Priesthood

Definition of the Priesthood

The priesthood is the power and authority of God. God created the heavens and the earth by His priesthood power. By this power the universe is kept in perfect order. Through this power He accomplishes His work and glory, which is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:39).

Our Heavenly Father shares His priesthood power with worthy male members of the Mormon Church. The priesthood enables them to act in God’s name for the salvation of the human family. Through it, they can be authorized to preach the gospel, administer the ordinances of salvation, and govern God’s kingdom on earth.

Blacks and the Priesthood

From 1849 until 1978, men of African descent had not been permitted to receive the priesthood although they could become members and serve within the church. (Persons of other dark-skinned ethnicities not of African descent, such as the Maori, could receive the priesthood prior to this time.)

In 1978, an official declaration of the First Presidency reported that a revelation had been received by Church President Spencer W. Kimball directing that all worthy men be allowed to receive the priesthood. Elder David B. Haight was present when President Kimball received the revelation. Years later he bore this testimony in general conference:

I noticed an edition of the Chicago Tribune on the newsstand. The headline in the paper said, “Mormons Give Blacks Priesthood.” And the subheading said, “President Kimball Claims to Have Received a Revelation.” I bought a copy of the newspaper. I stared at one word in that subheading—claims. It stood out to me just like it was in red neon. As I walked along the hallway to make my plane connection, I thought, Here I am now in Chicago walking through this busy airport, yet I was a witness to this revelation. I was there. I witnessed it. I felt that heavenly influence. I was part of it. Little did the editor of that newspaper realize the truth of that revelation when he wrote, “… Claims to Have Received a Revelation.” Little did he know, or the printer, or the man who put the ink on the press, or the one who delivered the newspaper—little did any of them know that it was truly a revelation from God. Little did they know what I knew because I was a witness to it (David B. Haight, “This Work Is True,” Ensign, May 1996, 22).

Another leader in the Mormon Church related the following about one of the early Mormon converts:

Moses Mahlangu, of Soweto, South Africa, patiently but persistently waited sixteen years for baptism. When he speaks of his long wait to join the Church, Brother Mahlangu compares himself to Cornelius [the first Gentile to join the early Christian Church after Peter received revelation], who he says was “very good in waiting to receive the word of God or to be a member of the Church until the angels came and told him what to do.” (See Acts 10:1–7) Today, at age sixty-three, Moses is a groundskeeper at the Johannesburg South Africa Temple, which he regularly attends. He is also the elders quorum president in the Soweto Branch. (E. Dale LeBaron, “Gospel Pioneers in Africa,” Ensign, Aug. 1990, 40)

Since 1978, the Mormon Church has grown extensively in Africa and currently has temples in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa.

Women and the Priesthood

In the Mormon Church, women are not ordained to the priesthood. This does not in any way lessen them in the eyes of either God or the Church. Women are entitled to all of the same blessings of the priesthood as men. Men and women, however, have different responsibilities both within the Mormon Church and before God.

Mormon Apostle Dallin H. Oaks said this about the matter:

President [Joseph Fielding] Smith explained: "While the sisters have not been given the Priesthood, … that does not mean that the Lord has not given unto them authority. Authority and Priesthood are two different things. A person may have authority given to him, or a sister to her, to do certain things in the Church that are binding and absolutely necessary for our salvation, such as the work that our sisters do in the House of the Lord." (Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1959, p. 4.)

President Smith's teaching on authority explains what the Prophet Joseph Smith meant when he said that he organized the Relief Society "under the priesthood after the pattern of the priesthood." The authority to be exercised by the officers and teachers of the Relief Society, as with the other auxiliary organizations, was the authority that would flow to them through their organizational connection with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and through their individual setting apart under the hands of the priesthood leaders by whom they were called. (Dallin H. Oaks, "The Relief Society and the Church," Ensign, May 1992, 34)