Consecration and Stewardship

A property system stated across a dozen revelations, in a vocabulary the rest of the corpus barely uses. The whole of it turns on one sentence — “all these properties are mine, or else your faith is vain” (D&C 104:55) — from which the rest follows as bookkeeping: if the properties are God’s, the holder is a steward, and a steward gives an account.

What this page maps. Modern revelation, reported as the text gives it. Several of these revelations name living people and assign them named properties; those names appear here only as the verse text supplies them. Dates, places, and occasions are not in this wiki’s source text and are not stated. Whether any of this was ever practised, and what became of it, is external, real-world material outside this wiki’s scope.

Account

The premise: the properties are not the holder’s

The system’s ground is stated as a conditional with the holder’s faith on the line: “Behold, all these properties are mine, or else your faith is vain, and ye are found hypocrites, and the covenants which ye have made unto me are broken” (D&C 104:55); “And if the properties are mine, then ye are stewards; otherwise ye are no stewards.” (D&C 104:56). The premise is stated positively in the same section — “I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine” (D&C 104:14); “it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine” (D&C 104:15) — and the method is then made a matter of divine preference rather than of economics: “it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low” (D&C 104:16).

Scarcity is denied outright, and agency asserted in the same verse. The phrase used for that agency is not native to this material — it is stated first of humankind as such.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 58:28: “For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.” - Moses 6:56: “And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment.”

“agents unto themselves” stands at exactly four distinct frozen verses in the corpus: these two, D&C 29:39, and D&C 104:17 — “I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves” (D&C 104:17), which is the phrase’s appearance inside this property material and is disclosed rather than paired. Divergences reported: the ground given differs at each carrier — in Moses it is the knowledge of good and evil, at D&C 58:28 it is that “the power is in them”, at D&C 29:39 it is the necessity of temptation. The two-word span itself is identical at all four.

The same verse that calls men agents denies that there is not enough: “For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare” (D&C 104:17). The consequence of hoarding against that premise is stated in the sharpest image the material uses.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 104:18: “Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment.” - Luke 16:23: “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

Divergences reported: word order — “lift up his eyes in hell” (D&C 104:18) against “in hell he lift up his eyes” (Luke 16:23); and number — “being in torment” (D&C 104:18) against “being in torments” (Luke 16:23). The parable’s verse continues to Abraham and Lazarus, which the revelation has no counterpart for; the revelation instead supplies the offence that lands the man there, which the parable’s verse does not. Both “lift up his eyes in hell” and “being in torment” stand at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus.

Consecrate, then receive back as a steward

The mechanism is two-stage, and both stages sit in one long sentence of the law: property is consecrated to the bishop, and a portion is then deeded back — “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, or that which he has received by consecration, as much as is sufficient for himself and family” (D&C 42:32). What is left over has a name and a destination: “which is a residue to be consecrated unto the bishop, it shall be kept to administer to those who have not, from time to time, that every man who has need may be amply supplied and receive according to his wants” (D&C 42:33); “the residue shall be kept in my storehouse, to administer to the poor and the needy, as shall be appointed by the high council of the church, and the bishop and his council” (D&C 42:34).

The deed is legal as well as covenantal, and a separate revelation says so in both registers at once: the bishop is to “appoint unto this people their portions, every man equal according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs” (D&C 51:3), and “when he shall appoint a man his portion, give unto him a writing that shall secure unto him his portion, that he shall hold it, even this right and this inheritance in the church, until he transgresses and is not accounted worthy by the voice of the church” (D&C 51:4). The transgressor’s case is then answered precisely, and the answer splits the two stages apart: “he shall not have power to claim that portion which he has consecrated unto the bishop for the poor and needy of my church; therefore, he shall not retain the gift, but shall only have claim on that portion that is deeded unto him” (D&C 51:5); “And thus all things shall be made sure, according to the laws of the land.” (D&C 51:6).

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () The law’s word for the transfer is a Book of Mormon king’s word for it: - D&C 42:31: “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…” - Mosiah 4:26: ”…I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.”

Divergences reported: the king’s verse specifies the acts — “feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief” (Mosiah 4:26) — where the revelation specifies the officer the goods are laid before; and the king measures the gift by the giver, “every man according to that which he hath” (Mosiah 4:26), where the revelation measures the return by the receiver’s want, “receive according to his wants” (D&C 42:33). “impart of your substance” stands at exactly three distinct frozen verses in the corpus: these two and Alma 34:28. The third-person “impart of their substance” stands at four: Alma 1:27, Mosiah 18:27, Mosiah 18:28, and D&C 105:3 — the last paired separately below.

Equality, stated as a condition of the other kind of equality

The equality clause is not offered as fairness but as a prerequisite: “That you may be equal in the bonds of heavenly things, yea, and earthly things also, for the obtaining of heavenly things” (D&C 78:5); “For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things” (D&C 78:6). The same order is stated elsewhere with a penalty attached: “in your temporal things you shall be equal, and this not grudgingly, otherwise the abundance of the manifestations of the Spirit shall be withheld” (D&C 70:14). “equal in earthly things” stands at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus, and “you shall be equal” at exactly one.

Equality is then defined so that it does not mean identical portions: “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” (D&C 82:17). The qualifier — “inasmuch as his wants are just” (D&C 82:17) — is what makes the definition a standard rather than a formula. “every man according to his wants” stands at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus.

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. () This arrangement may be the same thing two older texts report as an accomplished fact. The evidence is real but thematic, not verbal: the revelation directs that increase be “cast into the Lord’s storehouse, to become the common property of the whole church” (D&C 82:18); the older accounts report that believers “had all things common” (Acts 4:32), and that a people “had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free” (4 Nephi 1:3). Against reading them as one institution: this arrangement expressly keeps individual stewardships with deeds attached (D&C 51:4) and expressly permits unequal portions sized to want (D&C 82:17), where the older verses say only that possessions were common and say nothing of deeds or portions. The vocabularies do not overlap — “common property” stands at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus (D&C 82:18), “all things common” at four (Acts 2:44, Acts 4:32, 3 Nephi 26:19, 4 Nephi 1:3), and no verse carries both. That the two aim at a similar end is visible; that they are the same institution is an interpretive reading, offered to weigh, not asserted.

The account required

The system’s word for the holder is “steward”, and it is nearly a Doctrine and Covenants word: “stewardship” stands at twenty-nine distinct frozen verses in the corpus, of which twenty-six are in the Doctrine and Covenants; the other three are Luke 16:2, Luke 16:3, and Luke 16:4, all inside one parable. “stewardships” stands at six, all six in the Doctrine and Covenants.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 70:4: “And an account of this stewardship will I require of them in the day of judgment.” - Luke 16:2: “And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.”

Divergences reported: who calls for the account, and when — the revelation defers it to “the day of judgment” (D&C 70:4), where the parable’s lord demands it on the spot and dismisses the steward in the same breath, “for thou mayest be no longer steward” (Luke 16:2). The revelation’s requirement is general, stated of stewards as a class — “this is what the Lord requires of every man in his stewardship” (D&C 70:9) — where the parable’s is of one man. Registered as shared phrasing rather than quotation: apart from the differing possessive, the run “account of … stewardship” is the whole of the overlap.

The requirement is stated to apply without rank exemption: “none are exempt from this law who belong to the church of the living God” (D&C 70:10); “Yea, neither the bishop, neither the agent who keepeth the Lord’s storehouse, neither he who is appointed in a stewardship over temporal things.” (D&C 70:11). The failing steward is removable, bishop included: “even the bishop, who is a judge, and his counselors, if they are not faithful in their stewardships shall be condemned, and others shall be planted in their stead” (D&C 64:40); and for the treasurer specifically, “in case the treasurer is found an unfaithful and an unwise steward, he shall be subject to the council and voice of the order, and shall be removed out of his place, and another shall be appointed in his stead” (D&C 104:77).

The faithful steward’s reward is stated in two different borrowed phrases.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 78:22: “And he that is a faithful and wise steward shall inherit all things. Amen.” - Luke 12:42: “And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?”

“faithful and wise steward” stands at exactly three distinct frozen verses in the corpus: these two and D&C 101:61 — “a faithful and wise steward in the midst of mine house, a ruler in my kingdom” (D&C 101:61), which carries the parable’s ruler alongside the phrase; that verse is disclosed here and treated on The Redemption of Zion. Divergences reported: the parable asks who the steward is, as a question; the revelation states what he inherits, as a promise.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 51:19: “And whoso is found a faithful, a just, and a wise steward shall enter into the joy of his Lord, and shall inherit eternal life.” - Matthew 25:21: “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

Divergences reported: the revelation’s third-person “enter into the joy of his Lord” (D&C 51:19) against the second-person address “enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21); the revelation expands the parable’s servant into a three-adjective steward, “a faithful, a just, and a wise steward” (D&C 51:19), and adds “shall inherit eternal life” (D&C 51:19), which the parable’s verse has no counterpart for. “enter into the joy of his Lord” stands at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus.

The order, its bond, and its dissolution

The arrangement is named in its own text — “the united order” (D&C 92:1). The two-word string “united order” stands at exactly five distinct frozen verses in the corpus, all five in the Doctrine and Covenants: 92:1, 104:1, 104:47, 104:48, and 104:53.

Membership is by covenant with a stated penalty: “a commandment I give unto you, to prepare and organize yourselves by a bond or everlasting covenant that cannot be broken” (D&C 78:11); “And he who breaketh it shall lose his office and standing in the church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption.” (D&C 78:12). The penalty clause recurs almost word for word two sections later — “the soul that sins against this covenant, and hardeneth his heart against it, shall be dealt with according to the laws of my church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption” (D&C 82:21) — and again with the power to apply it granted to the order itself: “if any man among you, of the order, is found a transgressor and repenteth not of the evil, that ye shall deliver him over unto the buffetings of Satan” (D&C 104:10). “buffetings of Satan” stands at five distinct frozen verses in the corpus, all five in the Doctrine and Covenants: 78:12, 82:21, 104:9, 104:10, and 132:26. The phrase “covenant that cannot be broken” stands at exactly two — D&C 78:11 and D&C 82:11.

Individual members are admitted by name in verse text: “I give unto the united order, organized agreeable to the commandment previously given, a revelation and commandment concerning my servant Frederick G. Williams, that ye shall receive him into the order” (D&C 92:1); and “it is expedient in me that he should become a member of the order, that he may assist in bringing forth my word unto the children of men” (D&C 96:8), of the servant the preceding verses name — “my servant John Johnson whose offering I have accepted, and whose prayers I have heard” (D&C 96:6).

The order is later divided in two, and the division is stated as a dissolution with its reason given in the text: “you shall no longer be bound as a united order to your brethren of Zion, only on this wise—” (D&C 104:47); “After you are organized, you shall be called the United Order of the Stake of Zion, the City of Kirtland. And your brethren, after they are organized, shall be called the United Order of the City of Zion.” (D&C 104:48); “The covenants being broken through transgression, by covetousness and feigned words—” (D&C 104:52); “Therefore, you are dissolved as a united order with your brethren” (D&C 104:53). The same two nouns appear at the section’s opening as the stated cause of a curse: “inasmuch as some of my servants have not kept the commandment, but have broken the covenant through covetousness, and with feigned words, I have cursed them with a very sore and grievous curse” (D&C 104:4).

The treasuries, and the seal

The most concretely procedural passage in this material sets up two treasuries and puts a seal on both. The first is for one class of thing only: “there shall be a seal upon the treasury, and all the sacred things shall be delivered into the treasury; and no man among you shall call it his own, or any part of it, for it shall belong to you all with one accord” (D&C 104:62); “this shall be called the sacred treasury of the Lord; and a seal shall be kept upon it that it may be holy and consecrated unto the Lord” (D&C 104:66). The second is for everything else, and the revelation names the denominations: money is “cast into the treasury as fast as you receive moneys, by hundreds, or by fifties, or by twenties, or by tens, or by fives” (D&C 104:68); “if any man among you obtain five dollars let him cast them into the treasury; or if he obtain ten, or twenty, or fifty, or an hundred, let him do likewise” (D&C 104:69).

Withdrawal runs by a stated procedure, and the procedure is a sentence a man says out loud: “this shall be the voice and common consent of the order—that any man among you say to the treasurer: I have need of this to help me in my stewardship—” (D&C 104:72); “If it be five dollars, or if it be ten dollars, or twenty, or fifty, or a hundred, the treasurer shall give unto him the sum which he requires to help him in his stewardship—” (D&C 104:73). The treasurer’s discretion is then removed and made conditional in one clause: “so long as he is in full fellowship, and is faithful and wise in his stewardship, this shall be his token unto the treasurer that the treasurer shall not withhold” (D&C 104:75). “sacred treasury” stands at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus.

Those with no property at all

One short revelation legislates for the people the system would otherwise leave out, and does so by giving them claims rather than gifts: “Women have claim on their husbands for their maintenance, until their husbands are taken; and if they are not found transgressors they shall have fellowship in the church” (D&C 83:2); “All children have claim upon their parents for their maintenance until they are of age.” (D&C 83:4); “And after that, they have claim upon the church, or in other words upon the Lord’s storehouse, if their parents have not wherewith to give them inheritances.” (D&C 83:5); “And the storehouse shall be kept by the consecrations of the church; and widows and orphans shall be provided for, as also the poor.” (D&C 83:6). The verse between them keeps the property even where fellowship is lost: “And if they are not faithful they shall not have fellowship in the church; yet they may remain upon their inheritances according to the laws of the land.” (D&C 83:3).

The storehouse is itself a countable feature of this corpus: “storehouse” stands at seventeen distinct frozen verses in the corpus, of which fourteen are in the Doctrine and Covenants; “my storehouse” stands at five and “the Lord’s storehouse” at four, all nine of those in the Doctrine and Covenants.

Debt, and the failing side of the ledger

The material does not end in solvency. One passage is about owing money: “concerning your debts—behold it is my will that you shall pay all your debts” (D&C 104:78); “I will soften the hearts of those to whom you are in debt, until I shall send means unto you for your deliverance” (D&C 104:80); “I give unto you a promise, that you shall be delivered this once out of your bondage.” (D&C 104:83); “I give unto you this privilege, this once; and behold, if you proceed to do the things which I have laid before you, according to my commandments, all these things are mine, and ye are my stewards, and the master will not suffer his house to be broken up.” (D&C 104:86). The repeated “this once” (D&C 104:83, 104:85, 104:86) is the revelation’s own limit on the permission it grants.

Another passage states failure directly, as the reason a promised redemption is deferred.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 105:3: “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;” - Alma 1:27: “And they did impart of their substance, every man according to that which he had, to the poor, and the needy, and the sick, and the afflicted; and they did not wear costly apparel, yet they were neat and comely.”

The two verses state the same practice in opposite polarity — the record reports a people doing it, the revelation a people not doing it — which is the connection’s point. Divergences reported: the record’s measure “every man according to that which he had” (Alma 1:27) has no counterpart in the revelation, which instead supplies a standard, “as becometh saints” (D&C 105:3); and the record’s list of recipients runs to four items where the revelation’s runs to two.

Two sayings the material borrows for its own use

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 82:3: “For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.” - Luke 12:48: ”…For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”

Divergences reported: the revelation compresses “of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48) into “much is required” (D&C 82:3); and it supplies its own second half — “he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation” (D&C 82:3) — where the saying’s second half is “to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48). “unto whom much is given” stands at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 82:22: “And now, verily I say unto you, and this is wisdom, make unto yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, and they will not destroy you.” - Luke 16:9: “And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.”

Divergences reported: “with the mammon of unrighteousness” (D&C 82:22) against “of the mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16:9); “make unto yourselves friends” against “Make to yourselves friends”; and the stated outcome differs entirely — welcome into everlasting habitations in the parable, bare non-destruction in the revelation, “and they will not destroy you” (D&C 82:22). “mammon of unrighteousness” stands at exactly two distinct frozen verses in the corpus — these two.

[Textual] — paraphrase / allusion. () - D&C 82:23: “Leave judgment alone with me, for it is mine and I will repay. Peace be with you; my blessings continue with you.” - Romans 12:19: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

Registered as allusion, not shared phrasing: the shared run is three words long, and what the two verses have in common is the reservation of requital to God rather than a wording. Divergences reported: the epistle’s noun is “Vengeance” (Romans 12:19), the revelation’s is “judgment” (D&C 82:23); and the epistle quotes the maxim as written scripture where the revelation states it in the first person as its own. “I will repay” stands at six distinct frozen verses in the corpus: these two, Luke 10:35 and Philemon 1:19 (both in a plain commercial sense), and Mormon 3:15 and Mormon 8:20, which carry the maxim in its “Vengeance is mine” form and so stand nearer the epistle than the revelation does — disclosed, not paired.

Significance

Two checkable things are worth stating plainly. The first is that this is a system, not an exhortation: it has an officer, a document, a residue, two sealed treasuries with denominations named down to five dollars, a removal procedure for every officer including the bishop, and a legal fallback to “the laws of the land” (D&C 51:6). The second is that its administrative vocabulary is almost entirely its own within the corpus — twenty-six of the twenty-nine “stewardship” verses and fourteen of the seventeen “storehouse” verses stand in the Doctrine and Covenants — while the sayings it reaches for are older ones, each quoted above beside its counterpart with the divergences listed.

Where the material is most often read as resembling something else — a community holding all things common — this page holds the reading as interpretive and shows the evidence on both sides, because the revelation’s own deeds and want-sized portions cut against the resemblance.

Key references

D&C 42:30–39, 42:53–55, 42:70–73 — consecration, the residue, the storehouse, support of officers
D&C 51:1–20 — portions, the writing that secures them, the transgressor’s claim
D&C 70:1–18 — stewards over revelations; no exemption; temporal equality
D&C 78:1–22 — equal in earthly things as prerequisite; the bond that cannot be broken
D&C 82:11–24 — the several stewardships; equal claims sized to just wants; common property
D&C 83:1–6 — claims of women, children, widows, and orphans
D&C 92:1–2, 96:6–9 — admissions to the order, named in verse text
D&C 104:1–18, 104:47–56, 104:60–86 — the premise; the dissolution; the treasuries; debt

The Law of the Church · The Law of Tithing · The Gathering to Zion · The Redemption of Zion · Riches and Pride · Offices of the Church · Common Consent · Index · Connections

Sources

Doctrine and Covenants sections 42, 51, 58, 64, 70, 78, 82, 83, 92, 96, 104, and 105 (verse text only; headnotes excluded). Cross-references quoted from Mosiah 4, Alma 1, Moses 6, Luke 12, Luke 16, Matthew 25, Romans 12, Acts 4, and 4 Nephi 1; D&C 29, D&C 101, D&C 132, Alma 34, Mosiah 18, Acts 2, 3 Nephi 26, Luke 10, Philemon 1, Mormon 3, and Mormon 8 are cited, not quoted, inside disclosures.

Every quote is verbatim from the frozen source text, cited to its exact reference and checked character-for-character; no quote crosses a verse boundary. Eleven connection records are registered on this page — ten [textual] and one [interpretive] — all submitted asserted_by: wiki. Phrase distributions are counts of distinct frozen verses in the corpus, derived by script at the time of writing; the basis is stated at the head of this draft.