BELIEVING CHRIST
– Stephen Robinson
THE GREAT DILEMMA
God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance (D&C 1:31).
Everybody sins. Since we all commit sins, and God cannot tolerate sin, none of us are worthy to enter God’s kingdom.
THE GOOD NEWS
Atonement: Taking two things that have become separate or incompatible and bringing them together again, thus making the two “at one.”
God can erase our sins
Believing Christ
We must believe in Christ’s identity and in his ability and power to cleanse and save—to make unworthy sons and daughters worthy.
Unless we accept the real possibility that we can be exalted, we do not yet have faith in Christ.
Faith in Christ gives us access to the principles of repentance, baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
The Demand for Perfection
The good news isn’t that perfect people can be reconciled to God but that imperfect people can be.
The Shortcut to Perfection
Jesus Christ will share his perfection, his sinlessness, his righteousness with us.
In the short run we are considered perfect by becoming one with a perfect Christ.
In the long run, this makes it possible for us to become perfect in our own right.
Being Saved
To some degree, we all fail to perfectly keep all the commandments of God, so we all fail to reach perfection on our own merits.
Many lose faith when they realize that they cannot reach perfection on their own.
Many fall from righteousness because they believe that by living righteously, they will miss out on something important that the world has to offer.
Both of these are evidences that we do not trust Him.
How Perfection Comes
Becoming one with Christ in the gospel covenant gives us access to His perfection.
Taken together, Christ and I make up a new creature. My old creature ceases to exist. The two of us, Christ and I, are perfect. It isn’t that we merely can become perfect later on, we are perfect. It is not individual perfection (on my part), but his merits make our partnership perfect, as long as I’m sincerely striving to keep the commandments (Moro. 10:32-33; 3 Ne. 27:16, 19-21).
Through the covenant, we are not judged separately and alone, but as one with Christ.
Mathematically, anything subtracted from infinite is still infinite. Regardless of how much our weaknesses add up, if we are in a covenant relationship with Christ, his infinite mercy and perfection compensate for our weaknesses.
THE COVENANT
A covenant is a contract, an agreement with terms and obligations binding upon both parties.
Justification
To be justified means to be declared innocent, to be acquitted of all charges of misconduct, to stand guiltless before the law.
The law of Moses was established on justice (justification by law). The gospel covenant uses the law of mercy (justification by faith).
The Apostle Paul characterized the old covenant of Moses as a system of justification by law or by works.
According to Paul, anyone stupid enough to trust his own ability to keep all the rules makes the atonement of Christ ineffectual in his own life (Gal. 5:4, 3:10-13).
Justification by Faith in Christ
In the New Testament, the two covenants were compared to different yokes or burdens. The obligation to law was a heavy yoke or a yoke of bondage (Gal. 5:1; Acts 15:10) and the obligation of the gospel was deemed light (Matt. 11:28-30).
There is no heavier yoke than perfection, the curse of the law.
Keeping the Commandments
We generally say “keeping the commandments” when what we really mean is “trying to hard to keep the commandments and succeeding most of the time.” Defined in this way, the phrase describes the attempts at obedience that the new covenant requires as our token of “good faith.”
The whole purpose of the law of the gospel is to provide a way for people who have not kept all the commandments all the time to still be exalted until they ultimately attain perfection.
In the New Testament, when Paul talks about justification by works, he’s talking about keeping all the commandments all the time. In which case, he correctly asserts that we cannot “keep the commandments” in this sense, and thus assigns appropriate condemnation to us unless we look to Christ for salvation.
The Terms of the New Covenant
Faith in Christ
Repentance
Baptism
Gift of the Holy Ghost
Receiving the Holy Ghost verifies that our end of the gospel covenant is being kept. Thus we are truly cleansed of all past sins and are worthy to have a God as our companion.
Like tithing, the terms of this covenant are in one sense the same for everyone, yet in another sense different for each according to individual ability. Christ requires from each of us the same percentage, 100%; all that we have. May 100% is different from other people’s, but Christ doesn’t require more than I can give and what I can give is sufficient. I neither need to be jealous of people who have or produce more (don’t try to do more than you can, D&C 10:4) nor should look down upon those who have or produce less.
Attitude
Christ’s judgment of our efforts is not based upon our performance or goodness but our attitude—the condition of our heart (broken heart, contrite spirit).
The Sacrament
Because conversion and repentance are not once-and-for-all and because we do not keep all the commandments all of the time, we need the sacrament.
In the sacrament prayer, “they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son” is imperative because we will not keep all the commandments all of the time, but we must commit weekly to try to do just that. This is the desire of my heart.
The Acceptability of Committed Hearts
The gifts of the spirit are “given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments, and him that seeketh to do so.” It is the attitude of our hearts, not merely perfect obedience, that provides us with the Lords’ gifts.
SAVED BY GRACE
The gospel isn’t always fair—it’s merciful.
Some don’t like mercy because it seems too easy. In other words, “I can’t accept mercy because it doesn’t feel like justice.”
Hell receives power over individuals only to the extent and duration that are warranted for the payment of individual debts. It’s part of God’s plan (2 Ne. 9:27).
By definition, mercy can only be mercy if we don’t deserve it.
Grace
In the New Testament, grace refers to God’s attitude of goodwill that predisposes Him to act positively toward human beings.
We see a similar relationship between earthly parents and their children. Kids consume much more than they produce, yet parents are predisposed to treat them with favor.
The child’s entreaty “Please!” is an appeal for parental grace.
The term grace is also used to describe a quality that is responsive or reactive to human behavior. When spoken of in this sense, God’s favor or grace is not a preexisting given but is something that can be sought after, increased, decreased, or even lost completely by an individual’s own actions.
Saved by Grace
Latter Day Saints believe that the gospel covenant is provided by sheer grace, but it must be entered into by choice.
Did attaching a condition to grace destroy its character? Suppose someone offers you an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii (grace), does requiring you to respond to the invitation by a specific date (work) nullify the graciousness of the gift? No!
Faith vs. Works
To insist that we can be saved by works alone insults the mercy Christ extended. And to say that we are saved by grace alone insults the justice of God and makes Christ the minister of sin.
The relationship between grace and works is that we are required to do what we are able to do, and Jesus Christ, the object of our faith, does what we are not yet able to do.
It is true that we cannot save ourselves by our works, but we can contribute something to the joint efforts of the partnership. The tern covenant implies that we must do something.
Two people riding on a tandem bicycle may not do the same amount of work, but if the weaker uses this fact as an excuse to pick up his feet, the arrangement goes from being a partnership to exploitation.
Doing all we can do demonstrates our sincerity and our commitment to the covenant.
Resisting Grace
Three reasons why believing we can save ourselves is not only misinformed but evil:
It places an impossible burden eventually leading to give up on God.
It keeps us from admitting our dependence on Christ and recognizing His role as Savior.
It perpetuates the arrogance that one is without imperfection, i.e. it’s pride.
In Moses 4:1 we are told that Satan insisted, “Surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.” When we fail to admit our utter dependence on God, we are guilty of a satanic attitude.
My Yoke is Easy
Grace has eliminated every excuse but one: “I just don’t want to follow you; I prefer my sins to your kingdom.”
Some will not submit to Christ because they believe that doing so would make life too easy (Alma 37:46).
Some Fruits of Grace
It has the power to transform us, to give us a mighty change of heart.
MISUNDERSTANDING GRACE
The false doctrine of salvation by grace without commitment violates the terms of the gospel covenant by asking Jesus to do for me what I could very well do for myself—but don’t want to.
Certainly those who say, “I’m doing the best I can,” but then willfully break the commandments need to learn the difference between wanting righteousness and wishing they wanted righteousness (D&C 50:7-8).
Easy Grace
Grace doesn’t permit us not to serve, it simply states that we should not feel guilty for the service we cannot render.
The only proof that what God says is true comes through the private witness of the Spirit.
Gospel Superlatives
There are a great many superlatives used in the scriptures and the Church to exhort the Saints and describe their obligations: all our heart, our greatest desire, always, every, never, and so on. We must remember that applied to mortals these terms are aspirational—that is, they define our desires and set our goals—that in each case the circumstances of the individual determine what “all,” “the best,” or “the greatest” mean, and that “never,” “every,” or “always” are goals to be reached with the help of Christ through his atonement.
After All We Can Do
At first glance, we may think that grace is provided only after all we can do, but this is false, for we have received gestures of grace before we even come to this point (See 2 Nephi 25:23). Actually, this scripture denotes logical separateness rather than temporal sequence. We are saved by grace “apart from all we can do” or “regardless of all we can do.” “We are saved by grace, after all is said and done.”
Even the phrase “all we can do” is susceptible to a sinister interpretation as meaning every single good deed we could conceivably have ever done. But if this were so, none could qualify for the grace of God. If is precisely because we don’t always do everything we could have done that we need a savior in the first place. The emphasis should be “all we can do” as opposed to all he can do.
But when have I Done Enough?
The right question is “When is my offering acceptable to the Lord? When are my efforts acceptable for the time being?” You see, the answer to the former question, “When have I done enough?” is never in this life. Since the goal is perfection, the Lord can never unconditionally approve an imperfect performance.
When you enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and gifts of the Spirit, you may know that God accepts your efforts—for now—and that we are justified before God by our faith in Christ.
Giving Him Everything
As long as we won’t give up but endure to the end in the gospel harness, pulling toward the kingdom, our reward is sure.
False Perfection
The use of the word perfect as “unimprovable” is almost never its scriptural meaning.
In the New Testament the Greek word translated “perfect” is teleios. It means ripe, mature, ready, complete, whole, and so forth. An apple on the tree might be called teleios when it was ripe and ready to be picked, but that doesn’t mean it was an unimprovable apple. It might still have a worm in it.
Brigham Young explained perfection to be “…if they do the very best they know how, they are perfect…and justified.”
Then Why the Demand for More?
One purpose of the Church is to perfect the Saints. Since we make the most progress by working at the limits of our abilities, then no matter how much we do or how well we do it, the Lord—like the spotter in the gym—will always ask for more, will always seek improvement, will always push us toward perfection. We perform at the limits of our abilities (for that is where the real power is gained) and let God worry about the rest.
The “easiness” of the Savior’s yoke does not mean we can expect to be excused from the hard tasks of life. Rather his yoke is easy (a) because it makes what was formerly impossible (the yoke of the law of Moses) possible and (b) because he grants compensatory blessings and grace to help through the hard times.
Individual Perfection
Occurs someday after death.
The Comfort of Knowing
“Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.” (D&C 123:17; 106:8; Eph. 3:12.)
We must believe before we will feel the confirmation we’re looking for.
Trust Me
At times, when the panic of life threatens to paralyze us, we must believe Christ. We must hear his voice, “Calm Down! I’m your Father, and I love you. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I’ve got you! You’re perfectly safe. Now relax and trust me, and I’ll teach you what you need to do.”
“LORD, HOW IS IT DONE?”
Now we must look at the Atonement from the perspective of the One who atones, of the Savior rather than of the saved.
The Divinity of Christ
First of all, Jesus was God, not only the Son of God or the Elder Brother, but God in his own right.
The Apostle Paul explains that Christ created all things and has the power to hold all his creations together (Col. 1:16).
During the events associated with the Atonement, God—in the person of God the Son, Jesus Christ—took moral responsibility for all the negatives—the suffering, pain, and death—that are a necessary part of the plan of God.
At times, the plan asks us to suffer; it asks some of us to suffer horribly. It is therefore only fair that the God who administers such a plan and who asks us to live by it should himself be willing to suffer under its provisions more than any of us.
In the gospel of Jesus Christ, there are no “fall guys.” For he who proposed the plan is the one who suffers the most under it. This gives him the moral right to say, “It is a good plan; it’s the right thing.”
Some critics have suggested that Christianity is just another religion of human sacrifice. The profound difference is that with human sacrifices the intent is that human beings suffer to reconcile God to humanity, while in Christianity God himself—Jesus Christ—suffers and dies to reconcile humanity to himself and to his Father.
The Humanity of Christ
The same Jesus Christ who is God the Son is also one of us. He was human in every respect (“in all things”)—right down to being tempted like other human beings. And because he personally has been tempted, Christ can empathize with us and help us to overcome temptation.
It doesn’t matter how patiently a bird might show me how to fly, or a fish might show me how to breathe underwater. I don’t have wings, and I don’t have gills. These cannot teach me because we are not the same being. Christ was genuinely human, so he could be the perfect example.
Being tempted, even being tempted greatly or over a long period of time, is not in itself a sin. We seldom choose what we will be tempted by, or how strong or how frequent our temptations will be. Still, as long as we resist them, we remain innocent. Thus, for the scripture to maintain that he “hath suffered being tempted” does not insult the Savior or detract from his moral perfection.
Vicarious Suffering
According to the scriptures, he knows more of the dark side than any of us. He suffered every negative. In the Garden of Gethsemane and on the hill of Calvary, Jesus took upon himself the sins and the pains of all the world.
Jesus Christ did not just assume the punishment for our sins—he took the guilt as well.
If Jesus had assumed only the punishment for our sins but not the sins themselves, then when the penalty was paid, we would merely be “guilty but forgiven,” instead of being sanctified through the Atonement, being perfect-in-Christ.
In a sense it would be correct to say that while Jesus committed no sins, he has been guilty of them all and knows intimately and personally their awful weight.
Is it possible that the Heavenly Father had really forsaken him? Yes, indeed. For Christ had become guilty of the sins of the world, guilty in our place. What happens to the rest of us when we are guilty of sin? The spirit withdraws from us, the heavens turn to brass, and we are left alone to stew in our guilt until we repent. (D&C 76:107.)
Below All Things
In Gethsemane and on Calvary, in his horrible suffering and death, the Savior descended below all things, just as in his resurrection he ascended above all things. Between those two events, Jesus Christ compassed either personally or vicariously the whole range of possible human experiences and circumstances from the worst to the best. He has been lower than the lowest of us and higher than the highest, so “that he comprehended all things.”
An Infinite Atonement
When Christ descended below all things, he crossed the line from the finite, that which can be measured, to the infinite. (2 Ne. 9:7.)