Ordinance and Oath and Covenant
The church teaches that receiving the priesthood is a saving ordinance for males. Like all saving ordinances of the church, it is accompanied by the recipient making a covenant with God. In addition, the reception of the Melchizedek priesthood is said to constitute an "unspoken oath as well as covenant". A manual for LDS Church priesthood holders states that "this means that Heavenly Father gives us His oath (guarantee) that we can have the power and blessings of the priesthood if we covenant (promise) with Him to do certain things." The recipient of the Melchizedek priesthood promises by covenant that he will "magnify" his assigned calling in the priesthood. In exchange, God promises by oath and covenant that the recipients will be "sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies"; that they will become the sons of Moses and Aaron and the seed of Abraham; and that they will receive exaltation and ultimately receive all that God has.
Read more about this topic: Priesthood (LDS Church)
Famous quotes containing the words ordinance, oath and/or covenant:
“Wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”
—Book Of Common Prayer, The. Solemnization of Matrimony, “Betrothal,” (1662)
“The oath of a lover is no stronger than the word of a
tapster; they are both the confirmer of false reckonings.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Happy is the house that shelters a friend! It might well be built, like a festal bower or arch, to entertain him a single day. Happier, if he know the solemnity of that relation, and honor its law! He offers himself a candidate for that covenant comes up, like an Olympian, to the great games, where the first- born of the world are the competitors.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)