An Old Testament Church

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we often speak of ourselves as the New Testament Church restored in the latter days. The people, stories, and activities of the church described in the New Testament have heavily influenced the Church today. For example, it was a passage in James that led Joseph to the Sacred Grove seeking understanding from God about which church to join. As he therafter was heavily persecuted he found great connection with Paul who was similarly persecuted (JSH 1:24). Joseph Smith received priesthood authority to baptize from John the Baptist in May of 1829, and soon afterwards he received keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood to lead the church from Peter, James and John. Twelve apostles were called in 1835 just as the Savior organized when He was in mortality. Many of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants are tightly connected to New Testament writings such as section 4 about missionary work and the divine nature taught by Peter (see John 4:25, 2 Peter 1:4-7), section 7 about John the Beloved, section 74 about Paul’s words to the Corinthians, section 76 about the degrees of glory based on John 5, section 77 about the book of Revelation, and section 138 about work for the dead based on Peter’s words. We see the influence of the New Testament people and church in our teachings, scriptures, and practices. In short, Joseph Smith summarized it this way: “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth” (Article of Faith 6).

                And yet, we also must recognize that when we speak of the Restoration, we are not only talking about the restoration of the New Testament Church. In fact, as I heard someone suggest recently, we are just as much connected to the Old Testament as we are to the New Testament. This is evident with even a cursory glance at our history, scriptures, and teachings. For example, while Joseph went into the Sacred Grove reading the New Testament, he came out quoting the Old Testament: “The Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof’” (JSH 1:19). Those words of the Lord were a paraphrase of Isaiah 29:13. When he was visited by Moroni a few years later, Joseph recorded that the angel “commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament.” Moroni quoted or paraphrased Malachi 4, Isaiah 11, and Joel 2 to the young boy as an introduction to the work he would do and the book he would receive (JSH 1:36-41). As Joseph subsequently translated the Book of Mormon given to him by Moroni, he found inside page after page of quotations and references to the Old Testament. This includes almost 1/3 of the book of Isaiah quoted throughout the Book of Mormon as well as passages from or references to many prominent Old Testament figures: Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, Jeremiah, Micah, and Malachi are all found in the Book of Mormon. The Nephites, up until the time the Savior came, lived according to the Law of Moses as found in the first five books of the Old Testament. In addition, the Old Testament themes of the scattering and gathering of Israel, the establishment of Zion, and the building of temples are prominent in the text as well. It was clear from the outset that the Old Testament was not a second-class citizen in the church that Joseph was being called to restore.