Commandment

Generally, a divine mandate that church members were expected to obey; more specifically, a text dictated by JS in the first-person voice of Deity that served to communicate knowledge and instruction to JS and his followers. Occasionally, other inspired texts dictated by JS were also considered commandments, even though not given in the voice of God. The term revelation,though initially used for a distinct type of text, was later used to mean a written commandment in general. A manuscript collection of JS’s revelations, started in 1831, was called the Book of Commandments and Revelations; the 1833 published version of these texts was titled the Book of Commandments. Most of JS’s revelations were written during the first few years after the organization of the church, although JS continued to dictate revelations throughout his life. See also “.”