The Two Priesthoods

Two revelations set out an authority the text says is older than the church that holds it — named for a man to avoid repeating the name of God, traced back through a list of hands, and attached to a covenant the text says cannot be broken from God’s side.

What this page maps. Modern revelation, reported as the text gives it. The two long sections behind this page speak in different registers — D&C 84 is first-person divine address, D&C 107 is largely third-person exposition — and the page marks the difference rather than smoothing it. Dates, places, and historical occasions are not in this wiki’s source text and are not stated.

Account

The naming

The exposition begins with a count and a reason. “There are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood” (D&C 107:1). The first name is explained as a substitution: “Why the first is called the Melchizedek Priesthood is because Melchizedek was such a great high priest” (D&C 107:2); “Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God” (D&C 107:3); “But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood” (D&C 107:4).

The second name is explained by descent rather than by reverence: “The second priesthood is called the Priesthood of Aaron, because it was conferred upon Aaron and his seed, throughout all their generations” (D&C 107:13), and it is called lesser “because it is an appendage to the greater, or the Melchizedek Priesthood, and has power in administering outward ordinances” (D&C 107:14).

The older name is the one the Book of Mormon uses, and the two texts state the same substitution logic from opposite ends.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () The clause that puts the priesthood outside of time: - D&C 84:17: “Which priesthood continueth in the church of God in all generations, and is without beginning of days or end of years.” - Alma 13:7: “This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things—”

The eight-word run stands at five distinct frozen verses in the corpus: these two, Alma 13:9, Moses 1:3, and Moses 6:67. The referent differs across them — in Alma 13:7 and D&C 84:17 it is the priesthood or its order; at Moses 1:3 it is God speaking of himself, “for I am without beginning of days or end of years”. Reported as a textual fact; the wiki does not merge the referents.

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. () The revelation’s reason for the name and the Book of Mormon’s account of the man sit remarkably close, and a reader may take the second as filling in the first. The evidence: - D&C 107:2: “Why the first is called the Melchizedek Priesthood is because Melchizedek was such a great high priest.” - Alma 13:14: “Yea, humble yourselves even as the people in the days of Melchizedek, who was also a high priest after this same order which I have spoken, who also took upon him the high priesthood forever.”

Alma’s account goes on: “Now, there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater; therefore, of him they have more particularly made mention” (Alma 13:19). What is textual is the shared vocabulary — “high priest”, an order, a superlative about the man. What is interpretive is the further step of reading Alma’s “none were greater” (Alma 13:19) as the explanation behind the revelation’s “such a great high priest” (D&C 107:2); neither text cites the other, and the wiki does not assert the link. Offered for the reader to weigh.

The list of hands

The first section traces the greater priesthood backward by name, one conferral at a time: “the sons of Moses, according to the Holy Priesthood which he received under the hand of his father-in-law, Jethro” (D&C 84:6), then “Jethro received it under the hand of Caleb” (D&C 84:7), “And Caleb received it under the hand of Elihu” (D&C 84:8), “And Elihu under the hand of Jeremy” (D&C 84:9), “And Jeremy under the hand of Gad” (D&C 84:10), “And Gad under the hand of Esaias” (D&C 84:11), “And Esaias received it under the hand of God” (D&C 84:12). The chain then jumps to a second sequence — Abraham from Melchizedek, “who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah” (D&C 84:14); “And from Noah till Enoch, through the lineage of their fathers” (D&C 84:15); “And from Enoch to Abel, who was slain by the conspiracy of his brother, who received the priesthood by the commandments of God, by the hand of his father Adam, who was the first man—” (D&C 84:16).

The second section gives a different list, forward rather than backward, and with ages attached: Seth “ordained by Adam at the age of sixty-nine years” (D&C 107:42); “Enos was ordained at the age of one hundred and thirty-four years and four months, by the hand of Adam” (D&C 107:44); Cainan “was eighty-seven years old when he received his ordination” (D&C 107:45); “Mahalaleel was four hundred and ninety-six years and seven days old when he was ordained by the hand of Adam, who also blessed him” (D&C 107:46); “Jared was two hundred years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam, who also blessed him” (D&C 107:47); “Enoch was twenty-five years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam; and he was sixty-five and Adam blessed him” (D&C 107:48); “Methuselah was one hundred years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam” (D&C 107:50); “Lamech was thirty-two years old when he was ordained under the hand of Seth” (D&C 107:51); “Noah was ten years old when he was ordained under the hand of Methuselah” (D&C 107:52).

The two lists overlap at Adam, Enoch and Noah and nowhere else, and they are built to answer different questions — one traces a single line of transmission, the other records ordinations and ages. The wiki reports both as the text gives them and reconciles neither.

The ages passage closes with a gathering: “Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing” (D&C 107:53); “And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel” (D&C 107:54). The section then names a record the wiki does not host: “These things were all written in the book of Enoch, and are to be testified of in due time” (D&C 107:57).

What each priesthood holds

The greater: “The Melchizedek Priesthood holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all the offices in the church in all ages of the world, to administer in spiritual things” (D&C 107:8); “And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God” (D&C 84:19). The consequence is stated twice, positively and negatively: “Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest” (D&C 84:20); “And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh” (D&C 84:21); “For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live” (D&C 84:22).

The lesser: “The power and authority of the lesser, or Aaronic Priesthood, is to hold the keys of the ministering of angels, and to administer in outward ordinances, the letter of the gospel, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, agreeable to the covenants and commandments” (D&C 107:20).

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () The two sections state the lesser priesthood’s key in nearly the same words: - D&C 107:20: “The power and authority of the lesser, or Aaronic Priesthood, is to hold the keys of the ministering of angels, and to administer in outward ordinances, the letter of the gospel, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, agreeable to the covenants and commandments.” - D&C 84:26: “And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel;”

Divergences: plural “the keys” against singular “the key”; the earlier section pairs the key with “the preparatory gospel” (D&C 84:26), the later with outward ordinances and “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (D&C 107:20). The run “the ministering of angels” stands at eleven distinct frozen verses in the corpus; a third D&C verse carries it in the same priesthood sense — “the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels” (D&C 13:1) — and is disclosed here rather than paired.

The greater priesthood’s privileges are given in a list that closes on a phrase the epistle to the Hebrews uses of a heavenly assembly.

[Textual] — verbatim quotation. () - D&C 107:19: “To have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.” - Hebrews 12:23: “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,”

The seven-word run stands at exactly these two distinct frozen verses in the corpus; the only difference is capitalization of “Firstborn”. The epistle’s context is a list of what its readers “are come unto”; the revelation’s is a list of what the greater priesthood gives the privilege of. Reported; the wiki does not assert a dependence.

The oath and covenant

The section attaches a covenant to the priesthood and states both sides of it. “And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord” (D&C 84:35); “For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me” (D&C 84:36); “And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father” (D&C 84:37); “And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him” (D&C 84:38). Then the naming: “And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood” (D&C 84:39); “Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved” (D&C 84:40); “But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come” (D&C 84:41).

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () The chain of receiving stands in the Gospel commission, one link shorter: - D&C 84:37: “And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father” - Matthew 10:40: “He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.”

Divergences reported: the revelation’s chain runs servants → me → Father → Father’s kingdom across four verses (D&C 84:36–38); the Gospel verse runs you → me → “him that sent me” in one. The revelation names the Father where the Gospel says “him that sent me” (Matthew 10:40). The revelation’s own opening link — “he that receiveth my servants receiveth me” (D&C 84:36) — stands against the Gospel’s “He that receiveth you receiveth me” (Matthew 10:40); the run “he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” also stands at John 13:20, disclosed and not paired.

The condemnation clause

The same section turns from covenant to rebuke, and names the book by name: “And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—” (D&C 84:54); “Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation” (D&C 84:55); “And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—” (D&C 84:57). That the revelation names a hosted work by title is a textual fact and is flagged for the dedicated named-citation sweep rather than registered here.

Significance

Two things about these sections are simply on the page. First, both of them ground present authority in a past the reader is not asked to take on trust in general terms but is given in particular ones — names, hands, ages, a valley. Second, the greater priesthood is defined less by what its holders may do than by what is said to be inaccessible without it: the ordinances, “the power of godliness” (D&C 84:20), the face of God (D&C 84:22).

What the wiki does not do is harmonize the two lineage lists, date any of it, or reach outside the text for the men named. Whether the Jethro of D&C 84:6 or the Esaias of D&C 84:11 can be identified with figures known elsewhere is an external question; the wiki reports that the sections name them and stops there.

Key references

D&C 84:6–17 — the line of conferral from Moses back to Adam
D&C 84:19–22 — what the greater priesthood holds, and what is not manifest without it
D&C 84:33–41 — the oath and covenant, and the clause for breaking it
D&C 107:1–20 — the two priesthoods named, divided, and defined
D&C 107:40–57 — the ordinations by age; Adam-ondi-Ahman; the book of Enoch

Offices of the Church · The Councils of the Church · Moses · Enoch · Abraham · Index · Connections

Sources

Doctrine and Covenants sections 84 and 107 (verse text only; headnotes excluded), with D&C 13 cited inside a disclosure. Cross-references quoted from Alma 13, Hebrews 12, and Matthew 10; Alma 13:9, Moses 1, Moses 6, and John 13 are cited, not quoted, inside disclosures.

Every quote is verbatim from the frozen source text, cited to its exact reference and checked character-for-character; no quote crosses a verse boundary. Five connection records are registered on this page — four [textual] and one [interpretive], all asserted_by: wiki. The revelation’s naming of the Book of Mormon at D&C 84:57 is a named citation and is referred to the named-citation sweep rather than asserted here. Phrase distributions are counts of distinct frozen verses in the corpus, derived by search at the time of writing.