The Worth of Souls - D&C 18:2-5, 10-15

 

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!"

If there's a scripture passage unique to LDS believers that they are likely to memorize, this may be one of the most popular. In her signature 80s style, with musically complementary melody lines combining in counterpoint, Janice Kapp Perry popularized it for child and adult audiences alike in her song How Great Shall Be Your Joy. The doctrine is clear and simple: repentance is not a burden--neither to the sinner, nor to the Savior--but is a cause for great joy. It is a duty, sure. It is a message that those called must courageously bear to the world, yes. But its purpose, its telos, is a cleansed being made pure by the Cleanser whose sacrifice for each individual makes each soul of infinite worth--equal in weight to the sacrifice itself. To Him, we are that valuable. To Him, we should lift up our heads in joy at our redemption when we repent, and in gratitude for His eternal love.

And let's also examine the context and a few intertextualities for clues to expand this meaning, or anchor its direction. The section, as with most, is a response to something. The questions asked aren't always clear from the contextual paragraphs that head each section, but it doesn't take much reconstruction from this one to imagine Oliver Cowdery and a friend from the Whitmer family realizing that now that the work of translation of the Book of Mormon is pretty much complete, there are next steps. There is a church about to be established, and it's going to require new roles for them both, as well as for Joseph Smith. I think they both wanted to have a better understanding of "now what?" They were eager, willing to buckle down and get to it, and each had their different mix of talents, abilities, and hang-ups, so the Lord is basically preparing them for those parts of the next steps that would be best suited to their abilities and zeal.

Later in the section the idea that the Church would eventually need Apostles, and that Cowdery and Whitmer would be charged with seeking them out forms the concrete answer to their question, but the Lord saw fit to establish a few things in the preceding verses:

"I have manifested unto you, by my Spirit in many instances, that the things which you have written are true; wherefore you know that they are true. And if you know that they are true, behold, I give unto you a commandment, that you rely upon the things which are written; For in them are all things written concerning the foundation of my church, my gospel, and my rock. Wherefore, if you shall build up my church, upon the foundation of my gospel and my rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you."

1. He re-affirmed their testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon. Because they knew that was true, they could build further in confidence that Smith's revelatory role as prophet was, in fact, the authorized pipeline from which they could trust other words and charges from the Lord. You can't build toward the Savior in faith without trusting His prophets.

2. He anchored them back to the content of the Book of Mormon. Because they knew what it contained, they should "rely" upon it as source for the next steps. On several layers of analysis, the Book of Mormon lays a foundation--for prophets, for a restoration of lost scripture, for a restoration of lost doctrinal purity, for chapters of handbook-like language detailing modes of worship and prescriptions of liturgy that are missing in the Biblical accounts of Church operation, even for the name of the Church itself, and its first principles and ordinances, all centering on Christ.

3. Then He connected their general charge to be among those who preach repentance as a way to build the Church on the "foundation of my gospel and my rock" both to their own salvation (failing to take up the charge might permit the gates of hell to prevail against them, which is sobering language) and to an understanding of Christ's reasons.

Stated that way, the point about repentance being joyful is not merely about wishing to please Deity in ways He finds pleasurable. There is a deeply, personally implicating setting of mission that the passages are accomplishing here that Cowdery and Whitmer are needing to lean into, needing to catch the vision of. They have a role, but it's not for their place in history, not for the tales told about them by posterity--it's for His glory, not theirs. They, like Peter to whom the "gates of hell" commentary alludes, needed to know not just that the Book of Mormon was true, not just that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and Savior of all--even them. Their work would be to bring one, or many souls unto Him, but He was the one that suffered for those souls. As souls returned with broken hearts and contrite spirits to the waters of baptism, the personal connection with each forgiven child would belong to Him. They could have joy WITH Him, but the source of that joy is the individual loving relationship that the conditions of repentance restore when the gift of His suffering is accepted rather than wasted. The rituals, authorities, and doctrines enabling the acceptance of Christ were about to drop on the world, and servants to spread the word were about to be necessary en masse to gather His sheep, one by one.

The rituals, authorities, and doctrines of Christ. The doctrinal "good news" that He wants to covenant with us, on condition of our faith in Him and repentance, to receive Him and His Spirit--receive His salvation--is his Gospel. The organization of believers with an attendant hierarchical structure of a Priesthood order and with rituals of a prescribed manner--all tooled toward enabling covenantal relationships between Christ and members--is his Church. What is His rock?

Is that a mere metaphor for Himself? Both the Church and the Doctrine are built on Him, after all. Is the Atonement His rock? There are two high profile references to "rocks" to be built upon within the mortal ministry of the Savior, among the many others in scripture, both of which consist in some form of figurative language.

The first is in the Sermon on the Mount, where the Lord lays out a set of higher laws beyond the Mosaic ones and explains the analogy that accepting true doctrine, but not acting on it is like building a house on sand, but that behaving in consequence of truth is the only way to build on a "rock" that will last through storms. Could action over knowledge be the "rock" to which the Lord was referring here in D&C 18? Could "relying" on the Book of Mormon scripture to guide actions, or repenting be the actions that make faith real? That allow the foundations to hold up a larger edifice? Metaphorically this reading has legs, but there's another reference available.

In the second, Peter and the other disciples have been questioned by Jesus about who they think He is, and Peter responds that he knows Jesus is the Christ. The Lord's reply has spawned voluminous commentary because of the crucial claims Protestants and Catholics base off of it.

"Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:17-19, emphasis mine)

Simon, son of Jonah (or Bar-Jonah) had a surname that translates to "rock:" Peter. So, Catholics have grounds to assume the Redeemer's word play was personal to the senior apostle, and that there was a very real centering of earthly authorities, in the figure of keys, on which the Church would be built later. Peter was, in fact, the Church's highest mortal functionary after Christ's ascension, as even Protestants readily admit. To them, however, the "this" was not a reference to Peter, but rather to Peter's recent admission that Jesus was the Christ. To Protestants, no priesthood is necessary, no authorities intervene between the Savior and His Church, and they ground the church directly in the same--the "rock" therefore is not metaphorically Peter the person, but Christ Himself.

What neither seem to allow, but which the text itself does, is a third reading in which Peter is not the rock, and while Christ still is, it's the testimony of Him and the necessity of building our own "house" upon Him that the "rock" may also be referring to. Just as Venn diagrams may have multiple overlaps, the existence of another layer of meaning shouldn't trouble the accuracy of other layers. In this case, the "this" may be referring both to Christ (His Person, His Atonement, the content of the revelation which was not revealed to Peter by "flesh and blood" but by the "Father") as well as to the revelatory process itself (the means by which knowledge of the Redeemer comes to Peter and us all--by the Father revealing it). In other words, the force binding earth with heaven is authoritative and belongs to a hierarchical order on one level of symbolism, but on another equally valid one, that revelatory link is not only accessible to all, but is required of all. We must build on the Savior by obtaining a personal witness of His relationship to us, His purpose in our lives, His atoning effect on our eternity.

The worth of a soul is indeed great because of its cost in infinite suffering to that Being to whom each soul belongs. It is also of great worth because of the joy it brings Him when souls repent and He can welcome them into a covenant relationship with Him. Whether that soul is your own, or another's, bringing another into faith sufficient to produce repentance is building on His Gospel, His rock, and His Church, in all senses of the word, and the prevents the gates of hell from prevailing against you.