A Wicked and Adulterous Generation

On one occasion the scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus saying, “Master, we would see a sign from thee.”  Jesus responded to them with this famous statement: “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign” (Matt. 12:38-39).  At a different time we read again, “The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.”  Part of the Savior’s response to them was, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed” (Matt. 16:4).  What is it that relates the adulterer with the sign seeker?  The Doctrine and Covenants student manual gives this suggestion: “When we understand this process, we can see why sign seeking is condemned. Someone who demands outward evidence of the power of God as a condition for believing is seeking to circumvent the process by which faith is developed. He wants proof without price. As with the adulterer, he seeks the results without accepting the responsibility. Thus it is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks signs.”   

               Joseph Smith believed this scripture very literally.  In the same discussion the student manual records this quote from him: “I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the Kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives. The principle is as correct as the one that Jesus put forth in saying that he who seeketh a sign is an adulterous person; and that principle is eternal, undeviating, and firm as the pillars of heaven; for whenever you see a man seeking after a sign, you may set it down that he is an adulterous man.” (Teachings, pp. 156–57.)  Joseph also showed that he believed this, for he recorded this incident in his journal: “When I was preaching in Philadelphia, a Quaker called out for a sign, I told him to be still. After Sermon he again asked for a sign. I told the Congregation the man was an Adulterer, that a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and that the Lord had said to me in a Revelation that any man who wanted a sign was an Adulterous person ‘it is true’ cried one ‘for I caught him in the very act’. which the man afterwards confessed when he was baptized.”

               I think we see a few examples as well in the scriptures.  Korihor was one who did “lead away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men, to commit whoredoms—telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof” (Alma 30:18).  He was an adulterer.  He was also a sign-seeker, saying to Alma: “If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words” (Alma 30:43).  As I’ve written previously, Herod Antipus was another: he took his brother Philip’s wife and was condemned by John the Baptist for it.  He was clearly an adulterer.  Later when Jesus was on trial, we read that he was “exceedingly glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he has heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him” (Luke 23:8).  He was a sign-seeker who had no interest in real faith.  Also, I think it’s highly likely that among those “scribes and Pharisees” who came to the Savior seeking a sign were the same “scribes and Pharisees [who] brought unto [Jesus] a woman taken in adultery.”  Those who brought the woman likely include the adulterous counterpart.    

               The lesson for us is that we must seek faith, not signs.  We must search for the quiet voice of God’s spirit that leads to true devotion instead of the dramatic miracles whose influence fades quickly, and that will help protect us from grievous sins.  And then the signs will come as an evidence of our faith: “Signs shall follow them that believe” (Ether 4:18).