This reintroduction of the great and abominable church follows the depiction of the restoration. Thus, assuming the events of the vision to be chronological, this episode seems to be directed to current readers, rather than to those of Joseph Smith’s day.
In this passage, the dichotomy is stark. A person belongs either to “the church of the Lamb of God” or to “the church of the devil.” As the restoration of the gospel had heralded, there are only two ways: salvation or damnation. All grays are partitioned into the symbolic black and white of the opposite ways. This passage also clarifies that the vision is describing the quality of individual souls, not two organizations.
This extreme duality was an important theme in early Christianity. A text known as “The Two Ways” shows up in the Didaché (an early church “manual” from around A.D. 100, with some scholars dating it to the second century), the Letter of Barnabas (ca. A.D. 100–130), the Apostolic Church Order (fourth century), and the Life of Schnudi (fifth century). The “Two Ways” are the Way of Life and the Way of Death. There is no in-between third way. One chooses either life or death. This concept of an extreme dichotomy is found in Jeremiah, a contemporary of Lehi: “And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death” (Jer. 21:8). We cannot be certain that Lehi had the written word of Jeremiah, but he may have heard Jeremiah speak on this topic or have simply understood it from the same source as Jeremiah. In any case, this duality clearly shows in Lehi’s discourse: “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Ne. 2:27; emphasis mine).
Reference: It is possible that the phrase “church of the devil” is related to the same concept that lies behind the phrase “assembly of the wicked” in Psalm 22:16: “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.” Hebrew has no term that has the precise meaning we ascribe to “church.” The two words that are translated as “church” are qahal and ehad. Both of these refer to a group, or an “assembly,” as ehad was translated in the KJV for Psalm 22:16. The concepts behind “church of the devil” and “assembly of the wicked” may be parallel.
Variant: The printer’s manuscript reads: “whose founder is the devil.” Similar to the change in 1 Nephi 13:6, the 1830 and most subsequent printed editions have “whose foundation is the devil.” The 1981 edition returned the text to the wording of the printer’s manuscript.”