Sacred Texts: Mormons

Doctrine and Convenants: 18. Revelation to Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer, Fayette, New York, June 1829.

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Section 18 of the Doctrine and Covenants is a canonized scriptural revelation in the Latter-day Saint tradition, presented as direct speech from Jesus Christ addressed to early church figures Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer. Its central content is a divine commission: Cowdery and Whitmer are commanded to identify and call twelve disciples who will preach repentance, perform baptisms, and go into all the world — a mandate explicitly compared to the calling of the apostle Paul. The revelation insists on the supreme worth of souls and frames missionary labor in terms of joy, arguing that converting even a single person justifies a lifetime of effort. A doctrinally distinctive claim appears in the repeated insistence that salvation is available only through the name of Jesus Christ, and that those ignorant of that name at the last day cannot enter God's kingdom — underscoring an exclusivist soteriology. The text also asserts its own divine origin explicitly, denying human authorship and instructing recipients to testify that they have heard Christ's voice directly. Anyone deciding whether to read further would find this section most relevant for understanding early LDS ecclesiology, apostolic authority, and the theological foundations of the church's missionary program.

Doctrine and Convenants: 18. Revelation to Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer, Fayette, New York, June 1829.

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