Exegesis on Jeremiah 1:5

I would like to start this post, the next in a series looking at the Biblical support (or lack thereof) for the Mormon doctrine of spirit children, by quoting myself so my readers may understand the context from which this post is derived…
"It was recently put to me in a Facebook conversation most of you probably saw from my post on June 6 at 8:13 am, to address some key doctrinal claims of Mormonism. It is my assertion that Mormonism is essentially not Christianity. In an effort to be completely transparent I will let all my readers know at the outset that I believe Mormonism to be a complete misrepresentation of the Christian Bible. Likewise, I believe the Book of Mormon, as well as supporting texts like the Pearl of Great Price, to be heretical and simply unhelpful and confusing to a correct understanding of the Christian Bible. All Mormon texts are decidedly NOT God’s word. The proceeding commentaries will be proof of my statements.
For the purpose of promoting understanding we must first define a few things. Within the bounds and context of this writing, when I refer to anything as Christian, I mean not Mormon. That is not to say I am also referring to all things not Mormon, but the distinct differences between Mormonism and Christianity. As is necessary with Biblical exegesis (drawing the meaning from scripture, as opposed to imposing meaning upon scripture), the reader must keep in mind the definitions I have presented above while reading, since it is I who determine the meaning of my words, not the reader. The same is true with scripture. It is the original writer who determines the meaning of the words written, not the reader."
That being said, we must give respect to the author of Jeremiah by stating that the Old Testament book of Jeremiah was written to record the prophecies of Jeremiah, damning God’s people for their disobedience. As a prophet, it is plainly seen that Jeremiah is obedient to his call, yet he also loves those people to whom he pronounces condemnation. Even through his best efforts to cause the people to repent and turn to honor God, Jeremiah still proclaims the destruction of Jerusalem. Indeed this prophecy comes to pass, after which we hear very little from and/or about Jeremiah. The people of Jeremiah’s time were used to the babbling of prophets as there were a great many false ones whose messages were similar. This did not help Jeremiah’s task of proclaiming God’s just wrath upon an exceedingly, and repeatedly disobedient people. Jeremiah’s job then was to tell the people that God’s wrath was imminent! There was no escaping it, though Jeremiah warned them. It was decided, and God gloried in it. This represents the cultural and historical context of the book of Jeremiah. This is where one may find insight as to a proper application of the text to a modern context.
Verses one through four give us a precise timeframe in which Jeremiah’s prophecies took place (roughly 625-586 B.C.). Since we have already established historical and cultural context we can press on to verse 5.
Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
-This verse is submitted by Mormons as proof positive that we are God’s spirit children, who existed with him before creation. How else could he have known us right?
Here in Jeremiah 1:5 we see a few words we would do well to address. Such words as “before”, and “knew”. Since these words are so broad in their application and usage it would be an exercise in exhaustion to explore their semantic domain. For our purposes we can rightly approach this text if we consider “before” as merely “prior to a given time”. “Knew” will be harder to address so let us start with “before”.
Before what or when? The text answers this question as before “I formed thee in the belly” and before “thou camest forth out of the womb”. If we overstate this for the sake of clarity we could say, “Before your father’s sperm fertilized your mother’s egg” and “Before you exited your mother’s uterus”. Even this explanation is lacking, for surely God is able to determine which sperm met with that egg. Here in verse 5, before is open ended. Before what or when? Everything! At this point the Christian has no grounds to disagree with the Mormon. We both agree that whatever happened, it happened before everything was.
So, what happened “before”? “I knew thee”, “I sanctified thee”, “I ordained thee.” Here is where we see the fatal error of Joseph Smith. Where does the text even imply that WE were existent before creation? The text stops at saying that God knew Jeremiah, God sanctified Jeremiah, God ordained Jeremiah. And for what? To do what? To be a “prophet unto the nations.” The context is explicitly indicative of Jeremiah AND NO OTHER. Verse 5 starts a conversation between God and Jeremiah. What purpose would it serve for God to tell Jeremiah that he knew everyone before they were conceived, truly before creation? Well, in the context it would make no sense what so ever. If that were the case then Jeremiah would never get the call to announce condemnation, for the point of the text would be that God knows everyone, even before creation…end of story…end of book. What a clear example of Joseph Smith having no meaningful and/or accurate understanding of scripture. If we take the Mormon interpretation of this verse then we must assume that God is unable to know us unless he has been around us, with us.
“I knew thee” gives a compelling commentary on some of what God knows. When I say that Joseph Smith has no meaningful and/or accurate understanding of scripture, it is because the doctrine of spirit children as it relates to Jeremiah 1:5 fundamentally limits what God is able to know, and consequently sticks out like a sore thumb as a man made doctrine. What I mean is this: if the way in which God knew us was only accomplished by us physically (or spiritually, etc.) being with him before creation then he is limited in his knowledge to what he experiences. Thankfully God is not limited in this way, as we are. God is all knowing (omniscient) and so it is well within the realm of His ability that He knew us without us existing, neither before creation nor after; with him or not. His knowledge is not limited by our existence, whether in spirit form or otherwise. So, the “knew” in verse 5 is also open ended in that God’s knowledge is never ending with regards to time and space, and in every other conceivable way for that matter. To say He knew us before he formed us in the womb is to say that before we were existent, He knew us. Any other interpretation of that statement limits God and is therefore simply wrong.
For good measure I will also bring up another word which has bearing on this subject, such that a Mormon might use it to support the idea that God “knew” us, “before”, as children. I am referring to verse 6. In verse 6 we see the Hebrew word na’ar. The semantic domain of this word is also quite exhaustive, yet we can choose a few translations to emphasis our point. Within the semantic domain of this word (ways in which it can be used/translated) are usages like: youth, young man, servant, child, assistant, boy, young officer, and others…these are all proper usages of the Hebrew word na’ar. Verse six is a continuation of the conversation between Jeremiah and God which lasts for the entirety of the chapter. In the context of this conversation God informs Jeremiah of his purpose (to be a prophet unto the nations) and quickly commissions him and sends him out. The conversation is immediate in it’s application. God tells Jeremiah who he is, and then says, in essence “GO NOW!” So, although God’s knowledge has no bounds within space-time, God is able to confront His creation at any point while making His message immediately applicable. That being said, it would not follow logically that God sends out a child (as the KJV interprets the word). If we have a proper understanding of how words are translated then we can see how the words surrounding any single word, at least some-what, determine the meaning of that word. In this situation, the context demands that na’ar be translated not as “child” but as some sort of early adult; young man perhaps, or maybe youth. Such a translation would be in-keeping with the context and time frame of the verse as we can easily see that Jeremiah is in fact a “youth” (i.e. not a child) when he is commissioned. If he was not a child then there can certainly be no grounds for a doctrine of pre-existent spirit children. Such a doctrine is an abomination to God’s true nature.
Both these words (KJV Translation - child/Correct Translation - youth) are within the semantic domain of the Hebrew word na’ar and are indicative of yet another problem with Mormon doctrine. Mormons hold the KJV of the Bible over and above any other translation. This is a critical failure, yet again, of Joseph Smith, to enumerate a translation. The KJV is nowhere near a perfect translation, and in fact it has been proven to be grossly inaccurate in major areas. It once was that the KJV was the most accurate of any translation, based upon the manuscript evidence which was available in 1611 when it was penned. However, with the discovery and consequent studying of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the KJV has been shown to be significantly lacking in the area of ancient manuscript support.
The issue of the KJV will be next on my plate unless my Mormon friend has more pressing issues I should address. I say “more pressing” because the KJV thing is really a non-issue…the evidence is far too vast and damning to allow anyone who has sincerely sought out the truth to hold to the idea that the KJV is the most perfect translation.
I hope my readers can see that Mormonism is a clear case of misunderstanding being propagated through the years as “Gods truth”. It (Mormonism) is nothing more than sinful man’s human tradition to love himself and make himself God. It is decidedly not Christian, and therefore not the true church, nor the true word. God is not merely God of this planet. He is GOD OF ALL! There is, are, and never will be others like Him. He alone is God and, as such, is worthy of all praise and adoration. He is the God of every planet, everywhere, everytime. One God. One creation. One savior. One eternity.