The Seventy's Course in Theology, Fifth Year: Divine Immanence and the Holy GhostRoberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
The Seventy's Course in Theology, Fifth Year: Divine Immanence and the Holy Ghost
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines
_3. The Dual Idea of "Father" and "Creator:"_ I said a moment
since that scripture terminology justified this dual idea that
goes with the use of "father" and "creator." Now to the proof: In
Hebrews we find this passage: "We have had fathers of our flesh which
corrected us, and we gave them reverence: Shall we not much rather be
in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?"[A] From this it is
learned that God is the "Father" of the spirits of men--from which
circumstance comes the title--"God, the Father." In the Book of Moses,
the Lord, following an account of the creation, says: "I, the Lord God,
created all things of which I have spoken spiritually, before they were
naturally upon the face of the earth. * * * And I, the Lord God, had
created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground;
for in heaven created I them. * * * And I, the Lord God, formed man
from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth,
the first man also; nevertheless all things were before created; but
spiritually were they created and made according to my word."[B]
[Footnote A: Heb. xii:9.]
[Footnote B: Book of Moses (Pearl of Great Price), ch. iii:5, c. f.
Doc. and Cov. Sec. xxix:30-34; also Book of Abraham, ch. iii:23. Gen.
i:26-27; c. f. Gen. ii:5-7.]
Here we have God saying that he had "created all the children of men,"
and yet there was not a man to till the earth; "for in heaven I created
them," that is, uniting this statement with Paul's passage, he had
become the "Father of spirits;" and "Father" and Creator are seen to be
used synonymously. Conversely: Nothing is clearer than that God, in the
Scriptures, is proclaimed the "Creator:" "Creator of heaven and earth
and all things that in them are." And now comes one of our Book of
Mormon writers, saying: "and they [i. e., Father and Son, see context]
are one God, yea, the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth."[A]
Which can only be understood as "creator of heaven and earth."
[Footnote A: Mosiah xv:4.]
Again: "Is the Son of God the very eternal Father? * * * Yea, he is
the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which
in them is."[A] In the quotation following the terms are used in
combination. Samuel, the Lamanite prophet, was sent unto the people of
a certain city, that they "might know of the coming of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all
things, from the beginning."[B] From these passages it is evident that
the term "father" is made to include the idea of "Creator."
[Footnote A: Alma xi:38, 39.]
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