“The Nature of God”
Doctrine and Covenants 20:17–19
17 By these things we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them;
18 And that he created man, male and female, after his own image and in his own likeness, created he them;
19 And gave unto them commandments that they should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they should worship.
Elder Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjödahl wrote:
“These are some of the important truths set forth in the Book of Mormon[:]
“[By these things] . . . [b]y the Book of Mormon and the heavenly voice attesting its truth, as well as by the Bible. . . .
“[We know] . . . [n]ot ‘we believe,’ but we know that God exists; that He is infinite and eternal; unchangeable; the Creator of the heavens and the Earth and all things that are in them. The world is not the work of chance; nor is it self-existent; it is ‘created.’ The elements have been organized by an Infinite Intelligence. This the Saints know.
“We know that God created man, male and female, after His own ‘image’ in His own ‘likeness.’ Our first parents were in the image of God, in the same sense that Seth was in the image of Adam [see Genesis 5:1–3]. ‘“Image” suggests reproduction in form and substance, physical or spiritual; “likeness” gives the idea of resemblance and outward similarity’ (The Cambridge Bible, Genesis, p. 20). Woman, as well as man, was made after the image, in the likeness, of God.
“We know that man fell (v. 19), and that God gave His Son to atone for the sin of Adam and to open the way for all to life eternal, through faith and obedience. The disobedience of Adam brought upon him and his descendants, death—physical, moral, and legal. The Atonement of Christ restored all that was lost through Adam. By justification men are freed from the legal condemnation; by sanctification their moral law is restored; and by glorification physical death, the last enemy, will be overcome.”
(The Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, rev. ed. [1951], 102.)
