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My comment is a little late in coming, but I wanted to thank you for this good article. I enjoyed your description of the connection between the principles of faith, hope, and charity and the doctrine of having one’s calling and election made sure, which you described as a “culminating point” that a person can reach through the ladder-like qualities in 2 Pet. 1:5-7 and D&C 4:6. Regarding your statement that a lecture based on the “verbal ladders” in those verses and in Romans 5:1-5 “would be a fitting summary of the process of progression embodied in Latter-day Saint temple ordinances,” I note that President Russell M. Nelson (then Elder Nelson) also seemingly drew a connection between those 10 principles and the temple in his general conference talk in April 2016. He said that Peter “named faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity, and diligence. And don’t forget humility!” (citing 2 Peter 1:5–10 and D&C 4:6). “The more those attributes are developed,” President Nelson said, “the greater will be our priesthood power.” He asked, “Are you willing to worship in the temple regularly? The Lord loves to do His own teaching in His holy house. Imagine how pleased He would be if you asked Him to teach you about priesthood keys, authority, and power as you experience the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood in the holy temple. Imagine the increase in priesthood power that could be yours” (“The Price of Priesthood Power,” Ensign (May 2016), 68–69).
I love William Blake’s painting of Jacob’s ladder, which you included in In God’s Image and Likeness (but for some reason not in your Interpreter article). Every time I look at that painting, I think of Joseph’s statement about the “three principal rounds of Jacob’s ladder.” I have counted the rounds of the circular ladder in Blake’s painting and count only three (although perhaps there are three and a half rounds). In any event, the painting is a beautiful illustration of the ascent and descent that you mentioned in footnote 119 of your Interpreter article. As you said so well, “The idea of the double ladder of ascent and descent finds a parallel in Gen. 28:12, where Jacob’s ladder is said to have had ‘the angels of God ascending and descending on it.’” Perhaps the ladder, with its up and down, is also a symbol Christ’s work and glory.
The ascent and descend on the ladder were also part of Christ’s work and glory. Jesus “ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things” (D&C 88:6). The ladder is a wonderful symbol not only of the progression of God’s children but of Christ’s own mission of redemption.
In short, faith, hope, and charity are gifts that God gives us when we exercise the 4th Article of Faith: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. When we exercise the 4th Article of Faith, we are blessed with additional faith, with additional hope, and additional charity – all provided by the Holy Ghost in the process of purifying and sanctifying us. There is one word for all 3 (faith, hope, charity): PEACE – not peace as the world sometimes knows, but the peace that only the Holy Ghost can provide in which we know that we are Christlike in our nature or becoming Christlike in our nature, and thus know that we are ONE with the Father or are progressing to be one with the Father.
Thanks, Lanny!
At note 172, you cite David Calabro on the question of the actual use of the huge bronze laver at the Jewish Temple. Some scholars now argue that temple-goers first bathed themselves in the Pool of Siloam (a mikveh about the size of two football fields), and then ascended the many steps to the Temple Mount. https://www.bridgesforpeace.com/israel-unveils-ancient-pilgrims-road-used-by-jewish-worshipers-to-ascend-second-temple/ .
Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler connect agape-love with righteous worship (LXX Pss 30:23, 39:16, 68:35, 96:10, 144:20), and derive Paul’s discussion from Isa 56:6. Of the three graces, love is a gift of the Spirit, and is eternal. The Jewish Annotated New Testament: NRSV (Oxford, 2011), 308n, re I Cor 13:1-13.
Hi, Robert. Thanks for these interesting leads! I appreciate, as always, your kindness in sharing them!
—Jeff