“To Teach His Commandments”
Joseph Smith taught: “The duty of a High Priest is to administer in spiritual and holy things, and to hold communion with God.... And again, it is the High Priests’ duty to be better qualified to teach principles and doctrines, than the Elders.” (Teachings, p. 21.) Thus the primary charge of the high priest-indeed, the primary responsibility of all who hold the higher priesthood-is teaching the doctrines of salvation. A revelation of our day states that the “greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God” (D&C 84:19). The Melchizedek Priesthood, Joseph Smith taught, “is the channel through which all knowledge, doctrine, the plan of salvation and every important matter is revealed from heaven” (Teachings, pp. 166-67).
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