“He Knoweth All Things”

Joseph F. McConkie, Robert L. Millet

The scriptures are perfectly united in their declarations that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and, by the power of the Spirit, omnipresent (regarding his omniscience, see 2 Nephi 2:24; Alma 26:35; Moroni 7:22).

Joseph Smith taught the brethren in the School of the Prophets that “without the knowledge of all things God would not be able to save any portion of his creatures; for it is by reason of the knowledge which he has of all things, from the beginning to the end, that enables him to give that understanding to his creatures by which they are made partakers of eternal life; and if it were not for the idea existing in the minds of men that God had all knowledge it would be impossible for them to exercise faith in him” (Lectures on Faith 4:11).

“For He Knoweth All Things”

Hyrum Smith the Patriarch taught simply: “Our Savior is competent to save all from death and hell. I can prove it out of the revelation. I would not serve a God that had not all wisdom and all power.” (HC 6:300.) In commenting upon these words of his grandfather, Joseph Fielding Smith observed: “Do we believe that God has all ’wisdom’? If so, in that, he is absolute. If there is something he does not know, then he is not absolute in ’wisdom, ’ and to think such a thing is absurd. Does he have all ’power’? If so then there is nothing in which he lacks. If he is lacking in ’wisdom’ and in ’power then he is not supreme and there must be something greater than he is, and this is absurd.” (Doctrines of Salvation 1:5.)

Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1

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