"More Or Less Than This"

In 3 Nephi 11:40 Jesus said, “And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil…”. If it's "evil" to do anything more or less than “this”, it is of the utmost importance to understand precisely what “this” is. “This” references the previous verse when Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine…” Does that mean that the words in 3 Nephi 11 make up the entirety of the Doctrine of Christ and nothing more can possibly be said about it? No. It simply means that there cannot be anything added to or taken away from the Doctrine of Christ. 3 Nephi 11 is only one place in the scriptures where the doctrine is taught. The doctrine is taught in various places throughout the scriptures. For example, there is a great exposition on the Doctrine of Christ in 2 Nephi 31 and 32. The doctrine can be taught and different aspects of it can be expounded upon without it being “more or less than this”.

D&C 10:67-69 says, “Behold, this is my doctrine—whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church. Whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me, but is against me; therefore he is not of my church. And now, behold, whosoever is of my church, and endureth of my church to the end, him will I establish upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.” As you can see, this is clearly part of Christ’s Doctrine. There is a lot of the same language that you have seen in other verses, but there is a particular focus upon the Lord’s definition of His church. This focus in D&C 10 is not a part of 3 Nephi 11 and there are many things in 3 Nephi 11 that are not a part of D&C 10. But you can see that neither D&C 10 nor 3 Nephi 11 has added to or taken away from the Doctrine of Christ.

The true and unadulterated doctrine, when it is taught by God or one of His messengers, will always harmonize with itself. There can be no contradiction. When there is a real contradiction (and not just an imagined one) between two people expounding the Doctrine of Christ, you can know that one of them is incorrect. Christ will never deviate from His words. You must learn about the doctrine from your own scripture study and see how every piece fits together. There may be parts of the doctrine spread throughout the scriptures that, at first, may not seem to go together very well. I tell you from personal experience that when you learn the Doctrine of Christ, divorce it from your traditions, and obey it, the full truth will emerge and you will receive the promised blessings. If you put in the time and the effort (which is a sacrifice), you will receive.