On 17 September 1838, JS and wrote to church member , answering several questions he posed in a letter that is apparently not extant. Post was baptized in 1835 and was to the office of and then in 1836. After a brief stay in , Ohio, during winter 1835–1836, Post returned to his home in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, which was relatively close to church headquarters in Kirtland, likely enabling him to regularly receive news about the church via traveling elders and the church’s newspapers. In 1836–1838 he spent considerable time preaching in surrounding neighborhoods and towns. On 1 August 1838, after the vast majority of had moved to , Post wrote to JS, seemingly in preparation to move to Missouri. In his letter, Post apparently requested news about the church and clarification of some doctrines. Post’s letter likely arrived in by late August, when a doctrinal treatise he wrote—and probably enclosed in his letter to JS—was published in the Elders’ Journal. As JS explained in the reply to Post’s letter, JS was too busy to respond immediately to Post’s missive, possibly because of ongoing legal difficulties stemming from the 8 August confrontation with .

JS prepared his response to on 17 September, with acting as scribe. Although the entire letter is written in first-person singular, signed the document along with JS. The letter contains several copying errors, such as repeated and canceled words, suggesting that the version Robinson sent to Post is a copy of a draft that is no longer extant. Robinson added his name as scribe before folding and addressing the letter. The missive was not mailed until 3 October; Post presumably received it sometime in late October or early November.