Be Subject unto God's Ministers

Romans 13:1-7; To gain salvation the saints must be subject to God's ministers. The doctrines and ordinances of the gospel cannot be separated from those appointed to teach Christ's gospel and perform his ordinances. Those who accept the gospel do so by submitting to the will and dictation of Christ. They come to the legal administrators who teach the doctrines of Christ and who perform the ordinances of salvation in his name and by his authority.

Romans 13:1-7; God's truths cannot be accepted in an abstract and impersonal way; they must always be taught by someone sent of God. "How shall they preach, except they be sent?" (Romans 10:15.) And gospel ordinances cannot be performed except by commissioned servants empowered so to act by their Master. It is an eternal, in varying verity that salvation seekers must submit to the direction of those whom God has placed over them in his kingdom; otherwise they cannot be saved. The saints, therefore, must be subject to God's ministers.

Romans 13:1-7; Conformity to church discipline sanctifies the soul. "I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, that you may be found worthy," the Lord says. (D&C 98:14.) The Lord's covenant or gospel is always administered by those whom he has appointed so to act, and as a consequence the saints are bound to take counsel and direction from them. Thus when the President of the Church, the stake president, the bishop, or any duly commissioned church officer counsels those over whom he presides to follow a certain course, the church members involved must do so at the peril of losing their salvation. Paul's pronouncement, as restored to its original state by the Inspired Version, so specifies.

Romans 13:1-7; Civil powers] See 1 Peter 2:13-25.