Enduring vs. Magnifying--by Ivan Yorgason

The words “marriage” and “family” are not the most well defined words in modern society. The 1828 version of Webster’s Dictionary defines marriage as “the act of uniting a man and woman for life.” The same dictionary defines family as “a household, including parents, children and servants, and as the case may be, lodgers or boarders.” In Section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord added a conditional definition for marriage and family. This new definition and the conditions on which it is valid changed the Latter-day Saint view of marriage and family.

The new definition presented is found throughout Section 132. In verse 19, the Lord says that this new definition is called “the new and everlasting covenant.” Some characteristics of this new definition of marriage from verse 19 are that “it is sealed …by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I (the Lord) appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood”, it lasts through “time, and through all eternity”, it “shall be of full force when they (the married persons) are out of the world”, and “they (the married persons) shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fullness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.” This new definition of marriage automatically gives a new definition of family. Under the new and everlasting covenant, family members are sealed together and families last throughout time and all eternity. This completely changed the view of marriage for Latter-day Saints. After this revelation, they realized that they would have the opportunity to not have their marriages end at death.

The idea that a marriage could literally last forever removed the inclination to only endure or tolerate the marriage until death. Speaking about the persons married through the new and everlasting covenant in verse 20, the Lord says, “Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting.” With this in mind, the persons married to cannot just tolerate each other. The eternal marriage cannot only be endured. Things that are endured are temporal or time dependent. They always end. Hence, in 3rd Nephi 15:9, the Lord says, “Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.” Marriage through the new and everlasting covenant does not end, therefore it cannot be endured.

With the inclination to endure a marriage removed, a new idea of how to manage marital relationships came about from the conditions on which the newly presented definition of marriage is valid. In verse 7, the Lord says that the conditions are that it be “sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power.” This allowed the Saints to have a clear goal for their marriages. At the reception of this revelation, they came to realize that, in order to have their marriages be eternal, they needed to have their marriages sealed by the Holy Spirit. Their marriages needed to be holy. Instead of enduring their marriages, they now began the quest of magnifying their marriages. Enduring ends with time, while magnifying is an eternal process.