Official Declaration 1 (Introduction/Notes)
Overview
This text serves as the 2013 historical and apologetic introduction to Official Declaration 1 (the 1890 Manifesto). It synthesizes the Latter-day Saint theological framework regarding marriage, asserting a mutable standard: monogamy is God's baseline, but He reserves the right to command plural marriage, which the text claims He did through Joseph Smith in the 1840s (referencing D&C 132). The narrative then outlines the historical friction between the LDS Church and the United States government, noting that anti-polygamy laws were passed between the 1860s and 1880s and upheld by the Supreme Court. Facing existential threats to the Church's survival, President Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto to end the practice. Crucially, the text frames this pivot not as a mere capitulation to secular legal pressure, but as a direct, binding 'revelation' from God. For the LDS believer, this text is foundational because it establishes the absolute authority of the living prophet to receive new revelation that can alter or completely reverse previous divine mandates. It transitions the Church from a radical, isolated, polygamous sect into an assimilationist American religion, while maintaining the theological premise that the original practice was divinely instituted.
Key Figures
- God (Presented as the author of the marriage standard who issues changing revelations regarding its practice)
- Joseph Smith (The prophet who received the initial revelation instituting plural marriage in the 1840s)
- Wilford Woodruff (The Church President who received the subsequent revelation to end plural marriage in 1890)
Doctrines Analyzed
Key theological claims identified in this text:
Mutable Marriage Standard (Divine Exception)
Assertion
Monogamy is God's standard for marriage, but God can and does declare exceptions where plural marriage is commanded.
Evidence from Text
The Bible and the Book of Mormon teach that monogamy is God’s standard for marriage unless He declares otherwise
Evangelical Comparison
This doctrine presents a significant departure from Evangelical Theology Proper and Ethics. The LDS text posits that God's moral law regarding marriage is mutable and subject to dispensational suspension. By citing 2 Samuel 12:7-8, the text interprets God's transfer of Saul's household to David as a prescriptive endorsement of polygamy. In contrast, Evangelicalism interprets Old Testament polygamy as descriptive of human fallenness and cultural accommodation, never as a positive divine mandate. Evangelicals look to Christ's words in Matthew 19:4-6, where Jesus bypasses the Mosaic accommodations and points back to the creational standard of Genesis 2:24 (one man, one woman) as the absolute, unchanging moral will of God for marriage.
Continuing and Superseding Revelation
Assertion
God gives new revelations to current Church Presidents that can alter, suspend, or reverse previous revelations and practices.
Evidence from Text
After receiving revelation, President Wilford Woodruff issued the following Manifesto, which was accepted by the Church as authoritative and binding
Evangelical Comparison
The text demonstrates the LDS doctrine of continuing revelation, where the living prophet's current words hold supreme authority, even over past canonized revelations (like D&C 132). Wilford Woodruff's revelation effectively ended a practice that Joseph Smith's revelation had declared a 'new and everlasting covenant.' For Evangelicals, this violates the sufficiency and finality of Scripture. Hebrews 1:1-2 declares that God has spoken finally through His Son, and Jude 1:3 states the faith was 'once for all delivered to the saints.' Evangelicals reject the concept of an ongoing prophetic office that can issue new, binding mandates upon the universal church, viewing the biblical canon as closed and sufficient for all faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Comparative Analysis
Theological Gap (Summary)
The text asserts that God's moral laws regarding marriage can change via new revelations to modern prophets, whereas Evangelicals believe God's moral law is unchanging and the canon of revelation is closed.
Theological Gap (Explained)
The theological gap centers on the immutability of God and the nature of revelation. The LDS paradigm presented here requires a God who institutes a controversial practice (polygamy) as a divine mandate, only to revoke it when secular legal and financial pressures threaten the institution. This portrays a reactive theology where truth and moral duty are fluid, contingent upon the declarations of the current Church President. Evangelicals, holding to Sola Scriptura and the immutability of God's character, view marriage as an unchanging creational ordinance established in Genesis 2:24 and reaffirmed by Christ in Matthew 19:4-6. Furthermore, the mechanism of change—a new revelation to a modern prophet—violates the Evangelical commitment to the closed canon of Scripture. Evangelicals do not accept that a modern leader can receive 'authoritative and binding' revelation that alters the moral landscape of the church.
For All Ages
Imagine if your parents told you, 'You can never eat cookies before dinner, unless we specifically tell you it's okay.' Then one day they say, 'Eat lots of cookies before dinner!' But later, when the police say eating cookies before dinner is illegal and threaten to take your house away, your parents say, 'God just told us to stop eating cookies before dinner.' Christians believe God's rules about marriage were set perfectly at the very beginning with Adam and Eve (one man, one woman) and God doesn't change His mind or need to update His rules just because the government gets mad. Mormons believe God can change the rules through their leaders.
Friction Points
Sola Scriptura
Claims that a modern leader (Wilford Woodruff) received new revelation that is authoritative and binding on the church.
Theology Proper (Immutability of God)
Suggests God's moral standard for marriage is mutable and can be suspended or reinstated based on modern prophetic declarations.
Semantic Warnings
Terms that have different meanings between traditions:
"Revelation"
In This Text
An ongoing, binding communication from God to a modern prophet that can alter, suspend, or reverse previous doctrines and practices.
In Evangelicalism
The closed, final, and sufficient communication of God found exclusively in the 66 books of the Bible.
"Authoritative and binding"
In This Text
Requires absolute obedience to the institutional church's current stance and the living prophet's declarations.
In Evangelicalism
Applies only to the Word of God (Scripture), which holds ultimate authority over the believer's conscience.
Soteriology (Salvation)
Salvation Defined: While not explicitly defined in this short historical note, in the broader LDS context, exaltation (the highest degree of heaven) was historically tied to plural marriage, making this shift soteriologically massive.
How Attained: By obeying the current revelation and aligning with the living prophet's mandates.
Basis of Assurance: Confidence is derived from institutional compliance—accepting the Manifesto and following the Church's current direction.
Comparison to Sola Fide: This text highlights a works-and-obedience-based system where standing with God is mediated through compliance with shifting institutional rules regarding marriage. Sola Fide, by contrast, teaches that justification is a one-time, forensic act based solely on faith in Christ's finished work (Romans 5:1), entirely independent of marital status or institutional compliance.
Mandates & Requirements
Explicit Commands
- Accept the Manifesto as authoritative and binding
- End the practice of plural marriage in the Church
Implicit Obligations
- Submit to the declarations of the current Church President
- Accept that the cessation of polygamy was due to divine revelation, not merely political capitulation
- Obey the secular laws of the United States regarding marriage
Ritual Requirements
- Cease the solemnization of plural marriage sealings
Evangelism Toolkit
Practical tools for engagement and dialogue:
Discovery Questions
Open-ended questions to promote reflection:
- If D&C 132 calls plural marriage a 'new and everlasting covenant' and says those who reject it are damned, how do we reconcile that with Official Declaration 1 ending it?
- How can we tell the difference between a genuine revelation from God and a pragmatic decision made by leaders to save the Church from government seizure?
- Why do you think God's standard for marriage changed at the exact moment the US government threatened to confiscate the Church's temples and assets?
- If God's moral laws can change based on a new prophet's declaration, how can we have certainty about what God expects of us today?
Redemptive Analogies
Bridges from this text to the Gospel:
Submission to a Higher Authority
Just as the LDS Church eventually recognized and yielded to the higher authority of the law of the land, we must all recognize and yield to the highest, unchanging authority of God's Word. Instead of trusting shifting human leadership, we can rest in the solid, unchanging truth of Christ.
Spiritual Weight
Burdens this text places on adherents:
Believers must reconcile the fact that early prophets taught polygamy was absolutely essential for the highest degree of heaven, while later prophets banned it and modern prophets distance themselves from it. This creates a heavy burden of cognitive dissonance, forcing the believer to trust shifting human leadership over a static, reliable truth. It breeds uncertainty about whether current doctrines might also be reversed in the future.