Teachings
Three sermons of Jacob are recorded in the Book of Mormon. In them, Jacob gives clear explanation of core LDS doctrines--including the salvation through Christ of those ignorant of God's commandments--and stances definitively against racism and against practices including polygamy, except when specifically commanded by the Lord.
The first sermon is the longest in the LDS Standard Works, and draws on Isaiah's teachings to invite individuals and nations to return from rejecting Christ and receive His mercies. He clarifies sin as knowing God's commandments and doing otherwise, and offers the generous doctrine that "where there is no law given there is no punishment no condemnation and the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him."
In his second sermon, Jacob decries greed and lust. He upends racist Nephite self-righteousness, saying of the Lamanites, who were ignorant of the finer points of the law, "their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children" and prophesies that the Lord would be merciful to the Lamanites because of their righteousness in this regard. He explained the Lord's standard of sexual purity as "that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and there should not be whoredoms committed among them" unless directed by God via revelation for the purpose of "rais up seed unto me".
In Jacob's third sermon, Jacob quotes an allegory of the scattering and gathering of Israel (see Parable of the Olive Tree), which he attributes to another prophet, Zenos. In it, what may have been perceived as the Lord's punishment is re-framed as the Lord's devoted effort to save His original covenant people, as well as to spread his covenant and the blessings that accompany it, to all other nations. Christ is seen as a mediator, calling on the Master of the Vineyard to forebear casting the wicked "into the fire", saying instead "Let us prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it a little longer". Lest the Lord of the Vineyard's mercy be questioned, the allegory later records that "the Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard?... Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh. And it grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire that they should be burned."
Read more about this topic: Jacob (Book Of Mormon Prophet)
Famous quotes containing the word teachings:
“... there are no chains so galling as the chains of ignorance—no fetters so binding as those that bind the soul, and exclude it from the vast field of useful and scientific knowledge. O, had I received the advantages of early education, my ideas would, ere now, have expanded far and wide; but, alas! I possess nothing but moral capability—no teachings but the teachings of the Holy Spirit.”
—Maria Stewart (1803–1879)
“We denote this primary wisdom as Intuition, whilst all later teachings are tuitions.”
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