Question: In what ways is the fulness of gospel different from the basic principles of the gospel?
Answer: After we define the gospel’s basic principles as faith in Jesus Christ, repentance of transgressions, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost—the latter two ordinances administered by one having authority from God—what further principles do we see at work and taught in the scriptures that constitute an integral part of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
If miracles such as healing the sick and raising the dead are performed in Jesus’ name, or if evil spirits are rebuked and cast out in his name, wouldn’t that attest to a person’s possessing power and authority from God beyond enjoying the gift of the Holy Ghost? Conversely, wouldn’t an inability to perform these miracles, or wouldn’t substituting the casting out of evil spirits with administering pharmaceuticals, be something less?
It is that “power and authority from God” we see exercised in the scriptures that tells us where the fulness of the gospel is present, in the past or in our day. We also see that its ultimate manifestation in the mortal world is ascent to a translated or seraphic state. Its vehicle of ascent, moreover, are the laws of God’s covenants operable today: the Sinai Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the Abrahamic Covenant, in that order.
While observing the basic principles of the gospel as characterized by the Sinai Covenant will get a person to a saved state—consisting of a remission of sins through the merits of Jesus Christ—it is God’s higher laws as characterized by the Davidic and Abrahamic Covenants that will get a person to an exalted state. A loving Heavenly Father thus grants each of his children the chance to ascend as far as they desire to go.
