The short answer
Joseph places the First Vision before his ordinations. The Church’s student manual distinguishes God temporarily enabling someone to see Him from priesthood ordinances sanctifying someone to endure His presence. Moses 1 and Doctrine and Covenants 67 describe the first. The manual reads Doctrine and Covenants 84:20–22 in light of the second.
Three distinctions
- Timing. The First Vision is dated to 1820 in Joseph’s canonized account. The priesthood restoration came later. Read the chronology
- Ordination and ordinances. Section 84 speaks of both priesthood authority and ordinances. Receiving God’s power and holding a priesthood office are distinct. Read verses 19–24 in context
- A visit and lasting sanctification. The Church’s manual uses Moses’s transfiguration and the Spirit’s quickening power to explain how people can see God and live. It reads section 84 as teaching how ordinances prepare people to endure His presence. Read the manual’s explanation
What the chronology establishes
In the account now canonized as Joseph Smith—History, Joseph places the First Vision in spring 1820. In the same history, he dates his and Oliver Cowdery’s ordination by John the Baptist to May 1829. The Church also teaches that Peter, James, and John later conferred priesthood authority. The precise date of their visit is uncertain. Either way, the vision comes first. Joseph Smith—History 1:14–20, 68–72 · Restoration Proclamation · Church account of the Melchizedek Priesthood restoration
The outline of Joseph’s 1832 history already places his initial testimony from heaven before the ministering of angels and his reception of priesthood. The narrative describes an appearance of the Lord. The familiar account explicitly identifies the Father and the Son. The early history is evidence for the sequence, while the wording about the personages is a separate question. 1832 history, pp. 1–2 · First Vision accounts
What Doctrine and Covenants 84 says
Verses 19–22 say the greater priesthood holds the key of the knowledge of God. The revelation connects the manifestation of the “power of godliness” with its ordinances and authority and says that “without this” no one can see the Father’s face and live. The wording about both ordinances and authority is already present in an 1832 manuscript. Doctrine and Covenants 84:19–24 · 1832 manuscript
Richard Abanes, Matt Slick, and Pioneer Christadelphians take the timing as a contradiction. They read section 84 as requiring a person to hold the priesthood before any appearance of the Father. The text also raises a question about prior ordinances. If the passage establishes either as a universal requirement, the 1820 date is a real problem. In verses 23–24, Moses seeks to sanctify Israel to behold God and enter His rest, described as the fullness of His glory. The subject is how people become able to endure His presence. Abanes, Becoming Gods excerpt · Slick, Preguntas a los Mormones · Pioneer Christadelphians
How the Church’s manual reads it
The Church’s student manual distinguishes temporary transfiguration from lasting sanctification. Moses 1:11 says God’s glory enabled Moses to behold Him and live. Doctrine and Covenants 67:11–12 says people see God through the Spirit’s quickening power. The manual reads Doctrine and Covenants 84:20–22 as teaching how priesthood ordinances and covenants sanctify people in a lasting way so they can endure God’s presence. Church student manual, chapter 31 · Moses 1:11 · Doctrine and Covenants 67:10–12
Section 84 also says Moses received priesthood from Jethro, and the immediate promise in section 67 is addressed to ordained ministers. Those passages show what divine enabling does. Applying the manual’s distinction to the timing of Joseph’s vision takes a further interpretive step. Doctrine and Covenants 84:6 · Doctrine and Covenants 67:10–12
Ordination is another distinction. President Russell M. Nelson teaches that both women and men receive priesthood power through ordinances and covenants. That shows why receiving the benefits of priesthood power cannot be equated with holding a priesthood office. It still leaves the objection about Joseph before his ordinances. The manual’s distinction addresses that further question. God can temporarily enable a person to see Him while providing ordinances and covenants as the way to become able to remain in His presence. Russell M. Nelson, Spiritual Treasures · Church student manual, chapter 31
Joseph’s 1842 account says his attention was taken away from his surroundings and that he was “enwrapped in a heavenly vision.” That description fits the possibility of temporary divine enabling. The account gives no detailed explanation of how the experience happened. The reconciliation is a reading of the scriptures alongside the account. Joseph’s 1842 Church History, pp. 706–707
A Latter-day Saint response
“Yes, Joseph’s vision came before his priesthood ordinations. Section 84 teaches how ordinances prepare us to endure God’s presence. Moses describes God temporarily enabling him to see Him, and section 67 explains that this happens through the Spirit. I read Joseph’s vision in light of that distinction. Where does section 84 say that God can only let someone see Him after they’ve personally received those ordinances?”
