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Question 12
"Angel Moroni" and Godhood

Everyone talks about the "Angel Moroni," but if he was a great prophet and leader of the Nephites and was a righteous and devout man of God, why hasn't he attained godhood along with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Doctrine and Covenants 132:17, 37)?

Response by Stanley D. Barker and Malin L. Jacobs

The question displays its author's misunderstanding of the meaning of the term "angel" and its usage by the LDS in reference to Moroni. The questioner seems to feel that the LDS believe that one cannot be both an angel and a god, based on Doctrine and Covenants (D&C)132:37, which states:

. . . they [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob] have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels but are gods.

Verse 16, which the author of the question did not refer to, is also relevant.

. . . but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister to those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.

This D&C 132 distinction between angels and gods refers to one's condition after the resurrection and final judgment. However, this use is only one of the meanings of "angel." The most common biblical usage is to refer to a messenger of God.¹ As such, the term "angel" has been applied to men,² non-mortal beings,³ and even Christ himself.⁴ The devil has his own angels.⁵ Most LDS references to angels are as messengers from God.⁶

Indeed, when Moroni introduced himself to Joseph Smith, he did not refer to himself as an angel, but as a messenger.⁷ Joseph Smith's first reference to Moroni was as a messenger.⁸ Joseph Smith's history, as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price always uses the term "messenger" to refer to Moroni.⁹In his 1832 historical account, Joseph did use the term "angels" in the context of messengers, without referring to specific individuals.¹⁰ In the D&C Joseph did refer to Moroni as an angel in the context of a messenger from God.¹¹

Joseph Smith taught that Moroni is a resurrected being.¹² Since he was resurrected prior to Christ's second coming, the LDS view Moroni as having been a just man who will, if he has not already done so, enter into godhood.

The LDS refer to Moroni as the "Angel Moroni" because of his role as a messenger from God to Joseph Smith in the restoration of the gospel.

Earliest known discussion: This one.

Notes

1. Alexander Cruden, Cruden's Unabridged Concordance to the OLD and NEW TESTAMENTS and THE APOCRYPHA (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1953):10, entry "Angel." Hereafter referred to as Cruden. Some may consider Cruden to be out-of-date, as he provides neither Hebrew nor Greek examples, and is keyed to the Authorized Version (the King James Translation) of the Bible. Nonetheless the usages and examples found therein for "angel" are still in use. Those usages constitute the Christian religious milieu of Joseph Smith, and hence provide the usages he would have been familiar with.

2. Cruden: 10. See for example Rev. 2:1, 3:1, 7.

3. Cruden: 10. See for example Rev. 22:8.

4. Cruden: 10, 576. Isaiah 63:9 specifically uses the term "angel" to refer to the savior:

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. . .

Matthew Henry, commenting on this passage says:

. . . this is rather to be understood of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word, that Angel of whom God spake to Moses, (Exod. xiii. 20.) Whose voice Israel was to obey. He is called Jehovah, Exod. xiii. 21: xiv. 21, 24. He is the Angel of the covenant, God's Messenger to the world, Mal. iii.1. He is the Angel of God's face, for his is the express Image of his person; and the glory of God shines in the face of Christ. He that was to work out the eternal salvation, as an earnest of that, wrought out the temporal salvations that were typical of it.

Rev. Matthew Henry, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (London: Frederick Westley and A. H. Davis, 1836), II:865. Hereafter referred to as Henry.

Malachi 3:1 refers to Christ as a messenger, which is the primary job of angels:

. . .and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the lord of hosts.

The good reverend comments on this passage as follows:

. . . He is the messenger of the covenant; or the Angel of the covenant, that blessed One that was sent from heaven to negociate a peace and settle a correspondence, between God and man. He is the Angel, the Arch-angel, the Lord of the angels, who received commission from the Father to bring man home to God by a covenant of grace, who had revolted from him by the violation of the covenant of innocency. Christ is the Angel of this covenant, by whose mediation it is brought about and established, as God's covenant with Israel was made by the disposition of angels. Acts vii. 53, Gal. iii. 19.

Henry, II: 1512.

If Christ is God, then it is clear that even God can be referred to as an angel.

5. Cruden: 10. See Matt. 25:41.

6. Doctrine And Covenants 7, 27:16, 76:33, 133:53. Hereafter referred to as D&C. See also John A. Widtsoe, "What Is An Angel," The Improvement Era 46:2 (Feb. 1943), pp. 97, 127.

7. Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History 1: 33. Hereafter referred to as JSH.

8. JSH 1:44.

9. JSH 1:44, 46, 47, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 59, 60,

10. Joseph begins the 1832 history as follows:

A History of the life of Joseph Smith Jr. an account of his marvilous experience and of all the mighty acts which he doeth in the name of Jesus Ch[r]ist the son of the living God of whom he beareth record and also an account of the rise of the church of Christ in the eve of time according as the Lord brought(t) forth and established by his hand (firstly) he receiving the testamony from on high seccondly the ministering of Angels thirdly the reception of the holy Priesthood by the ministring of Aangels to adminster the letter of the Gospel . . .

Dean C. Jesse, ed., The Papers of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah. Corporation of the First Presidency, 1989), I: 3.

11. D&C 128:20.

12. Joseph Smith, jr., ed., The Elders Journal (Far West, Missouri: 1838) I, 3 (July, 1838):42-3.