Central to the worship and devotion of Mormon Church members is the ordinance of the sacrament in which we explicitly renew the covenant implicitly made at baptism. The covenant is implicit, because we do not verbally agree to specifically stated conditions at the time of baptism. The amen that we add to the baptismal prayer should imply an understanding of what we are about to undertake, but it is not until we conscientiously add our amen to the sacrament prayers that we actually verbally agree to the covenant.
The conditions of the covenant associated with the ordinance of baptism are declared in Mosiah 18: 10. After laying out the frame of mind which qualifies a person for baptism, (vs. 8,9) Alma describes the covenant: “…that ye will serve him (The Lord) and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his spirit more abundantly upon you…” The Sacrament prayers, presented in D&C 20: 77, 79 and in Moroni 4: 3 and 5: 2, are a bit more specific, inviting us to participate in the ordinance in remembrance of Christ, as a witness that we will take upon ourselves his name and remember him. In other words, we commit to become his disciples. The next part is what this essay is about, because what is required of us to satisfy the terms of the covenant, is not specifically stated. In order to have His (Christ’s) spirit to be with us, we must “…keep his commandments which he has given…” not just keep the commandments, but keep His commandments. In order to understand what this means, I decided to read all the scriptural accounts written about the life of Jesus, in search of his commandments. The accounts of Christ’s life, which record first-person addresses from him, are the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as third Nephi 11-28. The citations I give are from Matthew since it is the most comprehensive and the other three don’t contain any significant new information. Third Nephi also contains much of the same text as Matthew with a few original additions. I didn’t include any from the D&C since they were given after the baptismal covenant was established and are mostly individual and/or situational.
In order to determine what they are and at the risk of being a bit pharisaical, I came up with some criteria for commandments in general:
- A commandment is a declarative statement; “Do this” or “You must”. I did not include if/ then or conditional invitations or general advice.
- It should apply to humanity or the church at large and not just a specific group like Apostles or church leaders.
- It should originate with Christ and not be his quoting of a previous prophet.
So here it is, a group of commandments, fairly concise. It’s not my purpose to create a list with the intent of perfect compliance with each item, but to communicate a sense of what he wants for us. I have commented occasionally for clarity, but, as with every other aspect of the Gospel, personal interpretation is up to you.
Matt. 4:17“…Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand…”
Matt 4:19 “…Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men…”
Matt 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Matt 5:34-37 “…Swear not at all; neither by heaven… Nor by the earth… neither by Jerusalem… Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, … let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay…”
I don’t think this one is necessarily about profanity, but more about how we conduct ourselves with our fellow humans; honor, integrity and all that.
Matt 5:39-42 “…I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
This one is actually culturally specific, dealing with the sorts of things that the roman soldiers were legally allowed to request, but the modern applications are obvious.
Matt 5:44 “…Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you…”
Probably the most radical doctrine he ever presented.
Matt 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”
“Perfect” is translated from the Hebrew word “Tam” or “Tamim” or Greek “Telos”, meaning complete, mature or healthy.
Matt 6:1-3 do not your alms before men, to be seen of them…when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee…when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth…”
Matt 6:6,7 “…when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret…when ye pray, use not vain repetitions…”
Matt 6:9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Matt 6:16-17 when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance…But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face…”
Verses 1- 17 are about motives for obedience and other righteous behavior.
Matt 6:19, 20 “…Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal…”
Matt 6:25, 31-33 “…Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on…take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed…for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Matt 7:1 “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
Yep.
Matt 7:6 “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine…”
Reverence and respect.
Matt 7:12 “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
Matt 7:13 “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat…”
It ain’t easy.
Matt 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
Matt 11:15 “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Matt 11:28, 29 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Matt 18:10 “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones…”
Matt 19:14 “…suffer the little children and forbid them not, to come unto me…”
Okay, that one is situational.
This next bit is a story and it is very personal (in a sort of anonymous way) but I think it illustrates a good point about commandments in general:
Matt 19:16-21 “…one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him… if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, (remember what perfect means?) go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”
Matt 20: 27 “…whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant…”
Matt 22:37-40 “…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
3Ne 12:16 “…let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
3Ne 12:20 “…come unto me and be ye saved.”
3Ne 15:9,10 “Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life. Behold, I have given unto you the commandments; therefore keep my commandments. And this is the law and the prophets, for they truly testified of me.”
3Ne 17:3 “…go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand.”
3Ne 18:6, 7 And this shall ye always observe to do, even as I have done, even as I have broken bread and blessed it and given it unto you. And this shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.
3 Ne 18:18 “…ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation.”
3 Ne18:21 “Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.”
3Ne 18:22-25 “…ye shall meet together oft; and ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you and forbid them not; But ye shall pray for them, and shall not cast them out; and if it so be that they come unto you oft ye shall pray for them unto the Father, in my name. Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up–that which ye have seen me do… ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see; even so shall ye do unto the world; and whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation.”
3 Ne 18:28-32 “And now behold, this is the commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall not suffer any one knowingly to partake of my flesh and blood unworthily, when ye shall minister it; For whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul; therefore if ye know that a man is unworthy to eat and drink of my flesh and blood ye shall forbid him. Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out from among you, but ye shall minister unto him and shall pray for him unto the Father, in my name; and if it so be that he repenteth and is baptized in my name, then shall ye receive him, and shall minister unto him of my flesh and blood. But if he repent not he shall not be numbered among my people, that he may not destroy my people, for behold I know my sheep, and they are numbered. Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.”
This one is a strange one to me. It’s clearly a direct commandment, and I can see some immediate benefits: don’t turn anyone away. But I cant break the code on the taking the sacrament unworthily clause. It doesn’t fit with my current understanding. I welcome further light and knowledge.
3 Ne 23:1 “And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.”
Isaiah was a poet and a hopeless romantic.
3 Ne 27:7 “Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake.”
3 Ne 27:20 “Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.”
I really want this one to say “…that you can come hang out with me, and laugh with me and work with me when you’re ready.”
What better words to end on?
Daniel Lewis
Daniel is a Sunday School President who enjoys punk rock and skateboarding.
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This was great, Daniel! I appreciate the effort you put in to get all this gathered in one place.
Elder Nelson recently posted (on FB) a story about him and his family fishing on a Saturday. He was so enthused with their catch that he proposed they continue early Sunday morning. His wife and daughters were taken aback by his suggestion. Elder Nelson said in his post, “Rationalization is one of the real obstacles to obedience.”
I commented on the post. “Kids are sweet, and often say what they’ve been taught. Not going fishing on a Sundays might be one way to keep the Sabbbath holy. For someone else, going fishing with your family might be the perfect thing to do together to keep the Sabbath holy. I propose that you can’t be obedient to man’s interpretation and application of a commandment of God. Since there is no commandment involving the fishing, this wasn’t an instance of being obedient or not. Other than that, I’m glad you ahd success fishing.”
When I’ve thought about it, his story was about an interpretation and application of the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy. To my mind, his words suggested that not going fishing on Sundays was a commandment. And as I proposed: You can’t be obedient to anything else than a commandment. Rules and culture you can choose to adapt and follow, but that’s not the same thing as obedience.
Any thoughts on this?
I'm not so sure that we explicitly renew the covenant of baptism by taking the sacrament. In fact, we don't explicitly renew anything by taking that sacrament. There's no explicit mention of any prior covenant or any renewal at all. Rather, we make four commitments: (1) that we eat in remembrance of the body and the blood, (2) that we are willing to take Jesus' name upon us, (3) that we always remember Jesus, and (4) that we are willing to keep his commandments.
The fact that these things are similar to the way we understand baptism as a sign of a covenant with God, the way we take his name upon us, leads us to understand the sacrament as a renewal of that covenant. But in the case of someone who has not yet been baptized, obviously they are not renewing anything. Some people say that therefore they don't take part in the covenant of the sacrament. I disagree. For those that have no yet been baptized, they can witness that they are willing to take Jesus' name upon him, willing to keep his commandments, and always remember him, as a sign of their willingness to enter the covenant of baptism in the future.
The scrament of the Lord's supper operates as a renewal of baptismal covenants, but it is so much more than that.
Great thoughts Jared. It’s interesting to me that this particular aspect of the gospel is so unclear. I think your interpretation is valid, and maybe that is the point. The lack of clarity invites further exploration. We’ve each got to come up with our own interpretations.
Christian, obedience is valuable only when it produces a promised blessing, (consequence) or teaches a principle. Arbitrary performance of checklist items is superstitious at best. Picking a single commandment to focus on (or harp on) is a very myopic and limiting way to view the gospel. Looking at commandments in groups, gives a much broader understanding of God’s purposes for us. I think Elder Nelsons story is very similar to the story of the young man that I shared. They both clarify the concept of commandment as requirement.
This
Jared Cook,
Here is a response to the same question printed in the March 1995 Ensign. This one was given by a Gospel Doctrine teacher, which may or may not impress, put he did bring together a number of relevant statements. It may depend on how far you want to push the meaning of “renew”, how much of a theological issue using this word is or should be. As members of the Church, we agree to live a certain kind of life. The Sacrament reminds us why we agreed to live that kind of life. Covenants are a part of the life we have chosen. We acknowledge that we have made any number of covenants, are glad that we made them, want to follow through on them, and are willing for it to be known that we want to follow through on them. So, from the Ensign:
What covenants do we renew when we partake of the sacrament?
Response by John E. MacKay, Gospel Doctrine teacher in the Holladay Fourteenth Ward, Salt Lake Holladay South Stake.
According to our latter-day prophets and leaders, when you partake of the sacrament you renew whatever covenants you have made with the Lord. For example, if you have been baptized only, that is the covenant you renew. If you have received the Melchizedek Priesthood, you also renew that part of the oath and covenant related to your having received that priesthood. If you have received your endowment, you also renew the covenants associated with it. Further, if you have been sealed, you also renew that covenant. In other words, when you partake of the sacrament, you renew all the covenants you have made with the Lord.
President Joseph Fielding Smith taught that the primary reason for attending sacrament meeting is to “renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament.” Further, he taught that “each ordinance and requirement given to man for the purpose of bringing to pass his salvation and exaltation is a covenant.”
President Spencer W. Kimball elaborated on this theme: “Remembering covenants prevents apostasy. That is the real purpose of the sacrament, to keep us from forgetting, to help us to remember … [that which we have] covenanted at the water’s edge or at the sacrament table and in the temple.” President Kimball further said: “The Savior emphasized that the tangible bread and water of the Sacrament were to remind us continually of the sacrifice he made for us and for renewal of our covenants of righteousness. … If a person, not a member of the Church, is in the congregation, we do not forbid him partaking of [the sacrament], but would properly advise that the sacrament is for the renewing of covenants. And, since he has not made the true covenant of baptism or temple covenant, he is exempt.”
President Brigham Young wrote in 1857 about the sacrament and the members of the Church, “The bread and cup [are for] a renewal of their covenants.”
Elder James E. Talmage of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote, “Partaking of the sacrament worthily may be regarded … as a means of renewing our avowals before the Lord.”
Elder Delbert L. Stapley of the Quorum of the Twelve said, “Another important purpose of the sacrament is to renew and keep in force the covenants and obligations which we have entered into with our God.”
President Ezra Taft Benson’s teachings summarize this entire understanding: “We go to our chapels each week to worship the Lord and renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament. … Our agreement to keep all the commandments is our covenant with God.”
[There follows a line by line summary of the Sacrament prayer, and then this:]
The last part of the prayer points to still another blessing that can come to us as a result of partaking worthily of the sacrament: that we may “always have his Spirit to be with” us. Elder James E. Talmage of the Quorum of the Twelve wrote, “The sacrament has not been established as a specific means of securing remission of sins; nor for any other special blessing aside from that of a continuing endowment of the Holy Spirit, which, however, comprises all needful blessings.”
Receipt of the Spirit and “all needful blessings” surely will be the case if we apply in our lives the intent and broad meaning of the very succinct and beautiful sacrament prayers.
In summary: The prophets have clearly taught that when we partake of the sacrament worthily, we are doing a number of things, one of which is renewing afresh all of the covenants we have made with the Lord.
Daniel Lewis,
I think that’s true. I would also suggest that the key point of the sacrament is not actual obedience, but remembrance and willingness–willingness to obey and willingness to take his name upon us. Obviously, we are not going to keep all the commandments all the time, because we are human. If that were what is required, there would be no room for grace. Instead, for our willingness to obey, we are blessed with the presence of Jesus’ spirit. I would suggest that that presence makes us able to keep the commandments beyond our natural ability. Obedience is important, and something we should all strive for, but as a matter of what the sacrament actually requires of us, it is not obedience, but willingness to obey–along with willingness to take his name upon us–that is required.
Tim Bone,
Right. Like I said, the sacrament of the Lord’s supper operates as a renewal of covenants. We don’t do it explicitly, but that doesn’t mean we don’t do it. We do at least implicitly, because the things that we explicitly commit to do are basically the same things we commit to at baptism.
And besides that, I would argue that whenever we make covenants with Jesus through any ordinance of the gospel (which are ordinances that he has given us), the commitments associated with that ordinance become, in effect, his commandments which he gives us. So I would suggest that when we commit to “keep his commandments,” we are recommitting to keeping the obligations associated with any covenant we have made with him through the ordinances of the priesthood, including baptism and temple vows.
I don’t quarrel with the standard teaching that the sacrament renews covenants. But I think we sometimes repeat that standard line without much thought as to how it does so. We ought to focus on the things we explicitly commit to: remembrance of the body and the blood of Jesus, willingness to take his name upon us, and willingness to keep his commandments. These things do renew our covenants, but they do more than that. And if we treat them as just a re-do of baptism, we miss out and we get silly things like people saying that unbaptized people can’t or shouldn’t take the sacrament, or the weaker version, which is that unbaptized people can take it, but it just doesn’t mean anything.
Jared Cook,
I love that, Jared! it corresponds quite nicely with the story of the young man. He approached Jesus, having kept the commandments, which is why he is there. Jesus offers him a higher law. Not that keeping the commandments is no longer necessary, but less relevant in the face of this new opportunity. we face the same crossroads each week, especially as we make new covenants and recommit to those we have already made.