Section 129 is considered one of the strangest sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. This stems in part from readers focusing on fooling evil spirits through the medium of a handshake instead of taking a deeper look at the implications of these teachings. The first three verses of section 129 directly state that angels are men and women in a different phase of their eternal existence. They may be “resurrected personages” (D&C 129:1) or “the spirits of just men made perfect” (D&C 129:3), but they are decidedly human. After encountering this doctrine, one observer noted, “I was struck by the fact that the angels of early Mormonism were visitors not only from heaven but also from beyond the grave.”¹ Angels are not a separate creation from humans, they are humans. This is clearly taught in the revelations given to Joseph Smith. The archangel Michael is revealed to be Adam (D&C 27:11), the Angel Gabriel was known as Noah during his time on earth,² and Moroni was a mortal man who returned to oversee the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

The Hebrew and Greek words for angel in the Old and New Testaments can be simply translated as “messenger.”³ If all angels are messengers, there are several more categories of angels we can add to Joseph Smith’s assertion that angels are resurrected beings or the spirits of just people who have already passed away. Angels can also be premortal beings, those who have not yet experienced life on earth. Jesus Christ appeared to the brother of Jared as a premortal spirit, explaining, “this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh” (Ether 3:16). And for obvious reasons, the angel who appeared to Adam and Eve to explain the purpose of sacrifices was also a premortal spirit (Moses 5:6–8).

Angels can also be translated beings. Enoch and his city were translated and taken up into heaven (Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 14:32). An early revelation given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery revealed that the Savior promised the Apostle John that He would “make him as a flaming fire and a ministering angel” (D&C 6:6). In a similar fashion, three of the Nephite disciples became “as the angels of God” (3 Nephi 28:30) and received a promise that they would “never taste of death” (3 Nephi 28:7).

A final category of angels consists of righteous mortals. The Old Testament speaks about “two angels” who rescued Lot from the destruction of his city (Genesis 19:1). Joseph Smith’s translation clarifies that these messengers were “angels of God, which were holy men” (Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 19:15). In a similar fashion, John addressed the book of Revelation to several figures he referred to as “the angel of the church of Ephesus” (Revelation 2:1), “the angel of the church in Smyrna” (Revelation 2:18), and so forth. Joseph Smith’s translation of each of these verses replaces angel with servant (Joseph Smith Translation, Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14), indicating that these angels were mortal servants who presided over branches of the Church.

Angels can come in the form of resurrected beings, spirits of just men and women, premortal spirits, translated beings, or righteous mortals recruited to serve as messengers of God. But a fundamental truth revealed through Joseph Smith in section 129 is that every angel is a man or woman, just in a different stage of eternal development.

1. Samuel Morris Brown, In Heaven as It Is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death, 2012, ix.

2. Discourse, between circa 26 June and circa 4 August 1839–A, as Reported by William Clayton, p. 11, JSP.

3. Lexham Bible Dictionary, “Angel.”

The Prophet’s teachings contained in verses 4–9 are much more than a simple way of fooling the devil. Indeed, after a quick reading of Doctrine and Covenants 129, we might be tempted to ask, “Haven’t Satan and his followers read these teachings? Do they fall for the old handshake trick every time?” However, the principles taught here are much deeper.

An earlier version of these teachings, recorded by Wilford Woodruff, suggests that Doctrine and Covenants 129 is not about handshakes but about eternal law and how it affects eternal beings, both good and evil. Elder Woodruff recorded,

There are many keys to the kingdom of God. The following one will detect Satan when he transforms himself nigh unto an angel of light. When Satan appears in the form of a personage unto man and reaches out his hand unto him and the man takes hold of his hand and feels no substance, he may know it is Satan. For an angel of God (which is an angel of light) is a Saint with his resurrected body, and when he appears unto man and offers him his hand and the man feels a substance. When he takes hold of it as he would in shaking hands with his neighbor, he may know it is an Angel of God. And should a Saint appear unto man whose body is not resurrected, he will never offer him his hand, for it would be against the law by which they are governed, and by observing this key we may detect Satan that he deceive us not.⁴

President Woodruff’s record states that angels who are not resurrected do not extend their hand because “it would be against the law by which they are governed.” This hints that resurrected beings, the spirits of the just, and deceiving spirits all do certain actions because they are compelled by eternal law. Even the spirits who follow Satan are subject to eternal law. Joseph Smith taught this even more directly in an article that appeared in the Times and Seasons on April 1, 1842: “It would seem also that wicked spirits have their bounds, limits, and laws by which they are governed or controlled, and know their future destiny; hence those that were in the maniac said to our Savior, ‘art thou come to torment us before the time.’”⁵

One of the most important principles taught in Doctrine and Covenants 129 is that the struggle between God and Satan is not a struggle between equal powers. It is not a civil war, but a rebellion. Satan is still subject to the power of God, and the victor of the conflict is known; God will win in the end. Satan and his followers will lose. Devils cannot overcome the limits God places on them. Satan and his followers do not follow the patterns set forth in section 129 because they want to, but because they are compelled to by the greater power of God.

4. Discourse, 27 June 1839, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff–A, p. 19–20, JSP, spelling and punctuation modernized.

5. Times and Seasons, 1 April 1842, p. 745, JSP.