Who has the words of eternal life?

Footnotes

Jesus is the living conduit through which we perceive, receive, and value the word.¹ Jesus is the embodiment of the word of God,² or the word made flesh,³ or the character of the Father as a man.⁴ Eternal life can be thought of as the process of perceiving, receiving, and valuing the word.

Popular translations of John’s gospel open with a reference to Jesus Christ as “the word,” but without a description of the meaning of the phrase. Here is a more explanatory rendition:

1 The word has always existed. Having the word and being the word is what makes God who and what he is.
2 Before the world was created, Jesus Christ was with the Father, and had obtained and become the word.
3 He made all things according to the pattern by which all things have ever been made, according to the word.
4 He had obtained eternal life before this world was, and by laying down his eternal life, he provided the light of men. (John 1, Author’s Reflection)

The words of eternal life existed before the world was created. We do not create them, but rather discover them. We receive them from the Son, who already has them, having received them from the Father.⁵

The Lord operates through the spirit of God⁶ and messengers under its influence⁷ to incrementally mete out more knowledge about himself. Jesus brought down the words of eternal life by making himself known to Adam,⁸ others after Adam,⁹ to those he ministered to in the flesh, and by making himself known to others after his resurrection.¹⁰ Those who know him more provide the words of eternal life to those who know him less.¹¹ However, the sources of the words of eternal life are much broader than most would anticipate.

The words of eternal life are information suggesting how things could be better than they are. Anyone who can form a plausible path to something better than what is has the words of eternal life. The words of eternal life come from God, and God can “speak” to anyone¹² —whether through visitation, voice, life experience, or quickening their thoughts.¹³ God can speak to those who don’t even believe in him, including in ways that they will not recognize. He can even speak to those actively attacking him, such as he did to Caiaphas as he was in the midst of proposing that Jesus should die.¹⁴

Those who have the words of eternal life exist in a hierarchical tree,¹⁵ each with a differing capacity to help a specific person improve from where they are. In one sense, the work of the End Times is to repeatedly connect each person to the one who has the words of eternal life to them until they learn and live all the words they are willing to receive.

The one who can form an effective path to the greatest improvement is the one who has the greatest words of eternal life. Jesus has the ultimate words of eternal life, because all improvement comes from and leads to him.

The words of eternal life are information about how Jesus would think, feel, and act in your place. Anyone who is more like Jesus than you do has the words of eternal life.¹⁴¹² It should be immediately obvious that one can only lead people to be like God to the extent that they know the way, and that they only know the way as far as they have travelled it themselves.¹⁴¹³ Someone who can correctly explain what Jesus would think, feel, or do in your place further or more persuasively than you can provides you with invaluable information to enable you to draw nearer to him by becoming more like him.

The process of climbing the tree of the kingdom of God entails finding and learning from those who know Jesus better than you, learning all you can from them, and proceeding to repeat the cycle.¹⁴¹⁴ In one sense, the work of the End Times is to repeatedly connect each person with someone more like Jesus than they are, from whom they can learn more about him, until they have met the person most like Christ they are willing to learn from and follow the example of. Jesus has the ultimate words of eternal life,¹⁴¹⁵ as he knows each change needed to render a person into how he is, no matter how they presently are. While each individual’s understanding of the Lord is different, as individuals live what they understand about Jesus, their understanding of him will merge towards his actual identity.

Footnotes

1. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) ↩
2. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3) ↩
3. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) ↩
4. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51) ↩
5. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. (John 14:24) ↩
6. Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment. (Moses 6:61) ↩
7. Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. (2 Nephi 32:3) ↩
8. And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you. (Moses 6:52) ↩
9. For example, he appeared to the Brother of Jared: “Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.” (Ether 3:14) ↩
10. For example, he appeared to his followers in the Americas after his resurrection: “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.” (3 Nephi 11:10) ↩
11. But unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life. (D&C 63:23) ↩
12. TODO: this footnote is empty ↩
13. And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation. (D&C 68:4) ↩
14. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; (John 11:49-51) ↩
15. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38) ↩

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