood authority to preach repentance and to convert people to gospel principles explained in the forthcoming Book of Mormon.

While translating material relating to baptism—probably in 3 Nephi—Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery needed and sought divine advice. “Our souls were drawn out in mighty prayer,” Oliver said, “to know how we might obtain the blessings of baptism and of the Holy Spirit, according to the order of God” (the Book of Mormon phrase) “and we diligently sought for the right of the fathers and the authority of the holy priesthood, and the power to administer in the same.” The two “repaired to the woods” and there “called upon the name of the Lord.”5

Joseph said they went into the woods “to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates.”6 According to Oliver, they “called upon him in a fervent manner,” after which they heard “the voice of the Redeemer,” which “spake peace to us.”7 Joseph’s version says that while they were praying and calling on the Lord, “a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light.”8 Oliver’s description said “the veil was parted.” He said “our eyes beheld—our ears heard.” The angel came as in the “blaze of day, above the glitter of the May sunbeam” then shining.9

Joseph and Oliver’s experience of seeing, hearing, feeling, and being physically touched by a celestial being overwhelmed their senses and emotionally shook them to the core. They heard the angel’s voice, “I am thy fellow-servant.” This soft answer dispelled their fears. Said Oliver: “We listened, we gazed, we admired! ’Twas the voice of the angel from glory—’twas a message from the Most High, and as we heard we rejoiced.” While hearing the voice, Oliver said, the messenger’s “love enkindled upon our souls” and wrapped them “in a vision of the Almighty!” He added: “Where was room for doubt? Nowhere; uncertainty had fled.”10

Continuing, Oliver struggled to verbalize what they had experienced: “The angel of God came down clothed with glory and delivered the anxiously looked for message, and the keys of the Gospel of repentance. What joy! what wonder! what amazement!”11

Oliver, in the earliest recorded account of the Aaronic Priesthood restoration, written in 1833, said that Joseph “was ordained by the angel John unto the lesser or Aaronic priesthood, in company with myself . . . , after which we repaired to the water, even to the Susquehannah River and were baptized, he first ministering unto me and after—I to him.”12

The men bowed themselves down, filled with surprise and wonder. According to Oliver they “received under his hand the Holy Priesthood” and heard these words: “Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer this Priesthood and this authority, which remain upon earth, that the sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness!”13

Surprisingly, Joseph’s early accounts do not contain the terms Aaronic or lesser priesthood.14 Not until about ten years later, when he wrote what is now section 13 of the Doctrine and Covenants,15 did Joseph make clear that John the Baptist bestowed the Aaronic Priesthood: “Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.”

Oliver wrote of “the majestic beauty and glory that surrounded us.” He said that each sentence John uttered carried with it “joy, peace, and wisdom” and was delivered “by the power of the Holy Ghost. You will believe me when I say, that earth, nor men, with the eloquence of time, cannot begin to clothe language in as interesting and sublime a manner as this holy personage.” Oliver felt this encounter with an angel was “past description” and an “expression of the Savior’s goodness.”16

The angel instructed Joseph and Oliver to baptize each other—Joseph baptized Oliver first, then Oliver baptized Joseph. Then Joseph reordained Oliver, and Oliver, Joseph. “Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation.”17

This picture by George Washington Crocheron depicts the events of May 15, 1829, when Joseph Smith Jr. and Oliver Cowdery received the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist. Library of Congress.

Possessing power and authority to baptize, Joseph and Oliver baptized several people. By the time three months had passed, Samuel and Hyrum Smith and David, John, and Peter Whitmer Jr. had been baptized. What would be part of the main trunk of the priesthood tree was now in place.

Restoration of Melchizedek Priesthood

Joseph and Oliver became eager to receive authority to bestow the Holy Ghost, as promised them by John the Baptist. “We had for some time made this matter a subject of humble prayer,” Joseph said, and while staying at the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. they “engaged in solemn and fervent prayer” to obtain that blessing. In response, “the word of the Lord came unto us in the chamber, commanding us that I should ordain Oliver Cowdery to be an Elder in the Church,” that Oliver should ordain Joseph to the same office, and that then they should ordain others. But, they were told, they should defer the ordination.18 Apparently, shortly after this revelation, Peter, James, and John visited them and restored the Melchizedek Priesthood. But the exact date of their visit “has always been a puzzle in Mormon history,” because early records fail to mention the event.19 A positive circumstantial case can be made that Peter, James, and John must have appeared in late May or early June 1829—soon after the visit of John the Baptist.20

In Doctrine and Covenants 27:12 the Lord discusses “Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry.”21 This verse, which was added after 1833 to the record of the revelation, indicates that Joseph and Oliver received authority to be apostolic special witnesses—the term Melchizedek Priesthood is absent.

Oliver Cowdery, late in 1833, said that after the visit of John the Baptist, “we received the high and holy priesthood” but gave no details.22 Joseph, writing in 1842, rejoiced that he heard “the voice of Peter, James, and John in the wilderness” near the Susquehanna River, “declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fulness of times!” (D&C 128:20).

Through hindsight and better knowledge of the Melchizedek Priesthood obtained after 1835, Joseph and Oliver’s later writings linked Peter, James, and John with bestowing upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood. Joseph Smith’s 1838 history indicates that the visit of John the Baptist had been directed by Peter, James, and John, “who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood, he said, would in due time be conferred on us.”23 Joseph, in July 1839, asked: “How have we come at the Priesthood in the last days?” and then answered: “It came down, down, in regular succession. Peter, James, and John had it given to them and they gave it to others.”24 Oliver Cowdery in 1849 told a few Saints that “Peter, James, and John, holding the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood,” ordained men to that priesthood.25

Joseph and Oliver’s ordinations made each of them “an apostle of Jesus Christ” and “an elder” (D&C 20:2–3). Joseph Smith, as Apostle and First Elder, now was caretaker for a priesthood whose main trunk already supported small branches. Brigham Young later explained that Joseph Smith had first to be an Apostle in order to organize and build the kingdom of God. “The keys of the eternal Priesthood, which is after the order of the Son of God, are comprehended by being an Apostle. All the Priesthood, all the keys, all the gifts, all the endowments and everything preparatory to entering into the presence of the Father and the Son, are in, composed of . . . [are] incorporated within the circumference of, the Apostleship.”26

Organizing a Church

Joseph and Oliver knew during 1829 that they would organize a church. Revelations that year told of “the rising up and the coming forth of my church” (D&C 5:14) and “the foundation of my church” (D&C 18:4). In 1829, Cowdery drafted a version of what became in 1830 the first manual for Church government—now Doctrine and Covenants 20. Called “Articles of the Church of Christ,” it was a revelation to Oliver, who is “called with the same calling as Paul,” to “baptize those who repent.” The revelation explained the method of baptism, the words to use when ordaining priests and teachers, and the sacrament prayer. The document was signed, “Behold I am Oliver I am an Apostle of Jesus Christ.”27

During 1829, Joseph and Oliver baptized and ordained others to the priesthood. David Whitmer, in old age, said that by August 1829, six elders had been ordained, the other four being himself, Samuel and Hyrum Smith, and Peter Whitmer. David said that “we preached, baptized, and confirmed members into the Church of Christ” during the next eight months. He added, “We were an humble happy people.”28

David Whitmer was one of the first members of the Church to be ordained an elder. Courtesy Perry Special Collections.

Preaching, converting, baptizing, ordaining, holding meetings of believers—these activities show that an informal church was in operation in 1829. Then, Whitmer said, in part because “the world had been telling us that we were not a regularly organized church, and had no right to officiate in the ordinance of marriage, hold church property, etc.,” a more formal, legal entity needed to be formed.29 Sometime early in spring 1830, Joseph Smith told his friend Joseph Knight Sr. that “there must be a church formed.”30 Joseph received a revelation giving the exact date for this formal organizing to occur.31

On April 6 more than fifty people met at the Whitmer house in Fayette to formally create the Church of Christ.32 By vote, Joseph Smith was sustained as First Elder and Oliver as Second Elder, and they ordained each other as such. Joseph and Oliver blessed bread and wine and administered the sacrament. Then they laid hands on various members and bestowed the Holy Ghost. Joseph and Oliver ordained a few men to the priesthood. Father Joseph Knight reported that “Joseph gave them instructions how to Bild up the Church.”33

This meeting followed the blueprint given to Joseph Smith in Father Whitmer’s chamber in June 1829, which outlined that at a future meeting of the baptized, the group must vote to sustain Joseph and Oliver to be ordained as First and Second Elders in the Church of Jesus Christ, vote to sustain Joseph and Oliver as their spiritual teachers, partake of the sacrament, allow Joseph and Oliver to ordain each other and then ordain others, and then confer the gift of the Holy Ghost upon those baptized (see D&C 18).

At the meeting, a revelation was received that said Joseph should be called and recognized by the Church as “a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder” (D&C 21:1).

A revelation that month said that prior baptisms in other churches were not valid and that “although a man should be baptized an hundred times it availeth him nothing” (D&C 22:2).34

At the first conference of the Church, on June 9, 1830, the members received and canonized the Church government manual that stemmed from Oliver Cowdery’s 1829 “Articles and Covenants” (D&C 20).35 It was read at succeeding conferences and carried about by elders on missionary journeys and preaching assignments to be read to the believers.36

Regarding priesthood, the articles stipulated that Joseph Smith was called of God and “ordained an apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the first elder of this church” (D&C 20:2). Oliver was second elder, and “an apostle is an elder” authorized to baptize, administer the sacrament, bestow the Holy Ghost, teach, expound, and conduct meetings under the guidance of the Holy Ghost (see D&C 20:38–45). Taking the revelation literally, Joseph and Oliver tried to perform their duties, and they did baptize, administer the sacrament, bestow the Holy Ghost, teach, and conduct meetings. They not only received authority but used it diligently.

The articles gave specific duties to each of four priesthood offices—main branches—of elder, priest, teacher, and deacon. Taken together, the four offices had responsibility to perform ordinances, conduct meetings, and visit members to see that all did their duty (see D&C 20:38–59). Various churches, or branches, would be guided and coordinated at quarterly conferences of the elders (see D&C 20:62–65).37

This revelation on Church organization built upon the Book of Mormon pattern, with the addition of deacons. The offices had a graded order from least (deacon) to highest (elder), with the First and Second Elders as the top officers, all unpaid.38

During the conference, new officers were ordained: Samuel H. Smith, an elder, by Oliver Cowdery; Joseph Smith Sr., Hyrum Smith, and Martin Harris as priests; and Hiram Page and Christian Whitmer as teachers. The conference gave licenses to the seven elders present and to three priests and two teachers to preach and teach.

By 1830 the priesthood tree had a sturdy trunk with several branches. Authority had been restored, that is, bestowed and shared. Joseph and early members called it “authority,” but not Melchizedek or Aaronic Priesthood or even priesthood.39 Priesthood bearers proselyted, baptized, confirmed, administered the sacrament, ordained, and conducted meetings as “they [were] directed and guided by the Holy Spirit,” and managed the Church (D&C 46:2). By February 1831, elders were blessing the sick through the laying on of hands (see D&C 42:43–48).40

Nevertheless, priesthood restoration was not complete. Still lacking were several branches, leaves, and blossoms: offices, understanding of greater and lesser priesthoods, the sealing keys, the priesthood temple ordinances, and the discovery of how priesthood offices should intermesh into a workable whole.

Higher and Lesser Priesthoods

During the next five years, Church relocations and growth and new revelations caused the single priesthood trunk to fork into clearly defined Aaronic and Melchizedek main branches, each properly budded. Many converts, like Solomon Humphrey, “got baptized and ordained an elder” and preached.41 Increasing numbers of priesthood officers required that men be grouped into quorums, their duties clearly differentiated by office, and units governed and coordinated.

Quarterly elders conferences supervised ordaining and preaching assignments. In December 1831 the Lord said converts were to “be ordained and sent forth to preach”—all men (and selected older boys)42 were to receive ordination to an office (D&C 36:5). But in February 1831, the Lord instructed that no one was to preach or build up the Church “except he be ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the church that he has authority and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the church” (D&C 42:11). Two years later, Joseph Smith taught that “there has been too much haste” in ordaining men to the priesthood, and some had not “magnified their calling at all.”43

A new office, a vital new limb of the priesthood tree, appeared on February 4, 1831, when Joseph Smith received a revelation calling Edward Partridge to be “ordained a bishop unto the church,” an office not foreshadowed in the available Nephite records (D&C 41:9). Two months earlier, the office was anticipated, however, when the Lord asked that men be appointed by the voice of the Church “to look to the poor and the needy” and to “govern the affairs of the property of this church” (D&C 38:35–36). The bishop was to be assisted by elders as his counselors (see D&C 42:72).44 By year’s end, Newel K. Whitney became the second bishop. He served Ohio Saints, and Partridge served those in Missouri.

Both bishops received the duty “to keep the Lord’s storehouse,” manage consecrated properties, receive funds, keep elders’ accounts, pay Church expenses, and care for the poor (see D&C 72:8–19). Bishops were not considered Aaronic Priesthood officers until later. For a few months “bishops and elders,” by revelation, governed local affairs.45 An August 1831 revelation said that elders in Missouri should be governed by conferences and that the bishop should direct the conference (see D&C 58:58–61).

By late 1831 the first deacons were ordained.46

In 1831, Joseph introduced another new office—a shoot that quickly became a branch of the trunk—high priest. No identifiable revelation announced or explained it, although high priests in the Book of Mormon led the church before Christ’s visit to the Americas. On June 3, 1831, Joseph Smith directed that more than twenty men, including himself, be ordained to the “high priesthood.”47 Not until 1835 was this called “Melchizedek Priesthood”; rather, contemporaries used its Book of Mormon name, the “high priesthood of the holy order of God” (Alma 13:6).

This new calling produced a priesthood trunk divided into “higher” and “lesser” branches. Only high priests received this higher priesthood; elders, priests, teachers, and deacons held the lower priesthood.48 Because the high priests were the highest officers in the Church, the high priests’ president was the presiding officer in the Church. Joseph Smith, who had led the Church as its First Elder, now led because he was the President of the High Priesthood. Within a year, he called counselors to assist him—the first First Presidency, in current terms.49 As usual, Joseph took his duties seriously and labored diligently to preside over the expanding priesthood.

On February 16, 1832, as part of the vision of the three degrees of glory, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were shown that among those who would receive God’s fullest rewards in the hereafter were “priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek”—the earliest reference in revelations to a Melchizedek Priesthood (D&C 76:57).

During September 1832, Joseph received a major revelation concerning priesthood (see D&C 84). It told of the temple to be reared at Kirtland—implying a priesthood tie to temples yet to come. The revelation traced the “Holy Priesthood” (D&C 84:6) back from Moses through Noah to Adam, told of a priesthood placed upon Aaron and his seed, and said the “Holy Priesthood” was the “greater priesthood” (D&C 84:25–26). Anciently, God had removed the Holy Priesthood from Israel, but “the lesser priesthood continued” (D&C 84:26). This lesser priesthood held keys of the preparatory gospel of repentance and baptism and “the law of carnal commandments” that passed down from Aaron to John the Baptist (D&C 84:27).

The priesthood revelation explained that the “offices of elder and bishop are necessary appendages belonging unto the high priesthood” and that the “offices of teacher and deacon are necessary appendages belonging to the lesser priesthood” (D&C 84:29–30). Holders of both priesthoods one day would offer sacrifices in a temple to be built. The Lord covenanted with those who received both priesthoods and magnified their callings that they would receive “all that my Father hath” (D&C 84:38). In the revelation, the Lord compared the priesthood to the human body, which needs head and feet and “every member” so that “the system may be kept perfect” (D&C 84:110). He instructed high priests to “take with [them] those who are ordained unto the lesser priesthood” as assistants (D&C 84:107). “Let every man stand in his own office, and labor in his own calling” (D&C 84:109). The high priests, elders, and priests “should travel” as proselyters (D&C 84:110). Deacons and teachers should be standing ministers locally.

High priest councils governed Church operations in Missouri and Ohio until 1834, when stakes were created.50 The creation of the first stake high council—“the standing council” at Kirtland—occurred on February 17, 1834 (D&C 102:1, 3). The First Presidency served as council presidency, much like a stake presidency today.51 Missouri received a twelve-man “council of high priests”52 and a presidency of Zion (the Second Presidency) on July 3, 1834. By early 1835, high councils were considered stake entities (see D&C 107:36).

More main branches sprang forth on the priesthood tree. Joseph Smith bestowed the first patriarchal blessing, on December 18, 1833, upon his father and mother, two brothers, and Oliver Cowdery. Then Joseph’s father was ordained to the Patriarchal Priesthood and given the keys of blessings.53

Then, commanded by God and shown in vision and by the Holy Spirit what to do, Joseph conducted a special priesthood conference on February 14, 1835, where the Three Witnesses selected Twelve Apostles.54 Two weeks later, Joseph explained the calling of the Twelve:

They are the Twelve Apostles, who are called to the office of traveling high council, who are to preside over all the churches of the Saints among the Gentiles, where there is no presidency established, and they are to travel and preach among the Gentiles, until the Lord shall command them to go to the Jews. They are to hold the keys of this ministry to unlock the door of the kingdom of heaven into all nations and to preach the Gospel to every creature. This is the power, authority and virtue of their Apostleship.55

Two weeks later, a quorum of Seventy was called into being, perhaps bearing some relationship to the seventy elders Moses called or to seventy missionaries the Savior ordained.56 “The Seventies,” Joseph Smith taught, “are to constitute traveling quorums, to go into all the earth, whithersoever the Twelve Apostles shall call them.” He and his counselors ordained the number who were present.57 By December 1836, two more quorums of seventy had been formed. Questions arose concerning which priesthood office had the higher authority, high priests or seventies? Joseph instructed that high priests could not be ordained as seventies, but the controversy lasted for decades.58

A month after the Apostles and the Seventy were called, Joseph Smith received another key priesthood revelation which, like a manual of instructions, clearly explained Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthood offices, duties, and interrelationships (see D&C 107). It provided the first details about structuring Aaronic Priesthood work.

“There are, in the church, two priesthoods,” the revelation begins. The first is Melchizedek and “all other authorities or offices in the church are appendages to this priesthood. . . . The office of an elder comes under the priesthood of Melchizedek” (D&C 107:1, 5, 7). High priests administer in spiritual things and can officiate in the office of elder, priest, teacher, or deacon. The Aaronic Priesthood is a lesser priesthood that has power in administering “in outward ordinances” (D&C 107:20). A high priest can serve as bishop.

The revelation taught that the Church’s three Presiding High Priests are the “quorum of the Presidency” of the Church. The Twelve Apostles are a traveling high council directed by the Church Presidency. The seventy are to travel into the world to preach. Stake high councils govern within their stake. The Twelve have a duty to ordain patriarchs (evangelical ministers59) and “to ordain and set in order all the other officers of the church” (D&C 107:58). Groups of ninety-six elders, forty-eight priests, twenty-four teachers, and twelve deacons are each to have their own presidencies, and the priests’ president is a bishop. Literal descendants of Aaron can be bishops and serve without counselors. “The bishopric is the presidency” of the Aaronic Priesthood (D&C 107:15). The Seventy have a seven-man presidency. The high priests have a Presiding High Priest, who “is to preside over the whole church, and to be like unto Moses” (D&C 107:91). Church court systems are outlined. The revelation concludes with a call for all officers to learn and do their own duties.

In fall 1835 the Church published the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. Unlike the Book of Commandments of 1833, this 1835 collection featured the priesthood revelations first. It opened with the Articles and Covenants (D&C 20), the newly received priesthood revelation (D&C 107), and the 1832 priesthood revelation (D&C 84).

Elijah and Sealing Authority

Even though all the priesthood offices had been revealed and their duties and organizations explained, the priesthood restoration process still lacked the promised visit of Elijah and the connection to temples. Moroni had promised Joseph Smith that Elijah would come to reveal “the priesthood” (D&C 2:1). Sidney Rigdon had been told by revelation that his labors had been preparing the way for Elijah, “which should come” (D&C 35:4). The Prophet pushed the completion of the Kirtland Temple because the Lord in 1833 had commanded him that “you should build a house, in the which house I design to endow those whom I have chosen with power from on high” (D&C 95:8).60

As part of the First Presidency of the Church during the dedication of the Kirtland Temple in 1836, Sidney Rigdon witnessed spiritual visions and manifestations. Courtesy Church Archives.

Designed according to revelation, the temple’s lower auditorium had elevated pulpits on the east end for Melchizedek Priesthood presidencies and on the west for Aaronic Priesthood presidencies.61 For the first time in this dispensation, priesthood and temple were firmly intertwined. On March 27, 1836, Joseph Smith dedicated the temple, and during subsequent days the priesthood quorums and their leaders received the ordinance of washing of feet, anointings, and the beginnings of temple endowments.

On April 3, 1836, the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon bowed in solemn prayer in the temple and beheld several remarkable visions about which they recorded neither details nor emotional reactions (see D&C 110). The Lord appeared and accepted the temple. Moses appeared and committed the keys of the gathering of Israel. Elias committed to them keys of the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham. Then came the visit promised by Malachi and reiterated by Moroni in 1823. Elijah “stood before us,” Joseph said, and bestowed the keys for turning hearts of fathers to children and children to fathers—the sealing powers (D&C 110:13–15).

But Joseph, now possessing great priesthood keys and powers, did not implement the higher priesthood ordinances made possible by the sealing powers until the Nauvoo Temple was under construction. Early in 1841 the Lord instructed his prophet that when the Nauvoo Temple was built, he would show Joseph “all things” pertaining to “the priesthood thereof” (D&C 124:42). Rooms should be prepared in the temple for all the grades and offices of the priesthood. Joseph Smith started using the sealing powers on behalf of deceased people in 1842 by authorizing baptisms for the dead. Even as workmen built the temple, the Lord promised that “I am about to restore many things to the earth, pertaining to the priesthood” (D&C 127:8).

In 1842, after giving the Twelve responsibility for leadership at home as well as abroad, Joseph Smith introduced them and other leaders to the full temple endowment by personally “instructing them in the principles and order of the Priesthood, attending to washings, anointings, endowments and the communication of keys pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood, and so on to the highest order of the Melchisedek Priesthood.”62

During his final five years, Joseph Smith, after serious meditations in Liberty Jail, did more teaching than ever before. As prophet-teacher, he taught in depth about the priesthood. By letter from Liberty Jail, he explained crucial priesthood principles of success and failure (see D&C 121:34–46). Men might receive the priesthood, he said, but lose it by caring too much about worldly matters, seeking honor and power, covering their sins, and exercising authority through compulsion or unrighteous dominion. Priesthood bearers lacked power or influence unless they practiced persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and genuine love. Men must learn “this one lesson,” he emphasized, that the priesthood must connect with the powers of heaven “and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness” (D&C 121:35–36). Unrighteousness causes the Spirit to withdraw, which in turn causes the priesthood power to withdraw.

In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith preached several vital discourses to explain priesthood. In September 1842 he told of various beings from Adam forward who had declared their dispensations to him and given him keys and “the power of the priesthood” (D&C 128:20–21). In mid-1843 he taught that a man receives the fullness of the priesthood by keeping the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the temple.63

In October 1843 the prophet-teacher explained that there are three “grand orders” of priesthood, Melchizedek, Patriarchal, and Levitical. Regarding the Patriarchal order he said: “Go to and finish the temple, and God will fill it with power, and you will then receive more knowledge, concerning this priesthood.”64

A year before his death, Joseph Smith recorded the capstone revelation of the priesthood restoration sequence. On July 12, 1843, he dictated the celestial marriage revelation, wherein the Lord said he would “give unto thee the law of my Holy Priesthood, as was ordained by me and my Father before the world was” (D&C 132:28). He conferred upon Joseph “the keys of the power of this priesthood” so that whatsoever Joseph sealed or loosed on earth would be sealed or loosed in heaven and be eternally valid, including marriages (D&C 132:46–48, 59). Joseph taught the Twelve that only one man on the earth at a time—the President of the Church—could hold the keys of the sealing power, and sealings had to be performed by him or “by his dictation.”65

Three months before his death, Joseph delivered his last priesthood sermon, and emphasized the importance of Elijah and the sealing authority. In it he asked: “What is this office and work of Elijah? It is one of the greatest and most important subjects that God has revealed.” He taught that “the spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the revelations, ordinances, oracles, powers and endowments of the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood,” and have power to turn hearts of children on earth to deceased fathers. It is by the Spirit of Elijah, he said, “that we redeem our Dead” and “connect ourselves with our fathers which are in heaven, and seal up our dead to come forth in the first resurrection.” By the power of Elijah we “seal those who dwell on earth to those who dwell in heaven.” He added that “the power of Elijah is sufficient to make our calling and election sure.”66

The Prophet introduced complete temple endowments to selected confidants, who became part of what was called the Holy Order. Men received endowments first, but, as charter members of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society were told by Bishop Whitney, in Joseph’s presence, “without the female all things cannot be restor’d to the earth—it takes all to restore the Priesthood.”67 The final step of priesthood restoration came during 1843, when Emma Smith became the first woman to obtain temple endowments, and she and Joseph received the highest temple rites.68 On September 28 the Prophet introduced the “fullness of priesthood ordinances” to a few dozen trusted believers. This group, or Holy Order, was kept small, he explained, to restrict the knowledge of the ordinances until the temple was completed and members could receive them in a properly dedicated edifice.69

With the granting of temple endowments, sealings of spouses for eternity, and granting the fullness of the priesthood, Elijah’s part of the priesthood restoration work was fully implemented. The priesthood tree stood complete with trunk, branches, and leaves and was bearing good fruit. Twenty years after Moroni’s first visit, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, “the fullness of priesthood” was operational on earth and available to tried, tested, and worthy Latter-day Saints. Joseph had faithfully restored and nurtured the mighty priesthood tree to mature size, shape, beauty, and usefulness.

Joseph Smith was both priesthood restorer and priesthood bearer. He received and honored the Aaronic Priesthood. He received and honored the Melchizedek Priesthood. Like all other priesthood holders, he received powers and duties and had to learn how to exercise and magnify them. His history is peppered with incidents when, as priesthood bearer, he taught, visited and cared for members, administered the sacrament, presided, anointed and blessed the sick, dedicated sites, bestowed and radiated the Holy Ghost, gave blessings, ordained, blessed children, and baptized.

For Joseph, priesthood was restored not only to the Church but to him as well. He received, honored, exercised, and cherished the power and authority God had granted him, and he felt great joy when others did the same—all of whom traced their priesthood lineage back to and through him.

This article was originally published in The Prophet Joseph: Essays on the Life and Mission of Joseph Smith, ed. Larry C. Porter and Susan Easton Black (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1988), 49–72.