All of God’s power and authority comes from similitude to him. Wherever there is a difference in similarity, there must be a difference in power and authority. Servants, friends, and sons of God all possess power and authority from God to the extent that they know and are like him.
The power and authority of a servant comes from the commands of God. They are on the errand of the Lord, having been told what to say3 and what to do.4 The Lord’s command is the Lord’s authority, and the Lord’s command is the authority of his servants. The presence of the power of God demonstrates the presence of his authority.5 Without demonstration of the Lord’s power, presumed servants prove to have no authority, and are mistaken or lying about having received his commands.6
The work of God’s servants is to help others become more like God. They do not tell people what they want to hear.7 What they have to say shows people their hidden sin—flaws they ignore, flaws they minimize, and flaws they don’t yet know about. They warn people of the consequences of their present actions1238 and point out to them a better way.1239
We are commanded to do many good things of our own volition, and you can only do this to the extent you know and live the character of God.1240 The power and authority of those who only possess stated instructions is limited to the fulfillment of those instructions. To the extent that you correctly understand the purpose of God, your power and authority expands to meet its accomplishment.1241
Friends of God know him better than his servants, and therefore possess greater power and authority. Sons know God better than his friends, and therefore possess greater power and authority.
Footnotes
- 1. I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness. For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace. And now, verily I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn; And all those who are begotten through me are partakers of the glory of the same, and are the church of the Firstborn. (D&C 93:19-22) ↩
- 2. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. (Ephesians 5:1-2) Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; (Ephesians 5:1, AMP) ↩
- 3. Jesus commanded the Nephite twelve to “declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth.” (3 Nephi 11:41) He told Abraham, “I show these things unto thee before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words.” (Abraham 3:15) Enoch saw a vision where “the Lord spake with me, and gave me commandment” to speak specific words to specific people. (Moses 6:42) Nephi son of Helaman “declare[d] unto them the word of the Lord which had been spoken unto him.” (Helaman 10:12) King Benjamin’s famous speech was an exposition of “the words which had been delivered unto him by the angel of the Lord” the night before. (Mosiah 4:1) ↩
- 4. ...as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence (John 14:31) ↩
- 5. That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers.... (Isaiah 44:26) ↩
- 6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:16) ↩
- 7. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah....from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. (Jeremiah 23:14-15) ↩