How to resolve conflicting commandments

There are circumstances in which God’s rules will seem to conflict with one another. For example, while each rule prescribes ideal behavior under some circumstance, circumstances can combine in ways that make those prescriptions mutually exclusive. Alternatively, new rules that come from God can displace prior instructions with an advanced idea of what he would think, feel, or do in a certain situation.

You should only ever violate one commandment for the purposes of obeying a more important but mutually exclusive commandment. When Satan tempted Jesus with scriptural commandments, Jesus countered with other scriptural commandments, not ideas he made up in his head.² Your own ideas are not sufficient to counter God’s commandments. There is a massive difference between saying, “I think there is a better way” and “I need to choose the better of two of God’s commandments.”

In all cases, apparent conflicts between commandments are not a license to disobey God, but rather an invitation to more fully take up his purpose and follow his example. Choosing to obey a greater commandment isn’t the same as choosing not to obey any commandment. Breaking rules isn’t a question of setting aside submission to God, but of choosing submission to God in something more important rather than submission to God in something less important.

All commandments are ultimately given to help us learn more about and live more like Jesus. New commandments reveal more of God, providing the next increment of instruction beyond former commandments toward the fullness of the character of the Father. The Lord taught¹¹³⁸ that learning and living higher commandments in preference to lower commandments doesn’t break them, but fulfill them,¹¹³⁹ attaining the intent for which they were given.

In the event that any two commandments aren’t possible to keep at the same time, keep the more important of the two. The intent of all commandments is to enable people to be as much like God as they are willing to, but not all commandments equally contribute to this end.¹¹⁴⁰ The most important commandment is always the one that most accurately describes how God would live in your place.

The most important metric for selecting the most important commandment is by measuring it against the crowning character quality of God, which is love.¹¹⁴¹ God’s love is different than how the world would define it. God’s love is his willingness to suffer all things for the maximal benefit of all people. In all things, Jesus would choose what most benefits all people for the longest time.¹¹⁴² In order to rank commandments according to net benefit, you have to understand the options available to you, and the cost and benefit of each, which is no small feat given the complexity of reality. As you learn more about reality, your morality will increase in similarity to God’s.

It isn’t always possible to keep all of God’s commandments all of the time, but it is always possible to always keep every commandment that doesn’t displace a more important commandment. This is one and the same as living the best way you know of at all times.