We live in a day in which the opportunity to attain riches and the chances for learning are unparalleled. Such a condition places us at risk to do what the Nephites did in seeking to be distinguished by ranks. Yet there is a simple custom in the Church which is designed to thwart this tendency. When we refer to each other as “brothers and sisters” in the Church, we are avoiding the tendency to distinguish based on position or education. Thus the doctor, lawyer, professor, c. e. o., and executive vice-president are all “brothers and sisters.” This is the way it should be. If not, the resulting inequality might be enough to break up the Church as it did among the Nephites (v. 14).
Joseph Smith had been careful to avoid emphasis on rank among the members of the Church. Although he was the greatest prophet of this dispensation and arguably the greatest prophet ever, excepting Jesus Christ, he was known simply as “Brother Joseph.”
"Some of us may mock our brother because he has a ‘lesser’ occupational, civic, or ecclesiastical standing. King Benjamin got to the core of the matter when he observed: ’And I, even I, whom ye call your king, am no better than ye yourselves are; for I am also of the dust.’ (Mosiah 2:26.)
"If King Benjamin were clear with respect to the occupational and civic areas, Joseph Smith was crystal clear about ecclesiastical condescension: ’If a high priest comes along, and goes to snub either of them in their presidency, because they are Seventies, let them knock the man’s teeth down his throat—I mean spiritually.’ (History of the Church 5:368.)
"He even applied the same standard to himself:
’Many persons think a prophet must be a great deal better than anybody else. Suppose I would condescend—yes, I will call it condescend, to be a great deal better than any of you, I would be raised up to the highest heaven; and who should I have to accompany me? …
’I do not want you to think that I am very righteous, for I am not. God judges men according to the use they make of the light which He gives them.’ (History of the Church 5:401.)
"…Men are not chosen for privilege but for their capacity to bless others. The Spirit moved President John Taylor to write:
“Our Heavenly Father is desirous to promote the happiness and welfare of the whole of the human family; and if we, any of us, hold any Priesthood, it is simply for that same purpose, and not for our personal aggrandizement, or for our own honor, or pomp, or position; but we hold it in the interest of God and for the salvation of the people, that through it we may promote their happiness, blessing and prosperity, temporal and spiritual, both here and in the world to come.” (Journal of Discourses 22:230.)“ (Gary L. Bunker, ”Mocking Our Brother," Ensign, Apr. 1975, 36)
Boyd K. Packer
“The Lord does not, and the Church cannot, admit to favoritism toward those who are able to obtain professional degrees as compared to those who seek training in a practical field or those who have little or no schooling at all.” (Ensign, Nov. 1992, p. 72 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 400-1)