The Law of Consecration — God's Economic Law for Zion

Giving everything to God and receiving back what you need — the United Order explained

Most Christians are unfamiliar with this doctrine. When they encounter it, the initial reaction is often suspicion — it sounds like socialism, or communalism, or some kind of nineteenth-century utopian experiment that failed. Those reactions miss what it actually is.

The law of consecration is God's revealed economic law — the financial and social structure by which a Zion people lives. It has deep roots in the Old Testament covenant community and was practiced by the early Christians described in Acts 2 and Acts 4. It is not a political ideology. It is a covenant principle: you give everything to God, and He gives back what you need.

That the early Saints could not sustain it is not evidence that it is wrong. It is evidence of how far we still have to go.

What Consecration Is

The law of consecration, as revealed to Joseph Smith, works like this: members deed all their property — land, money, possessions — to the Church (specifically, to the bishop as trustee for the Lord). The bishop then returns to each member a "stewardship" — enough property and resources for that person and their family to live and work. Surpluses are returned to a common storehouse and used to care for the poor, build the kingdom, and support those in need.

D&C 42:30–33

“And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken. And inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me; and they shall be laid before the bishop of my church and his counselors, two of the elders, or high priests, such as he shall appoint or has appointed and set apart for that purpose. And it shall come to pass, that after they are laid before the bishop of my church, and after that he has received these testimonies concerning the consecration of the properties of my church, that they cannot be taken from the church, agreeable to my commandments, every man shall be made accountable unto me, a steward over his own property.”

The key difference from both socialism and raw charity: the individual retains a stewardship. He is still responsible for managing his portion — still an owner in the sense that he must account to God for how he uses it. But ownership is consecrated to the Lord, not hoarded for personal aggrandizement.

D&C 82:17–19

“And you are to be equal, or in other words, you are to have equal claims on the properties, for the benefit of managing the concerns of your stewardships, every man according to his wants and his needs, inasmuch as his wants are just — And all this for the benefit of the church of the living God, that every man may improve upon his talent, that every man may gain other talents, yea, even an hundred fold, to be cast into the Lord's storehouse, to become the common property of the whole church — every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.”

Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor. That phrase is the heart of consecration. It is not about equality of outcome. It is about orientation of heart — where your labor is directed, who your work is for.

The Biblical Precedent

This is not a Joseph Smith invention. The early Christian community in Jerusalem lived something remarkably close to consecration — and Luke describes it in detail.

Acts 2:44–45

“And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”

Acts 4:32–35

“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”

Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own. This is not a marginal practice in the early Church — it is described as the hallmark of the community of believers immediately after Pentecost, when the Spirit had been poured out and the Church was at its most pure.

Enoch's city — described in Moses 7 in the Pearl of Great Price — is the earliest scriptural example of a consecrated society. They were so righteous, so unified, so genuinely Zion in character, that God took the entire city to heaven. The Book of Mormon describes the Nephites after Christ's visit reaching the same condition: "there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people" (4 Nephi 1:15).

The Law of the Fast and Fast Offerings as a Living Form

The full law of consecration is not currently practiced in the Church in its United Order form. But consecration is not absent — it is present in principle through the law of the fast and fast offerings.

On the first Sunday of each month, members fast for two meals and donate the equivalent value (or more) to the Church's fast offering fund. This fund is used exclusively to care for the poor and needy — locally and globally. It is not a program. It is a living, ongoing practice of the consecration principle: you deny yourself comfort, you give that resource to the bishop, and the bishop distributes it to those in need.

Isaiah describes the fast God has chosen in terms strikingly aligned with this practice:

Isaiah 58:6–7

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”

Consecration in its full form awaits a people ready to live it. In the meantime, the fast offering is the living remnant of that covenant — practiced every month by millions of members worldwide.

Why the United Order Failed — And What That Teaches

The early Saints attempted to live consecration in Missouri in the early 1830s. It failed. Not because the law was wrong — but because the people were not ready. The Lord was direct about why:

D&C 105:3–5

“But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and afflicted among them; and are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom; and Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.”

The failure was not institutional. It was personal and spiritual. The Saints were full of all manner of evil. They were not willing to impart their substance. They were not united in heart. No program can produce Zion — only people who have actually consecrated their hearts can.

This is an important lesson for our time. The United Order will return. But before it does, the people must be ready — and the readiness is measured not by institutional capacity but by the state of individual hearts. The law of consecration will never work in a community of people who are not genuinely committed to seeking the interest of their neighbor above their own comfort.

Consecration as a Covenant Principle

Members of the Church who receive their endowment in the temple enter into a covenant of consecration. This covenant is not currently tied to the United Order — it is a commitment of the heart and will: to consecrate one's time, talents, and everything the Lord has blessed one with to the building of the kingdom of God.

This means consecration is not dormant. It is the framework through which every member is already expected to function: How are you using your time? Your skills? Your resources? Are they invested in building Zion — your family, your ward, your community, the Church? Or are they accumulating for personal comfort?

The question consecration asks is the question Christ asked the rich young ruler: what are you withholding? Not whether you are giving generously — but whether there is anything you have held back from God. That is the standard, and it is demanding by design.

Preparing to Live It

The law of consecration is not a relic of early Church history that was tried and discarded. It is a celestial law — the economic law of the highest kingdom — that the Saints are in the process of becoming ready to live. We are not there yet. The Lord knows we are not there yet. But the direction is set.

What prepares a person to live consecration is not wealth management training. It is sanctification — the slow, hard process of having your heart changed so that your neighbor's need matters as much as your own. That transformation is the work of the gospel. It produces people who can be trusted with a stewardship because they are genuinely seeking the interest of others.

If you want to know whether you are ready, the question is not whether you pay tithing — though that matters. The question is whether you could give everything and trust God to give back what you need. Not as a theoretical exercise. As a real act of covenant.

Zion is built by people for whom the answer to that question is yes.