Grace & Works - In Harmony Together

Today in Gospel Doctrine we talked about 1 Nephi chapters 12 through 14 and our teacher Sister Martin asked a question that also appeared in the student study guide that Jennifer had asked me this morning: "What are some doctrines that are difficult to understand in the Bible but plain and precious in the Book of Mormon?"  The reason Jen asked me the question this morning was because she said she was having a tough time coming up with an answer.  Her reasoning was that she was studying the Old Testament for seminary this year and everything was making sense to her as she studied her manual.  I pointed out to her that the manual was her advantage.  I said that along with the Old Testament scriptures, she also had the words of modern-day prophets along with the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price.  I mentioned both to Jen and in class how the Book of Mormon helps us to better understand the doctrines of baptism, the Atonement, the Fall, and grace—to name a few.  I also stated that the Book of Mormon helps to clarify how seemingly opposite gospel concepts like grace and works and mercy and justice operate in harmony together.

During the course of my mission and at various times since, this idea of grace vs works has appeared on my radar screen.  Thankfully, I’ve noticed over the last ten to fifteen years a shift in the understanding that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have concerning the doctrine of grace, but there still seems to be times when other Christian denominations gather in the grace foxhole while their Mormon counterparts gather in the works foxhole and lob Biblical and Book of Mormon grenades at each other in an attempt to prove the doctrinal superiority of the one concept over the other.

From my own experience when confronted by this situation, the main argument of the grace foxhole is the claim that believing in Jesus Christ is all that is needed to be saved.  The objection to the idea of works comes mainly from Ephesians 2:8-9 (there are others, but these are the two verses I’ve heard the most) with a claim that any attempt to say that works also plays a part in the equation would be an attempt to “earn” our way into heaven.  The immediate counter would be Nephi and his statement that that we are saved by grace “after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23) and on the merry-go-round we go, arguing back and forth about the merits of one principle over the other.  What I find interesting is that when both sides are so desperate to prove the supremacy of their position neither acknowledges the compatibility of both doctrines and how they work together for our benefit.

In order to understand the harmony of both these doctrines, we first need to look to Jesus who set the standard.  Lehi, a Book of Mormon prophet, taught his son Jacob (one of Nephi’s younger brothers) that “no flesh . . . can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8).  What Lehi explained to his son is that for anyone to dwell with God, he or she would not only need to rely on the grace of Christ, but His merits and mercy as well.  One of the definitions of “merit” in Webster’s is “character or conduct deserving reward, honor, or esteem.”  This definitely describes Jesus; His character is without equal and even though He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet [He was] without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).  Furthermore, His conduct was perfect in every situation.  A definition of the word “mercy” is “compassion or forbearance shown to an offender.” Since the rest of us “have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), the Savior’s ultimate expression of mercy towards us, His spirit brothers and sisters, comes through His Atonement which allows the rest of us to overcome our sins.

During the time He spent with the Nephites after His resurrection, Jesus declared to them that “no unclean thing can enter into his [Father’s] kingdom” (3 Nephi 27:19).  If not for the Atonement, Jesus would be in the unique position of being the only person worthy to actually enter Father’s kingdom under these conditions.  Thankfully, His vicarious work and sacrifice in our behalf gives us the opportunity to overcome our sins and enter Father’s kingdom cleansed from the stains of our sins.  Because of His sinless life, however, Father has also given Jesus the calling, if you will, to be our ultimate Judge and at some point “we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Romans 14:10).  As Jacob explained to the Nephite people: “the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there” (2 Nephi 9:41).  As the Judge and Keeper of the gate, Jesus, based on His merits and mercy, can dictate to us, who fall way short of the life He lived, what is needed for us to qualify to enter through the gate He diligently protects.

What are His qualifications for those desiring to pass through the gate?  He declared to His disciples: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15, emphasis added).  “Keep” suggests that we “be faithful to” the commandments He has given us.  How do we “keep” or remain “faithful to” the commandments?  By doing or accomplishing what He asks of us.  How can He honestly judge us unless He has some sort of criteria upon which to base that judgment?  If confessing and believing in Him was enough (see Romans 10:9), why would Jesus also declare to his disciples, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

Belief and confession are the beginning of discipleship; being “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22) is how we show our devotion to Him.  We do the works of Jesus when we are “an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12), and He judges us based on our actions.  In John 5:28-29, Jesus proclaims that "they that have done good" will come forth in "the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Doing good or doing evil is work; and that work is either rewarded or condemned.  By doing His works, we show our desire to be Jesus’ disciple and friend; for, as He also declared: “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15:14, emphasis added).  Why would Jesus tell us that we are only His friends by doing something rather than just believing in Him if doing wasn't important?

As can be seen by this explanation, our works do not earn us a spot in God’s kingdom, but they are used as a way for the Savior to judge who we are and who we are becoming.  I agree with Paul.  If we use our works as a way to boast of ourselves then we have totally missed the point.  In fact, the first way we go off the rails with our works is when we make those works about us rather than the Savior.  As in all things, Jesus is the exemplar.  His works were not accomplished for the sake of self-aggrandizement or as a way to show off.  He declared to the people: “the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me” (John 5:36).  If He had done anything for the sake of ego, or fame, or worldly power, Jesus would have succumbed to the final two temptations of the adversary after His forty day fast (see Matthew 4:5-11).  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commanded us to let our “light so shine before men, that they may see [our] good works, and glorify [our] Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16, emphasis added).  When we understand this concept, then we understand that our attitude about our works that is key in how we will be judged.  If this was not so, why would Jesus give the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46)?  The people who are counted as sheep aren’t boasting about the things that they did.  In fact, they are surprised and say, "When saw we thee a stranger or naked or sick or in prison?"  It appears to me that they weren't helping in order to boast about it, they were helping because they had the pure love of Christ and wanted to assist their fellowmen.  The offered reward: “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34) comes as a total surprise.

The second way we go off the rails with our works is when we think that it is the works of the law that saves us instead of the works of Christ.  What Paul was also trying to remind the meridian-day saints was that the law doesn't save us.  The Jews in the time of Jesus were so overly focused on keeping the Law of Moses, the Pharisees and scribes created what I will call "definition laws."  An example of this concerns keeping the Sabbath day holy.  In order to keep this law, the religious leaders created an exhaustive list of laws defining what it meant to actually keep the Sabbath day holy.  One of the reasons the Pharisees were constantly mad at Jesus, was their claims that He was a Sabbath breaker for healing the sick on that day.  In reality, Jesus wasn't "breaking" the Sabbath day; He was breaking the law created by man that defined breaking the Sabbath day.  The Pharisees (and some of the regular people) were so caught up in the appearance of things that they completely lost sight of what keeping the Sabbath day actually meant.  They seemed to think that the appearance of them supposedly keeping God's commandments was what would save them instead of understanding the importance of God's grace.  Paul, like Jesus, kept trying to remind the saints of the difference and to help them understand that keeping the Law of Moses by itself would not save them.

Like the Pharisees, if any member of the Church thinks that only doing the works of the gospel law will save them, they are mistaken.  We cannot earn our way back into Father’s presence.  To do so would ignore the Atonement and the merits and mercy of our Elder Brother.  In such a scenario, the keeper of the gate is no longer the “the Holy One of Israel” (2 Nephi 9:41), it is us and such a claim would be impossible to sustain.  The Book of Mormon prophet King Benjamin taught that even if we serve God with our "whole souls yet [we] would be unprofitable servants" (Mosiah 2:21).  To which President Dieter F. Uchtdorf added: “Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience; it is purchased by the blood of the Son of God. Thinking that we can trade our good works for salvation is like buying a plane ticket and then supposing we own the airline” (Ensign, May 2015, 109).

Even after realizing that it is only Jesus who saves us, however, we need to also understand that our works do count for something.  While we shouldn’t boast about our works (because they amount to nothing when compared to the Savior), John recognized that we will be "judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to [our] works" (Revelation 20:12); or, in other words, our works show the Savior that we have become something during our time here on earth.  It is interesting that John is the only one to use the phrase "judged ... according to their works" in the Bible and he does it twice in the book of Revelation (verses 12 and 13).  The Book of Mormon, however, connects this idea about 24 times (some examples: 3 Nephi 27:15; Mormon 3:18; Alma 12:12; Mosiah 3:24; and 2 Nephi 28:3).

It is the Doctrine and Covenants that wraps the two doctrines together.  When Jesus stands as our Advocate before the Father He will not expound upon some long parchment looking list of our accomplishments, instead He will say: “Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified” (D&C 45:4).  After this reminder, Jesus will then direct Father’s attention to us: “Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life” (D&C 45:5, emphasis added).  As President Uchtdorf testified: “Therefore, our obedience to God’s commandments comes as a natural outgrowth of our endless love and gratitude for the goodness of God. This form of genuine love and gratitude will miraculously merge our works with God’s grace. Virtue will garnish our thoughts unceasingly, and our confidence will wax strong in the presence of God” (Ensign, May 2015, 109).

I am grateful for the way the gospel helps me understand that my small acts of devotion allow me to show my gratitude for the Savior and His sacrifice.  I am not saved because of all the good works I have done throughout my life; I am saved because those good works reflect my belief on His name and then Jesus uses His exemplary life, His grace and His merits and mercy to make up the difference for my tiny yet heartfelt endurance.