The Sacrament Renews All Covenants?

[HappyJackWagon]

I've it taught many times that when we partake of the sacrament we are not only renewing our baptismal covenants but also our temple covenants. The sacrament prayers seem to specifically put us into covenant to renew baptismal promises, not temple covenants.

 

Does anyone know where this teaching originated?

[Mike1991]

I've it taught many times that when we partake of the sacrament we are not only renewing our baptismal covenants but also our temple covenants. The sacrament prayers seem to specifically put us into covenant to renew baptismal promises, not temple covenants.

 

Does anyone know where this teaching originated?

 

I guess it comes from the part of the prayer that says "always remember him". Part of that remembering prompts us to remember all of the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father, both in and out of the temple.

[HappyJackWagon]

I guess it comes from the part of the prayer that says "always remember him". Part of that remembering prompts us to remember all of the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father, both in and out of the temple.

Along with "keep his commandments" that's also the only thing I can think of. But it seems like a stretch to say we are engaging in a renewal of a specific temple covenant when we partake of the sacrament.

[ksfisher]

I've it taught many times that when we partake of the sacrament we are not only renewing our baptismal covenants but also our temple covenants. The sacrament prayers seem to specifically put us into covenant to renew baptismal promises, not temple covenants.

 

Does anyone know where this teaching originated?

 

Look at it from the other way.  Where does it say that the sacrament renews baptismal covenants?

[JAHS]

I was only taught that it was a renewal of baptismal covenants and that in fact it is like you are being baptised over again each Sunday.

This would be the case for nonendowed people at least. The sacrament prayer does tell us to keep the commandments given to us, so I guess that could include the commandments we agree to follow in the temple ordinances.

Other than that I would say it's better to go to the temple to renew those covenants.

Edited October 26, 2015 by JAHS

[ksfisher]

Other than that I would say it's better to go to the temple to renew those covenants.

 

When we are at the temple we are acting as proxy for another individual, not ourselves.  The sacrament is the only ordinance that we repeat on our own behalf, hence the only ordinance where temple covenants could be renewed.

[JAHS]

When we are at the temple we are acting as proxy for another individual, not ourselves.  The sacrament is the only ordinance that we repeat on our own behalf, hence the only ordinance where temple covenants could be renewed.

Technically you are right. But renewing those covenants in my mind and soul is part of the reason I go to the temple.

[JLHPROF]

Interesting question. Look at the 5 main temple covenants as see which ones can be encompassed when we say amen (agree) to the sacramental prayers.

[DJBrown]

I've it taught many times that when we partake of the sacrament we are not only renewing our baptismal covenants but also our temple covenants. The sacrament prayers seem to specifically put us into covenant to renew baptismal promises, not temple covenants.

 

Does anyone know where this teaching originated?

 

What do the bread and water represent?  Christ's body and blood that were offered for us, of course.  

 

What is a saving ordinance?  According to Elder Oaks (several years ago), the saving ordinances are the means of distributing the blessings of the atonement to the children of God.  With that in mind, I think it makes a lot of sense that partaking of emblems of Christ's body and blood are associated with all the saving ordinances and associated covenants instead of just baptism and its covenant.

 

Every saving ordinances is directly connected to the atonement.  And it is the atonement and all the associated blessings that is remembered in the sacrament.

[Tsuzuki]

I know that whenever I partake of the sacrament, internally, I'm renewing my covenants as a Master Mahan.

[VideoGameJunkie]

I'd like to think we also renew temple covenants since when we go through the temple we go through for proxy, and it takes more effort to get to the temple and through a session than to take the sacrament weekly. Unless that increases temple attendance.

[VideoGameJunkie]

What covenants do we renew when we partake of the sacrament?

Response by John E. MacKay, Gospel Doctrine teacher in the Holladay Fourteenth Ward, Salt Lake Holladay South Stake. According to our latter-day prophets and leaders, when you partake of the sacrament you renew whatever covenants you have made with the Lord. For example, if you have been baptized only, that is the covenant you renew. If you have received the Melchizedek Priesthood, you also renew that part of the oath and covenant related to your having received that priesthood. If you have received your endowment, you also renew the covenants associated with it. Further, if you have been sealed, you also renew that covenant. In other words, when you partake of the sacrament, you renew all the covenants you have made with the Lord.

President Joseph Fielding Smith taught that the primary reason for attending sacrament meeting is to “renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament.” 1 Further, he taught that “each ordinance and requirement given to man for the purpose of bringing to pass his salvation and exaltation is a covenant.” 2

President Spencer W. Kimball elaborated on this theme: “Remembering covenants prevents apostasy. That is the real purpose of the sacrament, to keep us from forgetting, to help us to remember … [that which we have] covenanted at the water’s edge or at the sacrament table and in the temple.” 3 President Kimball further said: “The Savior emphasized that the tangible bread and water of the Sacrament were to remind us continually of the sacrifice he made for us and for renewal of our covenants of righteousness. … If a person, not a member of the Church, is in the congregation, we do not forbid him partaking of [the sacrament], but would properly advise that the sacrament is for the renewing of covenants. And, since he has not made the true covenant of baptism or temple covenant, he is exempt.” 4

President Brigham Young wrote in 1857 about the sacrament and the members of the Church, “The bread and cup [are for] a renewal of their covenants.” 5

Elder James E. Talmage of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote, “Partaking of the sacrament worthily may be regarded … as a means of renewing our avowals before the Lord.” 6

Elder Delbert L. Stapley of the Quorum of the Twelve said, “Another important purpose of the sacrament is to renew and keep in force the covenants and obligations which we have entered into with our God.” 7

President Ezra Taft Benson’s teachings summarize this entire understanding: “We go to our chapels each week to worship the Lord and renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament. … Our agreement to keep all the commandments is our covenant with God.” 8

These are some of the teachings of the General Authorities on the great ordinance of the sacrament. With this as background, it may be helpful to remind ourselves of some aspects of the sacrament prayer, using the prayer on the bread as a basis for review:

•

The priesthood holder offering the prayer asks the Father “to bless and sanctify” the bread to “the souls of all those who partake of it”—or to make it a holy experience for us (the word sanctify means to make holy), which can be the case if our attitudes and lives are worthy. All that follows in the prayer is connected to this idea.

•

The prayer then says that we “eat [this bread] in remembrance of the body of thy Son.” We are thus asked to remember first the great sacrifice of the Lord and the blessings that are available because of the Lord’s atonement in our behalf.

•

Following this, the individual repeating the prayer says that we “witness” unto the Father that we are “willing to take upon” us “the name of thy Son”—or that we are willing to be known as individuals who by our lives stand for the Lord, for his work, and for his gospel.

•

Subsequent to this, the priesthood holder offering the prayer asks that we will “always remember him.” Part of this remembering, of course, is reviewing in our minds the ordinances we have received and the covenants we have made with the Lord.

•

This portion of our remembering is then linked with the words “and keep his commandments which he has given them,” which broadly encompasses all of the commandments and instructions the Lord gives us. The prayer is expressing the same concept as that which the Lord has said elsewhere: “For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God” (D&C 84:44).

•

The last part of the prayer points to still another blessing that can come to us as a result of partaking worthily of the sacrament: that we may “always have his Spirit to be with” us. Elder James E. Talmage of the Quorum of the Twelve wrote, “The sacrament has not been established as a specific means of securing remission of sins; nor for any other special blessing aside from that of a continuing endowment of the Holy Spirit, which, however, comprises all needful blessings.” 9 Receipt of the Spirit and “all needful blessings” surely will be the case if we apply in our lives the intent and broad meaning of the very succinct and beautiful sacrament prayers.

In summary: The prophets have clearly taught that when we partake of the sacrament worthily, we are doing a number of things, one of which is renewing afresh all of the covenants we have made with the Lord.

[Robert F. Smith]

As in Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Anglicanism, the LDS Church has a number of sacraments, the most important of which is the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper -- which Mormons call simply "the Sacrament," since it is the Sacrament par excellence.

 

As pointed out by Elder Jeff Holland  in his October 1995 General Conference address, “This Do in Remembrance of Me,” online at http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1995/10/this-do-in-remembrance-of-me?lang=eng&query=passover , the Sacrament was instituted by Jesus himself on Passover eve, during the usual Jewish ritual Passover meal (seder).  The usual Passover unleavened bread and wine, which Jesus blessed and passed to each of his apostles, he compared as emblems of his body and life's blood -- which were to be sacrificed as the Passover Lamb usually was in remembrance of the blood of the lambs which were slain by Israelites in Egypt, and whose blood was placed on each door of Israelite homes, so that the destroying angel would pass them by in the final blow of the The Ten Plagues.  Jesus, as the Lamb of God, would be sacrificed as the final and great such sacrifice for all mankind -- bringing life and salvation to all through his infinite atonement as that Passover Lamb.  That is why the High Priest had to personally condemn him to death.  Otherwise, such an Atonement could not be recognized by God.

 

Thus, our Aaronic Priesthood blesses the bread and water at the altar table, and their assistants pass it to each member.  The Exodus theme plays such an influential role in that ritual that Passover, manna, and water from the rock are all bound up in the same communal and repetitive act of eating of the body and blood of the sacrificial Lamb of God.  For the believer, the pattern is ritual, and that ritual entails renewal of covenant by typological oath and act (signum & responsum).

 

Indeed, George Mendenhall sees this Eucharist/Communion/Sacrament as a loyalty-oath, including symbolic oath-taking, as suggested by Latin sacramentum = Hebrew zakar (Aramaic dakar & Arabic dakar), “remember, swear an oath,” as remembrance and renewal of covenant, and a ritual act of identification, via the very ancient mode of “ritual consumption of bread and wine” (se sacramento obstringere “bound themselves with an oath” – just as Roman soldiers swore a loyalty oath to the Emperor).*

 

Our Sacrament is also a precursor of that great, angelic Banquet of Salvation in heaven (cf. Talmud Babli Hagiga 14b) at the end of days.  Cf. Matt 8:11-12, Lk 13:28-29, 14:15-24, 22:30, Rev 19:9, and I Enoch 62:14.   R. J. Clifford, The Cosmic Mountain in Canaan and in the Old Testament (1972).

 

*  Mendenhall, Ancient Israel’s Faith and History (Westminster John Knox, 2001), 226-229, citing Pliny the Younger, Letters, 10:96-97; ARM  8:13; El Amarna 162; ANET³ 532, 536, 539; cf. Justin Martyr, Apology, I, 66, 3; Didache 9:1-5; I Cor 11:29-30 (punishment for breach of oath of allegiance).

[St. Bookmark]

I have always thought that the sacrament renewed all covenant we have made to that point, even them who are not members but have made a promise to follow the lord and join his church.

[HappyJackWagon]

I have always thought that the sacrament renewed all covenant we have made to that point, even them who are not members but have made a promise to follow the lord and join his church.

I think this is a nice idea as a kind of catlyst for meditation and recommittment for any covenant we've made in the past.

As  a particular ordinance though it seems to me it is only a renewal of the baptismal covenant.

[St. Bookmark]

Thank you. I got the idea from ensign March 1995 " I have a question "

[VideoGameJunkie]

How do we renew temple covenants then? Do we have to keep going through endowment sessions? Even though the endowment sessions are for someone who has died.

[Robert F. Smith]

How do we renew temple covenants then? Do we have to keep going through endowment sessions? Even though the endowment sessions are for someone who has died.

Endowment sessions are also for the living, and each  member goes through on his own behalf the first time he attends such a session.  Each subsequent time is on behalf of someone else -- we take the oaths and perform the acts vicariously.

[Meadowchik]

Technically you are right. But renewing those covenants in my mind and soul is part of the reason I go to the temple.

 

Maybe that is one reason why the order of the human family is so essential to salvation and exaltation, because we become edified ourselves when we do for others.

[Meadowchik]

When we are at the temple we are acting as proxy for another individual, not ourselves.  The sacrament is the only ordinance that we repeat on our own behalf, hence the only ordinance where temple covenants could be renewed.

 

Right, because there is a difference between seeing something and being reminded and actually having the opportunity to "say yes" by word or deed...which is why the temple work for the dead is such a precious gift for them.