The history of God’s dealings with His children is rarely simple. From Adam to the Restoration, the Lord has worked patiently through imperfect people, often allowing human culture to run its course while guiding the faithful toward greater light. One of the most misunderstood chapters in Latter-day Saint history—the restriction on priesthood ordination for men of African descent—fits this pattern.

Contrary to common assumptions, the restriction was never about skin color or worth. It reflected a covenantal pattern—rooted in scripture, divine timing, and God’s patience with humanity. That can be difficult to accept after decades of cultural pain and debate, but understanding this distinction brings needed clarity.

What the Church Denounced—and What It Did Not—in the Race and the Priesthood Gospel Topics Essay

When Race and the Priesthood was published on the Church’s official website in 2013, it marked a milestone in clarifying both doctrine and history. The essay explicitly denounced several old ideas that had once been used to justify the priesthood and temple restrictions. Among them were:

• The false notion of premortal worthiness or valiance: The Church firmly rejected the long-held folklore that Black individuals were “less valiant” in the premortal existence. This teaching has no scriptural foundation and contradicts modern revelation affirming that “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10).
• The idea of racial inferiority: The essay states that all people are alike unto God, echoing 2 Nephi 26:33, and denounces any claim that skin color reflects divine disfavor.
• Opposition to interracial marriage: It also distanced the Church from 20th-century cultural attitudes against interracial unions, explaining that these reflected social prejudice, not revelation.
• Early church leaders often confused Cain with Canaan—the Church explicitly rejected the old belief that Black skin was the curse of Cain, recognizing it as a false tradition rooted in early American religion rather than revelation. However, it has continued to honor the scriptural account in Abraham 1, which connects priesthood lineage to the descendants of Canaan, not to race, appearance, or intellect.

While these repudiations were clear, the essay did not cover every historical nuance, leaving space to explore Joseph Smith’s own context and writings. The essay did not discuss Joseph Smith’s own writings—such as his 1830s letter to Oliver Cowdery (found in the Joseph Smith Papers) instructing missionaries to teach enslaved persons’ masters before preaching to the enslaved themselves. This letter reflected the realities of 1830s America more than divine segregation—it was a pragmatic accommodation to the laws of slaveholding states, not a theological statement of inferiority. Still, the Church essay remained silent on this historical nuance.

In short, Race and the Priesthood made it clear that racist doctrines and justifications have no place in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but it did not attempt to rewrite scriptural or historical complexities. That distinction matters. The essay was a moral and doctrinal correction, not a historical treatise. It reaffirmed that prophetic guidance unfolds “line upon line” (Isaiah 28:10), and that revelation sometimes clarifies what earlier generations could not yet see.

To understand how such doctrines were interpreted, we must look at how scripture frames covenant, curse, and timing.

Curses, Covenants, and the Pattern of God’s Timing

Scripture presents multiple “curses”: Adam was cursed with mortality and toil, Cain with wandering, humanity with sin, the Tower of Babel with scattered languages, and Canaan with servitude. These curses are rarely about appearance—they define roles, consequences, or spiritual timing.

In Genesis 9:25, Noah pronounces that Canaan will be “servant of servants.” This was not a racial condemnation. Rather, it designates a functional limitation within God’s covenant framework—a line of descendants whose role would be circumscribed in ways that had theological meaning. In Latter-day Saint thought, the priesthood is exercised by mortals as servants of God. Could “servant of servants” imply a temporary limitation on priesthood authority? Many scholars, as well as Jewish rabbinical commentary, emphasize that the curse of Canaan is about lineage and function, not skin color or inherent worth.

Even popular culture can capture this symbolic truth. In the 2014 Noah film, Ham (father of Canaan) casts the glowing snake skin – symbolizing blessing and spiritual enlightenment – onto the beach before the drunken Noah, echoing the scriptural account.

This pattern becomes even clearer in the Book of Abraham, which restored key context to the ancient covenant lineage.

Abraham 1 and the Restoration Framework

The Restoration brought these ancient patterns forward. Abraham 1 contains the promise that blessings and priesthood authority come through covenant and lineage. The early Latter-day Saints understood that some lineages, as described in scripture, were designated for a period of temporal limitation—a “servant of servants” role—without implying inferiority.

This is crucial: the LDS priesthood restriction was rooted in scripture, not in contemporary racial prejudice. It was applied at a moment of extreme national crisis over slavery and race, when mainstream theology in America argued that Africans were divinely cursed and their rhetoric played into the hands of slave owners.

The Saints’ restraint, though imperfect, offered a counter-cultural theological stance. Unlike much of America Christianity, the Church recognized Africans as children of God, capable of salvation, covenant participation, and eternal promise – the issue of priesthood initially welcomed all—but soon after Joseph Smith’s death, the 1835 revelation came into play—right or wrong, shaped in part by interpretation and external cultural pressures.

Joseph Smith and the Early Restoration

Joseph Smith grew up in a nation torn by slavery and racial ideology. Although he sometimes referenced biblical language about Canaan, his actions—such as ordaining Elijah Abel—demonstrated his inclusive understanding of God’s covenant. He also sent missionaries “unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people” (D&C 112:1).

He condemned slavery as “the greatest iniquity of the land” and advocated for peaceful abolition. His teachings aligned with Paul’s vision that slaves were brothers in Christ, not property to be dehumanized. Joseph’s Restoration took the biblical framework of Abraham and Canaan and applied it in a morally conscious, covenantal way, setting a foundation that rejected the racist assumptions of his time.

Brigham Young, Human Leadership, and Divine Inspiration

After the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young led the Saints through one of the most challenging transitions in Church history—westward across the frontier and into the Salt Lake Valley. His leadership combined bold faith with the inevitable limitations of mortality.

Like all prophets, Brigham Young sometimes offered personal interpretations—on topics such as priesthood, the Adam–God theory, or blood atonement—but his divine commission to guide the Saints remained clear. He himself acknowledged this human dimension of prophetic service, teaching:

“I do not profess to be such a Prophet as was Moses… But I am a Yankee guesser; and when I guess right, you call me a Prophet.”

— Journal of Discourses, 5:77

Brigham’s role was not to be infallible, but to move the Restoration forward—to preserve order, build Zion in the wilderness, and prepare the Saints spiritually and temporally for future revelation.

The mid-19th-century priesthood restriction reflected both cultural context and scriptural interpretation. Brigham Young saw it through a covenantal lens—rooted in passages like Abraham 1:26–27 and the biblical story of Canaan—rather than through the racial pseudoscience of his day. While he occasionally voiced views common to 19th-century America, the restriction itself was theological in reasoning, not born from the white-supremacist ideologies that surrounded him.

Indeed, Young rejected the idea of permanent racial division or superiority, affirming a shared divine origin for all humankind:

“We are the children of Adam and Eve… we should not think ourselves better than others.”

— Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 11:268

He also condemned the institution of slavery in clear terms when addressing the Saints in Utah:

“If the Government of the United States had had the moral courage to put down slavery, there would have been no war.”

— Journal of Discourses, 10:250

In the end, Brigham Young’s legacy must be seen through the lens of continuing revelation. He was a man shaped by his time yet chosen by God to move His work forward. Through both his inspired direction and his human limitations, we see the same divine pattern that has guided prophets in every dispensation—God working through imperfect instruments to accomplish perfect purposes.

Gradual Revelation and the 1978 Revelation

God’s timing is always patient. Just as Peter required a vision to accept Gentiles into the covenant, and the Mosaic law was temporary until Christ, so too the priesthood restriction was a measure of divine pacing.

In 1978, after much prayer and fasting, President Spencer W. Kimball and the Twelve received revelation extending the priesthood and temple blessings to all worthy men. The restriction lifted—not because culture demanded it, but because God’s timing had arrived. The restriction had been scriptural, covenantal, and temporary, not racial or eternal.

A Counter-Cultural Doctrine

Seen in context, the LDS priesthood restriction was radically different from mainstream American theology. While other churches used Genesis to justify slavery and racial hierarchy, the Restoration preserved the idea that Africans were full children of God, heirs of salvation, and capable of receiving priesthood and temple blessings when the Lord’s timing came.

Paul had taught that slaves were brothers in Christ, and the Restoration moved cautiously but faithfully along the same line: delaying access temporarily, not denying worth, and ultimately culminating in full inclusion in covenant blessings.

Moving Forward with Humility

Today, the Church stands in more than 180 nations. Saints of every lineage hold the priesthood, enter temples, and serve in leadership. But the history of priesthood and race is a lesson in humility: God often works through human imperfection, guiding the faithful in ways that might seem opaque in the moment.

As Joseph Smith prayed:

“O God, give us wisdom, give us light, give us charity toward all men.”

The Restoration continues to unfold, demonstrating that the Lord’s work is about mercy, timing, and inclusion. The priesthood restriction, once misunderstood, now stands as a testament to the counter-cultural, covenantal, and scriptural wisdom of God’s plan.

Closing Thought

In the nineteenth century, white supremacy was not merely prejudice—it was a worldview claiming, in the language of “science,” law, and property, that people of European descent alone possessed full intellect, ownership, and even humanity.

The priesthood restriction in Latter-day Saint history arose in that same world, but from a different root. It was never a declaration of racial inferiority. Rather, it reflected an older covenantal pattern in which God governs access to priesthood through lineage and timing—not worth or color.

Where white supremacy reduced souls to categories of power, covenantal limitation anticipated revelation.

Perhaps the most revealing aspect of this topic is how both Paul’s teachings on slavery and Joseph Smith’s revelations were largely rejected by Americans—North and South alike. Could the 1835 theology of the “curse of Canaan,” understood through the lens of the Restored Gospel, have prevented the Civil War and the bitterness that followed? We cannot know for certain.

Yet God, in His mercy, reiterated His truth through revelation anew. As Paul taught two thousand years ago:

“Let them not despise them; because they are brethren.”

— 1 Timothy 6:1–2

“Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.”

— Colossians 3:22–4:1

Today, Africa is one of the fastest growing areas for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.