“A covenant is a binding spiritual contract, a solemn promise to God our Father that we will live and think and act in a certain way—the way of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In return, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost promise us the full splendor of eternal life.” These are the words of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. One thing that is clear from this short quote is that in LDS theology a person’s eternal life rests upon their faithfulness to keep the covenants that they make with God. If there was any doubt about this, Holland doubles down by saying;
“It is important to remember that we need to succeed—not just finish the course, but ‘finish [our] course with joy.’ For a celestial reward, it is absolutely essential that we remain faithful to the end. There is nothing in the Church that is directed toward the telestial or terrestrial kingdoms. For us it is a celestial goal every step of the way. We cannot flag or fail or halt halfway.”
This places a tremendous amount of pressure on Latter Day Saints for two main reasons. First, it’s their eternal life that’s at stake, and they are responsible for making it to the Celestial Kingdom. Second, because the standard is arbitrary. How good is good enough? How faithful is faithful enough? Can a Latter Day Saint even know that they have reached the point of “good enough” or do they have to wait until they die in order to find out? I have personally never met a Latter Day Saint who was 100% sure about their Celestial destination. It is certainly a “hope so” as opposed to a “know so.”
What if I told you that according to the Biblical gospel, our salvation isn’t based upon our covenant faithfulness to God, but rather on God’s covenant faithfulness to us. Scripture tells us that Christ has fulfilled all of the necessary conditions of the covenant of grace in order to guarantee salvation to all of those who come to Him by grace through faith. This chapter will take a 30,000 ft. view of the Old Testament covenants, as well as the book of Hebrews which describes in detail the better covenant of grace.
A Better Covenant
The book of Hebrews really drives home this idea of Christ doing a new thing. One of the main themes of Hebrews is “better things.” Within this category of better things is Christ and the better covenant. It's important to recognize that there are two kinds of covenants in the Bible; covenants of condition and covenants of promise (unconditional).
With conditional covenants, God gives instructions with the promise of blessings for obedience and punishment for disobedience. A prime example of a conditional covenant is found in the giving of the Old Testament law (Mosaic Covenant). Deuteronomy chapter 28 lays out the conditions of the Mosaic covenant. For brevity’s sake I will only list three verses in order to give the gist. “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2)... “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.” (Deuteronomy 28:15). Here we see the clear promise of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.
The problem with conditional covenants is that mankind has always failed to live up to the conditions of the covenants. In the case of the Mosaic covenant, just prior to Moses going up Mt. Sinai to retrieve the rest of the law the Bible says, “And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.” (Exodus 24:3) The Israelites promised to obey all of the words of the LORD. The problem is that by the time that Moses came down from the mountain they were dancing naked around a golden calf. Moses breaking the stone tablets was symbolic of the people breaking God’s law, as well as the conditions of the covenant.
On the other hand, covenants of promise are covenants in which God Himself unconditionally keeps all of the necessary requirements of the covenant. He shoulders all of the responsibility and makes all of the provision. This type of covenant is based on God’s promises and not our performance. The covenant of Grace is a covenant of promise based solely upon the finished work of Christ; His death on the cross and His resurrection. The point that can’t be missed here is that Christ has provided salvation to all who come to Him by grace through faith. Hebrews bears this out in detail when it says, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:16-17). Notice all of the unconditional promises that God makes concerning this covenant; “I will make the covenant with them”, “I will put my laws into their heart”, “I will write them in their minds”, “I will remember their sins and iniquities no more.”
In contrast with the Mosaic covenant, “Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” (Hebrews 8:6-7) The “fault” of the Mosaic covenant was that men and women in the weakness of their sinful flesh could never live up to the Holy standard of God. The law has never justified anyone, but only condemned.
The closing words of Hebrews again highlights this unconditional covenant of grace. “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21). Notice again these unconditional promises from God. He makes us “perfect in every good work” and “well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ.” Even the works that we do as Christians are a result of his grace working in us. In other words, Christians aren't working in order to be saved, we work because we are saved. We serve the Lord with a new heart and are motivated by love and gratitude, not by shame and condemnation.
Broken “Covenants”
There are two main ways in which the LDS church breaks away from the Biblical model of covenants. First, according to the Biblical covenants (both conditional and unconditional) it is God who always sets the conditions of the covenants, not us. In other words, we don’t make covenants with God, He makes covenants with us. The LDS church reverses this order, so that we are the ones making covenants with God. The second way that the LDS church breaks away from Biblical Christianity concerning the covenants is that in LDS theology there is no such thing as a covenant of promise, even when it comes to salvation and the covenant of grace. In LDS theology it’s our sole responsibility to shoulder all of the conditions of the covenants. Even when Latter Day Saints use promise language, they are the ultimate cause of the success of their covenants, not God. Elder Boyd K. Packer said, “Keep your covenants and you will be safe. Break them and you will not.” In other words it’s completely up to you. No pressure.
Former President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “The Holy Spirit of Promise is the Holy Ghost who places the stamp of approval upon every ordinance: baptism, confirmation, ordination, marriage. The promise is that the blessings will be received through faithfulness.” The irony in this is that the promises will only be received through our faithfulness. That’s not a promise, that’s a condition. President Smith went on to say, “If a person violates a covenant, whether it be of baptism, ordination, marriage or anything else, the Spirit withdraws the stamp of approval, and the blessings will not be received.”... “Every ordinance is sealed with a promise of a reward based upon faithfulness. The Holy Spirit withdraws the stamp of approval where covenants are broken.”
This is not a message of hope, but one of endless condemnation. It’s not about God’s faithfulness to us on behalf of Christ, but about our flawed faithfulness to Him. When I share the gospel of grace with Latter Day Saints I make it a point to ask them two questions. First, “if you died today do you know 100% for sure that you have done enough to make it to Heaven where God is?” The answer is always “no” (usually accompanied by them drooping their head). The very next question that I usually ask is, “could you ever get to a place where you could know for sure that you have done enough?” Again, a dejected “no.” I would like to ask my LDS readers, how is that good news? Contrast this with I John 5:13 which says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” You can know with 100% certainty that you have eternal life! How? Through believing on the Son of God and His finished work. Christ is the mediator of a better covenant. Jesus is enough!
More to Come.
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