Every Word

One of the themes of Doctrine and Covenants 84 which we studied this week is the importance of the word of God. We learn in this revelation the answer to three questions: Why to study His word, when to study His word, and what to study. The Lord declared, “Verily, verily, I say unto you who now hear my words, which are my voice, blessed are ye inasmuch as you receive these things” (v60). This gives us the why of studying His word: because we hear His voice as we read His word and in so doing we will be blessed. He also told us when we should study His word: “Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life” (v85). He did not say on Sundays or one chapter a day or three times a week; rather, we are to continually treasure up His word. Of course, we cannot be physically reading the scriptures every moment of the day, but the term does suggest that they should never be far from our minds.

The Lord also taught us in a couple of passages which of His words to study. The Savior said, “And I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (v43-45). So what should we study? Every word that proceededth forth from His mouth. As Paul put it, “All scripture given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).  And yet, though all His words are indeed important and worthy of our careful study, He did emphasize later in the revelation some in particular: “You have treated lightly the things you have received—Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written” (v54-57). The church was then under condemnation because they did not properly remember the Book of Mormon. But that was not all He said, for the Lord also included “the former commandments,” referring to the revelations that Joseph had received up to that point. So, the Lord wanted them to give more heed to both the Book of Mormon and the revelations that would later become the Doctrine and Covenants. You might ask, “What about the Bible?” I don’t think the Lord was devaluing the Bible at all in this statement; rather, this was given to a people that cherished the Bible and knew it very well. Given that, my sense is that they were not under condemnation for forgetting the Bible because they already loved it deeply (not because it was not important). And those who study earnestly the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants will know that it points over and over again to the Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments. We should come to love and treasure up all the scriptures.  

When the Savior came to the Nephites, He emphasized the words of the prophets to them. At one point He read to them passages from Malachi that they didn’t have, and then Mormon recorded, “He did expound all things unto them, both great and small. And he saith: These scriptures, which ye had not with you, the Father commanded that I should give unto you…. And he did expound all things, even from the beginning until the time that he should come in his glory” (3 Nephi 26:1-3). The Savior used scriptures from multiple sources, and He expounded them together to this people. In the same way, while there is special emphasis placed on the Book of Mormon, we should strive to learn and understand and connect all scriptures, ancient and modern.