Mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 121:45 and
Galatians 6:10, a wide view of the term is it is all members of “The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (according to churchofjesuschrist.org).
And, to other Christian faiths, it is usually God’s
“spiritual children.”
Priesthood blessings in the LDS Church decades ago,
used to almost always state this phrase, when consecrating oil or giving a
blessing of healing:
“ … anointing and blessing the sick and afflicted, in
the household of faith.”
Today, according to the Church’s website, “in the
household of faith” is not listed on its guidance for priesthood blessings.
A friend of mine believes that is for the sake of
brevity in today’s world – and he may be right.
But what does “in the household of faith” mean in this
context, of consecrating oil, and giving blessings?
There have been several LDS General Conference talks
given over the decades that included “Household of Faith” in their titles and
yet nowhere in those discourses was a definition of the term specifically
outlined.
Searching deep a few pages of results on Google, one
Christian faith stated that it was a reminder to Christians to not forsake
their fellow Christians – meaning those outside their own family.
When my Google search hit the 9th page of
results, this came up: a November 2006 talk by Elder Craig A. Cardon of the
Seventy, titled, “Moving Closer to Him.”
In that
discourse, Elder Cardon quoted Doctrine and Covenants 121:45:
“Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all
men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts
unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and
the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from
heaven.”
Then, Elder Cardon stated: “It is significant that
after inviting us to have charity toward “all men,” the Lord added the phrase
“and to the household of faith.” Why? Doesn’t “all men” include the household
of faith? Consider the implications when this added phrase is understood to
mean more specifically “your very own household of faith.” Unfortunately, there
are a few within the Church who exhibit greater charity toward nonfamily members
than toward their own spouses and children, siblings and parents. They may show
feigned kindness publicly while privately sowing and cultivating seeds of
contention, demeaning those who should be closest to them. These things should
not be.”
So, perhaps this is the meaning of “Household of
Faith” in blessings and consecrating oil – it is a caution to NOT neglect your own immediate family
in a quest to serve and bless others (and the opposite view of another
Christian Church’s belief on its meaning).
