Joseph Smith’s Bible translation (JST) adds several verses to Matthew 7. Following Nephi’s instruction to “liken the scriptures” unto us can prove helpful in reviewing those verses. Because of the LDS church’s uncertain feelings toward the full JST, it’s not obvious to LDS readers how the added content fits together. The Latter-day Saint edition of the scriptures leaves out many of the JST’s modifications to the King James original, and those it keeps it cuts into pieces and in large part crams into an appendix. Those interested can see these verses in their full context in many places; here I’ll refer to RestoredGospel.com.
With that said, here’s the bit I’m interested in for now:
7:9 Go ye into the world, saying unto all, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come nigh unto you.
7:10 And the mysteries of the kingdom ye shall keep within yourselves; for it is not meet to give that which is holy unto the dogs; neither cast ye your pearls unto swine, lest they trample them under their feet.
7:11 For the world cannot receive that which ye yourselves, are not able to bear; wherefore ye shall not give your pearls unto them, lest they turn again and rend you.
7:12 Say unto them, Ask of God; ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
7:13 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
7:14 And then said his disciples unto him, they will say unto us, We ourselves are righteous, and need not that any man should teach us. God, we know, heard Moses and some of the prophets; but us he will not hear.
7:15 And they will say, We have the law for our salvation, and that is sufficient for us.
7:16 Then Jesus answered, and said unto his disciples, thus shall ye say unto them,
7:17 What man among you, having a son, and he shall be standing out, and shall say, Father, open thy house that I may come in and sup with thee, will not say, Come in, my son; for mine is thine, and thine is mine?
7:18 Or what man is there among you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?
7:19 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
7:20 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
We learn from verse 1 that Christ is talking to his “disciples,” and since we have no record of Him granting special permission, authority, or power to any disciples previous to this, at least so far as I can think of right now, it may be safe to understand “disciples” to mean everyone interested in following Him. In any case, Christ first tells these disciples to tell the world to repent. But they’re not supposed to preach any other doctrines; just repentance. Specifically, the “mysteries of the kingdom ye shall keep within yourselves,” because “it is not meet to give that which is holy unto the dogs” or to “cast ye your pearls unto swine.” Or in other words, as verse 11 says, the world isn’t ready to receive the mysteries.
Let’s stop here for a moment. Christ just told us that those who aren’t ready to receive the “mysteries of the kingdom” are like dogs and swine. Superficially, it seems He used those animals as a convenient analogue, because it’s in those animals’ nature to “turn again and rend” people, or to “trample [things] under their feet.” But being called “swine” or “dogs” is clearly unfavorable, and Christ clearly meant to include that connotation. After all, He could have instead compared the unprepared to, say, fluffy bunnies who will sniff reflexively at a mystery and then hop obliviously away. But no, those who aren’t ready to receive the mysteries of the kingdom are, really, like dogs and swine, with all the unpleasant connotation those terms include. The unprepared don’t simply hop away from one who would teach them further light; instead they attack the would-be teacher, rending and trampling him.
Fortunately the unprepared state of these dogs and swine is not necessarily permanent; after all, we can safely assume the disciples have grown into their current level of preparedness — they didn’t start out where they are now — and have done so through the very process they are now commanded to teach others to begin, namely repentance. Or rather, repentance along with the next bit in the reading. After telling His disciples to “keep [the mysteries] within yourselves”, Christ commands them to teach the world to “Ask of God; ask, and it shall be given you,” etc. So instead of teaching the world the mysteries of the kingdom, the disciples are to teach the world how to find out mysteries for themselves, by asking, seeking, and knocking. And if they — or we — won’t ask, we can keep on being dogs and swine.
But the disciples are concerned, because they foresee the world responding to them in three different ways. In verses 14 and 15, we see these reluctant hearers arguing that:
So in the spirit of “liken[ing] all scriptures unto us, that [they] may be for our profit and learning,” what’s our approach to learning the “mysteries of the kingdom”? Joseph Smith made clear that without knowledge we simply cannot be saved. Three examples, from “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith”:
Have we fallen into the same trap the disciples predicted for their worldly hearers? When someone tries to teach real gospel to us, do we contend that we’re righteous, and don’t need their help to learn? Do we discount our position sufficiently to conclude that though God would listen to Moses, He won’t listen to us? Are we satisfied with the law we’ve got? Clearly that smug satisfaction displeased the Lord, because those subject to it got the same instruction as everyone else: Ask God. If we don’t, we get what Joseph Smith said we’d get: “As far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge, and without knowledge we cannot be saved.”
With that said, here’s the bit I’m interested in for now:
7:9 Go ye into the world, saying unto all, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come nigh unto you.
7:10 And the mysteries of the kingdom ye shall keep within yourselves; for it is not meet to give that which is holy unto the dogs; neither cast ye your pearls unto swine, lest they trample them under their feet.
7:11 For the world cannot receive that which ye yourselves, are not able to bear; wherefore ye shall not give your pearls unto them, lest they turn again and rend you.
7:12 Say unto them, Ask of God; ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
7:13 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
7:14 And then said his disciples unto him, they will say unto us, We ourselves are righteous, and need not that any man should teach us. God, we know, heard Moses and some of the prophets; but us he will not hear.
7:15 And they will say, We have the law for our salvation, and that is sufficient for us.
7:16 Then Jesus answered, and said unto his disciples, thus shall ye say unto them,
7:17 What man among you, having a son, and he shall be standing out, and shall say, Father, open thy house that I may come in and sup with thee, will not say, Come in, my son; for mine is thine, and thine is mine?
7:18 Or what man is there among you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?
7:19 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
7:20 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
We learn from verse 1 that Christ is talking to his “disciples,” and since we have no record of Him granting special permission, authority, or power to any disciples previous to this, at least so far as I can think of right now, it may be safe to understand “disciples” to mean everyone interested in following Him. In any case, Christ first tells these disciples to tell the world to repent. But they’re not supposed to preach any other doctrines; just repentance. Specifically, the “mysteries of the kingdom ye shall keep within yourselves,” because “it is not meet to give that which is holy unto the dogs” or to “cast ye your pearls unto swine.” Or in other words, as verse 11 says, the world isn’t ready to receive the mysteries.
Let’s stop here for a moment. Christ just told us that those who aren’t ready to receive the “mysteries of the kingdom” are like dogs and swine. Superficially, it seems He used those animals as a convenient analogue, because it’s in those animals’ nature to “turn again and rend” people, or to “trample [things] under their feet.” But being called “swine” or “dogs” is clearly unfavorable, and Christ clearly meant to include that connotation. After all, He could have instead compared the unprepared to, say, fluffy bunnies who will sniff reflexively at a mystery and then hop obliviously away. But no, those who aren’t ready to receive the mysteries of the kingdom are, really, like dogs and swine, with all the unpleasant connotation those terms include. The unprepared don’t simply hop away from one who would teach them further light; instead they attack the would-be teacher, rending and trampling him.
Fortunately the unprepared state of these dogs and swine is not necessarily permanent; after all, we can safely assume the disciples have grown into their current level of preparedness — they didn’t start out where they are now — and have done so through the very process they are now commanded to teach others to begin, namely repentance. Or rather, repentance along with the next bit in the reading. After telling His disciples to “keep [the mysteries] within yourselves”, Christ commands them to teach the world to “Ask of God; ask, and it shall be given you,” etc. So instead of teaching the world the mysteries of the kingdom, the disciples are to teach the world how to find out mysteries for themselves, by asking, seeking, and knocking. And if they — or we — won’t ask, we can keep on being dogs and swine.
But the disciples are concerned, because they foresee the world responding to them in three different ways. In verses 14 and 15, we see these reluctant hearers arguing that:
- We’re righteous, and don’t need you to teach us
- We know God heard Moses and “some of the prophets”, but He won’t listen to us
- We have the law, and that’s sufficient. We don’t need mysteries
So in the spirit of “liken[ing] all scriptures unto us, that [they] may be for our profit and learning,” what’s our approach to learning the “mysteries of the kingdom”? Joseph Smith made clear that without knowledge we simply cannot be saved. Three examples, from “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith”:
- “Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity”
- “A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world”
- “I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all.”
Have we fallen into the same trap the disciples predicted for their worldly hearers? When someone tries to teach real gospel to us, do we contend that we’re righteous, and don’t need their help to learn? Do we discount our position sufficiently to conclude that though God would listen to Moses, He won’t listen to us? Are we satisfied with the law we’ve got? Clearly that smug satisfaction displeased the Lord, because those subject to it got the same instruction as everyone else: Ask God. If we don’t, we get what Joseph Smith said we’d get: “As far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge, and without knowledge we cannot be saved.”