Literature / Doctrine and Covenants

Since Mormonism was founded on the principle of living prophets and continuing revelation, it has an open scriptural canon. The revelations and inspired writings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his accepted successors are compiled in the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C). Unlike The Bible and The Book of Mormon, which are considered the Word of God translated from ancient records, these writings are considered God's word to his people from prophets in modern times.

Due to the Succession Crisis after Joseph Smith's death and subsequent splitting of groups, there are several different versions with overlapping content considered canon by different churches:

• The LDS Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) version is online here. The current section numbering and ordering was established in 1876 under Brigham Young (when several sections were added and one removed), except for the later-added sections 137 and 138. This is the most common section numbering scheme in use; therefore, section numbers and verses on this page refer to the LDS edition of the Doctrine and Covenants unless otherwise noted.
• The Community of Christ (formerly RLDS) version can be found here. The current section numbering was established in 1864, and later revised in 1906 when sections 3–9 were renumbered. New sections are added every few years, meaning this version grows much more frequently than the LDS version.
• The Restoration Branches version is here. Since the Restoration Branches are an RLDS schism, this uses the same numbering as the Community of Christ version, but excludes all sections after 144, and includes five sections (107, 109, 110, 113, 123) later decanonised and blanked in the Community of Christ edition.
• The Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints version is here. Since the Remnant Church is also a RLDS schism, numbers up to 144 are (where applicable) the same as the Restoration Branches and Community of Christ versions, while the rest are unique (109 and 110 are omitted, but the others kept).
• A version used by followers of Denver Snuffer (confusingly also called the "Remnant"), retitled "Teachings and Commandments" and also incorporating some of the material from The Pearl of Great Price, is here.

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Tropes in the Doctrine and Covenants:

• Against My Religion: For LDS, D&C 89 serves as a well known example, forbidding the consumption of strong drinks (which the LDS Church interprets as drinks with any quantity of alcohol), hot drinks (which the LDS Church interprets as tea and coffee, regardless of temperature) and tobacco (which prohibition the LDS Church extends to apply to marijuana and to hard drugs), and also requesting moderation of meat intake (although this doesn't tend to be preached or policed to the same extent). It was originally presented as "not by commandment, or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom", and has acquired the name Word of Wisdom, although the LDS Church teaches that it has since been made a commandment so it is required to qualify for a temple recommend. (The Community of Christ, while also valuing it and retaining it in canon, still tends to view it as a voluntary covenant to a greater extent, doesn't have a concept of temple worthiness, and does not share the LDS interpretation of "hot drinks".)
• Archangel Michael: In D&C 107:54, it's revealed that Adam is Michael the archangel.
• Artifact Title: The name Doctrine and Covenants was adopted for the second edition, which combined the expanded Book of Commandments (renamed the Book of Covenants) with the newly added Lectures of Faith (or Book of Doctrine) in a single volume. Neither the LDS Church nor the Community of Christ consider the Lectures of Faith canon today, but both continue to use the name Doctrine and Covenants for what is now just the Covenants part (plus the Official Declarations, in the LDS edition). Somewhat downplayed in that there is still doctrinal content, so the title isn't wrong per se.
• Canon Discontinuity / Re-Cut:
  • Three editions were published in Joseph Smith's lifetime, each with more content than the previous one and a different section numbering. Following the Succession Crisis after Joseph Smith's death, the canon of the D&C was also fractured, with the LDS Church and the RLDS Church (now the Community of Christ) maintaining different editions with sections added or removed. Part of the whole deal of the Doctrine and Covenants is that it is an open canon: God continues to speak today, so new scripture can be added at any time (although the LDS Church does this only relatively rarely).
  • The Lectures on Faith were removed from the Doctrine and Covenants by the RLDS Church in 1897 and by the LDS Church in 1921. The modern LDS edition says that they were omitted "because they were not given or presented as revelations to the whole Church."
  • Some Mormon denominations reject certain sections of the LDS edition because they believe they weren't inspired or written by Joseph Smith. For example, the LDS Church, at the same time as renumbering all the sections, removed a section originally numbered D&C 101 which affirms monogamy, because it was believed to have been written by Oliver Cowdery; and the Community of Christ rejects the teachings on plural marriage in LDS D&C 132. Also, the Cutlerites continued following the Law of Consecration and believe the sections on tithing weren't written by Joseph Smith. Some smaller denominations distrust the additions and changes (see Orwellian Retcon below) made later in Joseph Smith's life, and prefer the first-edition Book of Commandments.
  • The LDS D&C has 138 sections and two official declarations, compared to 111 in the last of the three editions published in Joseph Smith's lifetime. The LDS Church mostly focused on adding additional documents from Joseph Smith's lifetime (including the disputed plural marriage section), with the only sections originating after Joseph Smith being 136 and 138 (plus both Official Declarations). Some of the added sections were excerpted from The Pearl of Great Price: sections 2 and 13 are excerpts from Joseph Smith–History, and sections 77, 87 and (much later) 137 and 138 first appeared in the Pearl of Great Price before being moved.
  • The Community of Christ edition currently has 165 section numbers, although the actual section count is slightly different, due to the occasional annexed section with numbers like 149A, and five sections which are no longer included but which weren't renumbered. The RLDS Church focused on adding new material authored by prophet-presidents and canonised by conference vote, and took the opposite approach to the material from Joseph Smith's lifetime, demoting or removing five sections considered "historical", three of which were temple-related instruction from the Nauvoo period which was argued not to apply following Joseph Smith's death and the subsequent scattering and re-organisation of the church (for example section 107, equivalent to LDS section 124, was moved to a historical appendix in 1970 and then deleted in 1990). The exception is sections 22 and 36, which are excerpts from the Joseph Smith Translation (specifically from the part that the LDS Church calls the Book of Moses, meaning they are canon for the LDS Church too but not considered part of the Doctrine and Covenants).^note CofC section 36 contains part of the Zion of Enoch narrative, and corresponds to chapter 7 of the Pearl of Great Price Book of Moses and chapter 7 of the JST version of Genesis (the first part of which uses somewhat different chapter breaks to the non-JST bible due to the extra Enoch material, although they sync up later in the book). CofC section 22 contains the "this is my work and my glory" visions attributed to Moses, corresponding to Moses chapter 1 in the Pearl of Great Price and an untitled introduction attached to (but not included in) Genesis in the JST.
• Code Name: several code names are used for people, mostly in sections related to the United Order. The LDS Church has mostly replaced these with the names of the people believed to be referenced, while the Community of Christ keeps them but lists their meanings in the section headers.
• Compressed Adaptation:
  • Sections 121 through 123 of the LDS Church edition are modified from a couple of epistles sent by Joseph Smith from Liberty Jail (first, second, cleaned up transcript of both). Section 121 consists of a number of cut-up excerpts from mostly the first epistle (plus the unrighteous dominion discourse from the second) stuck together, with no indication that the material between them has been removed. Sections 122 and 123 are single excerpts from the second one, although the fact that the first verse of 122 was supposed to directly follow the last verse of 121 is not indicated (this is the only place in the Doctrine and Covenants where this is the case, since the sections mostly originate as separate documents).
  • Latter-day Revelations was an abridged edition of the Doctrine and Covenants curated by James E Talmage (of Jesus the Christ fame) containing only 41 sections,^* 1, 2, 4, 7, 13, 18, 19, 20, 22, 27, 29, 38, 42, 43, 45, 46, 50, 56, 58, 59, 63, 64, 65, 68, 76, 84, 87, 88, 89, 93, 98, 101, 107, 110, 119, 121, 124, 130, 131, 133 and 134—note that sections 137 and 138 hadn't been canonised yet of which roughly half had been shortened to some extent. It was withdrawn with unsold copies destroyed due to controversy over the exclusion of section 132.
• Deity of Human Origin: Those who are married by God's authority and remain faithful are promised that someday they will "be gods, because they have no end... because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them."
• Despair Event Horizon: While Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail, he prays to know why God has seemingly left him. God responds by giving some comfort, saying he is "not yet as Job" and that all his trials will be for his benefit (see Sections 121 & 122).
• Fallen Angel: How Lucifer became Satan, as described in D&C 76:26-28.
• Fate Worse than Death: The Lord says that, for the Sons of Perdition, it would've been better they'd never been born (D&C 76:32).
• Handshake Refusal: One of the three grand keys for dealing with ministering angels and spirits in D&C 129 is that if you offer to shake the hand of a righteous spirit, he will refuse "because it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive".
• Hell Invades Heaven: Inverted in Joseph F. Smith's vision in Section 138. He sees Christ organizing the spirits in paradise to preach the gospel to those in spirit prison.
• Holy City:
  • Independence, Missouri is designated the City of Zion (D&C 57:1-2).
  • Nauvoo, Illinois becomes important as a gathering place for the Saints after they're kicked out of Missouri.
• I Have Many Names: Section 19 explains that "endless" and "eternal" are names of God, so when the scriptures say "endless punishment" or "eternal punishment" they're actually talking about God's punishment (not that the punishment has no end).
• It's the Journey That Counts:
  • The background to Section 111 is that the Church is cash-strapped and its leaders hear there's money in Salem, Massachusetts. However, when Joseph Smith and other church leaders get there, they find nothing. The Lord tells them to get acquainted with the people of Salem because "there are more treasures than one for you in this city," meaning their treasure was actually the people they met in Salem. (That said, the wording of the section - "not displeased with your coming this journey, notwithstanding your follies" - does suggest that getting value from the journey is simply making the best of a non-ideal situation.)
  • This is the purpose of Zion's Camp in Section 105, at least according to an LDS Church-produced film on the expedition. The LDS Church tends to view Zion's Camp as a test of both character and loyalty, and as instrumental in selecting subsequent church leaders.^note The Community of Christ tends to view it as the first of several failed (and sometimes disastrously so) attempts to solve the church's problems by appeal to violence.
• Let's See YOU Do Better!: When Joseph Smith's revelations were first published, some people criticized the language. Section 67 is given as a response to these criticisms.
  [...] if there be any among you that shall make one like unto it, then ye are justified in saying that ye do not know that they are true;
• Marry Them All:
  • In Section 132, the Lord explains that the ancient prophets like Abraham, Moses, and Solomon were justified in taking multiple wives because He commanded them to do so. God then gives the same commandment to Joseph Smith. This section is included by the LDS Church, although the Doctrine and Covenants of the main-line LDS Church includes Official Declaration 1, which denounces and prohibits the practice of plural marriage.^note It continued in the highest echelons of the church behind the president's back for some time later, on the assumption that OD1 was merely to placate secular authorities and section 132 was the "real" commandment, and rival "fundamentalist" Mormon denominations still practice it, citing section 132 as their scriptural basis.
  • Prohibited by the Community of Christ edition. RLDS tradition does not consider LDS section 132 to be true scripture,^note Traditionally, the RLDS Church regarded it as a forgery made under Brigham Young's aegis, following Joseph Smith the Third's belief that his father did not practice polygamy; the Community of Christ today is more open to historical research, and thus the overwhelming evidence that Joseph Smith (Jr) was involved, but there is still some evidence that he might have acknowledged it to be a mistake and tried to backpedal during the last few months of his life; see this lecture by a Community of Christ Seventy. seeing that it goes against at least a surface reading of The Book of Mormon.^note which generally condemns polygamy, but leaves open the possibility for God to instruct otherwise in particular circumstances—in particular, however, the Book of Mormon portrays David and Solomon as having sinned for having multiple wives, while section 132 portrays them as having not sinned. The Community of Christ D&C denounces plural marriage in section 111 (which does not have an LDS edition number, because the LDS have not included it since 1876, although it was numbered 101 in the Kirtland edition and is sometimes discussed as such).
• Mystical White Hair: Christ has white hair, according to a vision Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had in D&C 110:3.
• Orwellian Retcon: Several sections differ from their text in the original Book of Commandments, with no acknowledgement that they have been changed. David Whitmer of the Three Witnesses, after breaking with Joseph Smith, later highlighted several of these changes as evidence for his claims that Joseph Smith had been called to bring forth the Book of Mormon but subsequently started teaching false doctrine. Although the LDS Church and Community of Christ both use the later versions of the sections, i.e. consider the revisions to also be inspired, some smaller denominations side with Whitmer on this.
  • Chapter 4 of the Book of Commandments (now section 5 in both editions) states that Joseph Smith "has a gift to translate the book, and I have commanded him that he shall pretend to no other gift, for I will grant him no other gift", which could be interpreted as making Joseph Smith's claims to prophetic calling after the Book of Mormon was finished invalid. Later editions describe it as the "first gift", and that he would receive no other gift "until it is finished" along with other considerable changes, with text being elaborated in places and paraphrased more briefly elsewhere.
  • Chapter 7 of the Book of Commandments (now section 8 in both editions) contains some explanation about how Oliver Cowdery's success with using a dowsing or divining rod only worked due to a gift of the Spirit, and that there was nothing else that would allow it to work. This section originally referred to Oliver's gift as "the gift of working with the rod", but the wording was changed to the more cryptic "the gift of Aaron" in later editions.
  • Chapter 9 (now LDS section 10 or CofC section 3) did not include the term "Urim and Thummim" in the first verse in the original Book of Commandments, but does in later editions.
  • Chapter 28 of the Book of Commandments (now LDS section 27 or CofC section 26) was considerably shorter than in later editions. The additions include elaboration on the remark about the Armour of God, notably adding the statement that "ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also", and a lengthy elaboration on "those whom my Father hath given me out of the world" in terms of holders of various priesthood keys, equating the Archangel Michael to Adam, and identifying an "Elias" distinct from Elijah^* an interpretation of Matthew 17:11-13: "Elias" is normally the name Elijah with a Greek declining suffix, and indeed more recent Bible translations simply render it "Elijah", though Joseph Smith seems to have understood the "spirit of Elias" and "spirit of Elijah" to be different things as the angel who appeared to Zacharias to announce the future conception of John the Baptist.^* i.e. Gabriel/Noah. Some smaller denominations dispute the longer version of this section.
• Our Angels Are Different: Section 132 indicates that people who are generally righteous, but not married (or, at least, didn't have their marriages "sealed" by God's authority), become angels instead of gods.
• Preacher Man: Joseph Smith.
• The Punishment: Most of the Sons of Perdition are resurrected like everyone else, but they're cast out of God's presence with Satan and his angels.
• Rule of Three:
  • Section 76 explains that there are three kingdoms in the resurrection, the Telestial Kingdom, the Terrestrial Kingdom, and the Celestial Kingdom, whose glory can be compared to the stars, the moon, and the sun (respectively).
  • Section 131 suggests that the Celestial Kingdom itself has its own three sub-degrees of glory.
• Sacred Scripture: Defined in D&C 68:4:
  And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.
• Significant Reference Date: D&C 20, the church's foundational document, opens with "The rise of the Church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh...in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month, which is called April.” This has often been interpreted to mean that April 6, 1830 was exactly 1,830 years to the day after Jesus was born, placing the birth of Jesus on April 6, 1 BCE, an idea popularized by James A. Talmage's classic 1915 LDS devotional book Jesus the Christ. Several church leaders have supported this belief from the pulpit, while others have been more skeptical, and historians have noted that John Whitmer, Smith's scribe at the time, used "one thousand eight hundred and thirty one years, since the coming of our Lord and Savior in the flesh" in a document from June 1831, implying that it was just his grandiose way of saying "it's 1830/1".^note There's also the issue that Herod the Great most likely died in 4 BCE, which puts a Jesus birth in 1 BCE in conflict with the Gospel of Matthew.
• Take That!: Section 49 is a direct refutation of Shaker beliefs.
• Time for Plan B: After Martin Harris loses 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript, the Lord instructs Joseph Smith not to re-translate this portion because it's a trap. Instead, He instructs Joseph to translate the Plates of Nephi.
• Together in Death: The Doctrine and Covenants introduces the doctrine of eternal families. Following the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, John Taylor writes, "...In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!" (D&C 135:3).
• Wham Episode: Section 110 starts with Jesus appearing to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Moses appears to them and gives them the authority to gather Israel and lead the ten tribes, and Elias promises that they will have the blessing promised to Abraham's children. Finally, Elijah gives them the sealing power, fulfilling the prophecy in Malachi 4:5-6, and paving the way for latter-day temple work.