Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Contents
Title Page
Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual
Doctrine and Covenants Lessons
- The Restoration Proclamation
- Doctrine and Covenants 1
- Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 2; Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65
- Doctrine and Covenants 3–5
- Doctrine and Covenants 6–9
- Doctrine and Covenants 10–11
- Doctrine and Covenants 12–17; Joseph Smith—History 1:66–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 18
- Doctrine and Covenants 19
- Doctrine and Covenants 20–22
- Doctrine and Covenants 23–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 27–28
- Doctrine and Covenants 29
- Doctrine and Covenants 30–36
- Doctrine and Covenants 37–40
- Doctrine and Covenants 41–44
- Doctrine and Covenants 45
- Doctrine and Covenants 46–48
- Doctrine and Covenants 49–50
- Doctrine and Covenants 51–57
- Doctrine and Covenants 58–59
- Doctrine and Covenants 60–63
- Doctrine and Covenants 64–66
- Doctrine and Covenants 67–70
- Doctrine and Covenants 71–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 76
- Doctrine and Covenants 77–80
- Doctrine and Covenants 81–83
- Doctrine and Covenants 84
- Doctrine and Covenants 85–87
- Doctrine and Covenants 88
- Doctrine and Covenants 89–92
- Doctrine and Covenants 93
- Doctrine and Covenants 94–97
- Doctrine and Covenants 98–101
- Doctrine and Covenants 102–105
- Doctrine and Covenants 106–108
- Doctrine and Covenants 109–110
- Doctrine and Covenants 111–114
- Doctrine and Covenants 115–120
- Doctrine and Covenants 121–123
- Doctrine and Covenants 124
- Doctrine and Covenants 125–128
- Doctrine and Covenants 129–132
- Doctrine and Covenants 133–134
- Doctrine and Covenants 135–136
- Doctrine and Covenants 137–138
- The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2
- The Family: A Proclamation to the World
- The Living Christ
Life Preparation Lessons
- Doctrinal Mastery: Finding Answers to My Questions
- Scripture Study Skills
- For the Strength of Youth: Making Choices
- Building Self-Reliance
- Physical and Emotional Health
- Preparing for Future Education and Employment
- Succeeding in School
- Missionary Preparation
- Temple Preparation
- Teachings of Church Leaders
Appendix

Lesson 6—Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38: “Whether by Mine Own Voice or by the Voice of My Servants, It Is the Same”

“Lesson 6—Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38: ‘Whether by Mine Own Voice or by the Voice of My Servants, It Is the Same,’” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual (2025)

“Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary

Lesson 6: Doctrine and Covenants 1

Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38

“Whether by Mine Own Voice or by the Voice of My Servants, It Is the Same”

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Jesus Christ

To conclude His inspired preface to the Book of Commandments (now the Doctrine and Covenants), the Lord testified that He speaks to us through His prophets. This lesson can help students study the Lord’s words through the scriptures and through the words of modern-day prophets.

Possible Learning Activities

Why would we want to hear the Lord?

Imagine that you had the opportunity to be in the same room with the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Why might you want to speak with and listen to Him?
What topics would you want the Savior to discuss with you or provide direction on? Why?
How do you think the experience might affect you?

As you study this lesson, seek guidance from the Holy Ghost to help you know how you can hear the words of the Savior and how they can bless you personally.

How to hear the Savior in our lives

The Savior loves us and wants us to continually strive to hear His voice. At the end of the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Savior emphasized some of the ways He speaks to us.

Read Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38, looking for those ways He speaks to us. It may be helpful to remember that the word “commandments” refers to the Book of Commandments (or Doctrine and Covenants).

Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38 is a doctrinal mastery passage. Consider inviting students to mark doctrinal mastery passages in a distinctive way so they can locate them easily.

What did you learn from these verses?

You could ask students to share their insights. They might mention that the Lord speaks to us through the scriptures and His prophets. If they do not, consider holding up a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants, a picture of modern-day prophets, and a picture of the Savior and asking what they have in common according to Doctrine and Covenants 1:38. Consider inviting students to mark a phrase that teaches the following truth: whether by His own voice or the voice of His servants, it is the same.

If it would be useful, write the following verses on the board and invite students to read one or two of them, looking for what they teach that confirms the above truth: Deuteronomy 18:18; Doctrine and Covenants 18:33–36; 21:4–6. Students may want to record these verses as cross-references to Doctrine and Covenants 1:38.
Why might it sometimes be difficult to want to study the Lord’s words?
How might the truth we identified, or other phrases in Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38, motivate you to study the Lord’s words?

Why we want to study His words

Watch the following video and read the following statement, looking for reasons you may want to study the Lord’s words through the scriptures and through the words of modern-day prophets:

“How I #HearHim: Elder David A. Bednar” (1:15)

Sister Carol F. McConkie, former counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, taught:

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Sister Carol F. McConkie

[Latter-day prophets] speak in the name of Christ. They prophesy in the name of Christ. They do all things in the name of Jesus Christ. In their words we hear the voice of the Lord and we feel the Savior’s love. (Carol F. McConkie, “Live according to the Words of the Prophets,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2014, 77)

What did you like or learn from this video and statement?

Allow students time to ponder the following question before asking for volunteers to share. As students ponder, consider sharing a personal example they could relate to. Doing so may help them think of other examples.
When have you (or someone you know) felt that you received a message from the Lord through the scriptures or through the words of modern-day prophets?

Practice

The following activity is meant to help students draw closer to the Savior while studying the words of His servants. Be sure to give students plenty of time to complete it and share their thoughts afterward.

Take several minutes to search some of the following verses and words of modern-day prophets. As you study, visualize the Lord saying these words to you. (This is a helpful study skill you can use whenever you study the scriptures.) Consider marking what is meaningful to you.

Doctrine and Covenants 6:34–37; 10:5; 19:23; 27:15–18; 58:26–28; 68:5–6; 78:18–19; 82:10; 98:1–3; 112:10. (Or select other verses in the Doctrine and Covenants.)

If you feel it would better fit the needs of your students, instead of the following, consider compiling several recent quotes from prophets that are especially applicable to your students. Be sure to have several copies of the most recent general conference issue of the Liahona magazine.
Study some or all of a recent general conference talk that you feel would help you personally.

Invite students to share their experiences. The following questions may be useful:
What did you learn?
How did it affect your study to imagine the Savior speaking those words to you?
How might doing this regularly in your personal study influence your relationship with the Savior?

As students share, look for ways to emphasize that the Lord still speaks to us through the scriptures and living prophets.

To conclude, write in your study journal what you would like to do to draw closer to the Savior through the words of His servants. Some ideas may be:

Study the Doctrine and Covenants regularly as if the Lord was speaking to you.
Listen to the words of prophets as you get ready for school in the morning or for bed in the evening or during another time more useful to you.

Memorize

You may want to help students memorize the reference and key scripture phrase of Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38 and review them in future lessons. The key scripture phrase is “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” Ideas for memorization activities are in the appendix materials under “Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities.”

Additional Resources

Why should I listen to prophets as if they speak for the Lord?

President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

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President M. Russell Ballard

It is no small thing, my brothers and sisters, to have a prophet of God in our midst. Great and wonderful are the blessings that come into our lives as we listen to the word of the Lord given to us through him. … When we hear the counsel of the Lord expressed through the words of the President of the Church, our response should be positive and prompt. History has shown that there is safety, peace, prosperity, and happiness in responding to prophetic counsel. (M. Russell Ballard, “His Word Ye Shall Receive,” Ensign, May 2001, 65)

What should I do if I struggle with or do not understand what the prophets say?

President Russell M. Nelson taught:

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President Russell M. Nelson

The Lord has promised us that He will never allow the prophet to lead us astray. President Harold B. Lee [1899–1973] declared: “You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. It may contradict your political views. It may contradict your social views. It may interfere with some of your social life. But if you listen to these things, as if from the mouth of the Lord Himself, with patience and faith, the promise is that ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory’ (D&C 21:6)” [Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee (2000), 84–85].

You may not always understand every declaration of a living prophet. But when you know a prophet is a prophet, you can approach the Lord in humility and faith and ask for your own witness about whatever His prophet has proclaimed. (Russell M. Nelson, “Becoming True Millennials” [worldwide devotional for young adults, Jan. 10, 2016], broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org)

Supplemental Learning Activities

The experience of a young woman

After students share reasons why they would like to study the Lord’s words, consider sharing the following experience of a young woman in the early days of the Church who treated the scriptures as the Lord’s word:

Mary Elizabeth Rollins was 12 years old when she persuaded her neighbor to lend her his Book of Mormon, the only copy in the area. She studied it late into the night and later finished the entire book. When the Prophet Joseph Smith visited and heard about her study, he told her to keep the book and promised he would get another copy for her neighbor.

A year or two later, Mary saw some of the newly printed pages of the revelations from the Lord that would be included in the Book of Commandments (now the Doctrine and Covenants) and listened to Church leaders read and discuss them. She felt a strong impression from the Holy Ghost and a deep reverence for the revelations. (See Saints, 1:178.)

When Mary was 15, an angry mob broke down the Church’s printing press before the book was published and scattered the pages of those revelations. Mary and her younger sister waited until the mob had their backs turned, then risked their lives to save the pages. When some of the mob saw them and gave chase, the two girls sneaked through a hole in a fence and hid in a cornfield while members of the mob unsuccessfully searched for them. Mary was eventually given a book of those revelations, which she “prized very highly.” (See “Autobiography of Mary E. Lightner,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, vol. 17 (1926), 193–96.)

In what ways did Mary Elizabeth Rollins treat the scriptures like the Savior’s words?
What are some ways we can treat scriptures like the Savior’s words today?

There are also more current examples of individuals who learned to treasure the Doctrine and Covenants as the word of God (see Jennifer Ricks, “Learning to Love the Doctrine and Covenants,” New Era, Apr. 2012, 26).

Use the words of the prophets in devotionals

Invite students to continue to study scripture verses and words of latter-day prophets. Invite them to take turns sharing what they are learning in upcoming class devotionals. Encourage them to share what they feel the Lord would want them to know or how the truths of the gospel can bless us today.

To hear the voice of the Lord

Though we have access to the Lord’s words, we do not always listen to and recognize them. Consider inviting students to read 3 Nephi 11:1–5, noticing what the people did to hear the voice of God. Discuss what we can do to better hear the voice of the Lord in our lives. Consider watching one or more of the #HearHim videos, where Church leaders give examples of how they hear the Lord. The videos are available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.