Jesus’ Power
New Testament Student Manual, pg 25; “Jesus was perfectly obedient, and because he was, “he received all power, both in heaven and on earth.” (D&C 93:17. Emphasis added.) But Jesus did not receive this great power and glory all at once. He received it piecemeal, step by step, degree by degree, “line upon line, precept upon precept” (D&C 128:21) until he received a fulness of the glory of the Father (see D&C 93:11–17).”
Colossians 1:15-17; “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
John 1:1; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Luke 2:52; “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
Jesus didn’t increase in His “Godhood status” while growing up. Growing in wisdom from the passage the Church has obviously built their doctrine upon doesn’t mean he didn’t know what was going on or that He was less powerful or less smart if you will.
Jesus created the earth and laid its foundation! He didn’t receive power piecemeal by piecemeal! Man grows in knowledge that way, but Jesus was fully God while being fully man at the same time!
Scripture tells us He humbled Himself for awhile to be an example for us who are mere humans. – Philippians 2:8 He grew in stature, meaning physically, and grew in wisdom, meaning wisdom of what it’s like to be a human being who is growing into an adult.
Jesus was and has always been God. Revelation 1:8.
As you can see this teaching came from the student manual the Church uses today. While it’s gone through some updates through the years I pulled this off their site in August 2013.
It this how the LDS explains away not telling their people everything about Mormonism right away? We Christians can find all we want to know first without having to get things a little at a time.
Well kind of. That term and phrase is usually reserved for the prophets and obviously God. If they told the investigator everything up front they’d not have many converts.
They believe and teach that the Mormon prophets all receive a little knowledge at a time because it’s an evolutionary type of religion and subject to change at any given time. They believe God only told Smith and company a little at a time to test them and see if they’d be obedient to what he revealed thus far.
They’re more concerned about not overwhelming the newbies more than anything else so very little is taught to those going thru their missionary lessons.
I remember my husband and I talking about our daughter Mallory a few years after she died – and while I don’t recall exactly what I said about her being in heaven before she was born, I remember he looked at me and said what are talking about? By that time he’d been Mormon for more than six years and still had no idea about the pre-existence. I was obviously still a Mormon. 🙁
Michelle