"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge ... revelation...[assists] us, and give us knowledge of the things of God."
~ Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:588
... The Scriptures inform us that "This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." If any man does not know God, and inquires what kind of a being he is ... I am going to enquire after God; for I want you all to know him, and to be familiar with him; ... God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible, -- I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form -- like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another. ... It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; ... Here, then, is eternal life -- to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. ...
... Having a knowledge of God, we begin to know how to approach him ... The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits. ... Knowledge saves a man; and in the world of spirits no man can be exalted but by knowledge. So long as a man will not give heed to the commandments, he must abide without salvation. If a man has knowledge, he can be saved; although, if he has been guilty of great sins, he will be punished for them. But when he consents to obey the Gospel, whether here or in the world of spirits, he is saved.
~ Joseph Smith, The King Follett Discourse , April 7, 1844 (History of the Church, 6:302-317)
According to the Bible, Moses saved (delivered) the Former Day Saints from Egyptian bondage and provided the "saving or healing knowledge" of the Torah to make them a healthy thriving People; Paul provided the knowledge of a mystery (see 1 Cor. 4:1; Rom. 16:25,26; Col. 1:26-28; 1 Cor. 12:12; Gal. 2:20), wherein Gentiles could be saved/delivered from cosmic Sin and Death through the pneuma of Christ; which was basically the hidden knowledge now revealed through Paul: that God could spiritually "glue" (so to speak) Gentiles together and to Israel mystically using Stoic concepts and midrash; and Joseph Smith sought to save/deliver the Latter Day Saints from the body-denying Creeds by teaching "how to be Gods themselves" (as quoted above, which I cover in my blog series Sex, Gods and Zion), through his own scriptures as midrash.
When Joseph Smith gave this speech above in 1844, he was in my view explaining what he said in 1842 in Article of Faith #3: "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel." Joseph Smith had introduced the law and ordinance of plural marriage at this point in the 1840s. So he was basically saying that through the ordinances of Nauvoo, such as plural marriage, the early Mormons could be saved from Sectarian misinformation about God by obedience to the laws and ordinances of Nauvoo that included plural marriage; so that they could gain saving knowlwedge by "learning how to be Gods themselves." So when we look at the Nauvoo era laws and ordinances in context, as I do on this blog, we see that they were designed to bind the community and teach the Saints how to imitate the embodied sociality of the joyful Gods.
Note the emphasis on knowledge in the quotes by Joseph Smith above. From this perspective, salvation and/or exaltation is not fulfilling a list of do's and don'ts but acquiring knowledge through "going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one ... from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation ... [having the] privilege to advance like [God] himself ... to advance in knowledge ... [to be] exalted with [God] himself ... so that [Mormons] might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save [people] in the world of [embodied] sprits. [As experiential knowledge] saves a man; and in the world of spirits no man can be exalted but by knowledge." This is why commandments are given, Joseph goes on to say, and a central commandment in Nauvoo was plural marriage; which I argue here was meant to change the mind of Mormons in the 1800s to stop believing in a God without parts and passions, but to know the true God the Father who has a body, which is substantiated by modern scholarship. This saving knowledge of God's body and the goodness of the sensual body and the joys of intimate affection and fecundity was realized by 1900, so the purpose of plural marriage has been fulfilled and thus now its finished.
The most important "saving knowledge" is the true nature of God the Father as a man with a body of parts and passions. From this stems restored truths as God is Truth. The "True World," the world of God's design laws and the goodness of creation is first understood by knowing God the Father in this way; as basically a "God who weeps," (as the Givens put it in the title of their book).
I believe that the core of Mormonism is the obtaining of sacred knowledge through first the indwelling pneuma of Christ as a knowledge-infusing material substance or energy; which was how Parley P. Pratt described the Spirit, as a material fluid substance; note the emphasis of the earliest Mormon Scriptures up to 1835 was focused primarily on the indwellimg spirit/pneuma; after 1835, by the 1840s there arose an emphsis on laws and ordinances like plural marriage during the Nauvoo Era, which was a way of learning the true embodied nature of the Divine Beings.
The priesthood in Mormonism was simply a label for the pneuma of Christ, bracketed into offices merely for organizational reasons. Once the law of celestial marriage was fulfilled by 1890, then the need for many of the "laws and ordinance" of Nauvoo were finished/competed (and are not practiced today by most of the Restoration sects). Likewise, priesthood hierarchies are no longer necessary in my view as they always were simply bracketed demarcations into "offices" for organizational reasons of utility; but were simply always just one same pneumatic power of Christ.
What this means for the Emergent Mormon, is that the whole point of Mormonism was to achieve enlightenment and learn how to advance in exaltation on earth and then in the heavens. With plural marriage ended now never to return in my view, and there being no longer an actual legitimate "prophet, seer and revelator" since Joseph the Prophet of the Restoration, then today Mormonism can move toward a more "humanistic" phase of appreciating the past era of plural marriage as a former way of educating the early Saints to embrace a theology of the body.
With the prophetic seership window closed since Joseph Smith, then in my view a Mormon today need not blindly "obey" any church leader; "respect" their position sure, within reason, but not blindly follow lest you both fall into a ditch; as they have the principles of the Restoration through the Mormon Scriptures: that are basically about advancing and growing to organic power as an eternal intelligence designed for healthy righteous dominion.
So all the "rules" like prohibiting coffee, you must wear a specific type of underwear all the time, and no R-rated movies, as commanded in the Brighamite sect are better seen from my point of view as man-made pharisaical attempts at controlling people; and are at odds with the original empowerment philosophy of Joseph Smith's original Mormonism.
I really like the way the website ReformMormonism.org explains church as it matches my perspective on saving knowledge. After covering Joseph Smith's journey and rejection of the sectarian divisions of his day in the 1820s, the article below states (emphasis added):
Joseph Smith wrote:
“During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them.”
Joseph would later recall that during this period, “he wanted to get religion too [and] wanted to feel and shout like the rest but [he] could feel nothing.”
The result of the revivals for Joseph was not a “conversion” experience, but an awakening of his mind. … he resisted his mother’s attempts to convert him to Presbyterianism. She later wrote that when she would ask him to accompany her to church, he would reply, “I will take my Bible and go out into the woods and learn more in two hours than you could if you were to go to meeting two years.” …
THE REFORM MORMON CONCEPT OF CHURCH
Traditionally one’s sincerity with regard to religion and God has been tied to one’s willingness to join a church, accept its creeds and follow the dictates or council of its leaders. To sacrifice for a church and to serve its interests is, for many people, a test of one’s religious devotion.
Most denominations within worldwide Mormonism go even farther--claiming that their particular denomination is the “only true and living Church,” and that it is impossible to please God without submitting to its ordinances and leadership.
Reform Mormonism rejects such notions, and maintains that every individual is a Free Agent, answerable only to God. The individual doesn’t exist for the sake of the church; the church exists as a support for individuals in their eternal personal progression. While authority in many churches comes from “the top down,” Reform Mormonism maintains that, because individuals have Free Agency and are ultimately responsible and accountable for their own conduct, authority actually issues from “the bottom up.”
In the end, one must be able to stand by one’s own convictions and live by one’s own personal revelation. A church can be a valuable tool and support in one’s life and personal progress. The relationships that one develops with those in a church can bring love, comfort and joy to the lives of all involved. But no religious organization, no ordinance or rite, no particular clergy or creed is required by God.
We progress and become like God by gaining knowledge and by emulating Deity in our character. No single creed encompasses all knowledge. No church or organization has a monopoly on truth. Reform Mormonism fully and unequivocally embraces the following teaching of Joseph Smith:
“Have the Presbyterians any truth? Yes. Have the Baptists, Methodists, etc. any truth? Yes. They all have a little truth mixed with error. We should gather all good true principles in the world and treasure them up, or well shall not come out true ‘Mormons.’” ("History of the Church," Volume 5, pg. 517)
To fulfill one’s Divine potential, one must venture beyond beyond the walls and confines of any single church.
REFORM MORMON THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:
My eternal progression and destiny are in my hands and mine alone. My relationship with God is personal; it is neither controlled nor mediated by any church, organization or religious leader.
(Source)
I agree with this assessment, that to be a Mormon is essentially to become like God by gaining knowledge of God's true nature and emulating the Deity's character as described in the Lectures on Faith (which were the original doctrine of the LDS Church). As reformmormonism.org then explains in the article Joseph Smith’s First Vision: Forms of Godliness (emphasis added):
The central concept in all ... cultures and religions was that of power: The gods had power, and the people did not. Gods issued commands, and if human did not wish to be destroyed, they were to obey. As mighty and as powerful as the gods might be, they seemed to have very fragile egos: it was as if their only reason for creating man was so that they could have someone over whom they might exercise power and dominion. …
… While in his youth, Joseph Smith--like others around him-- thought of his relationship with God in terms of power, of obedience to Divine commands, and of “being saved” from damnation and eternal punishment. He claimed that in his mid-teens he had seen a vision in which the Lord appeared to him and assured him that his sins had been forgiven. However, as he matured into adulthood, Joseph looked back on this [1832] “First Vision” experience and began to reinterpret it to reflect his evolving ideas about the nature of mankind’s relationship with God.
… What is interesting in [the 1838 account of the First Vision in Joseph Smith--History 1:10-13] is that Joseph does not pray for forgiveness of sins or for an assurance of salvation [as he does in the 1832 First Vision version]. Instead, he prays for knowledge. Also what prompts him to pray is not God’s power but the assurance that God would give to him liberally.
… I was answered that I must join none of them [the sects], for they were all wrong; and the [Divine] Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professor were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” (Joseph Smith--History 1:18-19)
The [Protestant] churches taught that people were inherently sinful and deserved eternal punishment in Hell. People could be saved, however, if they obeyed God’s command to repent of their sins, to confess their utter dependence on God’s grace and to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Only by obeying this command could one be saved from Hell--for all human beings, because of their Fallen and sinful nature, were incapable of godliness.
According to orthodox Christianity, this was “what one must do to be saved.” However, according to the [1838] First Vision story, God completely rejects such ideas--labeling them “an abomination.”
During the last years of his life, Joseph Smith taught that humans--being in the image and likeness of God--were not inherently sinful but, in fact, were born innocent and with Free Agency (Freewill). By increasing in knowledge, wisdom and virtue, human beings could progress and eventually become like God. … Human progression does not depend on obedience to God, but on obedience to eternal principles of truth--principles to which even God Himself is obedient.
… Reform Mormons believe in a rational God who expects His/Her children to progress. Instead of viewing God in terms of power, God is viewed a loving father or mother. Like any wise parent, God allows each of us to think and act for ourselves--and while this requires that each of us take responsibility for our own actions, always God is there for each of us when needed. For Reform Mormons, God is truly a God of love.
(Source)
Reading these articles at ReformMormonism.org on "saving knowledge" I started to think about the core uniqueness of Nauvoo Era Mormonism: as a spiritual movement away from creedal orthodoxy and body-despising dogma -- based on fear and superstition from the bully pulpit -- and toward instead a spiritual philosophy of bodily affirmation and empowerment through an endowment of knowledge.
This idea of saving knowledge is unique to Mormonism with its doctrine of “the glory of God is intelligence” (D&C 93:36) and “... teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118). Joseph Smith himself exemplified the pursuit of intellectual and spiritual knowledge; beginning with his telling his mother he can go into the woods to read his Bible himself and learn more than listening to the preachers at the Protestant churches. To his Inspired Translation of the Bible, to his diligent study of Hebrew, Joseph Smith was constantly and reverently in pursuit of both intellectual and spiritual knowledge.
As Parley P. Pratt explained in all his books and pamphlets, that the goal is for the premortal intelligence of man, man's soul, to align with the organs of the physical body and the natural sensual affections experienced in the body, in this life. So that Mormonism is not like in many Christian sects that attack the intellect as the enemy at odds with blind faith; as Joseph Smith instead defined faith as the principle of action and trusting in God's designs to produce effects in the real world. Instead of the sectarian fear of science and a “despising of the body,” the Smith-Pratt Movement affirmed the intellect, science, and promoted study and learning. Rather than the sectarian emphasis on repressing the sensual bodily drives, the Smith-Pratt Movement emphasized the organic expression of the sensual affections of the body as good and holy.
So instead of the sectarian idea of discarding the body (the goal being to escape the body as soon as possible as something grose and depraved, escaping the flesh into an immaterial Platonic realm) and repressing the manly instincts and having blind faith; Mormonism encourages men to “arise from the dust … and be men” (2 Nephi 1:21), and pursue knowledge as the Smith-Pratt Paradigm deems materiality as sacred and holy, as atoms are refined spirit matter and the flesh is good as God Himself has a glorified body of flesh.
In Mormonism, being saved is not having blind faith or asserting the mere words of a creed, but taking upon you the name of Christ and bearing each other’s burdens and esteeming your bother and sister in Christ as yourself. The materialism of Mormonism better matches the material spirit of Paul’s theology. From this perspective, “saved” becomes being rescued/delivered from ignorance and gaining enlightenment through the Light of Christ, the divine pneuma that quickens the soul though the Holy Spirit as the Divine Mind (see Lecture on Faith #5 and “LDS Cosmology…Differentiating Holy Ghost & Holy Spirit” by Samantha Chambers). God as intelligence, light and truth thus inspires and illuminates the soul. This is what we call “insight,” “intuition,” or “light bulb” moments, like feeling “inspired” (in-spirited/pneuma-filled).
Paul himself speaks of the Spirit as an inpouring fluid substance (material pneuma), that produces knowledge/gnosis of God’s hidden mystery, the plan to rescue the Gentiles from not having knowledge of the Law/Torah by implanting knowledge/gnosis of the Torah into them through the faithful/experiential lived-life of the Torah fulfilled by Christ. So that Christ’s lived-knowledge of the Torah, as the living-Torah "Word made Flesh" and resurrected to become a Life-giving Pneuma, implants the algorithm or seedbed of the Holy Ideal into the human soul; and man is thus saved by grace (favor): in that God donates this saving knowledge to the client (Gentile) as the Patron Donor; with the expectation, as was the custom of Paul’s day, that the client would automatically return to favor of the Patron, though reciprocal acts of favor to show their appreciation. In other words, God (the Patron) gifts eternal life (the "Torah made Flesh" through indwelling pneuma) to the client (Gentile); and just asks that the Gentile then reciprocate this divine favor by living the higher law of agape love as the Law/Torah is now written on their heart.
So everything is reformulated from this perspective of Mormon materialism. For the Restoration is about restoring the Hebraic theology of bodily and cultural thriving here and now in the material world as material souls endowed with knowledge. Faith becomes a principle of action and the biblical stories become inspiring motivational stories of empowerment to inspire God's People.
The Smith-Pratt Paradigm helps us see that the Nauvoo laws and ordinances of the Restored Gospel were meant in large measure to be educative: providing saving knowledge and an endowment of power for the early day Saints (in the 1800s). They practiced plural marriage in order to bond themselves together as a Pneuma-filled Ecclesia (forming a Peoplehood); with the aquired enlightened knowledge that God the Father had a physical body and sex is good and holy and all physical life is divine as composed of refined spirit matter. The whole point of Nauvoo was essentially educative and transformative toward affirming and celebrating joyfully God’s physical creation as good as God always said it was.
So that it was not about what Brigham Young later turned it into, a dictatorial institution with controlling mechanisms; wherein each succeeding Brighamite leader was able to manipulate the members more and more over time with more and more accumulating controlling ideas and policies (going so far at one point, as to tell the membership that oral sex even in marriage was forbidden). Instead of being puritanical like this, original Mormonism produced by Joseph Smith and the Pratt Brothers was the radical affirmation of the sexual body and the intellect as good and holy. Instead of being codependent on the “Brethren,” original Mormonism was about learning that you are made in the literal image of a sensual God and you have direct access to God’s pneuma and gnosis through revelation; as Joseph Smith was merely claiming to be the leading seer revealing new scripture and guidance which needed approval by Common Consent by the collective Body of Saints. The goal was not blind obedience to some “covenant path” where the member is ultimately unthinking and codependent, but instead original Mormonism was about acquiring knowledge and enlightenment to advance and grow to power, to full stature and maturity in Christ.
So that the goal in true Mormonism is not groveling before a mindless bodiless sovereign deity where one has no free will and one is saved by asserting certain ideas (as in Calvinism), nor obeying the arm of flesh and controlling leaders in the Brighamite sect. But instead, the goal is simply acquiring the pneuma of Christ at baptism and the gnosis of God through ongoing enlightenment.
Smith was more of a gardener of souls, cultivating Mormons to become a People as Zion. Joseph intended to change their consciousness by experiencing bodily life more fully in order to fully see the true nature of God; which is why he instituted plural marriage (as I argue in my blog post here). What this means from my Emergent Mormon Perspective is that now that the Nauvoo Temple ordinances have done their "job" so to speak, and changed the consciousness of Mormons by this time post 1900; then those ritual ordinances that began in the mid 1800s, including hand clasps and aprons, were designed so Mormons could “learn how to be Gods themselves.” By the 1900s they had learned, through the practice of Old Testament polygamy and the temple ritual that the Gods are tangible and the Creeds were in fact an abomination as they rejected the true nature of God the Father as a man with a body of flesh and He had a wife. So the intent of Nauvoo temple rituals are compleye as the ancestors of the polygamous Mormons fully embrace belief in God the Father having a body.
So at this point, from the Emergent Mormon Perspective, the goal of a “Mormon” is not to remain under the thumb of the Brethren into middle age but like a college graduate, become part of the Mormon Alumni Association: by becoming an independent thinker as Joseph Smith himself modeled; one seeing their spiritual educative experience in any Restoration sect as just like grade school and college with the goal of eventually graduating toward independence or interdependence, but not to remain spiritually codependent.
See this article on Hebrews 5:12-14: The goal of the Christian life is not to spend decades absorbing "milk" by absorbing only correlated material, but to move on to the "meat." This is why Joseph Smith himself started the School of the Prophets where they advanced in learning to the point of even studying Hebrew. Brigham Young once said:
I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self security. Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.However, if someone chooses to stay LDS (i.e. Brighamite) for whatever reason, I support that and I do believe the LDS Church does more good than harm overall; and there are also ways to be in Brighamite Culture as a member “living on inside of the edge.”
Finally, the idea of being saved by knowledge has precedence in the New Testament. For example, in a Disputed Letter of Paul, it states that wisdom (sophia) and knowledge (gnōsis) are hidden in Christ (see Col. 2:3; compare D&C 88).
Consider Colossians 1:9 (EXB):
Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we have ·continued [not ceased] praying for you, asking God ·that you will know fully what he wants [L to fill you with the knowledge of his will], ·and that you will have great [L in all] ·spiritual wisdom and understanding [or wisdom and understanding from the Spirit]
Here is what one Christian website says on this divine knowledge:
Col. 1:9...calls to mind the words of Jer. 17:8 and Psalm 1:3 that portray the people of God as people of His Holy Word: "He is like a tree planted by flowing streams, it yields its fruit at the proper time…" (Ps. 1:3). When men and women regularly nourish their hearts with the perennial streams of God’s Word [Scripture], they will become fruitful regardless of the circumstances of life (cf. Dan. 11:32).
THE ROOT AND THE TRUNK, “FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL"...
[Col. 1:9]: "… to fill you with the knowldege of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
The tree figure seen in the terms, “bearing fruit and growing,” reminds us of a very important principle in life, that of the root and the trunk. You simply can’t have fruit without the root to provide the life sustaining nourishment needed and a strong trunk to give stability so the fruit doesn’t lie in the dirt or the trunk doesn’t break off and cut off the supply of nourishment from the fruit …
… Throughout this epistle, the apostle used biblical terms like knowledge, filled, spiritual, understanding, and wisdom. … The Colossians had been told that they needed more knowledge and deeper wisdom beyond what they had been taught regarding the person and work of Christ. Now Paul shows them they indeed needed more knowledge, but the true knowledge of God’s will by means of all spiritual wisdom and understanding. …
… This was precisely the Lord’s point to the two disciples on the Emmaus road in Luke 24:
24:25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 24:26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 24:27 And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27). (NASB)
… In the New Testament, this adjective most often means ... “pertaining to the divine Spirit” (pneuma)” whether of things or persons. Here in [Collosians] 1:9, it means a wisdom and understanding given by the Spirit. … believers need the wisdom and understanding that is found in the Scripture and is taught by the Holy Spirit, an important theme of the New Testament (cf. John 16:7-15; 1 Cor. 2:6-3:3; Eph. 1:17f; 3:16-19; 1 John 2:20, 27). …
… what is meant by “wisdom and understanding”? "Wisdom" is the Greek sophia. Sophia refers to the basic, fundamental precepts, the facts and first principles of any subject. In this context, it refers to the basic principles and truths of the Word that every believer should know and live by. …
Source
Also see this article that explains knowledge as a form of salvation. The Gnostics denied bodily life, and so Mormonism is not gnostic. As this website explains:
SPIRITUAL GNOSIS = that which comes from knowing and experiencing Christ through obedience to His Word. Remember that the only way you will receive this spiritual gnosis is by being sold out to Him. In John 7:17 Jesus declared that...
"If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know (ginosko - know by experience) of the teaching (doctrine = didache [word study]), whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself."
This verse teaches a powerful principle: if you ''do'' (obey) the teaching, then (and only then) will you really "know" the teaching!
… Luke 11:52:
"Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key (the correct interpretation of God's word) of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered (koluo [word study] = cut off, restrained, prevented) those who were entering."
Comment: This context also refers to spiritual gnosis [knowledge] regarding salvation. Legalistic teaching always takes away the key to this vital gnosis. Not only does legalism keep one from (to extend the metaphor of a "key") opening the door of salvation initially (Jn 10:9) but also hinders the proper use of the gnosis which is vital to daily living of the supernatural in Christ (2 Co 5:7, Gal 5:7, 3:1, 2, 3)
… Romans 2:20-note a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment (morphosis [word study] = an outline or sketch) of knowledge and of the truth.
Comment: Here gnosis refers to "divine" (spiritual) gnosis, knowledge of God's desire for man as laid out in His law which is "holy and righteous and good." (Rom. 7:12-note)
Romans 11:33-note: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
Romans 15:14-note: And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.
… 1 Corinthians 1:5: that in everything you were enriched (ploutos = wealth, richness, possessions and gives us our English plutocrat, “a very wealthy person"!) in Him (in Christ), in all speech and all (all that was necessary to live this Christian life = nothing lacking) knowledge, …
Comment: Speech refers to outward expression and gnosis refers to inward comprehension. As Albert Barnes says this gnosis refers to "the knowledge of Divine truth. They had understood the doctrines which they had heard, and had intelligently embraced them." In short, they had apprehended the gnosis which related to "the great and deep things of God". And since they had "all speech", they had the ability which God had given them to communicate this spiritual gnosis to others. This reference to speech and knowledge also alludes to the spiritual gifts with which the Corinthians were so richly endowed (cp 1Co 1:7, 2 Co 8:7).
“Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ” (Eph. 4:15-note).
Knowledge by itself brings arrogance, not maturity. Division in the church may be caused by problems of behavior as well as problems of doctrine. When some believers insist on exercising their liberty without regard for the feelings and standards of fellow believers, the church is weakened and frequently divided.
1 Corinthians 12:8: For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;Source
1 Corinthians 13:2: If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.... 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
1 Corinthians 14:6: But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will I profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy or of teaching?
2 Corinthians 2:14: But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge (spiritual gnosis, gnosis of the gospel, the way of salvation) of Him in every place.
2 Corinthians 4:6: For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge (spiritual gnosis brings supernatural light into a lost person's soul so that in this context the gnosis alludes to the Good News of Christ, the light of the world Jn 8:12, cp Paul's experience Acts 8:3, 4, 5, 6) of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 6:6: in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love
2 Corinthians 8:7: But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.
2 Corinthians 10:5-note: We are destroying (kathaireo [word study]) speculations (logismos [word study]) and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
… The saints are to have an experiential knowledge (gnosis) of the love of God “in order that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos or Word Search)
… Compare - Ecclesiastes 12:9: In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge (Lxx = gnosis); and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs.
Here are some other uses of gnosis in the Lxx...
1 Sa 2:3 "Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; For the LORD is a God of knowledge (Lxx = gnosis), And with Him actions are weighed.
Psalm 119:66: Teach me good discernment and knowledge (Lxx = gnosis), For I believe in Your commandments.
… Proverbs 2:6: For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge (Lxx = gnosis) and understanding.
Proverbs 8:10: "Take my instruction and not silver, and knowledge (Lxx = gnosis) rather than choicest gold.
From this we can infer that the experiential knowledge (gnosis) provided by plural marriage and the Nauvoo temple ritual, provided the early Saints in the 1800s with the true knowledge of God as a man with a sensual body of flesh and bone; and that God does not despise the body and the instincts driving the procreative act (as Augustine, Luther and Calvin taught); but instead the experience of engaging in multiple procreative acts through plural marriages awakened the minds of the early Saints to the true nature of the sensual Divine Beings and to see the sexual body as good and holy. From this experience as a People they learned to see procreation as an imitation of the creativity and creative expansion of the Gods themselves: Who don't procreate or birth souls but select souls (or intelligences) and provide them with sculpted clay bodies on an earth in which to dwell; so that they too can recieve saving and exalting gnosis and indwelling pneumatic energy: in order to advance from an Intelligence into a God.
