Note: This is a continuation of Part (1). If you think about it, that is what the Lectures are is a Phronema. In fact it is a catechism, very similar to being a catechuman in Eastern Orthodoxy in that you are to read and even memorize passages of the Lectures on Faith. Thus it is clear that they were intended to produce having the same Mind (Phronema) as a collective Christian Body, where everyone knows the content of the Lectures which they learn and are to even memorize certain passages. This is why the Lectures explain at the start in the Preface that they are an attempt to basically explain the mind of the church (the Body of Christ) in the Smith-Rigdon Movement; containing the doctrines and principles derived from the inspired LDS Scriptures themselves up to 1835, with the Lectures on Faith in fact being voted on by common consent and approved as canonized Scripture by the first LDS (saints) as containing the true doctrine which they profess to believe. In other words, the Preface to the Lectures explains clearly that they are the doctrine of the Smith-Rigdon Church, as the contents were selected from the revelations (Scriptures) containing their beliefs as a body and thus they are essentially the Mind (Phronema) of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Let's now examine the other Lectures on Faith and how they relate to the meaning of the Mind of the Father and Son in the Fifth Lecture.
Lecture 3:
Lecture 3 emphasizes knowing the correct character and attributes of the Deity of Lecture 2, and having "An actual knowledge that the course of life which [one] is pursuing, is according to [the Deity's] will" (verse 5). In other words, it is important to have the Mind of the Church, i.e. the Phronema of the Church. The Third Lecture references 1 Corinthians 2:9-11. (3:17) and the Greek meaning of the word "spirit" in these verses is referring to the pneuma (nooma), referring to the breath (i.e. energy) of God animating the human as a soul, but what it is describing in sentences like "Only a person’s spirit that lives within him knows [God's] thoughts" (from the EXB translation) is likely referring to one's nous which I covered in Part 1. In Eastern Orthodoxy, "The nous [is] the eye of the soul, which some Fathers also call the heart, is the center of man and is where true (spiritual) knowledge is validated. This is seen as true knowledge which is 'implanted in the nous as always co-existing with it" (Source). In other words, this explains the meaning of the Fifth Lecture on how the Spirit/Mind of the Father and Son fills Christians and unites them as one just a the Godhead is one; as the fluid breath (energy) or nooma of the Deity implants the Nous of Christ into Christians. The Third Lecture uses the word "idea" over 40 times, starting with the following (emphasis added):
For faith could not center in a being of whose existence we had no idea; because the idea of his existence in the first instance is essential to the exercise of faith in him. Romans 10:14: "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" (or one sent to tell them?) So then faith comes by hearing the word of God. [New Translation]
2 Let us here observe, that three things are necessary, in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.
3 First, The idea that he actually exists.
4 Secondly, A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes.
So that the Mind mentioned in the Fifth Lecture would also be the ideas that inform one's faith in the existence of God and having the correct phronema (mindset or understanding) regarding God.
Lecture 6:
Lecture 6 basically explains that the Mind of the Fifth Lecture is the knowledge of the course of salvation-Life, which is basically knowing the phronema of Christ, having the Mind/Nous of Christ which is the knowledge of the will of God and the knowledge of a cruciform life of sacrifice in imitation of Christ. So to have the Mind of Christ and the Father is follow in Christ's example who took the form of a servant and was willing to be sacrificed for others. Thus one obtains assurance of their future immortality, which assurance or knowledge is to have the mind of Christ; as Christ had the mind of living on earth in view of His future immortality so that he could live a life of service, healing others, and teaching the Mind/Phronema of Zion. So to have the Mind of the Father and Christ is have one's mind set on heavenly things, on divine life or life in abundance (see John 10:10), that is eternal life. Thus the Mind of Christ is living the lifestyle of a being with the assurance that he or she will rise from the dead by doing the will of the Father and being born anew and enduring to the end. Thus the Mind or Spirit of the Father described in Lecture 5 is also the mindset of having an assurance that one will resurrect and be gifted with life eternal. For Lecture 6 basically explains that only by having the mind of the Father and Son, the mind of an eternal perspective, can one exercise true faith; otherwise one will falter in their faith and not be willing to endure persecutions and even death for the cause of Christ. The Sixth Lecture explains that when you have an actual knowledge and assurance (the Mind of Christ) then you will partake of (share) the divine nature (glory) of God, that is partake of his divine resurrection-power, you have full confidence.
Lecture 7:
Lecture 7, verse 3 states:
We understand that when a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force: it is by words instead of exerting his physical powers, with which every being works when he works by faith—God said, Let there be light, and there was light—Joshua spake and the great lights which God had created stood still — Elijah commanded and the heavens were stayed for the space of three years and six months, so that it did not rain: He again commanded, and the heavens gave forth rain,—all this was done by faith; and the Savior says, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, say to this mountain, remove, and it will remove; or say to that sycamine tree, Be ye plucked up and planted in the midst of the sea, and it shall obey you. Faith, then, works by words; and with these its mightiest works have been, and will be performed.
This mental exertion of faith would also be the Mind of Christ and it is through this Mind that all things are framed and formed, as we read in verse 5 of Lecture 7:
It is only necessary for us to say, that the whole visible creation, as it now exists, is the effect of faith—It was faith by which it was framed, and it is by the power of faith that it continues in its organized form, and by which the planets move round their orbits and sparkle forth their glory: So, then, faith is truly the first principle in the science of THEOLOGY, and when understood, leads the mind back to the beginning and carries it forward to the end; or in other words, from eternity to eternity.
Thus, the goal is the lead the mind back to the eternal realm and this is the Mind of the Godhead. It is interesting that this verse speaks of the planets that "sparkle forth their glory" for this is how the angels and gods in heaven are also described in LDS Scripture. When Lecture 7 goes on to describe Christ as the prototype of a saved and holy being, holy means set apart as in made into a fiery white hot pure body of celestial spirit-matter (see D&C 76 and 131:7-8); which is why Moses's face ends up shining when he beholds the presence of the Deity (the Father of lights) and Jesus shines on his disciples in 3 Nephi 19: 30 so that their bodies glow as white as Jesus' radiant Sun-like body, referring to their brightness after receiving a portion of the glowing light of Christ's radiance. So a holy being and a saved being in Lecture 7 is a celestial body described in D&C 76, a being that is a personage of celestial (sparkling) like the stars and planets in the sky.
They go on to say that faith is the most important thing because faith is the mental exertion of following the course of sacrifice and becoming a resurrected being; which in essence is the mind of Christ, which mind is of the Father as also the great prototype of all saved beings: as Jehovah as the prototype shares the divine mindset with Christ through the shared fluid nooma. In other words, the mindset of an enlightened one is a cruciform mindset, for only by dying to yourself and serving others and growing Zion, and being willing to do the will of the Father and even being a martyr, does obtain salvation or celelestial life; which is the process of your adamic body metamorphosizing into a celestial body through the refiner's fire, i.e. the fire of the trial of your faith when facing persecution and thus through a kind of spiritual anti-fragility, by enduring to the end, you are formed into the image of Christ, as in a cruciform image.
The Lectures begin by emphasizing that correct ideas about the character and attributes of God are important to forming the correct Christian mindset; which is necessary for the mental exertion of exercising faith in the Deity.
It even speaks of ideas being implanted into the mind of the Christian which brings to mind Alma 32 as well as the Fifth Lecture and the Mind of the Father and Son dwelling in Christians making them one just as the Father and Son are one. In other words, just as the correct ideas or mindset was implanted into Christ through the Spirit (Nooma) of the Father, that same seed of ideas is planted into the nous of Christians: making them one through the correct cruciform phronema, just as Christ is one with the Father.
