Divorce; Blessing the Children
He crosses out of Galilee for the last time. The Pharisees test him on the one question guaranteed to make enemies whichever way he answers, and then people start bringing children, and his own disciples try to send them away.
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Note. The Joseph Smith Translation gives the disciples a reason for turning the children back, and it is a true saying of his used wrongly: “There is no need, for Jesus has said such shall be saved.” Mark’s account adds that Jesus heard them say it.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
1And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee and came into the borders of Judea beyond Jordan. 2And great multitudes followed him, and many believed on him, and he healed them there.
3The Pharisees came also unto him, testing him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for every cause? 4And he answered and said unto them, Have you not read that he who made them man at the beginning made them him male and female, 5and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh? 6Wherefore, they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. 7They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away? 8He said unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9And I say unto you, whoever shall divorce his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery. And whoever marries her that is divorced does commit adultery.
10His disciples said unto him, If the case of the man should be so with his a wife, it is not good to marry. 11But he said unto them, All cannot receive this saying. It is not for them save to whom it is given. 12For there are some eunuchs who were so born from their mother’s womb. And there are some eunuchs who were made eunuchs of men. And there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it my sayings.
13Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them, saying, There is no need, for Jesus has said such shall be saved. 14But Jesus said, Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven. 15And he laid his hands on them and departed from there.
1And he arose from there, and comes into the borders of Judea by the farther side of Jordan. And the people gathered unto him again, and as he was accustomed to teach, he also taught them again. 2And the Pharisees came to him and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? This they said, thinking to test him. 3And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? 4And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement and to divorce her. 5Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this precept, 6but from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. 7For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, 8and they two shall be one flesh. So then they are no more two, but one flesh. 9What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.
10And in the house, his disciples asked him again of the same matter. 11And he said unto them, Whoever shall divorce his wife and marry another commits adultery against her. 12And if a woman shall divorce her husband and be married to another, she commits adultery.
13And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them, and his the disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14But when Jesus saw it saw and heard them, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. 15Truly I say unto you, whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16And he took them up in his arms, and put his hands upon them and blessed them.
15And they brought unto him also infants, that he might touch them; but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16But Jesus called them unto him and said, Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. 17Truly I say unto you, Whoever will not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall by no means enter therein.
Children Have No Sins
Do What You Have Seen Me Do
The disciples rebuke the people for bringing children; Jesus lays his hands on them and blesses them. Preaching from the temple stand at Nauvoo, an address aimed at strangers and at other denominations, Joseph Smith made this scene the whole answer to infant baptism. The Ehat–Cook apparatus keys the sentence to Matthew 19:13–16. Not that children are unfit for the ordinance, but that they need nothing it gives; what Jesus did to them is what should be done to them.
Discourse, 9 July 1843, the temple stand, Nauvoo · History, 1838–1856, volume E-1, p. 1666 · History of the Church 5:498–500 · Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 313–314 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗“Do you believe in the baptism of infants?” asks the Presbyterian. No. “Why?” Because it is nowhere written in the Bible. Circumcision is not baptism, neither was baptism instituted in the place of circumcision. Baptism is for remission of sins. Children have no sins. Jesus blessed them and said, “Do what you have seen me do.” Children are all made alive in Christ, and those of riper years through faith and repentance.
Levi Richards did not take down the argument, only what kind of sermon it was; his one line is kept here because it tells you the setting: Joseph was speaking to outsiders, and the children were his common ground with them. The fuller reading above is the History’s, worked up from Willard Richards’s diary.