Did Joseph Smith Change God’s Covenant?
In Genesis 17:11–12, God commands Abraham to circumcise male children at eight days old as a sign of His everlasting covenant:
“And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you.” (Genesis 17:11–12, KJV)
This was not a temporary rule, but a consistent command throughout Scripture (Leviticus 12:3; Luke 1:59; Philippians 3:5). Even Jesus Himself was circumcised on the eighth day (Luke 2:21).
Yet in Joseph Smith’s so-called “Inspired Version” of the Bible, he altered this command to say eight years old—a drastic and unfounded change with no basis in the Hebrew text, history, or Christian teaching. Smith then used this distortion to support the LDS practice of baptizing children at age eight, despite the fact that Genesis 17 has nothing to do with baptism.
The New Testament makes it clear that salvation comes not through circumcision, nor by reaching a certain age, but through faith in Jesus Christ:
- “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
- “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Nowhere do the Scriptures teach baptism at eight years old, nor do they connect circumcision with such a practice. Instead, baptism in the Bible is consistently linked to belief and repentance (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:36–37, Mark 16:16). Infants and children too young to believe are never presented as candidates for baptism.
This video exposes how Joseph Smith’s alteration of God’s covenant not only contradicts the plain Word of God but also undermines the credibility of his “translation.” If Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, not the eighth year, why would God suddenly change His eternal covenant in Smith’s version? And why would Smith twist the text to support an LDS doctrine foreign to Scripture?
Join us as we examine the biblical evidence and show why God’s Word stands firm—unchanged and uncorrupted—while Joseph Smith’s revisions reveal a man-made invention, not divine revelation.
