NT #6 Bruce. Apostolic interpretations

Apostolic Interpretations re: New Testament Lesson # 6

re: Matthew 10:39 

“Our service should be for the love of God and the love of fellowmen rather than for personal advantage or any other lesser motive” including “hope of earthly reward,” or even “the hope of an eternal reward”(Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, Oct 1984 CR).

re: John 20:19-21; Acts 1:22

          “For an apostle it was indispensably necessary that he should be able to testify as an eye witness to the resurrection of the Savior” (Apostle John Taylor, editor, Times and Seasons 4:67 [Nauvoo, IL; 15 Feb 1843]:101; see also Acts 1:22).

       “The very first act of the Twelve after Christ's ascension was to choose a man from among those who had been eye witnesses of Christ's resurrection… to take Judas' place….  Only such a one was considered eligible … to be chosen as one of the Twelve Apostles.” (Apostle/President David O. McKay, Oct. 1925 CR; Apr. 1966 CR.)

“[A person] may be an Apostle but not one of the Council of the Twelve; whether Paul was a member or whether he was not … he was an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and a witness of his resurrection” (Apostle David O McKay, 1938, Gospel Ideals, 250; see also, e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:3-9).

“Your ordination is not full and complete till God has laid His hand upon you…. If the Savior in former days laid His hands upon His disciples … [w]e require as much to qualify us …” (Charge given to the Twelve Apostles by Elder Oliver Cowdery after he had ordained each of them to that office, History of the Church 2:195.)

“God hath not revealed anything to Joseph, but what He will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least Saint may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them, for the day must come when no man need say to his neighbor, Know ye that Lord; for all shall know Him … from the least to the greatest. How is this to be done? It is to be done by … the other Comforter spoken of, which will be manifest by revelation….  Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and … when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have … Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him … and even He will manifest the Father unto him …” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 268; History of the Church 3:380, 381.)

“I know that Jesus lives; for I have seen Him” (Apostle George Q. Cannon, Oct 1896 CR). 

“I know the Savior lives; and I know the Savior” (Apostle/President Boyd K. Packer).

re: Matthew 10:40–41.  “A prophets reward” is “Exaltation” which we receive “by accepting prophets … for what they are, [and] by obeying their teachings” (Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 1:337.)

Some Latter-day Apostolic Witnesses

“I found myself … in the dreams of the night, in the temple… I was informed that I should have the privilege of entering into one of those sacred rooms to meet a glorious Personage, and, as I entered the door I saw seated on a raised platform, the most glorious Being my eyes have ever beheld … He arose and stepped toward me with extended arms, and He smiled as He softly spoke my name. If I shall live to be a million years old I shall never forget that smile. He took me into His arms and kissed me, until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt. When He had finished I fell at His feet, and as I bathed them with my tears and kisses, I saw the prints of the nails in the feet of the Redeemer of the world. The feeling that I had in the presence of Him … to have His love, His affection and His blessing was such that if I ever can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, I would give all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, to feel what I then felt.” (Apostle Melvin J. Ballard, see, e.g., Melvin J. Ballard, Crusader for Righteousness, 66; Oct 1917 CR, 112.)

“I had a dream which I am sure was from the Lord… I was in the presence of my  Savior... He spoke no word to me, but my love for him was such that I have not words to explain. I know that no mortal can love the Lord as I experienced … unless God reveals it unto him. . . . [A]s a result of that dream I [felt] that no matter what the gospel might entail … I would do what I should be asked to do, even to the laying down of my life.” (Apostle George F. Richards Oct 1946 CR, 139; quoted in Faith Precedes the Miracle, 39-40.)

          From behind a tree in the Garden of Gethsemane in a vision, Apostle Orson F. Whitney “beheld Jesus with Peter, James and John … telling them to kneel and pray… [Jesus then went a ways further and] also knelt and prayed. ‘Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.’ As He prayed the tears streamed down his face, which was toward me. I was so moved at the sight that I also wept... My whole heart went out to him; I loved him with all my soul, and longed to be with him as I longed for nothing else. Presently He arose and walked to where those Apostles were kneeling—fast asleep. He shook them gently, awoke them, and [without] the least show of anger or impatience, asked them plaintively if they could not watch with him….

            “All at once the circumstances seemed to change... [I]t was after the crucifixion, and the Savior, with the three Apostles… were about to depart and ascend into Heaven…. I ran [and] fell at his feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with Him. I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He raised me up, and embraced me….  I felt the very warmth of his body, as He held me in His arms and said in tenderest tones: ‘No, my son; these have finished their work; they can go with me; but you must stay and finish yours.’  .… I besought him fervently: ‘Promise me that I will come to you at the last.’ Smiling sweetly, He said: ‘That will depend entirely upon you’….

“…. I had never thought of being an Apostle, or of holding any other office in the Church, and it did not occur to me even then. Yet I know that those sleeping Apostles meant me. I had been ‘asleep at my post.’ But from that hour, all was changed. I was never the same man again. I did [nothing thereafter] to the neglect of the Lord's work. I held that first and foremost; all else was secondary.” (Apostle Orson F. Whitney, quoted by President Spencer W. Kimball in his book Faith Precedes the Miracle, 26-27.)