Do We Live the Law of Consecration Today?

The answer to this question must be answered by each individual separately. Many people would say that the answer to this question is 'no'. I will present here how those people are correct and how they may be incorrect.

Let me start with some of my research of the sacrament prayers. In the prayer on the bread it states that we witness that we are "willing" to do three things. Those three things are the same or very similar to the things that we commit to at baptism. The point is that it states that we are willing to do those three things. We are not witnessing that we "do" those things. However, in the prayer on the water it states that we witness that we "do" one thing, namely, always remember Christ. There is a big difference between being willing to do something and actually doing it.

In the church it is taught that "one of the covenants we make with the Lord when we receive our temple endowments is to live the law of consecration." Many people, including several who have made that covenant, think that it is a "willing" covenant not a "do" covenant. This, as well as general confusion about what the law of consecration actually is, has lead to the answer being 'no' to the original question.

So what is the confusion about the law?

"The law of consecration is a divine principle whereby men and women voluntarily dedicate their time, talents, and material wealth to the establishment and building up of God’s kingdom." This is the whole law in its entirety. The confusion comes when the Lord has tried to implement a higher law of communal equality which require the lower law of consecration to be lived. There is no requirement of communal equality for the whole law of consecration to be lived in full. The confusion has come when the higher law of communal equality is given the name of the lower law - the law of consecration. This "law of communal equality", as I have termed it, does not have a formal name in the scriptures and this adds to the confusion; then people think that it is the same thing as the law of consecration.

The most commonly known attempt to live a higher law of communal equality was the United Order. This implementation required that the law of consecration be lived by the members of the Order and that other laws be lived including the law of the gospel and the law of communal equality - allowing everyone to be “equal according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs.” Since some members of that Order chose not live the lower law of consecration they were not capable of living the higher law of communal equality. That higher law is not lived in full today. Thus the answer 'no' is true for a similar question relating to that law.

Is a formalized implementation or "order" necessary to live the whole law of consecration?

The law of consecration can stand alone and does not need to be part of a higher organized structure in order to be lived fully. It is a preparatory law for the higher law of communal equality. The law of communal equality requires that leaders in God's kingdom be organized in such a manner to request and regulate the receipt of time, talents and material wealth. The higher law does require that the lower law be lived, as is always the case. The law of consecration does lead naturally into the higher law.

If everyone who has covenanted to live the lower law did so, the higher law would be brought back out of necessity. As an example, the church has received or was prepared for a higher law which we call the Church Welfare Program. Another example is the Church Humanitarian Aid Program. Neither of these would have come about through the lower law of tithing. These are evidence that there are members living the law of consecration.


When we start seeing the covenant of the law of consecration as the "do" covenant that it is rather than the "willing" covenant that is waiting for the higher law, then we will become today the good and faithful servants described in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Today is the day to live the law of consecration. If we are only "willing" to live the law of consecration when the higher law of communal equality is presented again then we will not be ready for it and we will forfeit its blessings.