VOLUME 3 CONSISTS OF THE DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS & PEARLS OF GREAT PRICE

● The new D&C returns the Lectures on Faith to its original place, along with those sections and

revelations identified as coming through Joseph Smith. These have been painstakingly compared to

the manuscripts found in the Joseph Smith Papers Project:

○ The order of the sections has been restored to thematic groupings rather than simply being

presented chronologically. These groupings are: Restoration, Organization and Worship, and

Revelations to Individuals.

○ Several LDS sections have been removed for the following reasons:

■ Sections 2 & 13 are extracts from JS-History and are therefore redundant.

■ Section 20 was written by Oliver Cowdery and constitutes church articles and covenants used to

begin to structure the early church organization. They no longer apply.

■ Section 101 on Marriage, from the original 1835 Kirtland Edition, is not being reintroduced because

it is not a product of either Joseph or Hyrum. However, pertinent points are included in another

area.

■ Section 110 is completely unverifiable as a true revelation/vision. The three individuals with some

information about the section, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery and Warren Cowdery, left no

statement or explanation about Section 110. Further, in listing those who visited with them in their

respective testimonies, neither Joseph Smith nor Oliver Cowdery mention Elijah as having come.

Finally throughout the Nauvoo time frame, including a month before his death, Joseph Smith spoke

of Elijah’s return as a future and not a past event.

■ Section 129 was a struggle. Initially it was revised by taking the shorthand notes from Joseph

Smith’s journal and fleshing them out with bridge words and phrases to make them into

comprehensible sentences. However, once attempted, that effort was abandoned and the section

was completely removed for the following reasons:

1. The shorthand is just sketchy enough that some of the bridge wording is clearly debatable.

2. The instruction we have through the Book of Mormon is sufficient on its own to allow us to discern

evil spirits.

3. This section, if relied upon alone, is apparently not sufficient to defend against lying spirits.

■ Section 134 is a declaration on laws & government written by either Oliver Cowdery or Sidney

Rigdon, not Joseph Smith.

■ Section 135 is simply the announcement of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum.

■ Section 136 is from Brigham Young.

■ Section 138, Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the dead, is restricted by copyright and cannot be used.

■ Official Declarations 1 & 2 are declarations made by a different church.

○ Several LDS sections have been revised for the following reasons:

■ Section 107 was an amalgamation of content, with only one portion traceable to a revelation before

the 1835 publication of the D&C. That portion has been preserved. The 1835 published version

bears hallmarks of revisions by the hand of man. Therefore only a portion has been extracted, and

then added to by revelation, to explain the establishment of dispensations and reflect the direction

of this current dispensation. It is placed as the last section in the new D&C.

■ Sections 121, 122 and123 came from a letter written from Liberty Jail and are presented within the

context of the entire letter written by Joseph Smith.

■ Section 132 on celestial marriage is now represented as it is posted by Denver Snuffer on his blog,

containing the redactions suggested there to make the document internally consistent and reflect

the earliest descriptions of the original.

○ More than 40 new sections have been added for the following reasons:

■ Nearly all of these new sections are verified revelations given through Joseph Smith that simply

were never sustained as scripture.

■ Restoration Edition Section 97 is President Hyrum Smith’s epistle to the church.

○ The new D&C also includes an insert in the Appendix called A PROPHET’S PREROGATIVE, an

example of an extremely valuable method of comparative study that can significantly help your

understanding. The example used is Isaiah 29, and includes an introductory explanation.