The Relationship Between Ordinances and Covenants

When I was in the interfaith dialogue club at BYU and talked with people of other Christian Churches (many of whom were studying to be preachers), one of the questions I got most often was why the Mormons put so much emphasis on covenants. "If you believe we are saved by grace, then why do you teach that you have to go to the temple in order to be ‘worthy’ of heaven?"

Since that time I have really strived to understand the importance of covenants in the church, especially temple covenants. The Church handbook and our Church leaders really have stressed the importance of covenants. Here are a couple quotes:

• D&C 84:20-22 – Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.
• Handbook II, Covenants (2.1.2) – “Some ordinances are required for exaltation in the celestial kingdom for all accountable persons. These ordinances include baptism, confirmation, Melchizedek Priesthood ordination (for men), the temple endowment, and temple sealing.”
• Elder Oaks, April 2001 Conference - "The ultimate Latter-day Saint priorities are twofold: First, we seek to understand our relationship to God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and to secure that relationship by obtaining their saving ordinances and by keeping our personal covenants. Second, we seek to understand our relationship to our family members and to secure those relationship by the ordinances . . . and by keeping the covenants we make. . . . These relationships, secured in the way I have explained, provide eternal blessings available in no other way. No combination of science, success, property, pride, prominence, or power can provide these eternal blessings!"
• President Packer, April 1987 Conference - "Ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into His presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime; to keep them thereafter is the challenge of mortality."

One way to explain the importance of covenants to an evangelical is by comparing covenants to an electrical outlet: If the saving grace of Jesus is like electricity that makes all appliances run, then covenants are like outlets that give us access to that grace. The more we make and keep covenants, the more access we have to that electricity.

However, in my quest to understand covenants, especially those we make in the temple, I have found that there isn’t much published. Interesting that the things ‘required’ for exaltation are the very things we can’t learn more about from church resources.

One thing that has really helped me learn about the covenants I have made is to understand their relationship with ordinances.

Here are the definitions from True to the Faith:

·        Covenant – “A sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey those conditions.”

·        Ordinance – “A sacred, formal act performed by the authority of the priesthood. Some ordinances are essential to our exaltation. These are called saving ordinances. With each of these [saving] ordinances, we enter into solemn covenants with the Lord.”

A few truths and conclusions I have come to are these: (A) Covenants are the things that give us access to grace, give us admission into God’s presence, and that eventually allow grace and the priesthood to exalt us. (B) We make those covenants during saving ordinances, which are sacred, symbolic rituals. (C) It is not just merely receiving an ordinance that gives us access to the power of God, but keeping our covenants. And (D) Even though we can’t read a lot about the saving ordinances of the temple, or even talk about them often, the ordinances teach us about the covenants. The More we learn about the symbols in the ordinances the more we can learn about the covenants, and how to keep them.

I made this chart years ago and have filled it in over the years of studying the scriptures and attending the temple and baptisms. It really has helped me understand Christ and the power behind Covenants and Ordinances. The power of Godliness truly is manifested in the ordinances! (D&C 84:20).

(p.s. The thing that has helped me understand the covenants of the Old Testament is to understand the symbols of the ordinance – especially animal sacrifice, the tabernacle, and circumcision)

If you want to chat sometime about symbols and covenants I’m game!