Repentance: Grace (And Not After All We Can Do)

These posts on Repentance are intended to be read in order from the beginning: 

Repentance: Introduction

At the bottom of each post is a link to the next one. 

I was teaching a High Priest Group one Sunday and during the discussion a member of the group brought up Nephi’s quote that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. It was quite a large group, probably more than 75 members. I asked “Has everyone here done all that they can?” After no response, I asked “Has anyone here done all that they can?” And of course no one raised their hand. So I concluded that if we read Nephi’s statement as only receiving grace after all we can do, then none of us will ever be saved by His grace.

Let’s look at what Nephi said: “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 emphasis added). The answer lies in what Nephi means when he says ‘all we can do.’ But first let’s talk about the grace of God.

The Lord said unto Alma, “Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming, his sons and daughters; and thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” (Mosiah 27:25-26 emphasis added).

Through the grace of Christ, following repentance and being born again, we are changed and become new creatures, and continue to become until perfected in/by Him. Not by any works of our own, but by the grace of Christ. Incorrectly grace and works are often described as either being saved by grace or saved by works. This is not an accurate comparison. In fact, in the scriptures the comparison is between faith and works, not grace and works. Paul said: “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:1-3 emphasis added). And then he says, and this is the point:

“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace” (Romans 4:16 emphasis added). Think of this for a minute: “It is of faith, that it might be by grace. ”Christ’s Grace then is something that comes as a result of our faith in Christ, the fruits of our repentance. We have access to Christ “by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2 emphasis  added). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 emphasis added).

When we have faith unto repentance and begin the process of repenting and turning to Christ, then we by His Grace, begin the process of being changed by Him, and it will be because of our faith in Christ.

There is always the temptation to try to describe how we are changed by Him, how His grace saves us. But isn’t it enough to just believe Him when He says “My Grace is sufficient for thee?” Putting our faith in Him means just that. We don’t need to analyze how His grace works, how His power changes us, only that it does. Isn’t it enough to know that it is through our faith in Him that we access His grace and His righteousness? Why is it that we tend to think that we can arrive at some satisfying explanation? Could it be that we lack faith in Him? That we don’t believe His words? Don’t His words have whatever power He has, no matter what we may think about them?

Take for example, a type was raised up in the wilderness by Moses that whosoever would look upon the staff would live. But few understood the meaning (perhaps tried to analyze, and because of unbelief they would not look and therefore perished. The reason they would not look “is because they did not believe that it would heal them” (Alma 33:19-20 emphasis added). Alma then asks (think of him asking you): “...if ye could be healed by merely casting your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your heart in unbelief” (Alma 33:21 emphasis added).

What we do know is that we access His grace through our faith in Him, and we gain faith by hearing the word of God, and through our faith we desire to repent and turn to Him to save us, to hold us guiltless. We do this by relying “wholly” or “alone” upon His merits (2 Nephi 31:19; Moroni 6:4; Helaman 14:13; Alma 24:8; 2 Nephi 2:8). It is so difficult to let go of our own merits. We have been so conditioned that it is about our goodness and righteousness, that we have a difficult time getting our heads around the fact that we do not merit anything of ourselves! Nothing! (Alma 22:14)

There are some fruits of our repentance, things that He, through His grace, starts to change in us as we turn to Him and put our faith and trust in Him, relying wholly upon His merits:

“Ye shall always rejoice;

Be filled with the love of God;

Always retain a remission of your sins;

Ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of Him that created you;

Ye shall grow in the knowledge of that which is just and true;

Ye will not have a mind to injure one another;

But to live peaceably;

Ye will desire to teach your children to walk in the ways of truth (His words) and to love and serve one another;

Ye will want to succor those that stand in need and administer of your substance unto him who standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain;

He will pour out His spirit upon you and cause that your heart should be filled with joy;

You will believe all the words which He has spoken to us;

And know of their surety and truth,

He will wrought a mighty change in you or in your heart;

You will have no more disposition to do evil;

You will have a disposition to do good continually;

You will have great views of that which is to come (Spirit of Prophecy) (Mosiah 5).

He changes us from our carnal and fallen state to a state of righteousness;

We become His sons and daughters; and

We become new creatures (Mosiah 27:25-26).

We become alive in Him.

We are born again and are filled with the Holy Ghost. Joseph Smith said that “The Holy Ghost has no other effect than pure intelligence. It is more powerful in expanding the mind, enlightening the understanding, and storing the intellect with present knowledge….it is calm and serene; and his whole soul and body are only exercised by the pure spirit of intelligence” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976], 149. emphasis added). We will talk about this in another post, but for now, just recognize how Joseph says “no other effect than pure intelligence.”

And Joseph Smith also said: “We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker and is caught up to dwell with Him” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976], 51. emphasis added)

John bore record of the “glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us. And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at first, but received grace for grace; and he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness. And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at first. …And he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him” (D&C 93:12-14;17 (emphasis added).

“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourself 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 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 emphasis added).

Paul’s experience with grace can become our own experience. He says that there was given to him “a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan” to buffet him, and for this he “besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart” from him. And Christ said unto him, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness….for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor 12:7-10 emphasis added).

And further:

“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27 emphasis added).

All this according to our faith in Him.

But he needs someone He can work with like the Publican. He cannot work with the Pharisee. He did, after all, come to the least, the last, the lost and the dead 

Christ said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight unto the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18 emphasis added).

And so if His grace is sufficient for us, why did Nephi say that we are saved by grace after all we can do? 

Next: Repentance: Grace--After All We Can Do