God’s ability to reveal his commandments to you depends on how much like him you have become
God’s character does not change, but our perception of it absolutely will as we draw nearer to him.1 The commandments you presently know are not an end, but a gateway to greater understanding and assimilation of God’s character. Commandments are not issued as final truths that fully and accurately describe the depth and breadth of God’s character. Instead, they are progressive instructions that give us increasingly more accurate estimations of his character. They do not reveal all there is to know, but merely the very next increment of understanding. They are given as stepping stones toward the fullness of how he is. The purpose of stepping stones is not to yield the end, but to make it easier to take the next step toward the end. Those who reject the next provided stepping stone fail to reach the intended end.2
Different people have different commandments. Commandments are instructions that delineate the next step from wherever a person is to the next increment of God they are capable of perceiving, receiving, and valuing. As such, while God does not change, his commandments will vary between and among individuals due to limits in and changes to their capacity or situation. As you walk in the way of life, you should expect God to continue to bless you with new, greater, and updated commandments.3
The more like God you become, the more extensively God can show you more about himself, leading to better outcomes for you and those who know you here and hereafter. The ability of any person to perceive, receive, value, and live God’s commandments is limited by the differences between their character and God’s. Their intelligence, diligence, courage, strength, and direction of desire, and a host of other character qualities will all facilitate God’s ability to teach them to the degree they are similar to his, and impede his ability to teach them to the degree they are dissimilar to his.
Commandments are a means of drawing nearer to Christ by learning more about what he is like and living what we learn.4 The purpose of any commandment is to instruct you in the very next step from where you are towards how God is. God reveals new or expanded commandments at every stage of similarity to himself.5 The relationship between commandments and similitude to God is like the foundation to the height of the building. A foundationless building is very limited in height. The stronger the foundation, the higher you can build the building. Whenever anyone attains a greater level of similitude to God, he gives them new or expanded commandments.
Keeping God’s commandments as you presently understand them causes God to give you new and better commandments
Commandments come in incrementally more robust, informative, and effective instructions toward a fuller and more accurate understanding of God’s character. As you keep God’s commandments, you will learn more about his character and become more like him.6
God’s commandments are incremental, revealing more and more about him in greater breadth, depth, and accuracy as the recipient advances.7 Yielding to incremental commandments will open your access to the continuous supply of new information about God’s character.8 Your obedience to the incremental commandments that you have received from God so far will enable you to see more of his character than you could see previously.9
If you are progressing with God, you will receive commandments that expand or replace your previous understanding of his will in your life.10 You should expect God’s commandments to you to change with every step you take closer to him.11
The pattern and purpose of God giving new or expanded commandments is found throughout the scriptures and in the lives of every person who seeks God. Like scriptural personalities, every time you live up to how you presently understand God to be, he will teach you more about himself and you will find yourself with new or expanded commandments.
A lack of new commandments indicates that you still haven’t obeyed what he has already taught you. We must remain obedient to God as he increases the breadth, depth, and accuracy of our understanding of how he is,12 always possessing a willingness to change in our understanding of what is best.
God can and does command people to do what they formerly believed to be sinful. For example, the man Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda was commanded to take up his bed and walk,13 which he believed to be a violation of the Sabbath law. As another example, God commanded Ezekiel to bake bread on human dung, which he believed was a violation of the law of Moses.14 It is more important to listen to what God is telling you now than it is to cling to what you think he told you to do before.15
God’s new commandments can contradict God’s former commandments
When God shows you something of himself, it is immensely foolish to judge the goodness of what he shows based only on your present understanding of how he is. This kind of thinking has led to the persecution of countless servants of God, whose greater similarity to God was judged as wickedness by people less righteous than they, and even resulted in the murder of Jesus Christ himself. Imagine judging the Lord as immoral based on an incorrect understanding of the commandments he himself gave!16 We should formulate and reformulate our understanding of him (and his rules) based on what he tells us about himself, not on what we already believe.
The scriptures encourage us to seek and do good,17 but also indicate that the evaluation of good and evil cannot be reduced to a comparison to a set of rules.18 Commandments are tools to help us learn to discern good and evil, not a replacement for that discernment.19 New commandments reveal the good in things not previously thought of as good, and reveal the evil in things not previously thought of as evil. If you already shared God’s discernment of good and evil, desire for good, and hatred of evil, there would be no need for commandments, as you would live as God would in your place. As long as you remain different from God in any way, you should expect that there are aspects of your understanding of good and evil that differ from God’s.
God can and does issue personal and general commandments that contradict his former commandments. On multiple occasions, he commanded men who lived the law of Moses to kill others—something expressly forbidden by the law of Moses. The Lord commanded people to eat his flesh and drink his blood,20 when the law of Moses forbad eating man’s flesh or drinking the blood of any creature.21 Jesus also taught that nothing a man consumes can defile him,22 when the law provided a lengthy list of things that defiled a man to eat (see Leviticus 11).
As God provides justification for his commandments, do not make the mistake of presuming the benefit from the former commandment precludes greater blessing for the newer commandment. God routinely asks us to trade something good for something better. In doing so, he frequently leans on our understanding of his goodness to justify what we cannot presently see as better than what he asks us to sacrifice.
God’s commandments are potentially different for every person
Your understanding of what Jesus would think, feel, or do in your place is the set of God’s commandments to you. Your idea of how Jesus would live in your place will differ from that of others in significant ways. Yours is the task of finding out what others believe about the Lord, why they believe it, and whether their beliefs are more supported than yours.
Every person’s understanding of God’s commandments will differ as much as their understanding and emulation of how God is. Those who invest more heed and diligence in learning more about and living like Jesus will be more like him and know more about him than those who invest less. Those who live as they sincerely believe Jesus would in their place will receive a greater understanding of his life through additional personal revelation.
With every commandment, God provides sufficient reasons for the recipient to believe that his contrary instructions are for a greater purpose than the original commandment.23 The improvement that comes from God’s commandments should be so obvious and dramatic that it becomes difficult to doubt where they came from.24 You should be learning, changing, and growing. You should find yourself with greater trust in God. You should find your character is more like his, and less like yours used to be.25 You should find yourself able to conquer things that previously challenged you26 and understand things that previously perplexed you.
As you follow God’s commandments to you, your understanding of how he is will merge to more closely resemble that of those who know him better than you.
God’s commandments illuminate the path to happiness
Conformance to God’s instructions seems like a restriction to many because few understand that they are for their benefit, not God’s. The commandments are not a gift to God, but a gift from God. God’s desire is for you to obtain all the joy you are willing to receive. Lasting happiness is a question of how similar to God you’ve become.27 God’s commandments are provided to orient us toward greater joy by leading us to better understand how he would think, feel, and act in our place and providing us with sufficient reasons to follow his example.
God’s blessings flow through obedience to his commandments.28 The blessings that flow from keeping God’s commandments aren’t limited to the external outcomes that they bring,29 but the internal benefits of greater peace, meaning, intelligence, and joy.
God’s commandments demonstrate the path to the greatest possible happiness.30 If you desire greater joy, learn all you can about how Jesus would live in your place. Live as you sincerely believe Jesus would in all things, at all times, and in all situations. Do not yield to any ideas or actions that divert you in any way from this path. Following your model will lead to greater and longer-lasting joy than anything else. Nothing will yield a more direct path to greater happiness than God’s commandments.31
Footnotes
- 1. John wrote: “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.” (1 John 2:7) John gives no new commandment because the vehicle of instruction —the “word”—has not changed, even if the particular contents of that vehicle change according to the individual’s understanding of how God is. ↩
- 2. And to you he will be a sanctuary, but to the two houses of Israel a stumbling block or obstructing rock,and a snare, catching unawares the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many will stumble into them, and when they fall shall be broken, and when they become ensnared shall be taken captive. (Isaiah 8:14-15, Gileadi Translation) Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. (Ezekiel 3:20) ↩
- 3. And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time—they that are faithful and diligent before me. (D&C 59:4) ↩
- 4. He that keepeth the law of the Lord getteth the understanding thereof: and the perfection of the fear of the Lord is wisdom. (Sirach 21:11) ↩
- 5. ...feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do....the Holy Ghost...will show unto you all things what ye should do....Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ... (2 Nephi 32:3,4,6) ↩
- 6. He that keepeth the law of the Lord getteth the understanding thereof: and the perfection of the fear of the Lord is wisdom. (Sirach 21:11) ↩
- 7. Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved. (Alma 41:8) This is eternal lives—to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law. (D&C 132:24) ↩
- 8. But unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life. (D&C 63:23) ↩
- 9. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12) ↩
- 10. That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day. (D&C 50:24) ↩
- 11. Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:13-14) ↩
- 12. And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved. (2 Nephi 31:16) ↩
- 13. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. (John 5:8-11) ↩
- 14. And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight....Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.(Ezekiel 4:12, 14) ↩
- 15. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. (Ecclesiastes 5:1) ↩
- 16. Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end. Behold, I do not destroy the prophets, for as many as have not been fulfilled in me, verily I say unto you, shall all be fulfilled. And because I said unto you that old things have passed away, I do not destroy that which hath been spoken concerning things which are to come. For behold, the covenant which I have made with my people is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me. 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. (3 Nephi 15:59) ↩
- 17. For example: “But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night. For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil....” (Moroni 7:13,15-17) ↩
- 18. And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them. (Mosiah 4:29) ↩
- 19. Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ. (Moroni 7:19) ↩
- 20. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (John 6:51-56) ↩
- 21. And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. (Leviticus 17:10-14) ↩
- 22. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. (Matthew 15:11) ↩
- 23. Often, the explanation comes in the form of revealing a principle in place of a rule. For example, when the Lord commanded Nephi to kill Laban, the Spirit said: “Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief. “(1 Nephi 4:13) ↩
- 24. For I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God.... (Alma 5:40) ↩
- 25. For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father. And the whole world lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin. And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me. For whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin. And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me. (D&C 84:44-52) ↩
- 26. And again, verily I say unto you, and I say it that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you. (D&C 50:25) And by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it forever and ever. But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them. (D&C 103:7-8) ↩
- 27. ...the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness.... (Alma 44:5) ↩
- 28. And he hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence. (2 Nephi 1:20) ↩
- 29. Moreover I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments, as at this day. (1 Chronicles 28:7) ↩
- 30. And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it. (Mosiah 2:41) ↩
- 31. ...the word of Christ...will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss.... (Alma 37:44) ↩