This is the third of a trilogy of posts on going on unto perfection. If you have not already, first read Leave First Principles and Go On Unto Perfection. At the end of each post is a link to the next.
“May God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works (the fruits of their repentance), that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works (which follow repentance according to their faith in Christ)” (Helaman 12: 24).
This post, which could also be named Sons and Daughters* Who May Also Become as Christ Is, adds more to the process by which we become perfect in Christ, how becoming perfect in Christ is the same as being sanctified by the blood of Christ, and how His truth or His words are not only part of the process but are also the result of being perfected in Him.
If we continue from grace to grace on our journeys through mortality; and if, as Jesus was called the Son of God, so we are called Jesus’ sons and daughters; and if we go on and attain a “fulness” of grace as he attained it, what is the process?
The Lord said to Adam:
To see how we are also sanctified by truth lets look to John. He said that Jesus asked His Father to
“Sanctify them through your truth— your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sake I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth. . . . And the glory you gave me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one— I in them and you in me that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me” (John 17: 18– 19, 22– 23 emphasis added).
Receiving a fulness of grace thus goes hand in hand with receiving a fulness of truth: “The Spirit of truth is of God. I am the Spirit of truth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth; And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things” (Doctrine & Covenants 93: 26– 28).
Paul alludes to this process as “the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20: 24), which gospel, he asserts, pertains to “the dispensation of God’s grace” (Ephesians 3: 2). The interrelationship of grace and truth tells us that we cannot benefit from the one without the other. Indeed, it seems self- evident that truth precedes grace, as God could hardly bless a person with His grace who pursues a course that isn’t grounded in the truth. On the other hand, our coming to the knowledge of God’s truth may itself depend on an endowment of God’s grace— on what we might call an initial infusion of grace to see what we will do with it. Either way, the truth that we seek, which leads to our continuing from “grace to grace,” pertains to the “gospel of grace”— the gospel of Jesus Christ.
More specifically, the covenant King Benjamin’s people made, involved their taking upon themselves the name of Jesus and doing all things in his name (Mosiah 5: 5– 15)— just as Jesus took upon himself the name of his Father and did all things in his name.
Just as Jesus saw himself able to “do nothing of himself” (John 5: 19, 30), so our viewing our own nothingness— while at the same time perceiving “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” (Mosiah 4: 6)— thus forms a prerequisite for our becoming sons and daughters of Christ. Taking upon ourselves the name of Christ, moreover, who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14: 6), makes us witnesses of what He represents.
“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: 33 emphasis added). In either case, “all ungodliness” is absent. Also note the link between grace and being sanctified.
He whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world” (John 10: 36), who was “made perfect” (Hebrews 5: 9) by doing the things He saw His Father do (John 5: 19). This embodies the very means of our being sanctified and made perfect, He being “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14: 6 emphasis added).
The way, because He paves the path to our becoming “sons (and daughters) of the Most High” (Psalms 82: 6); the truth, because He personifies the truth and teaches the truth (Ephesians 4: 21); the life, because He has “life in himself” given Him of the Father (John 5: 26) and is the source of “everlasting life” (John 4: 14 emphasis added).
In that light, the “power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1: 16) parallels the power of God unto exaltation. We move from grace to grace by the power of God. Becoming Sons and Daughters of God thus is an exalted state that occurs in mortality.
Christ said that, “Strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me. But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am ye shall be also. This is eternal lives— to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law” (Doctrine & Covenants 132: 22– 24 emphasis added).
Unlike people on lower spiritual levels, who are “not valiant in the testimony of Jesus” (Doctrine & Covenants 76: 79) or in the testimony of the truth, Sons and Daughters of God “bear testimony of the truth in all places” (Doctrine & Covenants 58: 47)— that is, “of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1: 2 emphasis added)— and they are willing to “suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5: 41). And in this they are being valiant and doing the work of God in the world, acting as saviors of men, through faith in Him. They become "the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified" (Isaiah 60:21).
“He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things” (Doctrine & Covenants 93: 28; emphasis added). As we more fully “come unto Christ”— who embodies light and truth (Alma 38: 9)— we thus more fully grow in light and truth.
Being “glorified in truth” reflects a point of spiritual advancement far beyond the early learner stage. As Jesus was glorified by the works He performed (cf. John 11: 4), so may we be glorified by the works we perform. As we read earlier: “If you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace” (Doctrine & Covenants 93: 20 emphasis added)— the purpose being “that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1: 12 emphasis added).
He therefore counsels us to “sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will” (Doctrine & Covenants 88: 68 emphasis added). Through that process men will “see my face and know that I am” (Doctrine & Covenants 93: 1).
As the Brother of Jared said. "Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie. And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you" (Ether 3:12-13 emphasis added).
The idea of our “knowing” all things (Doctrine & Covenants 93: 28) implies Jesus’ “showing” us all things.
“In that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Ether 4: 7 emphasis added).
Sanctification, faith, truth, grace and the power of God, here appear inextricably linked.
Abraham, whom God commanded to “walk before me and be perfect” (Genesis 17:1), wasn’t perfect to begin with. Born into an idolatrous civilization that suffered the curse of a famine (Genesis 26:1; Abraham 1:5, 30), Abraham not only took leave of his father and ownership of his generational iniquities—reversing the curse for himself and succeeding generations—he additionally “sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same” (Abraham 1:2). He desired greater light and truth, likely inspired by Melchizedek, his ancestor.
Says, Abraham, “Having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers” (Abraham 1:2). In the process, God tried him with the potential loss of his life (Abraham 1:12, 15–19), his wife (Genesis 12:14–15), and his only begotten son by Sarah (Genesis 22:1–12).
To attain godhood as Abraham attained it, therefore (Doctrine & Covenants 132:37), we must “do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39) and “offer [our] whole souls as an offering” to God (Omni 1:26), “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19 emphasis added). Those things also did Jesus: “I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning” (3 Nephi 11:11).
Says Peter, “The God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, make you perfect” (1 Peter 5:10 emphasis added). And again, “Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his footsteps” (1 Peter 2:21). As with Jesus, our suffering in His name forms an essential part of our attaining perfection: “If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:23–24).
Indeed, “All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12) so that it is a measure of our righteousness and a cause for our glory or exaltation: “If we suffer, we will also reign with [him]. But if we deny [him], he will also deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12); “All they who suffer persecution for my name, and endure in faith, though they are called to lay down their lives for my sake yet shall they partake of all this glory” (Doctrine & Covenants 101:35 emphasis added).
This is the pattern Jesus established: “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). For that reason—in order to attain the same glory—we enter into these things with our eyes open: “We see that Jesus, who in suffering death was made a little lower than the angels, was crowned with glory and honor because through the grace of God he would taste death for every man. For it became him—for whom all things are and by whom all things are—in bringing many sons (and daughters) to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one, for which reason he isn’t ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrew 2:9–11 emphasis added).
And this, from Alma: “The people of the church began to be lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and to set their hearts upon riches and upon the vain things of the world, that they began to be scornful, one towards another, and they began to persecute those that did not believe according to their own will and pleasure (Alma 4:8).
“They were lifted up in pride, even to the persecution of many of their brethren. Now this was a great evil, which did cause the more humble part of the people to suffer great persecutions, and to wade through much affliction. Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God” (Helaman 3:34–35 emphasis added). The suffering we incur for Jesus’ sake or for the truth’s sake thus purifies and sanctifies us if we bear it well.
“Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11–12). In other words, it is inevitable that when you follow Jesus in all things you will be persecuted to the degree that people will single you out and speak evil of you, ignore what you teach and treat you with distain, arrogantly thinking you have nothing to teach them; and that when you reach that point you are on the spiritual level of a prophet.
The highest form of suffering we may endure, on the other hand, is redemptive suffering, suffering because of those who refuse Christ. In this we emulate Christ, who suffered for others’ sake, not his own. Becoming even more so at some point, paying the price for other’s temporal salvation, we fulfil the role of spiritual kings and queens as Nephi did in his day, of whom Jacob said, “unto whom ye look as a king or a protector, and on whom ye depend for safety” (2 Nephi 6:2). That defines the role of saviors on Mount Zion: “Saviors will come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom will be the Lord’s” (Obadiah 1:21). Sons and daughters of Christ also act as saviors by bringing others to Christ.
It is clear that sanctification or becoming Sons and Daughters of God is a promise to those who keep His commandments. "Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day" (3 Nephi 27:20 emphasis added).
Our purification and sanctification will be assured: “The remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer” (Moroni 8:26 emphasis added). God promises us that in the midst of our trials “I will not leave you comfortless—I will come to you” (John 14:18).
"Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment" (Moses 6:58-61 emphasis added).
As you ascend, if you so desire, from just believing in Christ (Jacob/Israel) to actually repenting (Zion/ Jerusalem), to becoming saviors of men (Sons, Daughters/Servants), and beyond, you will experience His grace, His power, His truth, being sanctified and recreated by Him--eternal lives. Your works will the be His works, the result of your great faith in Him, not withstanding being persecuted for taking upon you His name.
See two previous posts:
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