How do Mormons interpret Isaiah 43:10?

Question

"Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me." - Isaiah 43:10 (KJV)

In King Follett Sermon, Joseph Smith teaches that members of the LDS church may too become gods one day:

Eternal Life to Know God and Jesus Christ (King Follett Sermon)

The scriptures say it, and I defy all the learning and wisdom and all the combined powers of earth and hell together to refute it. Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming His name, is not trifling with you or me.

Moreover; we are aware that the Church of Latter Day Saints believes that the Godhead (Father Son & Holy Ghost) are three separate gods sharing the same will.

Although the members of the Godhead are distinct beings with distinct roles, they are one in purpose and doctrine. They are perfectly united in bringing to pass Heavenly Father's divine plan of salvation.

Godhead (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Also; Abraham 4 teaches creation was committed by multiple gods.

1. And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.

With this in mind; How does the Church of Latter Day Saints interpret Isaiah 43:10? Bonus points if the verse is kept in context.

Answer 1

First, it's important to take that scripture in context so going through verse 12 reads:

10. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.
12. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.

In this scripture, the Lord is addressing the issue of the Israelites worshipping other gods. He tells them that he, YHWH, is Israel's only god and the only god to be worshiped, not some false idol (see Isaiah 42:17 ...say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.).

Other scriptures of the Israelites being encouraged to stop worshiping other divine beings or idols, but Yahweh alone (it's a recurring theme/problem):

• Isaiah 41:29
• Isaiah 42:8
• Isaiah 43:24
• Isaiah 44:8-10,17,19
• Isaiah 45:9,12,16,20,22

Another important doctrine on man becoming gods is that to us(man) there is only God. I will use an analogy (god::father): each of us has one father. One can strive to become a father, and those that do don't replace their father; their father is now a grandfather. Anything you do, or children you have, add to your grandfather's posterity also.

Related:

• 1 Cor 8:5-6 (to us there is only one God)

Scriptures on theosis (man becoming a god):

• Romans 8:14-18
• John 10:28-35 (the Jew's law said they were gods, the law was given to them by the Lord)
• Revelation 1:5-6 (has similar phrasing as used in King Follet discourse: kings and priests unto God)

Creation by gods/plurality of gods:

• Genesis 1:1 (the hebrew used for God translates to Elohim, and the definition is gods) see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pg 371
• Genesis 1:26 (man in our own image)
• Genesis 3:5 (shall be as the gods)
• Psalms 82:1
• Psalms 86:8

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On verse 10 where it says before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. is similar to Isaiah 44:6 where again the Lord says beside me there is no God. Both seem to exclude all else, but similar phrasing found in other scriptures helps us understand that this is not the case. Isaiah 47:8-10 on the city of Babylon:

8. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
9. But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
10. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

Seems to exclude any other city but in Zephaniah 2:15 on the city of Ninevah, it has the same phrase.

15. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

This verse (the original v10) just means that the Lord is our Savior, no one else. It's also important to look at the phrasing 'before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me', God has always existed, and since He will always exist no man can ever be exalted "before" or "after" Him. All men who are exalted to godhood will be contemporaries of Yahweh, and will never precede nor follow Yahweh's existence. They will also become part of the divine council over which he presides.

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More articles on this topic (it's a quite broad subject, any one topic touches upon other unique Mormon beliefs and it would be a very long answer if I tried to answer all of them here)

• Besides Me there is no Saviour
• Becoming like god
• Old Testament Seminary Manual on Isaiah 43
• No God beside me

Answer 2

God is our Father.

Just as we each have only one earthly father, we have only one Father in Heaven. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" has an inescapable parallel in "honor thy father and thy mother".

And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man. (1 Corinthians 15:49)

Prophets of Jesus Christ have always taught God's plan of salvation, which is centered in family relationships, beginning with the recognition that we are children of God.

In many ways, the God-ordained Family is a teacher to me. It is precisely because I have experience with my earthly family that I am prepared to understand what it means that God is the Father of our spirits. He is literally our Father:

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:16-17)

Children who endure the Father's chastening will be "heirs" of the Father, and joint-heirs with Christ. What does it mean to be an heir? We look to Christ:

The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. (John 5:19-20)

All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (Matthew 28:18)

His doctrine confirms that we can become even as He is:

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

After His resurrection, He said:

"I am even as the Father" (3 Nephi 28:10)

Affirming what He had often said during His mortal ministry, that is,

The Father and I are one. (John 10:30)

The concept that God is not embodied, or that He is without any heir, is to emasculate Him and to pervert the Scriptures. It makes the very terms "Son" and "Father" so oft used by the God of the Universe utterly meaningless. It would make Him a liar. He is no liar. What father do you know who is incapable of raising up seed after his own kind, in his own likeness and image, as Adam begot Seth? And was not Seth in the very image of his earthly father? How much more so will God plant the heavens and lay the foundations of worlds without number with His posterity, that there may be man and woman in His plan, or in other words, that there may be joy! "Every seed bringeth forth unto its own likeness", and "every beast after his kind" doth multiply. How much more significant is it then to be the literal offspring of Deity?

If God had no children then we would not exist.

C.S. Lewis rightly observed,

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship"

The earliest Scripture we have access to bears witness that we are created in the image of God. Does God have an image? Yes, and the whole human race is a reflection and a testament to His virile Fatherhood.

Perhaps the concept of a Living Inheritance stuns you. Perhaps we say with the corrupt husbandmen, of Jesus, "this is the heir, let us slay him, that the inheritance be ours!" Only in a corrupt and fallen world does inheritance follow the giver's death. In the Father's kingdom, inheritance makes us joint-heirs with the Living Father rather than heirs of the dead. This is eternal life. Christ is Heir of "All that the Father has".

If we are joint-heirs with Christ, we too must be heirs of All that the Father hath, and be sons of the Father together with Christ. Again, what child do you know that is not capable of growing up to be like its parents? Such a prohibition would be contrary to eternal law. Such spit in the face of Christ's Atonement, and the Father's plan to redeem His children. God is no liar. He calls us His children.

All Scripture attests that we have one Father in Heaven, who is God, and beside Him we have no Father of our spirits, or in other words, beside Him there is no other god unto us. Therefore we keep the ten commandments, by having no other god before Him. Yet we may, by His own promise, through the virtue which is in Christ, grow up and be like Him, through faith in Christ, meekness and repentance of all sin, by baptism and by the transforming power of the Holy Ghost through the Atonement of the Messiah. When such as are willing to mature have matured as Christ did, will they no longer need a Father? To the contrary, they will love and adore Him more than ever as their God, their King, their all-wise Creator, the Father of their souls.

Could a King indeed have no Kingdom? Could a Father be a father and yet have no children? Could a child be a child, and yet have no future? Where is continuation, and where is glory if there be no continuation?

My views are my own and do not represent the church.