While we are wrong to assume it is not possible to obey all of God’s commandments, we are right to recognize that Jesus was greater than any man who has lived or will live on this earth. We ought not compare ourselves to Jesus in the sense of his knowledge or power. However, we can—and are commanded to—duplicate his desire for good and perfect obedience to God.
We can be perfect as Jesus is perfect without being equal to him. This seemingly paradoxical position makes sense when one realizes that God gives different commandments to different people at different times according to their capacity. To be perfect in Christ, one must simply obey every commandment they have received from God. This is not the same as obeying all the commandments given to others. For example, the commandment you receive from God will differ from those that the Lord received from his Father. Because he was further advanced than any other mortal, he was given commandments harder to obey than any other mortal.
God has promised that we will never be commanded beyond our capacity to obey.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. (1 Nephi 3:7)
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
We can be confident that any commandment of which we are aware is within our capacity to obey. That is a profound truth that ought to lead to significant change in your life. You can move forward with the confidence that any trial you face has been given to you by a loving God with full confidence of your capacity to obey.
As you grow in ability, God will reveal more and different commandments to you. To be perfect in Christ is to maintain obedience to all commandments that you know. It is to be reconciled to the portion of God’s word of which you are aware.
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot. (Moroni 10)
The path to salvation, then, is to first repent, and then to keep God’s commandments with perfect obedience as they are revealed to you.
3 And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.
4 And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other—
5 The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.
6 And so it is on the other hand. _If he hath repented of his sins,_ and _desired righteousness until the end of his days_, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness. (Alma 41)
The standard commandments found in the scriptures provide a starting point. If you want to draw closer to God, read the scriptures prayerfully and identify each commandment you are currently disobeying. Repent and fulfill the commandments. God will also give you individual commandments. These can resemble scriptural commandments in scope and form, or could be one-time instructions. Custom commandments can range from mundane to deeply profound. No matter how arbitrary it may seem, it is of utmost importance to keep any commandment God gives you or has given you, including what is contained in the scriptures.
As you obey what God has revealed, he will reveal more to you, which you are likewise obligated to obey. If you continue faithful, he will reveal more to you. God will increase the difficulty of each commandment to correspond with your increasing spiritual strength. Eventually, he will reveal to you all the laws that you need to live to be comfortable in his presence.
If we keep God’s commandments without fail, we will be able to bear his presence.
Dear friends, if we feel at ease in the presence of God, we will have the courage to come near him. He will give us whatever we ask, because we obey him and do what pleases him. (1 John 3:19-22, CEV)
There is no other way.