In all the times of history that prophets lived on the earth, those prophets caused new scripture to be created. The words of the prophets were written down and some of them were gathered into books of scriptures. The Bible wasn’t just one book initially. It was a collection of writings that in time were gathered together and men decided which writings should be part of the scripture.
The Jewish people initially had only small portions of what is today called the Bible. They had the writings of whichever prophets had lived to that point. More was regularly added to that cannon. The people were not expected to keep only the words of Moses and to consider that enough.
Early in the Bible, we read of a warning to the people:
1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4 in the King James version of the Bible)
This is similar to a warning given in the Book of Revelation, which is in the New Testament of the Bible:
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: (Revelation 22:18)
Needless to say, a great deal had been added to the Bible between the writings in Deuteronomy and the writings in Revelations. And, of course, although Revelations is the last book in our Bible, it wasn’t the last one written. So what did the prophets mean when they said not to add to the scriptures?
They meant that we must not add the teachings of men to the teachings of God. The prophets might be entitled to their own opinions on subjects, but what they wrote must be God’s word, not theirs, and must be written only with God’s permission. In other words, the scriptures must be purely the word of God, not a commentary that sometimes thinks to quote God.
Jeffrey R. Holland, an apostle of God, explained, concerning the verse in Revelations:
“However, there is now overwhelming consensus among virtually all biblical scholars that this verse applies only to the book of Revelation, not the whole Bible. Those scholars of our day acknowledge a number of New Testament “books” that were almost certainly written after John’s revelation on the Isle of Patmos was received. Included in this category are at least the books of Jude, the three Epistles of John, and probably the entire Gospel of John itself. Perhaps there are even more than these.
But there is a simpler answer as to why that passage in the final book of the current New Testament cannot apply to the whole Bible. That is because the whole Bible as we know it—one collection of texts bound in a single volume—did not exist when that verse was written. For centuries after John produced his writing, the individual books of the New Testament were in circulation singly or perhaps in combinations with a few other texts but almost never as a complete collection. Of the entire corpus of 5,366 known Greek New Testament manuscripts, only 35 contain the whole New Testament as we now know it, and 34 of those were compiled after a.d. 1000.” Jeffrey R. Holland, My Words … Never Cease’,” Ensign, May 2008, 91–94
And so, God was not saying we had to rip all the pages out of our Bible that were written after Deuteronomy, or that we can’t treasure the words of John. He meant only that we can’t put our own doctrines into the scriptures.
The Savior said he had more people than just the Jews. He was not only the God of the Jews. He was the Savior of us all. Modern day revelation tells us Jesus appeared to others between his death and resurrection, and we have the records of one of those groups. This record is the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon tells of several groups of people who immigrated from the Holy Lands. The primary group was the family and friends of a prophet named Lehi. Lehi was called of God to preach to the people of Jerusalem around 600 BC. When the people rejected his words, as they did the other prophets of the time, God instructed him to take his family and flee. In time, God led them to the American continent. They brought with them religious scriptures, those that had been written to that time.
Lehi’s son, Nephi, succeeded him as prophet and was commanded to begin keeping a record of God’s dealings with the people. Future prophets added to it. As a result, when the Savior came to these people between his death and resurrection, the visit was recorded. It stands today as a testimony that Jesus is indeed our Savior, the Savior of all people everywhere. The book stands as a testimony that the Bible is true, since it reinforces the message of the Bible concerning the Savior.
Unfortunately, many people prefer to think God is unwilling to talk to anyone but the ancient Jews of Jerusalem, and that He has closed his dealings with us. The Book of Mormon predicted this very event, with a gentle reminder not to think God can’t do something. He is God…He can do everything.
3 And because my words shall hiss forth—many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible. (2 Nephi 29)
8 Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.
9 And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.
10 Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written. (2 Nephi 29)
The late Terrie Lynn Bittner—beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend—was the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992.
