Lesson 16

Moses 6 (Genesis 5)

Introduction

Adam’s righteous posterity taught the gospel to their families and invited all men to repent. Enoch, one of Adam’s descendants, was called to preach repentance to the people and was called a seer. In obedience to the Lord’s command, Enoch preached the gospel to his people. He taught about the consequences of the Fall of Adam and Eve and how we can overcome those consequences. He also explained why we must repent and be baptized.

Suggestions for Teaching

Moses 6:1–25

Adam’s posterity teach their children the gospel

Show students a chain (or draw one on the board). Invite them to imagine that the chain represents their ancestors (including their parents), themselves, and their descendants (including their future children). Explain that because we are linked with our ancestors and descendants, certain traits, traditions, and teachings are often passed on from generation to generation.

• What have your parents (or ancestors) passed on to you?

• What do you think are the most useful traits, traditions, or teachings you could pass on to your future children?

Invite several students to take turns reading aloud from Moses 6:1, 13, 21, 23. Ask the class to follow along and look for what Adam and his righteous descendants passed on to their children.

• What did Adam and his righteous descendants teach their children?

• From the example of Adam and his posterity, what can we learn about the responsibility parents have to their children? (Students may use different words, but they should identify something similar to the following doctrine: Parents are responsible to teach their children the ways of God.)

Invite students to consider how their parents or other parents they know have carried out the responsibility to teach their children the ways of God. Ask a few students to share their observations.

Summarize Moses 6:1–25 by explaining that Adam and his righteous posterity continued to teach the gospel to their families even when those around them became wicked. By doing this, those who were righteous made it possible for their families to experience the blessings and protection that come from knowing and living the ways of God.

Moses 6:26–47

Enoch is called to preach and begins his ministry

Write the following questions on the board, and invite students to ponder them:

When have you felt like you were not good enough?

When have you felt like you had a weakness that kept you from doing something the Lord had asked you to do?

Explain that a young man named Enoch had feelings similar to these when the Lord called him to be a prophet and to cry repentance to his people. In Moses 6–7 we learn significant details about Enoch that are not recorded in Genesis 5 but that the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Invite a few students to take turns reading aloud from Moses 6:26–28. Ask the class to follow along and look for phrases that describe Enoch’s people.

• How did the Lord describe the people Enoch was called to teach?

• What could it mean that the people’s hearts were hard and their ears were “dull of hearing” (verse 27)? (They resisted the promptings of the Spirit and did not hearken to the Lord’s counsel.)

Invite a student to read Moses 6:31 aloud. Ask the class to follow along, looking for Enoch’s response to the Lord’s call.

• What concerns did Enoch express about his ability to fulfill the Lord’s call?

Divide the class into two groups. Invite both groups to read Moses 6:32–34 silently. Ask the first group to look for commandments the Lord gave to Enoch and the second group to look for promises the Lord made to Enoch. After sufficient time, invite students from each group to report what they found.

• What can we learn from these verses about what the Lord will do if we do what He asks despite our weaknesses? (Students may identify a variety of principles, including the following: If we go and do what the Lord commands, He will be with us and help us.)

• How might this principle help those who feel inadequate or incapable of doing what the Lord has asked of them?

To help students see one way in which the Lord helped Enoch fulfill his calling, invite a student to read Moses 6:35–36 aloud. Ask the class to follow along, looking for what the Lord instructed Enoch to do.

• What did the Lord instruct Enoch to do?

• What was the result of Enoch anointing his eyes with clay and then washing the clay from them? (He was able to see with spiritual eyes rather than just his natural eyes.)

• How might seeing the world through spiritual eyes have helped Enoch fulfill his calling from the Lord?

Point out the word seer in verse 36, and explain that because God gave Enoch power to see things not visible to the natural eye, he was called a seer. You may want to explain that the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been called of God to be prophets, seers, and revelators in our day.

Invite a few students to take turns reading aloud from Moses 6:37–39, 47. Ask the class to follow along, looking for how the people responded to Enoch’s preaching.

• What phrases describe how the people responded to Enoch?

• How does the people’s reaction recorded in verse 39 relate to the Lord’s promises to Enoch described in verses 32–34 to be with Enoch and help him?

Invite students to think of a time when they have seen (or read about) people who did what the Lord asked in spite of their weaknesses and received the Lord’s help. Ask a few students to share their thoughts with the class. You may also want to share an experience of your own.

Help students feel the truth and importance of doctrine and principles

Students are more likely to apply doctrine and principles they have found in the scriptures when they feel their truth and importance through the Spirit and sense some urgency to incorporate them in their lives. One effective way to help students feel the truth and importance of doctrine and principles is to encourage them to reflect on and share personal experiences related to these truths.

Moses 6:48–68

Enoch teaches about how to overcome the Fall and enter the kingdom of heaven

Explain that Moses 6:48–68 contains some of Enoch’s teachings to the people about the Fall and how to overcome it.

Invite a student to read Moses 6:48–49 aloud. Ask the class to follow along, looking for the consequences that came because of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Ask students to report what they find.

You might need to explain that the phrase “we are” means that the Fall opened the way for us to be born on the earth (see 2 Nephi 2:25). The term death in verse 48 can refer to both spiritual and physical death.

• What do you think the phrase “partakers of misery and woe” (verse 48) means? (Students might express that we are subject to the pains, sicknesses, sorrows, and difficulties of mortal life.)

• According to verse 49, what happens when people succumb to Satan’s temptations?

Invite a few students to take turns reading aloud from Moses 6:50–52. Ask the class to follow along and look for what God told Adam we need to do to overcome our carnal and sensual nature (see also Mosiah 3:19). Invite students to report what they find.

• According to verse 52, what will we receive if we believe, repent, and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ? (Students may use different words, but they should identify the following principle: If we believe, repent, and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, then we will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.)

• How does receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost help us overcome spiritual death (being separated from God’s presence)?

Invite a student to read Moses 6:53 aloud.

• What did Adam ask the Lord? (You may want to suggest that students mark the question in verse 53.)

Invite several students to take turns reading aloud from Moses 6:54–57. Ask the class to follow along, looking for how the Lord answered the first part of Adam’s question, about why we need to repent. You may want to suggest that students mark what they find.

• According to verse 57, why will the unrepentant not inherit the kingdom of God?

Explain that in order to help his people understand the Lord’s answer to the second part of Adam’s question, about why we must be baptized in water, Enoch quoted the Lord’s words to Adam about the spiritual rebirth that begins when we exercise faith, repent, are baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. Invite a student to read Moses 6:58–59 aloud. Ask the class to follow along, looking for what the Lord taught about being born again.

• Why must we be born again? (Students may identify a variety of truths, including the following: We must be born again in order to be sanctified from all sin and to inherit eternal life.)

• What does it mean to be “born again”? (Being born again is the spiritual process by which we come alive to things of the Spirit and gradually lose our desire to break God’s commandments.)

Explain that the Lord taught Adam about key elements in the process of spiritual rebirth by comparing it to the process of physical birth.

• According to verse 59, what three elements are essential to physical birth and being born again, or spiritual birth?

Write the following words on the board: water, Spirit, blood.

Invite a student to read Moses 6:60–62 aloud, and ask the class to look for why these elements are essential to being born again.

• According to verse 60, what role does each of these elements play in the process of being born again?

Explain that to be justified means “to be pardoned from punishment for sin and declared guiltless” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Justification, Justify,” scriptures.lds.org). To be sanctified means to be “free from sin, pure, clean, and holy through the Atonement of Jesus Christ” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Sanctification,” scriptures.lds.org).

Invite a student to read aloud the following statement by President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency:

“Reception of the Holy Ghost is the cleansing agent as the Atonement purifies you. …

“… And when he is your companion, you can have confidence that the Atonement is working in your life” (Henry B. Eyring, “Come Unto Christ” [Brigham Young University fireside, Oct. 29, 1989], speeches.byu.edu).

• According to President Eyring, how can we know if we are being purified through the Atonement of Jesus Christ?

Invite students to ponder a time when they felt a forgiveness of their sins because of the influence of the Holy Ghost. You may want to challenge them to more frequently put themselves in places and engage in activities that invite the Holy Ghost into their lives so they can be purified and continue in the process of being born again.

Apply doctrine and principles

After students have identified, understood, and felt the truth and importance of a doctrine or principle found in the scriptures, teachers should encourage them to apply that truth in their lives. Application takes place when students think, speak, and live according to the principles they have learned. As students apply the principles of the gospel in their lives, they will receive promised blessings and will gain a deeper understanding and testimony of what they have applied.

Ask a student to read Moses 6:63 aloud. Then ask the class the following questions:

• Why do you think it is important for us to understand that “all things are created and made to bear record of [God]”?

• How might it influence your actions to know that you were created to bear record of God?

Summarize verses 64–68 by explaining that after exercising faith and repenting, Adam cried unto the Lord and was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord. He was baptized, received the Holy Ghost, and as a result was “born of the Spirit” (Moses 6:65)

Conclude by testifying that if we follow Adam’s example by believing in Christ, repenting, and being baptized with water and the Spirit, we too can become born again through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Commentary and Background Information

Moses 6:7. How long has the priesthood been on the earth?

The priesthood “is without beginning of days or end of years” (D&C 84:17). From the time of Adam and Eve, the priesthood and the ordinances of the gospel were available (see Moses 5:58–59; see also D&C 107:40–42). The Prophet Joseph Smith (1805–44) taught:

“The Priesthood was first given to Adam; he obtained the First Presidency, and held the keys of it from generation to generation. He obtained it in the Creation, before the world was formed. …

“The Priesthood is an everlasting principle, and existed with God from eternity, and will to eternity, without beginning of days or end of years [see Joseph Smith Translation, Hebrews 7:3]. The keys have to be brought from heaven whenever the Gospel is sent. When they are revealed from heaven, it is by Adam’s authority” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 104).

Moses 6:11–25. Why did some who lived before the Flood live so long?

While we are not entirely sure why many of the Old Testament patriarchs lived such long lives, here are a few possible explanations:

“The question is not completely resolved in scripture, but several possible answers are implied. Some have interpreted 2 Nephi 2:21 as referring to those living before the Flood: ‘The days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh.’ Others have suggested that it was righteousness that increased the length of their lives. …

“Others have suggested that the earth’s environment may have changed radically at the time of the Flood and that this accounts for the decrease in longevity immediately thereafter (see Moses 8:17). …

“All these factors are feasible explanations. They are not mutually exclusive, nor do they exhaust the possibilities” (Thomas R. Valletta, “I Have a Question: The Length of the Lives of the Ancient Patriarchs,” Liahona, Mar. 1998, 45).

Moses 6:36. “A seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people”

Elder John A. Widtsoe (1872–1952) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

“A seer is one who sees with spiritual eyes. He perceives the meaning of that which seems obscure to others; therefore he is an interpreter and clarifier of eternal truth. He foresees the future from the past and the present. … In short, he is one who sees, who walks in the Lord’s light with open eyes. …

“… A prophet is a teacher of known truth; a seer is a perceiver of hidden truth; a revelator is a bearer of new truth” (John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations, arr. G. Homer Durham, 3 vols. in 1 [1960], 258).

Moses 6:55. “Thy children are conceived in sin”

Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that the phrase “thy children are conceived in sin” in verse 55 means that we are “born into a world of sin,” a world in which evil exists and influences us in our fallen state (see Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], 101).

Moses 6:59. Water, spirit, and blood

Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught how water, spirit, and blood are essential elements of both our physical and spiritual births:

“Two births are essential to salvation. Man cannot be saved without birth into mortality, nor can he return to his heavenly home without a birth into the realm of the Spirit. … The elements present in a mortal birth and in a spiritual birth are the same. They are water, blood, and spirit. Thus every mortal birth is a heaven-given reminder to prepare for the second birth. …

“In every mortal birth the child is immersed in water in the mother’s womb. At the appointed time the spirit enters the body, and blood always flows in the veins of the new person. Otherwise, without each of these, there is no life, no birth, no mortality.

“In every birth into the kingdom of heaven, the newborn babe in Christ is immersed in water, he receives the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and the blood of Christ cleanses him from all sin. Otherwise, without each of these, there is no Spirit-birth, no newness of life, no hope of eternal life” (Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], 288).

Moses 6:59–65. The necessity of the gift of the Holy Ghost to our salvation

Moses 6:59–65 confirms that the entire plan of salvation, including baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, has been consistent and the same from the beginning. Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained how the gift of the Holy Ghost is essential to our salvation:

“The gift of the Holy Ghost is part of the new and everlasting covenant. It is an essential part of our baptism, the baptism of the Spirit. It is the messenger of grace by which the blood of Christ is applied to take away our sins and sanctify us (see 2 Nephi 31:17). It is the gift by which Adam was ‘quickened in the inner man’ (Moses 6:65)” (D. Todd Christofferson, “The Power of Covenants,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2009, 22).