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The Doctrine and the Covenants Commentary
While engaged in studying the Standard Works of the Church, I have been deeply impressed with the thought-which I believe to be the fact also-that the Revelations contained in the Doctrine and Covenants are pre-eminently the Scriptures of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. Every phrase, sentence, and paragraph is so instructive and enlightening; so pregnant with wisdom and purpose, and throws such a flood of light upon the gospel, as to bear convincing witness of their Divine Source, and proclaim them to be the very Word of God. Splendid and glorious as are the ancient and meridian Hebrew and Nephite Scriptures, their splendor and glory are infinitely enhanced by the light these modern Scriptures cast upon them. As a group of great lights are more brilliant and beautiful than the light of one of them alone, so the Scriptures of different periods, when brought together, illuminate each, making clearer the meaning of the other. Such has been the effect of joining the "Light of Truth" as contained in the Bible and the Book of Mormon-the "Sticks of Judah and of Ephraim." When the "Light of Truth" in the Revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants is added, the Word of God and the "Way of Life" are revealed in all their power and purity and straightforwardness. Without the light of these Revelations, many of the truths of the Bible would still be obscure, or seen dimly, "as through a glass darkly"; its prophecies, miracles, and history would be as unintelligible, meaningless, and mythical to the Latter-day Saints as they are to the world. Without it, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could not have been organized; the Kingdom of God could not have been established in these days. It would have been impossible to designate the offices and officers, and set in order the quorums of the Holy Priesthood, and indicate the proper duties and calling of each. Very little would be known about the gathering of Israel and the building up of Zion in the last days. The appointed times and places, when and where the ancient predictions concerning these matters were to be fulfilled, would be veiled in darkness. Temple building, its object and purpose, and the doctrine of baptisms for the salvation and redemption of the unnumbered dead would be shrouded in impenetrable mystery. The coming of the Son of Man, His Millennial reign on the earth, the resurrection of the dead; eternal judgments, executed in justice and mercy according to the works of men, with everlasting rewards and punishments, would remain "rocks of offense," and discord upon which mankind would continue to split and be rent asunder.
902 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1919
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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July 23, 2021On the inside cover, the name and address of the Elder who purchased it in England while on his mission-- Jon R Holdaway, in London, and his home address in Price, Utah. This is a revised edition, 1951, and the introduction has underlinings in the same red pen that the addresses were written in. It makes me think of Jon when he was a young man, serving his mission, reading the pages and trying to gain insight into the scriptures as he taught people the gospel. He passed away in a motorcycle accident not long after he returned home at age 22 and those little underlines are a small way I can still get to know him. My husband and one of our boys bear his name, Jon, as a middle name.
July 24, 2017
Loved EVERY page!!!
November 29, 2021
I am really glad my husband pointed out this book, it made reading the Doctrine and Covenants so much easier to understand. It is a wonderful book and I would recommend it.
August 12, 2025
BOOK REVIEW - The Doctrine and Covenants, with Historical and Exegetical Notes by Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, Revised Edition 1951 (1981)
I found this book in my father’s library shortly after we were married. I worked in a retail store until closing. The foot traffic was light, so I had time to read, a lot. I yeaned for more depth in commentary than what was available to missionaries a few years earlier. This copy had the added benefit of study notes from my Father who I considered to have few peers in scriptural, historical, and doctrinal depth.
Smith (an Apostle and grandson of Hyrum Smith, the brother of Joseph Smith) and Sjodahl (a seasoned editor and theologian) set out to do two things: (1) supply brief historical headnotes that situate each revelation in time and place, and (2) walk readers through the text with verse-by-verse exposition. The result is a handbook that marries narrative history to doctrinal explication. You get compact background sketches (who was present, what problem prompted the revelation) followed by tightly organized notes, proof-texts from the Bible and Book of Mormon, and occasional topical essays when a section invites it (e.g., priesthood, spiritual gifts, church government).
The historical introductions tame the sprawl of early Church chronology. If you’re new to the Kirtland/Nauvoo timelines, the authors’ provide concise summaries that make the revelations less abstract and more situational. Smith & Sjodahl are great as systematizers. For sections like 20 (Church organization), 42 (the “law” to the Church), 76 (degrees of glory), 89 (Word of Wisdom), and 107 (priesthood quorums), they knit scattered verses into coherent theological statements, showing how administrative details relate to Zion theology.
The commentary is devotional without being fluffy. You feel guided by teachers who assume the text matters for how a Latter-day Saint actually lives: how to worship, govern, covenant, and endure.
Representative insights:
Section 76 (“The Vision”). They highlight how the revelation reframes judgment by foregrounding resurrection glory and graded redemption, then anchor it in biblical texts (1 Cor. 15; John 5). They connect metaphors (“glory of the sun”) to covenantal obedience rather than treating them as mere cosmology.
Section 89 (Word of Wisdom). They focus less on the broader temperance movement, while emphasizing the revelation’s covenantal promises (“health in the navel… run and not be weary”) as spiritual discipline, not just diet.
Section 107 (Priesthood). The commentary is at its most systematic here, mapping quorums, keys, and councils into a coherent ecclesiology that explains why governance structures matter theologically, not merely bureaucratically.
Sections 135 (Martyrdom). Their treatment of the martyrdom is reverent, shaping a memory culture around prophetic sealing and witness.
What has aged less well:
They had limited sources by today’s standards. Written before the Joseph Smith Papers Project and modern documentary scholarship, the historical notes lean on then-available compilations. They’re rarely “wrong,” but often incomplete compared to what we now know about chronology, transmission, and reception of the revelations.
Apologetic assumptions. The authors interpret from inside orthodox Latter-day Saint commitments. That’s a feature for devotional study, but it means contested topics (e.g., plural marriage in section 132, early economic experiments, race and priesthood by implication elsewhere) are framed with older rationales and without later institutional developments or historiographical debates.
Smith and Sjodahl produced the foundational Latter-day Saint commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants: lucid, structured, and pastorally confident. As history, it’s now a period piece; as theology, it remains clarifying and often stirring. Read it as a classic—respectfully, gratefully, and with available modern tools. What I like most as compared to a plethora of scriptural commentaries that exist today is that they rarely venture into speculative theology as nurtured by the personal opinions of the author. There are many such books available and I often come away disappointed, with some exceptions.
I found this book in my father’s library shortly after we were married. I worked in a retail store until closing. The foot traffic was light, so I had time to read, a lot. I yeaned for more depth in commentary than what was available to missionaries a few years earlier. This copy had the added benefit of study notes from my Father who I considered to have few peers in scriptural, historical, and doctrinal depth.
Smith (an Apostle and grandson of Hyrum Smith, the brother of Joseph Smith) and Sjodahl (a seasoned editor and theologian) set out to do two things: (1) supply brief historical headnotes that situate each revelation in time and place, and (2) walk readers through the text with verse-by-verse exposition. The result is a handbook that marries narrative history to doctrinal explication. You get compact background sketches (who was present, what problem prompted the revelation) followed by tightly organized notes, proof-texts from the Bible and Book of Mormon, and occasional topical essays when a section invites it (e.g., priesthood, spiritual gifts, church government).
The historical introductions tame the sprawl of early Church chronology. If you’re new to the Kirtland/Nauvoo timelines, the authors’ provide concise summaries that make the revelations less abstract and more situational. Smith & Sjodahl are great as systematizers. For sections like 20 (Church organization), 42 (the “law” to the Church), 76 (degrees of glory), 89 (Word of Wisdom), and 107 (priesthood quorums), they knit scattered verses into coherent theological statements, showing how administrative details relate to Zion theology.
The commentary is devotional without being fluffy. You feel guided by teachers who assume the text matters for how a Latter-day Saint actually lives: how to worship, govern, covenant, and endure.
Representative insights:
Section 76 (“The Vision”). They highlight how the revelation reframes judgment by foregrounding resurrection glory and graded redemption, then anchor it in biblical texts (1 Cor. 15; John 5). They connect metaphors (“glory of the sun”) to covenantal obedience rather than treating them as mere cosmology.
Section 89 (Word of Wisdom). They focus less on the broader temperance movement, while emphasizing the revelation’s covenantal promises (“health in the navel… run and not be weary”) as spiritual discipline, not just diet.
Section 107 (Priesthood). The commentary is at its most systematic here, mapping quorums, keys, and councils into a coherent ecclesiology that explains why governance structures matter theologically, not merely bureaucratically.
Sections 135 (Martyrdom). Their treatment of the martyrdom is reverent, shaping a memory culture around prophetic sealing and witness.
What has aged less well:
They had limited sources by today’s standards. Written before the Joseph Smith Papers Project and modern documentary scholarship, the historical notes lean on then-available compilations. They’re rarely “wrong,” but often incomplete compared to what we now know about chronology, transmission, and reception of the revelations.
Apologetic assumptions. The authors interpret from inside orthodox Latter-day Saint commitments. That’s a feature for devotional study, but it means contested topics (e.g., plural marriage in section 132, early economic experiments, race and priesthood by implication elsewhere) are framed with older rationales and without later institutional developments or historiographical debates.
Smith and Sjodahl produced the foundational Latter-day Saint commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants: lucid, structured, and pastorally confident. As history, it’s now a period piece; as theology, it remains clarifying and often stirring. Read it as a classic—respectfully, gratefully, and with available modern tools. What I like most as compared to a plethora of scriptural commentaries that exist today is that they rarely venture into speculative theology as nurtured by the personal opinions of the author. There are many such books available and I often come away disappointed, with some exceptions.
July 22, 2013
The more I read this book, the more I enjoyed it. It was heartening to find how often portions of it are quoted in the BYU Religion 324-325 Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual.
It was very nice to have biographies of people who are briefly mentioned in The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, helping me to know what became of them after they were addressed in a revelation.
This review applies to the Deseret Book 1974 printing of the 1972 "Revised Edition".
It was very nice to have biographies of people who are briefly mentioned in The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, helping me to know what became of them after they were addressed in a revelation.
This review applies to the Deseret Book 1974 printing of the 1972 "Revised Edition".
November 2, 2009
Great read regarding church history and inspired commentary but only likely of interest to LDS members... a bit dry and times but very good work.
September 1, 2012
Lots of great information tucked away between verses here. This is a whole new way to read the D&C and the fantastic commentary really opens up some interesting discussions with my wife.
February 25, 2013
I enjoyed reading this book very much. I appreciate the effort made to provide historical and theological elaboration on the contents of the Doctrine and Covenants.
January 7, 2016
I really enjoyed this one. I've seen it referenced in many other commentaries. I found myself frequently sharing passages with family and friends. It's a classic!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews