Born of the Word

“…except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

I have often wondered why Paul didn’t just say Faith comes by hearing the word of God, and have concluded that the double emphasis on ‘hearing’ means we must ‘hear’ the word as the Lord intended we ‘hear’ it. This emphasis on ‘hearing’ the word of God is why the Lord spoke in parables. Also I’ve wondered why it does not say anything about faith comes by reading the word of God. 

Reading and hearing are different experiences. We can read and not hear, but we do not have a chance to hear if we do not read His written words. Faith does not come by simply reading the word of God. We must ‘hear’ it in order to develop faith. The concept of ‘hearing’ the word of God comes from several scriptures, and is related to hearing the voice of God through His word. (D&C 18:34-36) 

The Savior, in telling us why He uses parables, says: ” For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever continueth not to receive, from him shall be taken even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matt. 13:12-13 JS Translation).

The Savior then references Isaiah, “which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matt. 12:14-15; Isa. 6:9-10). 

The Savior then gives, as the first parable, the parable of the sower as well as the interpretation of it, and yet hearers do not hear and perceive. I have heard the parable of the sower taught many times in gospel doctrine classes where the emphasis is put on the soil, where more often than not, class members and teachers like to think that we are the good soil. 

Ask what is it that he wants you to hear and perceive? It is the sower (Christ) who is sowing the seed (the word of God). Some hear the word and understand it not; some hear the word and receive it with joy, but persecution arises because of the word and they are offended; others receive the word of God but the cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and they become unfruitful. Others receive the word and nourish it and understand it and it beareth fruit. In other words the seed (word of God) is found in those that receive it, and when it is nourished, the word brings forth the fruit (not the person). Obstacles to Receiving the Word of God

Remember that He said that He is the vine and we are the branches and the branches cannot of themselves bring forth fruit. This is further illustrated in the Allegory of the Olive Tree found in Jacob 5 (which relates to the parable of the sower), where the servant tells the Lord that certain branches had overcome the root and had began to take ‘strength unto themselves’ and had become corrupted. (vs. 48) This is precisely the problem when we start to believe we are the good soil and it is because of us that the seed grows—an excellent example of hearing but not understanding and seeing but not perceiving. 

The power is in the word, which is the Spirit of Jesus Christ (D&C 84:45). Note that the Lord ‘nourishes His vineyard by sowing His seed (the word of God), and we are told in Jacob 5:71 that we are in the time where the Lord has nourished the vineyard (sown His word) for the last time. See also 1 Timothy 4:6; Alma 32:37 and Moroni 6:4. Again this is made clear in Alma 32 wherein “…if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to experiment upon my words, and exerciseth a particle of faith….” (vs 27). 

The seed is the word, and through the experiment you will know that the seed is good, if you don’t cast it out because of your unbelief. You will know that it (the word/seed) is good because it will begin to grow within you, “for it beginneth to enlarge” your soul and ”it beginneth to lighten” your understanding and ”it beginneth to be delicious unto” you. (vs 30) Again notice that while we need to nourish the seed, it is not us that are good, but the word of God, and that we are to be nourished by the good word of God. (Moroni 6:4) 

By planting an apple seed, one could expect that it would grow into an apple tree, but what kind of tree does the word of God (the seed) grow into? In scripture there are several allegories concerning a tree, Zenos’ allegory of the olive tree (Jacob 5) being the most descriptive, even though there are also allegories concerning trees in Isaiah (Isaiah 11) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:15-20). Paul and Nephi also use the olive tree imagery. But the message is that the tree is both a people and a record of God’s word that come together to bear fruit, i.e, a celestial people. The Lord nourishes His trees (peoples) in His vineyard with His word. The trees (peoples) that bring forth good fruit have themselves received His word and use His word to nourish themselves, and by doing so they become a ‘precious people’ or celestial people. 

A brief summary of Alma 32 will show how the Lord uses the allegory of a tree to typify His word. Alma likens God’s word to a seed: the seed is nourished and grows into a tree. (Alma 32:28-37) If the tree is not cared for, it may decay and even die. (Alma 32:38-40) But if one nourishes it well, “looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.” (Alma 32:41) 

The tree’s fruit is “most precious”—the result of faith, diligence, patience, and long suffering in nourishing the word of God. (Alma 32:42-43). We as a people are to be nourished continually by the good word of God, and so the word increases our faith in Christ and in His words, and we desire to receive more, and as we do so, our faith in Christ and His words continues to grow, until we are changed by the word (by Christ) and partake of the precious fruit, i.e., become the precious fruit. 

Jacob, following Zenos’ allegory of the olive tree places the emphasis on the word of God: “For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire? Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?” (Jacob 6:7-8) 

Another metaphor which describes the same process as planting the word of God as a seed, is being born of the word. Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except (one) be born again, (one) cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). Being born to see refers to the process by which a person reads and hears the word of God, and through the power of the word, is able to see and understand the things of God and to know they are true. 

This can also be likened to a fetus in the womb, quickened with life, but liable to perish, unless born of the water and of the spirit. On the other hand those who have been baptized and confirmed, but have not had true faith in Christ through His words, are stillborn and must be brought to life by the powers of the Spirit, which is His word. Without being quickened with life, we are likely to hear and not understand—use reason and human understanding rather than receiving His word and letting it work in us, thereby receiving His spirit which giveth life and leads to faith and repentance. 

We learn but are never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Receiving light allows us to receive more light, but if we do not continue in the light and ‘continueth to receive, from (us) shall be taken even that (we have).’ 

A similar imagery is that of Christ being the vine. Christ says: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch (person, people) in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me (and in His words which is His light and His spirit), and I in you (is the word of God found in you?). As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:1-5; see also John 15:6-11). 

The formula for faith coming by hearing the word of God, and thereby receiving it, is found in Mosiah 3. King Benjamin has just spoken the words which had been delivered to him by an angel of God, the people had fallen to the earth seeing themselves in their lost and fallen state, and exercising faith in Christ, received a remission of their sins. King Benjamin then “again opened his mouth and began to speak unto them saying: My friends and my brethern, my kindred and my people, I would again call your attention, that you may hear and understand the remainder of my words which I shall speak unto you.” (These are God’s words delivered to Benjamin by the angel.) vs. 4 “For behold, if the knowledge of the goodness of God (coming through the word of God) at this time has awakened you to a sense of your nothingness, and your worthless and fallen state—I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life…. I say, that this is the man that receiveth salvation, through the atonement…. And this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you.” vs. 5-8 

So the combination of the knowledge of the Goodness of God and the knowledge of our worthless and fallen state is the formula for putting our faith in Christ. 

This is what Mormon and Paul described as godly sorrow (“sorrowing unto repentance, because of the goodness of God”), which is the only sorrow that results in repentance (“godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation”). (Mormon 2:13; 2 Cor. 7:9-10) Through His words I have come to experience what George MacDonald said: “Is my faith so little that I cling to the deeds I do, calling them good because I am afraid to see the evil in me? Yet it is only through seeing the evil in me that I can exercise faith to see the good in Him.” 

This is the effect that Godly sorrow has on us. King Benjamin then gives the scriptural definition of what it means to endure to the end: “And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel. And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true (Mosiah 4:11-12).