Jesus told Peter: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19). Later in the book of Acts, Peter and other apostles "laid their hands upon" Stephen, a newly called disciple, after which ordination Stephen "did great wonders and miracles among the people" (Acts 6:5 – 8). This same Stephen had his ministry ended by the enraged Sanhedrin who called out while being stoned, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59). Thus in the New Testament we can witness the end of a single line of authority: Jesus ordained Peter who ordained Stephen.
Could the Jews who stoned Peter have reformed themselves, repented, and obtained to Stephen's line of authority? No, for Stephen was dead and could no longer lay his hands upon others to deliver authority to them as he had received. One among the Sanhedrin learned this personally. Saul, who had held the coats of the Jews as they stoned Stephen, later experienced a vision and repented per the instruction he had received. Did any being then ordain him from heaven? No. Despite standing before him clothed with authority, Jesus himself said to Paul: "Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do" (Acts 9:6, emphasis added).
Joseph Smith expanded the subject, limiting even the preaching of the gospel to those who possess authority. Citing new testament precedents, he taught that angels and heavenly beings cannot as much as preach the gospel when those who have authority on the earth are present.
"The angel told good old Cornelius that he must send for Peter to learn how to be saved: [for] Peter could baptize, and angels could not, so long as there were legal officers in the flesh holding the keys of the kingdom, or the authority of the priesthood.... Jesus himself when he appeared to Paul on his way to Damascus, did not [even] inform him how he could be saved.... [For] the grand rule of heaven was that nothing should ever be done on earth without revealing the secret to his servants the prophets...so Paul could not learn so much from the Lord relative to his duty in the common salvation of man, as he could from one of Christ’s ambassadors called with the same heavenly calling of the Lord, and endowed with the same power from on high—so that what they loosed on earth, should be loosed in heaven" (STPJS, p. 265).
The question remains: is repentance sufficient to bring a person authority to preach the gospel or perform ordinances? The scriptures settle the question in the person of he who had no sin and yet obeyed the keys present upon the earth:
"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" (Matt. 3:13 – 15).
Joseph Smith confirms the point:
"The Savior said unto John, I must be baptized by you. Why so? To fulfil all righteousness. John refuses at first, but afterwards obeyed by administering the ordinance of baptism unto him, Jesus having no other legal administrator to apply to. There is no salvation between the two lids of the Bible without a legal administrator" (STPJS, p. 319).
This shows that all the good works and intentions in the world cannot bring a person to a state of authority. Someone holding that authority must lay their hands upon another to deliver it.
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