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Revelation, September 1830–A [D&C 29]

Source Note

Revelation, , Seneca Co., NY, Sept. 1830. Featured version, titled “29th Commandment AD September 1830,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 36–40; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.

Historical Introduction

This revelation addressed the interest of some early church members in a Book of Mormon prophecy that described the physical gathering of God’s chosen people in America. The Book of Mormon explained that during Christ’s ministry in the Americas he prophesied that his chosen people would establish a sacred city, the . According to the prophecies, “the remnant of Jacob,” which early church members identified as the American Indians, “and also, as many of the house of Israel as shall come” were to build this sacred city and gather to it, assisted by Gentiles who embraced the book’s message. Christ further prophesied that when the progeny of the people described in the Book of Mormon were taught “this Gospel” again, would be established among them.
According to the heading gave this text in Revelation Book 1, the setting for this revelation was a gathering of “Six of the Church & three members” who “understood from Holy Writ that the time had come that the People of God should see eye to eye.” The book of Isaiah declared that God’s people would “see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion”; the Book of Mormon expressed the same sentiment and located Zion in the Americas. The heading seems to indicate, then, that this small group, believing that the Book of Mormon prophecy about Zion would soon be fulfilled, therefore “enquired of the Lord & thus came the word of the Lord through Joseph the seer.”
The revelation affirmed the imminent advent of the Millennium and declared that members of the were called to help gather God’s people before the great event. It then turned to the creation of the world and the nature of Adam’s fall, subjects JS had recently taken up in his Bible revision. According to the heading, the small group had differing views about “the death of Adam (that is his transgression).” Near the end of the text, the revelation addressed the question of whether God’s commandment to Adam to not partake of the forbidden fruit was spiritual or temporal by declaring, “All things unto me are Spiritual & not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal neither any man nor the childern of men Neither Adam your father whom I created.” Thus Adam’s “temporal” act of eating the forbidden fruit rendered him “spiritually dead.”
This revelation called for the gathering of God’s people at the same time that a significant controversy had emerged among the membership of the Church of Christ. In September 1830, JS was attempting to address the problems arising from announcing his own revelations, the authenticity of which was accepted by a number of prominent church members, including and the Whitmer family. Page’s revelations, which concerned “the upbuilding of Zion, the order of the Church &c &c,” and this revelation’s call to gather God’s chosen people prompted another September revelation that clarified JS’s prophetic role as the sole revelator for the church, required Cowdery to correct Hiram Page, and called Cowdery to preach to American Indians in the West.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 501, 566 [3 Nephi 21:23–26]; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 496–502 [3 Nephi 20:10–22:17].

  2. [2]

    Isaiah 52:8; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 488, 498, 501 [3 Nephi 16:18; 20:32; 21:22–24].

  3. [3]

    See Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 63.

    Faulring, Scott H., Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds. Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004.

  4. [4]

    Newel Knight wrote that Page “had quite a roll of papers full of these revelations.” (Knight, History, 146; see Historical Introduction to Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28] for more information on Page’s revelations.)

    Knight, Newel. History. Private possession. Copy in CHL. MS 19156.

  5. [5]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 54.

  6. [6]

    Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:2, 8–9, 11]. JS’s history suggests that both revelations were received before the 26 September 1830 conference of the church. (See JS History, vol. A-1, 54–58.)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Revelation, September 1830–A [D&C 29] Revelation Book 1 Revelation, September 1830–A, as Recorded in Hyde and Smith, Notebook [D&C 29] Revelations printed in The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1832–June 1833 Book of Commandments, 1833 Revelations printed in Evening and Morning Star, January 1835–June 1836 Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] History, circa 1841, draft [Draft 3] History, circa 1841, fair copy “History of Joseph Smith” Doctrine and Covenants, 1844

Page 39

Spiritual & Temperally firstly spiritual secondly temporally which is the Begining of my work & again firstly temporal & secondly spiritual which is the last of my work speaking unto you that ye may naturally understand but unto myself my work hath no end neither begining But it is given unto you that ye may understand because ye have asked it of me & are agreed Wherefore Verily I say unto you that all things unto me are Spiritual & not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal neither any man nor the childern of men Neither Adam your father whom I created Behold I give <​gave​> unto him that he should be an agent unto himself & I gave unto him a commandment but no temporal Commandment gave I unto him for my commandments are spiritual they are not Natural nor temporal neither carnal nor sensual & it came to pass that Adam being tempted of the Devil for Behold the Devil was before Adam for he rebelled against me saying give me thine honour which is my Power & also a third part of the host of Heaven turned he away from me Because of their agency & they were thrust down & thus came the Devil & his Angels & Behold a place prepared for them which place is Hell & it came to pass Must needs be that the Devil should tempt the children of men or they could not be agents unto themselves for if they never should have bitter they could not k[n]ow the Sweet Wherefore it came to pass that the Devil tempted Adam & he partook of the forbiden fruit & transgressed the commandment wherein he became subject to the will of the Devil Because he yielded unto temptation Wherefore I the Lord God caused that he should be cast out from the Garden of Edan from my presence because of his transgression Wherein he became spiritually dead which death is the first death even that same death which is the last death which is spiritual which shall be pronounced upon the wicked which shall be when I shall say depart ye Cursed But Behold I say unto you that I the Lord God gave unto Adam & unto his seed that they should not [p. 39]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, September 1830–A [D&C 29]
ID #
6484
Total Pages
5
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:177–182
Handwriting on This Page
  • John Whitmer

Footnotes

  1. [17]

    At about the time of this revelation, while working on his Bible revision, JS made the following revision to Genesis 2:5: “I the Lord God made . . . every plant of the field before it was in the Earth & every herb of the field before it grew for I the Lord God created all things of which I have spoken spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the Earth for I the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth & I the Lord God had created all the children of men & not yet a man to till the ground for in Heaven created I them & there was not yet flesh upon the Earth neither in the water neither in the air.” (Old Testament Revision 1, p. 5 [Moses 3:4–5].)

  2. [18]

    See 1 Corinthians 15:44, 46.

  3. [19]

    In Orson Hyde’s early copy of this revelation, the preceding passage reads, “neither adam your father whom I have created behold I gave unto him but no carnal commandments for my commandments are spiritual.” (Hyde and Smith, Notebook, [35] [D&C 29:34–35].)

    Hyde, Orson, and Samuel Smith. Notebook of Revelations and Missionary Memoranda, ca. Oct. 1831–ca. Jan. 1832. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.

  4. [20]

    See Old Testament Revision 1, p. 6 [Moses 4:1–4].

  5. [21]

    See Revelation 12:4, 7–9.

  6. [22]

    The Book of Mormon articulated the need for “an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter; wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man, that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself, save it should be that he were enticed by the one or the other.” (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 64 [2 Nephi 2:15–16].)

  7. [23]

    See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 338, 446 [Alma 42:9; Helaman 14:18–19].

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