Every man must have his own experience in these things. “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,” Paul tells us (1 Corinthians 12:3), and no amount of instruction by other men will suffice. “Without revelation direct from heaven,” said Brigham Young, “it is impossible for any person to understand fully the plan of salvation. We often hear it said that the living oracles must be in the Church, in order that the Kingdom of God may be established and prosper on the earth. I will give another version of this sentiment. I say that the living oracles of God, or the Spirit of revelation must be in each and every individual, to know the plan of salvation and keep in the path that leads them to the presence of God.”
Obviously, then, the prophetic gift, the highest form of revelation, coming directly from above cannot be transmitted through any courses of instruction, however valuable they may be as preparation; it cannot be acquired in any school. In a word, the prophet is not a scholar. As surely as the words of a prophet are written down in books, they become the object of specialist study. Once the true prophet has been duly rejected and passed to his reward, swarms of experts descend upon his words to begin the learned business of exegesis. The words of the dead prophets become the peculiar possession of armies of specially trained and carefully conditioned scholars. In a very old text, Peter is reported as saying in a letter to James regarding the use of his own writings in the church: “They think they are able to interpret my own words better than I can, telling their hearers that they are conveying my very thoughts to them, while the fact is that such things never entered my mind. If they take such outrageous liberties while I am alive, what will they do after I am gone!” Much later, Clement of Alexandria expressed much the same sentiment.4 You see the point: The scholar and learned divine must necessarily get their knowledge from the written word, and then trouble begins. The prophet, on the other hand, who may well be illiterate, gets his knowledge by direct intercourse with heaven. The orientation of the two is entirely different.
The Wise & Foolish Builders
Two houses meet the same storm, and the only difference is whether the builder did what he had heard, after which the crowd is left astonished, not at the sermon but at the man giving it.
Tap a Gospel to show or hide its column. Narrow to any two to read them side by side.
Note. The parable is untouched by the JST; both changes fall in the closing lines, and the second is the significant one: “authority” becomes “authority from God,” set against “authority from the scribes.”
? 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.
24Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock. 25And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. 26And everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does them not shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. 27And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
28And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings with his disciples, the people were astonished at his teachings, 29for he taught them as one having authority from God and not as the scribes having authority from the scribes.
24Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock; 25and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. 26And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; 27and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
24Therefore anyone who hears these teachings from Me and obeys them, I’ll compare to a wise man who built his house on bedrock; 25and the rain fell, the floods came, and the tempests beat against that house, but it remained unharmed, because it was built on bedrock. 26In contrast, everyone that hears these teachings from Me and disobeys them I’ll compare to a foolish man who built his house on the sand; 27and the rain fell, the floods came, and the tempests beat against that house, and it failed, and its collapse was terrible.
I Speak to You as One Having Authority
Nothing survives from Joseph Smith on the rock and the sand. But the verse the Sermon ends on (the difference between a man who has authority and a man who can only cite those who did) was the claim he spent his life making and defending, and he made it in almost these words on the last Sunday conference of his life.
Take Care That They Do Not Ascribe the Glory to Themselves
At Montrose, charging the Twelve before the British mission, Joseph Smith turned verse 28 into a warning for preachers: when the people are astonished at the doctrine, that is the moment of danger.
Discourse, 2 July 1839, Montrose, Iowa, as reported by Wilford Woodruff · Joseph Smith Papers ↗When the Twelve or any other witness of Jesus Christ stands befor the congregations of the earth & they preach in the power & demonstration of the Holy Ghost & the people are asstonished & confounded at the doctrin & say that that man has preached a powerful discours a great sermon then let that man or those men take care that they do not asscribe the glory unto themselves but be careful that they are humble & asscribe the praise & glory to God & the Lamb.
I Speak to You as One Having Authority
To a congregation of newly arrived immigrants, in a plain sermon about land, poverty and sickness in Nauvoo: the claim made in passing, and attached to a prophecy rather than to doctrine.
Discourse, 13 April 1843, Nauvoo, as reported by Willard Richards (Joseph Smith Journal, p. 121) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗God will deal with you himself. & will bless or curse you as you do behave your selves. I speak to you as one having authority. that you may know when it come & that you may have faith. & know that God has sent me.
For I Speak as One Having Authority
From the King Follett Discourse, seven weeks before his death. Bullock’s manuscript ends the clause with an unclear word, “senr.”; the Joseph Smith Papers editors note that it may be “servt.,” though the allusion to these very verses suggests “scribe.” The argument around it is about religious liberty (every man’s right to be a false prophet, himself included), and the authority claim is what he sets against it.
Discourse, 7 April 1844, the grove east of the temple, Nauvoo (the King Follett Discourse) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗if I shew verily that I have the truth of God & shew that ninety nine of 100 are false prop[hets] it wod. deluge the whole world with blood I want you all to know God to be familiar with him & if I can bring you to him all persecut[io]n. agst. me will cease & let you know that I am his serv[an]t for I speak as one hav[in]g. auth[orit]y. & not as a senr.
Nothing survives from Joseph Smith on the parable of the two houses: nothing on the rock, the sand, the rain or the floods. The three items above are all on verse 29. The tie of the July 2, 1839, sermon to verses 27–28 is a cross-reference by Richard C. Galbraith, in Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, rather than Joseph’s own citation; the “astonished at the doctrine” echo is close enough to stand.
What He Spoke Was Scripture
Nibley builds an argument straight out of this last verse, and it turns on exactly the distinction the JST sharpens. The scribes had authority because they could cite those who had it; a prophet has it directly, and so what he says does not need a footnote: it is itself the text.
Nibley quotes Mark’s wording rather than Matthew’s, which is why the locator names Mark 1:22, but the point is Matthew 7:29’s, and the JST’s recasting of it (“authority from God… not authority from the scribes”) states his distinction outright. His verse-by-verse Matthew commentary does not reach chapter 7: the editors record that the chapter-by-chapter survey was deleted from the published address.