There are many examples here too, but the clearest and yet the most overlooked, is the beginning of the Book of Revelation: ‘The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his people what must soon take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus, even to all that he saw.’ (Rev.1.1-2 [Rev. 1:1]). Jesus was one of the people who had stood in heaven – in the temple this was represented by the holy of holies - and there received heavenly teaching.
In the temple, those who mystically stood in heaven were standing in the holy of holies which represented the state outside time and matter, the state of unity that lay beyond and so, in a sense before, the material creation. In the temple this state was hidden behind the veil and because it housed the cherub throne, and it was known as the Kingdom. This is why Jesus said: ‘The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you’ (Luke 17.21 [Luke 10:2]). Because it represented Day One of the creation, it represented the source and the beginning, the uncreated divine light. This is where John begins his gospel: ‘In the beginning was the Word... in him was light... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...’ In the temple, this was ritualised as the King emerging from the holy of holies.
It had been a first temple practice for the king/high priest to enter the holy of holies and there to learn from the LORD. This was the original context for that theologically scandalous passage in Proverbs 30, in which someone had ascended to heaven and come down. He had learned wisdom and knowledge in the presence of God which included the secrets of creation and the name of the divine son. This material can be found in 1 Enoch, especially in the section known as the Similitudes, but there is still some evidence in the Hebrew Scriptures of people who entered the holy of holies and acquired knowledge there.
In the Beginning Was the Word
Before Bethlehem, before the wilderness, before all things: the gospel was preached through the Son, the Word who was with God and was God. The Light that made every living thing came into the world, and the world knew him not.
Note. John’s prologue has no parallel among the other gospels.
? 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.
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made which was made. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men. In him was the gospel, and the gospel was the life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. And the light shines in the world, and the world perceives it not.
6There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7The same came into the world for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, to bear record of the gospel through the Son unto all, that through him men might believe. 8He was not that Light, but came to bear witness of that Light, 9who was the true Light who lights every man who comes into the world, 10He was even the Son of God, he who was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God — even to them that believe only to them who believe on his name. 13Which were born, He was born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the same Word was made flesh and dwelled among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15John bore witness of him and cried, saying, This is he of whom I spoke. He who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. For in the beginning was the Word, even the Son, who is made flesh and sent unto us by the will of the Father. And as many as believe on his name shall receive of his fullness. 16And of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. even immortality and eternal life through his grace. 17For the law was given through Moses, but grace life and truth came through Jesus Christ. For the law was after a carnal commandment, to the administration of death, but the gospel was after the power of an endless life through Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. 18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. And no man has seen God at any time, except he has borne record of the Son, for except it is through him, no man can be saved.
John Saw and Bore Record
The Fulness of John’s Record
D&C 93:6–14 (CCE T&C 93:2–4) · May 6, 1833 · scriptures.info ↗A revelation given to Joseph Smith preserves what it calls “the fulness of John’s record”, the same opening the fourth gospel sets down: the Word who was in the beginning, the Light and the life of men by whom all things were made; the Only Begotten, full of grace and truth; and the fulness received “not at the first,” but “from grace to grace.”
John saw and bore record of the fullness of my glory, and the fullness of John’s record is hereafter to be revealed. And he bore record saying, I saw his glory, that he was in the beginning, before the world was. Therefore, in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the Messenger of Salvation, the Light and the Redeemer of the world, the Spirit of Truth, who came into the world because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. The worlds were made by him. Men were made by him. All things were made by him, and through him, and of him.
And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of Truth which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us. And I, John, saw that he received not of the fullness at the first, but received grace for grace; and he received not of the fullness at first, but continued from grace to grace until he received a fullness, and thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fullness at the first.
The Only Begotten of the Father, Full of Grace and Truth
The fifth of the Lectures on Faith, given at Kirtland in the winter of 1834–35 and printed in 1835 as the first part of the Doctrine and Covenants, is the fullest statement of the Father and the Son in Joseph Smith’s early teaching. It never cites John 1, and is not an exposition of it; it is shown because it is written in the Prologue’s own words: all things made by him (v. 3), the Son in the bosom of the Father (v. 18), the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (v. 14), and the saints growing “from grace to grace” as they receive of his fulness (v. 16).
Lectures on Faith, Lecture Fifth, ¶2, in Doctrine and Covenants (Kirtland, 1835), pp. 52–54 · canonized in the CCE as Teachings and Commandments 110 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in Teachings and Commandments 110, Lecture 5:2.
There are two personages who constitute the great matchless, governing and supreme power over all things—by whom all things were created and made, that are created and made, whether visible or invisible: whether in heaven, on earth, or in the earth, under the earth, or throughout the immensity of space—They are the Father and the Son: The Father being a personage of spirit, glory and power: possessing all perfection and fulness: The Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, a personage of tabernacle, made, or fashioned like unto man, or being in the form and likeness of man, or, rather, man was formed after his likeness, and in his image;—he is also the express image and likeness of the personage of the Father: possessing all the fulness of the Father, or, the same fulness with the Fathe[r]; being begotten of him, and was ordained from before the foundation of the world to be a propitiation for the sins of all those who should believe on his name, and is called the Son because of the flesh—and descended in suffering below that which man can suffer, or, in other words, suffered greater sufferings, and was exposed to more powerful contradictions than any man can be. But notwithstanding all this, he kept the law of God, and remained without sin: Showing thereby that it is in the power of man to keep the law and remain also without sin. And also, that by him a righteous judgment might come upon all flesh, and that all who walk not in the law of God, may justly be condemned by the law, and have no excuse for their sins. And he being the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and having overcome, received a fulness of the glory of the Father—possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit, that bears record of the Father and the Son, and these three are one, or in other words, these three constitute the great, matchless, governing and supreme power over all things: by whom all things were created and made, that were created and made: and these three constitute the Godhead, and are one: The Father and the Son possessing the same mind, the same wisdom, glory, power and fulness: Filling all in all—the Son being filled with the fulness of the Mind, glory and power, or, in other words, the Spirit, glory and power of the Father—possessing all knowledge and glory, and the same kingdom: sitting at the right hand of power, in the express image and likeness of the Father—a Mediator for man—being filled with the fulness of the Mind of the Father, or, in other words, the Spirit of the Father: which Spirit is shed forth upon all who believe on his name and keep his commandments: and all those who keep his commandments shall grow up from grace to grace, and become heirs of the heavenly kingdom, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; possessing the same mind, being transformed into the same image or likeness, even the express image of him who fills all in all: being filled with the fulness of his glory, and become one in him, even as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one.
The Word Coming Forth from the Holy of Holies
Barker reads John’s prologue through the first temple: the Word as the King or high priest coming forth from the Holy of Holies (“the beginning,” the uncreated divine light) and becoming flesh.
This imagery runs through the New Testament. The first Christians knew about the vestments of the high priest and what they represented. The flesh of Jesus is described as the temple veil, matter: ‘We have a great high priest’ (Heb.4.14 [Heb. 1:11]), said the writer of Hebrews, and then used imagery that his hearers must have recognised, because he does not explain it: ‘The new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh’ (Heb.10.20 [Heb. 1:32]). The first Christians described Jesus as their high priest and his flesh as the stuff of the temple veil, matter. When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn (Matt.27.51 [Matt. 12:30]).
So too in John’s gospel. ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1.14 [John 1:2]) describes how the Word emerged from the holy of holies - ‘the beginning’ - and became incarnate. The Word coming forth had been ritualised in the Temple as the high priest coming forth from the holy of holies on the day of atonement. John then described the glorious high priest in his golden garments: ‘We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father...’ John had Jesus describe himself as ‘the one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, the Son of God’ (John 10.36 [John 6:30]). Jesus wore a seamless tunic, another link to the priesthood (John 19.23 [John 10:12]), and according to Luke, the woman who touched the fringe of Jesus garment was healed. She had touched the high priest’s garment (Luke 8.44 [Luke 6:11]).
The garment of the high priest was ḥošēbh work interwoven with gold, and we have seen that ḥošēbh means something like knowledge or skill. There is an early Christian wisdom text, which has a startling description of the high priest’s vestment given to every Christian. The Teaching of Silvanus, a part of which was later attributed to St Anthony, is one of the texts found at Nag Hamadi in 1945.
Wisdom summons you in her goodness, saying, Come to me, all of you, O foolish ones, that you may receive a gift, the understanding which is good and excellent. I am giving you a high priestly garment which is woven from every wisdom... Clothe yourself with wisdom like a robe, put knowledge upon you like a crown and be seated upon a throne of perception.41 A cloth woven of wisdom could well have been the original meaning, or part of the double meaning of the word ḥošēbh. Here it is Wisdom’s gift to her children.
Ellipses mark omissions within Barker’s own sentences.