In his dialogue Euthyphro, Plato poses the question of whether the gods love what is holy because it is holy or whether it is holy because the gods love it. The corresponding question in terms of ethics is whether God loves the good because it is good or whether it is good because God loves it. Divine command theorists give a clear and unequivocal answer to this question in the area of ethics: they maintain whatever is good is good only because God wills it to be good. This has serious implications for how divine command theorists live their everyday...
seem to be divine command theories, that is, they no longer maintain that actions are good solely because God commands them. There is a higher standard to which even God must conform.

This causes a major dilemma in the concept of the divine command theory. Either a good action simply is whatever God commands, in which case there is the possibility that God might command us to kill or pillage; or there are some limits on what God can legitimately command, in which case they aren't genuine divine commands any longer since there are independent limits on God's commands.