This revelation states that the condemnation can be removed by
repenting and remembering “the new covenant.” What is this “new covenant, even
the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them” (D&C
84:57)? It is obviously inseparable from the Book of Mormon, as has frequently
been said, but it also includes “the former commandments” that the Lord had
given his people.
I believe this “new covenant” mentioned in verse 57 is the
same as “the covenant” described in verse 48, which the Father teaches and
“has renewed and confirmed upon” those who come unto him, all “for the sake of
the whole world.” Under this interpretation, the “new covenant,” whose neglect
the Lord condemned, was the covenant contained in the Book of
Mormon and in the “former commandments” the Lord had now renewed and confirmed
upon the early Saints. These former commandments must have been the Lord’s
prior revelations, as contained in the Bible (the Old and New Testaments) and
in those modern revelations already given to the Saints (see HC 1:318,
320).
The fundamental doctrinal nature of this new covenant the Saints had
“treated lightly” is suggested by the two other revelations that mention the
new covenant. Both of these refer to Jesus Christ as “the mediator of the new
covenant” (D&C 76:69; 107:19; also see Hebrews 12:24).
This new covenant is frequently mentioned in the scriptures, ancient
and modern. Jeremiah prophesied a “new covenant with the house of Israel”
(Jeremiah 31:31; also see Hebrews 8:8). The New Testament teaches that
Christ was “the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon
better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). The Prophet Joseph Smith declared that this
covenant was not put in force at the time of Christ’s mortal ministry because
Israel rejected him (Teachings, pp. 14–15). In a revelation given
the same month the restored Church was organized, the Lord declared, “I say
unto you that all old covenants have I caused to be done away in this thing;
and this is a new and an everlasting covenant, even that which was from the
beginning” (D&C 22:1).
The covenant described in these scriptures, made new by its renewal
and confirmation in these latter-days, is our covenant relationship with Jesus
Christ. It incorporates the fullness of the gospel (see D&C 66:2, 132:6),
which President Joseph Fielding Smith described as “the sum total of all gospel
covenants and obligations” (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R.
McConkie [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954], 1:156).
From the foregoing it is evident that the “new covenant” contained in
the Book of Mormon and the former commandments is that central promise of the
gospel, rooted in the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which gives
us the assurance of immortality and the opportunity for eternal life if we will
repent of our sins and make and keep the gospel covenant with our Savior. By
this means, and through his grace, we can realize the fulfillment of the great
promise “that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by
obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel” (Articles of Faith 1:3).
Thus, the new covenant, the “new and everlasting covenant” the early
Saints had received and treated lightly by the time the quoted revelation was
given, included all of the commandments and ordinances of the gospel, which are
explained most clearly (but not exclusively) in the Book of Mormon. As
President Benson has said, “when used together, the Bible and the Book of
Mormon confound false doctrines” (Ensign, November 1984, p.
8). The Book of Mormon is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” Its title page
identifies its purpose, to explain “the covenants of the Lord” and to convince
Jew and Gentile “that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD.”
In declaring how the Saints could be relieved of condemnation for
unbelief and for treating this new covenant lightly, the Lord emphasized that
the new covenant requires positive action, not just passive commitment. In an
inspired statement about temple covenants, Elder John A. Widtsoe explained that
a covenant
is merely a promise to give life to knowledge by making knowledge
useful and helpful in man’s daily progress. . . . The covenant gives
life to truth and makes possible the blessings that reward all those who use
knowledge properly. [Assembly
Hall Lecture, 1920, quoted in “Temple Worship,” CES Temple Media Kit
(Corporation of the President, 1986), p. 6]
This explains why the revelation requires us to “repent and remember
the new covenant, . . . not only to say, but to do according to that
which I have written” (D&C 84:57). In short, in order to escape
condemnation, we must come unto Christ and enter into the gospel covenant, not
only “to say” but also “to do according to that which [the Lord has] written.”
We must “give diligent heed to the words of eternal life” and “live by every
word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God” (D&C 84:43–44). (Dallin
H. Oaks, “Another
Testament of Jesus Christ,” Brigham Young University, June 6, 1993)
