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The Godhead in Early Latter Day Saint History
Most early Latter Day Saints came from a Protestant background, believing in the Trinity. The early public teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr contained little to contradict this view; however, Smith's public teachings regarding the nature of the Godhead slowly evolved during his lifetime, and became fully elaborated only late in his life. Beginning as a vague depiction of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being "one", Smith's teachings later depicted a Father and Son with physical bodies, being one together with the Holy Spirit not through "substance" but through purpose. Some Latter Day Saint sects such as the Community of Christ (which now officially endorses the doctrine of Trinity) have chosen to adopt what they believe to be Smith's earlier understandings of the Godhead, while most, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, teach the doctrines taught publically by Smith later in his life.
Teachings in the 1820s and early 1830s
The Book of Mormon, published in 1830, describes God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit as being "one", with Jesus appearing as a spirit before his birth, and as a physical being after his resurrection. The book is vague, however, as to whether Jesus was a separate being from the Father, and whether Jesus and the Father share the same "substance".
Prior to Jesus' birth, the book depicts Jesus as a spirit "without flesh and blood", although with a spirit "body" that looked the same as Jesus would appear during his physical life. See Ether 3. Moreover, Jesus described himself as follows: "Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters." Ether 3:14. In another passage of The Book of Mormon, the prophet Abinadi stated,
The Book of Mormon's vagueness on the issue of whether Jesus was a separate being from the Father, and whether Jesus and the Father share the same "substance" has led some Protestant-oriented Latter Day Saint sects, such as the Community of Christ, to believe the description of Jesus in The Book of Mormon is consistent with the orthodox Christian dogma of the Trinity. Other sects, however, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe it is consistent with Smith's later public teachings concerning the Godhead. In addition, some scholars have suggested that the view of Jesus in The Book of Mormon is also consistent with monotheistic Modalism.
Teachings in the mid- to late-1830s
In 1835, Joseph Smith, Jr (with the involvement of Sidney Rigdon), publically taught the idea that Jesus Christ and God the Father were two separate beings. In the Lectures on Faith, which had been taught in 1834 to the School of the Prophets, the following doctrines were presented:
In 1838, Smith published a narrative of his First Vision, in which he described seeing both God the Father and a separate Jesus Christ in a vision, both of them appearing identical.
Teachings in the 1840s
Later in Smith's life, he elaborated on the doctrine of Jesus being a separate personage from the Father. In 1843, Smith provided his final public description of the Godhead before his death, in which he described God the Father as having a physical body, and the Holy Spirit, also, is a distinct personage: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us." D&C 130:22.
Conceptions of the Godhead after the Death of Joseph Smith
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Community of Christ and Protestant-Oriented Denominations
Alternative Latter Day Saint Conceptions of the Godhead
See also