Grace and Works

Volume Four—Chapter Eleven GRACE AND WORKS

#Definition of Terms

Let us review a few important terms:

Mercy. God’s mercy is his willingness to extend to us blessings we do not deserve. Though justice, or the law of justice, would rule that we do not deserve a given blessing, the Lord is willing to extend that blessing anyway. He is thus merciful.

Grace. The grace of God is simply his love for us. But grace refers particularly to the aspect of his love that impels him to extend the blessings of the atonement to a man even though that man has not actually earned those blessings according to the law of justice. His obedience to the commandments is necessary but not sufficient to merit the Lord’s grace.

Thus, mercy and grace are closely related. They are virtually inseparable. We may re-define grace by saying that God loves us so much that he is willing to extend his mercy. He is willing to be merciful to us.

Works. Works are our efforts to resist and overcome our natural self and obey the Lord’s commandments. Obedience consists of thoughts, speech, and actions that accord with God’s commands. Obedience to the Lord’s commands is, indeed, “work.” It is difficult to deny our natural selves and instead choose to obey him.

#The Christian Confession—Becoming Saved

Evangelical view. At a point in time the Evangelical confesses his or her “faith” or “belief” in Christ. This moment is referred to as his “conversion,” “coming to Christ,” “new birth,” or “Christian confession.” This experience may or may not include baptism. Baptism is felt by most Evangelicals to be non-essential. At the time of a Protestant’s confession, he “receives God’s grace.” This grace is freely and permanently given. It (1) brings him into a right standing before God (“justification”); (2) produces a new birth—the beginning of a new life with Christ (“regeneration”); (3) liberates him from bondage to past sin and its eternally damning consequences (“redemption”); and (4) produces a new relationship with God (“reconciliation”). In short, at the moment of an Evangelical’s confession, he is granted God’s grace and receives his salvation.

The Protestant believes he must bring two things to his confession of Jesus Christ. The first is his sincere “faith” or “belief” in Jesus Christ. The second is his sincere desire to obey the Lord’s commands. His determination to obey, at the time of his confession, is referred to as his “repentance.” Both his “faith” and his “repentance” are manifest verbally during his “confession.” God’s grace/mercy is freely granted in return for a confession. It is completely unnecessary for him to show evidence of works (obedience), either before or after confession. In fact, it is a fundamental principle that an Evangelical’s salvation cannot be earned by any qualifying works on his part. Grace and salvation cannot be merited. That a man can in any way qualify for his salvation, either prior to or subsequent to his confession/salvation is anathema. Evangelicals eschew the idea that “works” (obedient thoughts, speech, actions or behaviors) play any significant part in salvation either before or after their confession. Believing that evidence of works must be brought to their confession, or that works are essential following their new birth, denigrates the Lord’s magnificent grace.

Blomberg describes the “faith” necessary at the moment of confession and emphasizes the necessity of following the Lord’s example:

This faith or belief is much more than intellectual assent to a set of doctrines . . . Biblical faith must also involve trust in the person of Christ; it involves a personal relationship with him based on our convictions about who he is and what he did. It is an act of commitment, as we progressively replace our ambitions with his and seek to live a life of service to him out of profound gratitude for the death he died in our place. . . . We surely do seek to obey Christ’s commands, to do that which pleases him, and to grow in Christlikeness. Any Evangelical who claims that we can come to Jesus and do nothing for him for years on end, exhibiting no transformed lifestyle and yet being saved, has not accurately represented the biblical gospel (HWD, 174-75).

Here Blomberg almost makes obedience or “works” sound essential for salvation. But that impression quickly evaporates with further investigation. In another place Blomberg describes the moment of confession:

At the moment of conversion, the time of our salvation, God’s Spirit comes to live in us and begins a process of moral transformation, unique to each person, often frustratingly slow and filled with setbacks, but nevertheless one that inevitably leads to perseverance in good works of all different kinds, though never quantifiable and never adequate to merit eternal life with God in and of themselves (Ibid., 168-69).

After confession, those who confessed are acknowledged to be among the Lord’s elect. They are and always were predestined to be saved in heaven. Christ’s atonement was wrought specifically for them and no others. They begin a period of inevitable spiritual growth they feel will surely lead to heaven. During the subsequent course of their lives, obedience to Christ—his commands and his example—are desirable but not mandatory. They believe obedience to the Lord’s commands “sanctifies” them. Sanctification is a desirable, but non-essential, blessing from God. While they may claim the necessity of subsequent good intentions and good works, their widely accepted Calvinist concepts of “irresistible grace,” “unconditional election,” and “perseverance” guarantee the salvation of the individual who has this faithevidencing, confession/conversion experience. They will not, and indeed, cannot “fall from grace.” They are home. They are saved. They are heaven bound!

The repentance, justification, regeneration, redemption, and reconciliation that occur at the time of their confession are all one-time events. Evangelicals need not understand or acknowledge any ongoing essential roles of repentance (obedience),

justification, or sanctification in their spiritual lives subsequent to their salvation.

In summary, the evangelical confession must be sincere, but it only need be made once. He must confess his faith in Christ and his desire to live a Christian life. By these simple confessions a man may be saved. It is so simple. Little else is required for salvation. Once they are saved, Protestants will make every attempt to live honest, honorable, and righteous lives. However, these works of obedience are not really essential. Their salvation in heaven is already assured. They live comfortable in the knowledge that the Savior’s mercy and grace has saved them regardless of their subsequent, inevitable sins. Evangelicals are quick to criticize any who feel that works are essential for one’s eternal reward. In their view, any such religious groups are “non- Christian.”

LDS view. The LDS experience that corresponds to the Evangelicals confession is what we call conversion. This must occur, or begin to occur, prior to our baptism. A formative scripture regarding the requirements for LDS baptism is D&C 20:37 (cf. Moroni 6:2-4):

And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.

What does it mean to “manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins”? Does this mean that works are necessary prior to baptism? While the Lord may not require persistent, comprehensive, prolonged obedience prior to baptism, he does require a practical expression of genuine, realistic intent to repent. We must evidence, prior to baptism, a practical correction of obvious circumstances that would inevitably lead to sin were they not altered. These might include such things as ceasing to live with a partner out of wedlock, terminating work with a disreputable organization, or stopping the use of substances forbidden by the LDS law of health. Before baptism, investigators are usually required to establish, a pattern of regular attendance at Church. Hence, prior to our baptism, the Lord requires short term, visible, sincere evidence of our commitment to obey him.

The candidate for LDS baptism, like the Evangelicals, must humbly express a faith in and a devotion to the Savior. Unlike Evangelicals, at the time of his baptism the LDS convert accepts Christ both as our Savior and our Lord and Master. As we do so, we accept him as our exemplar. It is absurd for us to say we accept his gospel and then not obey him. We must obey. Our salvation is contingent upon our earnest striving to do so.

Also unlike the Evangelicals, the LDS convert enters into a solemn covenant with the Lord. He covenants that he will (1) take upon him the name of Christ (become a member of his Church); (2) earnestly strive to obey the Lord’s commandments (accept Christ as Lord of his life); and (3) that he will seek to succor others in the Lord’s earthly kingdom. This is the “baptismal covenant.”3

The candidate is then baptized. He is mercifully forgiven of his sins (justified) and allowed a fresh start. We recognize a unique use of the terms repentance and justification associated with the conversion and baptism of an individual. Repentance at the time of and prior to baptism means a willingness to repent—a willingness and determination to forsake our sins and obey the Lord’s commands. The justification proffered at baptism is also unique. It is a special, one-time, blessing. Only at the time of conversion and baptism are repentance and justification acquired with little or no practical cost.

Subsequent to baptism, repentance, justification, and sanctification require that an individual diligently strive, over time, to overcome his natural self and deliberately obey the Lord’s commands. This is an ongoing and incremental process and not just an event. During this process, whenever the Holy Ghost recognizes and acknowledges his efforts at repentance as sufficient, the Spirit will justify and sanctify him. This means that the man’s sins are forgiven, an increment of his natural self is purged out of him, and he is granted an increment of a gift of the Spirit. This is the ongoing process of our

spiritual growth.

LDS conversion is the beginning of the path that leads to spiritual growth and eventual exaltation. Spiritual growth is expected of each of us and is essential to our salvation. The individual at the time of his conversion and baptism is not yet, in any sense, saved in heaven. He may still fall from grace. Salvation is a reward eventually afforded the individual at his resurrection. It follows a lifetime of striving to follow the Lord and his example.

We have previously discussed the Lord’s inclination to reassure us of our eventual salvation while we are still in mortality and the ways in which he does that.5 These reassurances come as the result of our honest, successful striving to be obedient to the Lord’s commandments (works). We recognize no form of true salvation that occurs prior to our having to exert ourselves to obey the Lord’s commands.

It is not difficult to discern evidence of Evangelicals’ almost subconscious ambivalence and discomfort over their belief in predestination. It is as though the Spirit of Christ within them says, “Come on! You know that predestination and sure-andinevitable salvation are not reasonable. You’re going to have to do something to merit that supernal blessing. It does not come that easily. Regarding the Lord’s grace as cheap or even free is inappropriate.” One perceives this ambivalence as they describe the details of their doctrine of the confession/conversion experience. They admit to a controversy about what exactly happens at that moment. The question is: at the time of their confession, do they accept Jesus only as their Savior or also as their Lord and Master? If they do the former, they acknowledge that the only thing required for their salvation is God’s grace, freely given. If they do the latter, they are obliged to do what Christ commands. They are then obliged to accept him as their exemplar. Blomberg writes:

A[n] . . . issue that divides some Evangelicals arises over the question of whether we can first accept Jesus merely as Savior and then later as Lord, or whether we must accept both simultaneously at the new birth. Proponents of the former option are rightly concerned not to make it seem as though we do anything to merit salvation: we merely accept a free gift. Proponents of the latter option are afraid of preaching “cheap grace”: the gift comes only as we entrust ourselves to a new master. Increasingly, Evangelicals are recognizing truth in both “camps” and the need for mediating positions. The one group is right to stress that we cannot possibly know everything that Christ will demand of us when we come to him and that even what we do know will not always be easy for us to follow. So our acceptance of salvation cannot be dependent on our own performance in any area of Christian living. The other group is right to stress that we cannot claim to have really surrendered control of our lives to Jesus if we consciously refuse to obey him in certain areas of our lives. We have to be willing, at least in principle, to turn over everything to him. The illogical paradoxical conclusion that perhaps captures the correct balance here is that “salvation is absolutely free, but it will cost us our very lives.” Our old natures must be crucified with Christ regularly (HWD, 169).

Is it not interesting to see Evangelicals acknowledge their inner conflict? It is manifest cogently in the statement: “Salvation is absolutely free, but it will cost us our very lives.” Blomberg proffers this statement as though it were a profound spiritual concept. In fact, it is thoroughly illogical nonsense. We also detect their loathing of the idea that any works, any effort at obedience, plays any necessary role in salvation. Grace is given freely. We may try to pin them down as to exactly what role good works, after their confession and new birth, play in their salvation. They speak positively of Christian service and obedience, but in the end they will admit that works have little or nothing to do with salvation. Works are not, in fact, essential at any stage of their spiritual experience.

What of those Evangelicals that confess and are saved but later reject their salvation? What of those who choose to stop associating with other Evangelicals and instead live according to the world? Calvinist Evangelicals insist that a “backslider” was never really converted. He was not predestined to salvation. He was not among the elect, after all. We LDS are more inclined to say that the backslider “fell from grace.”

Another point of evangelical doctrine is most interesting. Man, in and of himself—without the “prevenient (antecedent) grace” of Christ—cannot summon the agency to act righteously of his own accord. According to the concept of total depravity, man is completely unable, without the assistance of the Lord’s grace, to think, speak, or act righteously in a way that would lead to his spiritual growth. Owen and Mosser write: “Apart from divine grace and initiative, man cannot make any moves toward God or perform any work of righteousness. That is why a work of grace is necessary to enable a person to receive the truth of the gospel or perform any righteous act” (FRB, 70).

Paulsen and Potter responded to this claim. They explain that free will is a part of man’s nature and is preserved from the effects of the fall by Christ’s atonement (FRB, 257-59). Mortal man is endowed with the power of perception—we say he is a sentient being. He is also fully endowed with the power to choose for himself. Our agency is vital and sacrosanct. This mortal experience has been designed by God to allow man to exercise his prerogatives, and man is able, quite on his own, to do so.

#The Role of Baptism

Evangelical view. One issue on which Evangelicals differ among themselves involves the relationship of baptism to salvation. Luther, Calvin, and Wesley all preserved the practice of infant baptism which had come to dominate the Roman Catholic Church. Today, the beliefs about baptism in the Protestant world today are a strange mix. Generally, they agree that baptism by itself (infant or other) does not confer salvation on anyone. Even those that practice baptism generally agree that it is faith in Christ, not baptism, that saves a person. They often point to the example of the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43) as a reminder that genuine trust in Christ, even without baptism suffices to save a person.

Blomberg succinctly summarizes the evangelical view on the necessity of baptism: “Baptism is an important act of obedience to a command of Christ, but failure to obey it (or any other individual command) could not make a person forfeit salvation unless salvation were after all by works and not faith” (HWD, 170).

Though some Baptists preach the necessity of baptism, Blomberg suggests that their baptism is merely synonymous with repentance and that the two are part of a package. “Repentance,” the reader will recall, at the moment of Christian confession, is merely a determination to live the commandments of the Lord. Blomberg further suggests that 1 Corinthians 10:2-5 warns of the danger of assuming that baptism by itself saves anyone. In this passage Paul suggests that Moses’s leading of the Israelites through the Red Sea was their baptism, but in spite of this baptism, they later fell from grace.

Evangelicals object to our insistence on baptism as a prerequisite of salvation. They say this insistence smacks of salvation by works. They object to texts such as 2 Nephi 9:23: “And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.”

LDS view. Unbeknownst to Evangelicals, in the Lord’s economy baptism is essential. For today’s Evangelicals, baptism is usually not a part of their conversion experience. To the LDS, baptism is the overt ordinance or sign of the sacred baptismal covenant. It is also the very ordinance by which we will subsequently grow spiritually following our conversion.6

We aver that baptism is necessary for those who would inherit the celestial kingdom of God. The scriptural mandate seems clear enough:

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:1-5).

There are a few exceptions to the requirement for baptism. Children who die before the age of individual accountability (eight years) and those impaired mentally below roughly an eight-year-old level do not require baptism. Also, persons who did not have the opportunity to be baptized during their lives may still inherit the celestial kingdom if, in the infinite foreknowledge of God, they would have received it given the opportunity (D&C 137:5-9).

Evangelicals see baptism as merely an act of obedience and have no idea as to the true nature of the ordinance of baptism and its role in our spiritual progression. They do not understand, for example, the three vital parts of the ordinance of baptism (baptism of water, baptism of the Spirit, and baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost) and the essential role of each individual part in our spiritual growth. They also know nothing of the post mortal possibilities for the vicarious performance of the ordinance for all who desire it.

#Comparison of Evangelical Confession and LDS Conversion

We have already made several comparisons. We have learned that there are a few similarities and several significant differences. I will briefly summarize these.

The Evangelical must bring to the experience an expression of devotion to the Savior (“faith or “belief”) and a determination to obey him (“repentance”). Their expressions of faith and repentance are made by confession. We LDS must also express faith and repentance. Our expression of devotion is made by confession and also by our willingness to enter into a solemn covenant relationship with the Lord—the baptismal covenant. We covenant to obey him.

Both Evangelicals and LDS believe we receive a free gift from the Savior at the time of our initial conversion. His grace is extended to us in the form of justification or forgiveness of sin. The significance and implications of this gratuitously extended grace is viewed differently by each group. To the Evangelical, the Savior’s freely-extended grace means he is “saved.” It means that the Spirit will take up residence with him and lead him inevitably to heaven after this life. His confessions of “faith” and “repentance” are a one-time event. Though he will strive to obey the Savior and follow his example, his “works” of obedience have little to do with his inevitable, eventual admission to heaven. For the rest of his life, he may be assured that he is one of the Lord’s elect. He is pre-destined to inherit heaven. He will not “fall from grace.” The LDS perceives no analogous type of “saved” condition immediately following his conversion and baptism. Though he receives an almost-free gift of justification, he believes the evangelical “salvation,” that follows confession, does not actually exist. His salvation will come only after a lifetime of striving to repent and obey and will not be formalized until the moment of his resurrection and admission into one of three eternal kingdoms of glory. Following his conversion, he is fully aware he has a solemn obligation to obey the Lord’s command over his lifetime. If he does not, he will fall from grace. The kingdom of glory he eventually inherits will depend on the level of his striving and succeeding in obedience to the Lord’s commands. The near gratuitous form of “repentance” and “justification” experienced at baptism will both now become part of an ongoing, incremental lifelong process. He must constantly and diligently strive to deny his natural self, stop committing sin, and obey the Lord’s commands. As he does so, the Lord will repeatedly and incrementally, by virtue of his mercy and grace, justify and sanctify him. By this process he will grow to become more and more like God.

It is possible to say the words of commitment and not mean them (Matthew 7:21- 27). But salvation cannot be attained in this manner. It is even possible to say the words and sincerely hope that we mean them. This is similarly futile. Salvation can only come after we have proven ourselves through our diligent obedience.

The prophet Moroni taught that God’s grace is a conditional and not an unconditional gift to us. It comes when we “deny ourselves of ungodliness” and “love God” with all our might. Both of these actions involve our striving, over time, to obey him. Only then can we gain the full benefits of his grace. Only then can we earn the spiritual growth (sanctification) necessary for our salvation. Moroni wrote:

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot (Moroni 10:32-33).

#More on the Relationship between Grace and Works

Grace and Works in the scriptures. Blomberg has noted what he calls “two distinct strands of New Testament texts in regard to salvation.” He writes:

The first group of texts rejects the necessity of works and strongly stresses God’s grace, obtained through faith (or belief), as the sole means of a restored relationship with God. Ephesians 2:8-9 puts it most bluntly: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Galatians and Romans were particularly instrumental in Martin Luther’s conversion, which in turn provided the main impetus for the Protestant Reformation in the early 1500s, with such texts as Galatians 3:11: “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith” (cf. Romans 3:21-28). In the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly tells people, “Your faith has saved you” (Matthew 9:22; Luke 7:50; 17:19). In Acts 16:31 Paul and Silas explain to the Philippian jailer that the way he can be saved is to “believe in the Lord Jesus.” And in perhaps the most famous verse in the all the Bible, the apostle John writes, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Another set of passages, however, stresses that genuine faith inevitably demonstrates itself in good works. Following immediately after Ephesians 2:8-9, verse 10 continues, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Galatians 5 describes the fruits of the Spirit’s presence in our lives—“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (verses 22-23) and states explicitly that the only thing that counts in God’s eyes is “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). James makes this even clearer. While the works of the Old Testament law can save no one, faith without the works that flow from receiving the gospel of Christ is dead and unable to save (James 2:14, 17-20, 24, 26). Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount declares, “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). In John’s Gospel Jesus differentiates the saved from the lost on the basis of having done good or evil deeds (John 5:29) (HWD, 166-67).

Calvinists stress the first set of texts, at times almost to the virtual exclusion of the latter. They strongly emphasize the grace, sovereignty, and pre-determinationism of God. Arminians tend to stress the second group of texts.

There are other scriptures that stress the need for works. Actually, the necessity of works was abundantly taught in New Testament times. Consider the following scriptures: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21-23); “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:26-27); “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27); and “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-20); In 1 John 2:4 we read, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them” (Revelation 14:13) and “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works” (Revelation 20:12- 13).

Paul himself wrote: “[God] will render to every man according to his deeds” (Romans 2:6); “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified” (Romans 2:13); “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12); “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16); and “Being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Hebrews 5:9).

The first and great commandment of the law is to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37). He has made it abundantly clear. In order to keep this first and greatest commandment, we must strive to obey him. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Further, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).

Our enhanced understanding of faith. We know that our expression of genuine faith is more than a verbal exercise. The faith we manifest for Christ and his gospel subsequent to our conversion/baptism is not a mere expression of belief. The most fundamental type of faith, “deliberate faith,” is a principle of action.7 The LDS expression of faith implies a ready willingness to deliberately obey. When we express faith in the Savior, we reveal our willingness to make him Lord of our lives and deliberately imitate his behavior (John 14:15, 21; 15:8, 10; Romans 6:16; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

The LDS emphasis on works. It is quite true that Latter-day Saints emphasize the importance of works or “behaviors” much more than some other Christians. We understand the necessity of works to be the clear teaching of scripture. Frankly, another motive is our reaction to those Christians who teach “easy grace” (assurance of heavenly salvation without the necessity of honest and diligent striving to obey).

Robinson writes of yet “another factor”:

Another factor that predisposes Latter-day Saints to stress the value of works is the cultural pressure of a Western, survivalist, do-ityourself pioneer heritage in which work is a primary virtue. The social and cultural value of work can influence its theological value. Further, a theological focus on the goal of Christian commitment (to become like Christ), instead of on the beginning of Christian commitment (“justification through faith in Christ”), has often tilted LDS attention toward ultimate perfection rather than toward conversion.

Still, salvation by works without grace, making ourselves just and worthy without Christ, is a concept incompatible with LDS scripture and LDS faith and has been identified by church leaders as a “heresy,” even though it has at times been common at the popular level (Bruce McConkie, “Seven Deadly Heresies of the Modern Church,” Devotional Speeches of the Year, 77-78) (HWD, 148).

#The Origin of the Notion of Salvation by Grace

Why does the heresy of salvation by grace alone even exist in the first place? One of the early religious reformers, Martin Luther, believed in and preached that justification, or perfect harmony with God, is achieved by faith alone (Philip Schaff,

History of the Christian Church, 7:111, 116-17, 122- 24). Luther’s beliefs probably arose, and quite understandably, from a misinterpretation of the teachings of Paul in the New Testament. Paul taught, for example: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16). Also, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). Also, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).

So what of Paul and his teachings? Why do some of them seem to be so misleading? Keep in mind that Paul preached in a setting where the predominant nonpagan religious philosophy was Judaism. The Jews held that one must strive for “justification by the law.” For the Jews, the law of Moses was everything and allconsuming. The Jews believed everything necessary for salvation existed within the soul of man. Man himself was a wholly sufficient resource for gaining salvation. Jewish law evolved to contain precise and even ridiculously-specific extrapolations of the law. These challenging, rigorous specifics were necessary to enable man to live the law with precision. This entitled him to be justified by the law. These specifics pertained to such areas as circumcision, Sabbath day observance, ritual washings and cleansings, dietary laws, and observances of Jewish festivals. Since Judaism taught that justification comes by obedience to the law, then it was natural for them to assume that a savior or mediator was unnecessary. Jews assumed that God could simply forgive people at will because he is God. He would forgive man based on the quantity and quality of his works. Because of this view, they rejected Christ, and even the idea of Christ. From the standpoint of salvation, Jesus Christ was an irrelevance to them.

There was a tendency among many early Jewish Christians to insist that Christianity still required obedience to these Mosaic principles. When Paul taught that we are justified by faith, grace, and a confession of Christ, he was emphasizing what the Jews lacked and most needed to learn. He taught them that salvation did not come by virtue of their living the law. They could not be redeemed from spiritual death without the effects of Christ’s great atoning sacrifice. Therefore, ultimately, it was by the grace of God that they were saved, not by any act of theirs. They were absolutely powerless to save themselves. Their works alone were not adequate. One cannot be justified by the law. Paul was absolutely right, and the Jews of his day badly needed his message!

#Christ’s Mercy and Grace Are Absolutely Necessary

Modern-day scripture attests abundantly of the absolute necessity of the Lord’s mercy and grace in order for any man to be saved. For example, Mosiah 3:17: “And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.” And 2 Nephi 2:5-8: “And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil. And the law is given unto men. And by the law no flesh is justified . . . Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered. . . . There is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit.” Our own third Article of Faith emphasizes the necessity of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice as well as our obedience (works): “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved [exalted], by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel” (italics mine).

We freely acknowledge that a man’s works, manifest in the form of obedience to gospel law, are not sufficient, no matter how diligent the man may be. He cannot qualify for the celestial heaven on his own merits. The Lord’s grace and mercy are mandatory.

Robinson writes:

I readily grant that anyone who believes that it is possible to earn salvation apart from the merits, mercy, and grace of Christ is not a true Christian nor, as the Book of Mormon clearly indicates (2 Nephi 2:8), a true Latter-day Saint. Such a doctrine is foreign to the religion I practice and teach, and I am not aware of any element within the LDS Church that would propose any other name or any other way into the kingdom of God than through Christ Jesus.

It is fundamental to both the Bible and the Book of Mormon (for example, 2 Nephi 31:21 or Moroni 7:26) that there is no other name than Jesus Christ whereby humans can be saved. This is what I believe; it is what I was taught growing up; it is what I teach my students and what I teach my children. Faithful Latter-day Saints declare with Nephi, “I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell” (2 Nephi 33:6) (HWD, 143-44).

#The Appropriate Balance of Grace/Mercy and Works

We know we are saved by a combination of our works and the Lord’s mercy and grace. The rules are clearly spelled out: “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). C. S. Lewis appropriately commented on the balance between grace and works required for salvation. He said it is like “asking which blade in a pair of scissors is [more] necessary” (Mere Christianity, 129).

Protestants object to our belief in the cooperation of faith and works to produce salvation. They give the negative term “synergism” to this combination. They claim that works come after a fully completed salvation by grace through faith alone and have little or no impact on the fact of salvation.

#Protestants and Mormons yearn for spiritual security

All religious men and women seek for spiritual security. We each yearn to be reassured of our standing before God. We want to feel certain we are going to heaven. It is therefore readily understandable just how attractive the concept of once-savedalways-saved is to a Protestant.

We LDS also seek for eternal security, but we believe the saint must “endure to the end” (Matthew 24:13; Mark 13:13). We reject the Calvinist doctrine of eternal security, or once-saved-always-saved. We accept the possibility that we may “fall from grace” (Galatians 5:4; 2 Peter 3:17) or fail to “endure to the end.”

It is a misconception that enduring to the end means hanging on by one’s fingernails in a spiritually static condition until we are claimed by death. We have made the point previously that there are “no plateaus in spiritual growth.” If one is not growing spiritually, one is declining. We must never stop striving to deny our natural self and obey the Lord’s commands. The covenant relationship with Christ must be perpetuated pro-actively by an individual’s persistent striving to become more like the Master. Then, as we discussed previously, we also can experience spiritual security even during this life. This security is available to all men who, over time, are diligently obedient to the Lord’s commands.7

#Summing Up

It is clear by now that this disagreement between us stems from two fundamental sources of misunderstanding:

1. For the Evangelical, “salvation” begins at the moment of their confession and extends throughout the rest of their lives. We deny the very existence of this specific phenomenon they call “salvation.” For us, salvation comes after a lifetime of striving to be obedient to the Lord’s commands and being repeatedly and mercifully justified and sanctified.

2. After the initial confession/conversion experience, they feel obedience to the commandments (works) is desirable but not essential. We know that they are essential. The very purpose of mortality is to learn to deny our natural selves. We are here to become more like God. This must be done diligently and pro-actively. This perspective is quite different from that of the Evangelicals.

Robinson writes:

In accepting the gospel covenant we agree to make Jesus Lord of our lives and in our lives. To deny him his lordship and our subsequent obedience is to deny him, regardless of what we might profess to believe about him (Matthew 7:21).

Latter-day Saints enthusiastically endorse the validity of salvation through grace by faith (D&C 20:30) but insist that “faith” not be totally divorced from its Semitic origin meaning “faithful” (Hebrew ‘aman) and become watered down to mean mere mental assent (James 2:14-26, esp. verse 19). To have “faith” in Christ must in some degree imply subsequent “faithfulness” to Christ as Lord (HWD, 145).

Brother Robinson writes further:

For Evangelicals “salvation by works” is something erroneous that someone might attempt before or instead of coming to Christ. For Latterday Saints “salvation by works” is a positive term for serving and obeying Christ after conversion and not falling from grace. Latter-day Saints and Evangelicals are talking about different things even though they use the same term. Unfortunately, however, Evangelical antipathy to the term “salvation by works” (as they define it) is such that if the term even comes up, it ends the discussion and poisons the well—though the LDS usually mean something completely different than they think we do.

Paul used the phrase “work out your own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) in the LDS sense, not meaning we should bring about initial justification by our own merits without Christ, but rather meaning we should continue in bearing the fruits or works of conversion until the end. Even though the LDS talk about works all the time and may even use the phrase “salvation by works,” it always means serving Christ after being converted so as not subsequently to fall from grace.

To accept Christ and make him the Lord in our lives and of our lives is by definition to accept the obligation of his children to serve and obey him henceforth (Romans 2:8; 6:16). To refuse him service is to refuse him lordship. The Bible teaches that true faith includes obedience, and that obedience is part of being “in Christ” (Paul’s words). See, for example, Paul’s use of the term “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 16:26), “obeying the truth” (Romans 2:8; 6:17; Galatians 3:1; 5:7), “obeying the gospel” (Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8), and the importance of the “obedience” that leads to righteousness (Romans 6:16-17). According to Peter, Christians are sanctified “unto obedience” (1 Peter 1:2); they “obey the gospel” (1 Peter 4:17); “obey the truth” (1 Peter 1:22); and “obey the word” (1 Peter 3:1). Luke quotes Peter as teaching that the Holy Spirit is given by God “to them that obey him” (Acts 5:32), and the author of Hebrews states that Christ himself “learned obedience” and is the author of salvation “unto all that obey him” (Hebrews 5:8-9). John sees the truth as something one does as much as something one believes (John 3:21; 1 John 1:6; 3:7), just as Jesus urges us to “do his word” rather than just to “hear” it in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:24-27). There is clearly a need for the born again to behave and obey—not as a condition for being born again, but as an obligation that being born again incurs (HWD, 155-

57).

The doctrine is simple and true. We make no apology for our belief in saving works. Alma said, in counseling his wayward son Corianton, “But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God” (Alma 42:22).

1 See the discussion of the theological acronym “T.U.L.I.P.” in “Predestination” in chapter 10, The Afterlife.

2 See the important discussion of the concepts of justification, sanctification, and

repentance in volume 1, chapter 17, Justification and Sanctification and in volume 3, chapter 4, Repentance.

3 It is important to recognize the differences between obedience and covenant. See a discussion of the phenomenon of covenant making in the Church in volume 2, chapter 3, Covenants and Covenant Making.

4 See a more complete discussion of these concepts in volume 1, chapters 7, Spiritual Growth—Gifts of the Spirit, chapter 8, The Blessings of Spiritual Gifts, and chapter 17, Justification and Sanctification.

5 See “The Blessing of Earthly Salvation” in volume 3, chapter 7, Salvation.

6 Baptism consists of three separate vital parts. Each has a vital role in our subsequent spiritual growth as discussed in volume 1, chapter 18, Baptism, the Ordinance that Brings Spiritual Growth.

7 See a discussion of deliberate faith and the other types of faith in volume 1, chapters 9, 10, and 11, Revealed Faith, Deliberate Faith and Revealed Faith, and Other Notes on Faith.

8 Again, see note 5 of this chapter.