by Dan J. Workman

Section 93 is a revelation received through the Prophet Joseph Smith on May 6, 1833, during a conference of high priests at Kirtland, Ohio. It was first printed as chapter 82 of the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. The insights of this revelation pervade LDS understanding of the nature and relationship of God and man.

It begins with the divine promise that every soul who forsakes sin, comes unto Christ, calls upon his name, obeys his voice, and keeps his commandments shall see his face "and know that I am, and that I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (verses 1-2).

The next verses refer to sayings from a record of John yet to be revealed in full. They are reminiscent of the prologue to John's Gospel, but they also witness to Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist.

Christ is called the Father and is one with the Father because "he gave me of his fulness" (verse 4). He is called the Word because he is the "messenger of salvation" (verse 8). In him is "the life of men and the light of men" (verse 9). "The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him" (verse 10).

In contrast with theologies of static being, several verses affirm Christ's becoming. Three times they reiterate that Christ did not receive a fulness at the beginning but continued "from grace to grace" until he received a fulness of the glory of the Father (verses 12, 13, 14; cf. Luke 2:40; Heb. 5:8-9). Christ became like the Father in the exalted sense only after his resurrection and glorification (cf. Rev. 5:12-13). An understanding of this process is the foundation of authentic worship.

The revelation denies the notion of ex nihilo creation. The intelligence of man, "the light of truth," (verse 29), is not created but is self-existent. Man, like Christ himself, "was…in the beginning with God" (verse 29). Furthermore, "The elements are eternal" (verse 33).

Truth is "knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come" (verse 24). Truth and intelligence are independent in the spheres in which God has placed them (verse 30). The spirit of man is native to the spirit of truth, which is "plainly manifest" from the beginning (verse 31). This is the basis of agency and accountability. "Every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation" (verse 32).

Christ is the exemplar in all things. All may "come unto the Father in my name" (verse 19) and, in due time, "be glorified in me as I am in the Father" (verse 20). Man is a temple and a defiled temple will be destroyed. "Spirit and element" inseparably connected (resurrected) can receive a fulness of joy. "The glory of God is intelligence" defined as "light and truth." One who receives light and truth forsakes the evil one (verse 37).

"Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God" (verse 38). Through disobedience men become sinful, "light and truth" taken as they embrace the "traditions of their fathers" (verse 39).

The revelation closes with admonitions to the assembled high priests to set their houses in order by teaching the gospel more fully to their families (verses 42-50). Sidney Rigdon is to proclaim "the gospel of salvation" (verse 51) and the Brethren are to "hasten to translate my scriptures" (Bible) and "to obtain a knowledge of history, and of countries, and of kingdoms, of laws of God and man," all "for the salvation of Zion" (verse 53).

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Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol. 1, Doctrine and Covenants Section 93

Copyright © 1992 by Macmillan Publishing Company