Since the beginning of mankind’s creation, people have asked this question: “Who is God?” The definitions around who God is are as diverse as the people and organizations that produce them.
The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes from modern prophets, the first of whom, Joseph Smith, was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ. Referred to as the First Vision, Joseph’s experience with the Creators of this world and many others debunked centuries of misunderstanding about God’s existence and nature. The Nicene Creed, developed more than one hundred years after the apostasy of the original Christian Church, created a God who was somehow two people in one. It removed the form and ultimate literal Fatherhood of God. Joseph’s vision restored what was lost centuries before.
Elohim – The Father of Our Spirits
Modern revelation helps us understand clearly what God’s role and relationship to his mortal children is. From spirit intelligence, which is made of a finer and purer matter than what comprises our mortal bodies, God created our souls long before this earth was created. The purpose of that spirit creation centered around the concept of God’s eternal progression, which is manifest in the perpetual creation and development of offspring similar in nature and potential to himself. God’s offspring inherited gender, male and female, which understanding leads us to believe that God has a female spouse. In a favorite Mormon hymn, O My Father, is found the words “In the heavens are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare. Truth is reason. Truth eternal tells me I’ve a Mother there.”
God’s perfection and omniscience put him in compliance with eternal law. He has a perfect sense of justice and mercy. His plan for his children meant that they would have to develop spiritually to become like him. Doing so required a separation from their Father, where they would be required to exhibit faith and obedience. Essential to God’s plan for the development of his offspring was the preservation of agency, and his plan ensured that the ability of his intelligent offspring to choose for themselves would not be lost. Those who desired to become like their Father could choose “liberty and eternal life.” On the other hand, they are also free to choose “captivity and death”.
God’s Firstborn spirit Son, who was known among the Old Testament people as Jehovah, developed through obedience and diligence to become perfected in intelligence and in compliance with eternal law so that his role during the temporal existence of this world would be one of intermediary between God the Father and his imperfect children. Jehovah, or Jesus Christ as he became known during his earthly life, is the gatekeeper for those who wish to enter the kingdom of God. His eternal sacrifice in Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary enabled his spirit brothers and sisters to enjoy the opportunity to reach perfection through faith, repentance, baptism, and other saving ordinances.
What does the Bible teach about who God is?
In the Bible, the God of the Old Testament is known as Jehovah. Acting under the direction of Elohim, the Hebrew Mormons understand Jehovah to be Jesus Christ, the one who would come in the meridian of time to fulfill the role of Savior and Redeemer of all who inhabit the earth.
