What Does the Book of Mormon Teach about Forgiveness of Sin and Salvation?

Thank you, Kim. Thank you everyone for being here. I'm really grateful, grateful to the Maxwell Institute to provide a space where we can talk about scripture in a precise way, hopefully a thoughtful way, but also in a way that builds faith and leads towards spiritual formation.

Questions About Sin, Guilt, and Grace

And it came to pass that there was a BYU student who lived in the dorms who was upset with their roommate because they never cleaned up after themselves whenever they ate food. He tried to act patient for a few weeks, but after a few weeks, he decided to say something.

Right before he left a class to go to his religion class, he said something rather passive aggressive to his roommate. His roommate reacted defensively, and then passive aggressive became just plain old aggressive. It was contentious, ugly, wasn't very fun. The BYU student walked out and started to make his way across campus to the JSB to, of course, his New Testament class. He sits down that day, and the teacher is lecturing on the Sermon on the Mount. And as the teacher is covering the text, says, Jesus says, it used to be said, Thou shalt not kill . . . But I say unto you, if you say you fool, you will be liable to the hell of fire. (Matt. 5:21-22)

Kid sits there and he thinks, okay, this morning I definitely violated a central premise of the Sermon on the Mount. What does that mean? Am I going to hell? I know that sin wasn't okay. But Jesus has these really clear standards. And then he thinks, I can't even keep track of all of the times I've been upset with people. And he wonders, how do I make sense of that?

There once was a certain girl walking across campus. It's the end of the day. She's taking 16 credit hours, just got back from her mission a few weeks ago, and she's feeling overwhelmed with her anatomy class and econ. Is that the other hard one? Probably, right? As she's walking through campus, she thinks, I'm not going to the temple as much as I want to. I'm definitely falling behind in scripture study. And she realizes that she feels this sort of vague, foggy, guilty feeling all of the time. And she asked herself, how do I shake this feeling? How do I get rid of this?

There once were two friends who were friends on the mission field. They haven't seen each other in a few years. They get some late night Rancherito’s. They sit down at a table, open up the burritos. They start to talk. And one of them says, yeah, I'm not that too into the church anymore. And in fact, I'm definitely doing some things that I probably shouldn't be, he says. And then he says, but I have faith in Jesus. I’m so grateful for His grace and, you know, none of us is perfect.

How do you make sense of someone who said something like that? If you grew up in this church, your whole life you've heard about Jesus and atonement and sin and grace. And part of that is because we sort of have these cultural, doctrinal ideas that get passed around. Things like if you try your hardest, you will receive salvation; you can always repent; the atonement of Jesus Christ helps us to become better; you are a child of God; you do your part and the Lord will do his part; we need to get better each day; Jesus understands you perfectly.

And, of course, these are true and some of them we might want to nuance a little bit. But because these ideas permeate our religious discourse, sometimes someone can start to think, well, when I read the text of scriptures, when I read the Book of Mormon, I've got an atonement. I've got what it means for someone to receive forgiveness of sin and what is faith and what is repentance. However, I am continually amazed by the Book of Mormon's capacity to push back on my assumptions. When I read it slowly and carefully under the direction of the Holy Spirit, it's amazing how much the Book of Mormon continues to speak.

Look at this quote from Marion G. Romney.

I don’t know much about the gospel other than what I’ve learned from the standard works.

When I drink from a spring I like to get the water where it comes out of the ground, not down the stream after the cattle have waded in it.

. . . I appreciate other people’s interpretation, but when it comes to the gospel we ought to be acquainted with what the Lord says. . . .

You ought to read the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants; and . . . all of the scriptures with the idea of finding out what’s in them and what the meaning is and not to prove some idea of your own.

Just read them and plead with the Lord to let you understand what he had in mind when he wrote them.

Can we give Brother Romney an amen for that quote right there? It's a fantastic quote.

So today what we want to do is we want to answer this question. What does the Book of Mormon say about forgiveness of sin and salvation? And how might it challenge us? It's not enough just to have clever readings of scripture.

We also have to check that with other texts and, perhaps just as importantly, with what current prophets and apostles are teaching. And so we'll also try to check our conclusions against what those who have authority to lead the church will also say. Just so you know, this is gonna kind of unfold like a puzzle. And so please don't hold me to any one of my points individually. Wait till I put this together as a whole and then make a decision.

Forgiveness as an Event

This is Nephi's nephew, his name is Enos.

He lives in the land of Nephi, or probably close by. It’s before 400 BC. And he prays. He says, “I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins” (Enos 1:2). But notice what he doesn’t say. He does not say, “I started the process of receiving salvation.” He says, “I want to tell you about the moment before I received a remission of sins.”

Then he prays for a long period and there came a voice unto him saying, “Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee and thou shall be blessed” (Enos 1:5).He doesn't say “your sins are forgiven thee someday,” but he says “right now your sins are forgiven you.” And I don't have any reason based on the text to assume that he's praying about one specific sin. In fact, the text is clear. The word sin is in the plural. He's praying about all his sins.

And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore my guilt was swept away. And I said: Lord, how is it done? And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole. (Enos 1:6–8)

He speaks of this event of being made whole as if it's something that has happened now, not some day.

But Enos, through his faith in Christ, has been forgiven and is in this moment made whole. I'm struck by how often in the Book of Mormon, forgiveness of sin comes as an event. King Benjamin's people, he's teaching them, they cry out for forgiveness. “And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins” (Mosiah 4:3).

Again, we have no reason to think that that's in the singular, but on some level they're praying for forgiveness of all of their sins and having peace of conscience because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come. It often seems that in the Book of Mormon, forgiveness of sin comes at a specific time and place. The people of King Benjamin could have said, “I can point to the day when I received forgiveness of sin.”

Alma wakes up from his spiritual coma. And as he begins to talk to the people, he says this: “I have repented of my sins [past tense] and have been redeemed [past tense] of the Lord” (Mosiah 27:24). This is an event that has taken place. “Behold I am born of the spirit . . . My soul hath been redeemed [past tense].” He says, “My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched [past tense]” (Mosiah 27:24–29). “Something has happened to me.” What also is interesting to me about this phrase, I am snatched is that it's written in the passive voice.

This is something that has happened to Alma the Younger. I have been snatched. Of course, he exercised his faith and agency, but Jesus has rescued him, has snatched him, has forgiven his sins. And then just two lines from King Lamoni's wife, “. . . O blessed Jesus, who has saved me [past tense] from an awful hell! O blessed God, have mercy on this people” (Alma 19:29).

I think one thing we can say is that when the Book of Mormon speaks of forgiveness of sin and salvation, it often speaks about it as an event, as an event in time that we can point to. I was once in this building. It was when I was adjuncting here or teaching on the SNI rotation, and I was trying to get hired. And so I was at a faculty meeting, and when you're trying to get hired, you just sit in the back and you don't say anything. So I sat in the back, and I wasn't trying to say anything. And one of my future colleagues was presenting brilliant research.

And then when he was done, another one of my future colleagues got up and said the closing prayer. And it really struck me because in the middle of the closing prayer, he started to get very emotional, start to weep, which is really surprising because I don't know if you know this, but most of the time professors don't have emotions or feelings or anything like that at all. And as he was weeping, he said this, “Father, we are so grateful that thou has redeemed us.”

He said it in the past tense, like it had already happened.

Is he allowed to say it like that?

Let's check our doctrine. President Oaks, “believers who have had this required rebirth, faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost of those having authority have already been saved from sin conditionally.” We'll talk more about the conditionally later, but President Oaks says “it is perfectly appropriate to talk about having already been saved by sin conditionally, just as a couple can walk out of the ceiling room and say, I have been sealed. Someone can have faith and repent, walk into the waters of baptism, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and they can say, I am saved. I am redeemed.”

I don't know if you know this, but the convert in this picture, I'm making this up. But we'll just stick with my parable for a second. Two weeks later, he was walking around the house and he stepped on one of these that his kid left out. Also, I don't know if you know this, but the results of the fall are sin, death, and stepping on Legos. It's one of the worst of all experiences for humanity. He steps on this Lego and he gets upset towards his kid. He crosses the line. Definitely does not act like a disciple in the way he just speaks.

Forgiveness as a State

How do we make sense of sin after we've had this moment of forgiveness of sin? If you and me received forgiveness of sin when we were baptized and received the Holy Ghost, now what? Well, King Benjamin says, will you do three things? One, remember the goodness of God and your own nothingness. Two, humble yourselves daily. And three, stay steadfastly in the faith. And if you do those things, he says, I say to you that if you do this, you shall “always rejoice” (Mosiah 4:12).

By the way, time out. That's one of my favorite words in the Book of Mormon. Often, religious activity and practice is described as rejoice.

“And be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins” (Mosiah 4:12). A few key words here. The word always and retain. It seems as if King Benjamin is saying, there is a moment where you received a forgiveness of sin and now always, and if I check my percentages, that means 100 % of the time, you will retain that remission of sins if you: see the goodness of God, stay steadfast in the faith, and humble yourselves before God.

Later, in a verse that is often overlooked, in chapter four, King Benjamin says, “and now for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you, that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of sins from day to day, in this context, every day, that you may walk guiltless before God” (Mosiah 4:26). This is my new favorite phrase in the Book of Mormon. Because walk suggests not just one moment in time, but a continual temporal state where people are moving from time A to time B and they are declared guiltless. I don't know if this is intentionally juridical language, legal language, saying that they are declared in the right, but guiltless might point towards that. And so those who are keeping the standards that King Benjamin teaches are maintaining a state of guiltlessness before God, a continual temporal state.

Later again, Alma the Younger, he says, “Marvel not that [everyone has to be] born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, [and now] to a state of righteousness,” a standing before God where they are declared in the right (Mosiah 27:25). If we want to get slightly technical for a second, I don't see anything in the Book of Mormon that says the righteousness of God is imputed to the believer. Where a lot of our Protestant brothers and sisters might say that. All I see here is that they're in a state of righteousness.

The reason why I think that this happens at the moment of faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost is because of the next phrase, “being redeemed of God, [past tense] becoming his sons and daughters” (Mosiah 27:25). And Mosiah chapter five verse seven suggests we become his sons and daughters when we enter into covenant.

So now Alma is in a new state. It's not just an event, but it's also a state, a standing. Mormon teaching in Moroni 7. Notice the legal language. “For he, Jesus, hath answered the ends of the law. And he claimeth,” that is in the present tense, “all those who have faith in him. And they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing. Wherefore he advocated” the present tense, “the cause of the children of men, and he dwelleth” present tense “eternally in the heavens.

If I'm reading this correctly, he is saying, Mormon, that Jesus dwells eternally in the heavens and anyone who currently has faith is currently claimed by Jesus. This new legal standing, so to speak, is pronounced over them and they are declared in the right. Let's check our doctrine. President Oaks, to Latter-day Saints, the word saved and salvation in this teaching signify a present covenant relationship with Jesus Christ in which we are assured salvation from the consequences of sin if we are obedient. Every sincere Latter-day Saint is saved according to this meaning.

Quite a few years ago, Steve Robinson told this story. He's trying to teach his daughter how to swim.

And she was so petrified that she began to scream and kick and cry and scratch and was unteachable. [I won't explain it. You'll get the analogy.]

Finally, I just had to grab her. I threw my arms around her, and I just held her, and I said, “Becky, I've got you.

I'm your dad.

I love you.

I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you.

Now relax.”

Bless her heart, she trusted me. She relaxed, and I put my arms under her and said, “Okay, now kick your legs.” And we began to learn how to swim.”

The Book of Mormon doesn't say a lot about justification by faith. Regardless, I think the implicit doctrine is there in the text. That there is a moment once someone has faith and repents, baptized and received the Holy Ghost, that they are then legally declared in the right. President Christopherson says, when he was then Elder Christopherson, he said,

He removes our condemnation without removing the law. We are pardoned and placed in a condition [again, the idea of a new state] of righteousness with Him.

We become like Him, without sin.

We are sustained and protected by the law, by justice.

We are, in a word, justified.

Thus, we may appropriately speak of one who is justified as pardoned, without sin, or guiltless.  

So not only is forgiveness of sin experienced in the Book of Mormon as an event, it's also a new state that people enter into where they are declared guiltless before God.

This is great news. Now we can party, we can get lax on our discipleship, we can just do whatever we want. Except for the fact that the Book of Mormon pushes back even more. King Benjamin says, “take heed that you do not transgress, that the name [of Jesus] be not blotted out of your hearts” (Mosiah 5:11). And speaking of those who don't endure to the end, Jesus says they will experience the fires of hell, they'll be cast into fire. And it says the requirement after we have faith and repentance and we have this new state, is faithfulness unto the end.

I love that word, faithfulness. It suggests loyalty, a turning to, a constant trusting. The requirement is not perfection. The requirement is faithfulness. So even though we have had this forgiveness event and we enter into this new state, we must stay faithful. Again, President Oaks, “believers who have had this required rebirth at the hands of those have an authority have already been saved from sin conditionally. but they will not be saved finally until they have completed their mortal probation with the required continuing repentance, faithfulness, service, and enduring to the end. Just as a couple who have been sealed have to stay loyal and faithful to each other, we have to stay loyal and faithful to Christ throughout our lives.”

 Someone might then ask, okay, what about the small sins? Can we just not commit any of major sins that King Benjamin was thinking of?

I don't see a lot in the Book of Mormon about smaller sins, but you do see a little bit. I think it's best to liken that to use a common scriptural image of sickness is like a sickness. Sorry, sin is like a sickness. Any small amount of cancer will grow in us and destroy us if not taken care of. So, although small sins may not cause us to lose our covenant membership standing in the kingdom of God, if we allow them and they are left unrepented, they may lead to the kinds of sins that will. Again, from Nephi, “and he leaded them by the neck with a flaxen cord until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever” (2 Nephi 26:22).

Assurance in Christ

I think a lot of you probably intuitively think this, but what about this young woman who was walking across campus and she feels sort of this, like a foggy guiltiness all of the time.

A few years ago I was listening to Chad Webb. He's the leader of seminaries and institutes. And he talked about a longitudinal study that the church did trying to figure out why some “who are struggling, why some are struggling to hold onto faith and stay active in the Church.” And in the study they found three things. One of those things was that some young people “feel guilt and despair because of mistakes they have made.” In other words, despite all of the talk of Jesus and his atonement.

Often the models we're using to teach these ideas are still causing some people to feel so much guilt and despair that they leave the faith.

I think to sort of round out our model and to make my last point, I think it's partially because of the way we talk about covenant relationship and we don't emphasize both sides of the covenant. Often we talk about our end of the covenant and forget to emphasize God's side of the covenant. Let me illustrate how this could lead to theological bad ideas or incompleteness.

And it came to pass that there was a couple at the Orm Institute that fell in love. They got sealed in the temple and a few weeks after their sealing, they went to their first family ward. As they sat in sacrament meeting, the bishop saw them that they were a new couple in the ward and he went to the back of the chapel and he said, “hi, I'm Bishop Thompson, what's your name?” And the husband said, “I'm Tyler, this is my wife Ashley. That is if we stay faithful until the end.” The bishop looked at him kind of uniquely.

A few weeks later, Tyler was walking down Provost Center Street and he saw an old mission buddy. And his old mission buddy said, “hey Tyler, I saw you just got sealed. That's fantastic! I saw it on Instagram.” And Tyler said, “yeah, absolutely. We're sealed as long as we stay righteous.” And his friend said, “kid was always weird, okay.”

A few months later, they're at Ashley's house for Christmas. They live in Alpine.

Aren't all the houses in Alpine like that?

Ashley's father said, “OK, family, come stand by the fireplace. We're going to take a picture now of our family.” And said, “Tyler, you're a part of the family now. You come too.” And Tyler said, “I better not.” And Ashley's father said, “well, why not?” And Tyler said, “well, you don't know what might happen.” Ashley's father's face turning red turned to Tyler and said, “what do mean?” And he said, “we will only be sealed if we stay faithful and righteous until the end of our lives.” And the family didn't know what to say.

Will you read this as a promise and not pretty language?

“Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” (2 Nephi 31:20).

Watch the unabashed confidence that Enos has. “And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know” he bears his testimony, “that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared” The lights on and there's food cooking in the kitchen. “for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen” (Enos 1:27).  He speaks with a certain amount of assurance.

In the baptismal covenant in Mosiah 18, it says the promise from God is that we will receive eternal life. And in this very interesting set of verses in Alma 46, Mormon says, “it came to pass there were many who died, firmly believing that their souls were redeemed [past tense] by the Lord Jesus Christ; thus they went out of the world rejoicing.” (Alma 46:39) There's that word again. That's what it means to be religious in the Book of Mormon is to rejoice.

And Jesus, in 3 Nephi 27, “And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day.” (3 Nephi 27:16)

I don't know exactly how to read this text, but it seems like the Book of Mormon, at least in Mosiah chapter four, speaks of that current state of guiltlessness being declared on someone who has repented, and also a future time when we will be held guiltless before the Father. “When I shall stand to judge the world.” (3 Nephi 27:16) Let's check our doctrine. Elder Paul V. Johnson. “When we live according to His will, ‘relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save,’ there is a 100 percent guarantee of being cleansed by the Savior's blood and eventually being perfected in Him.”

That kind of assurance changes everything, our relationship with God. It's not pride. It's not boastful. It's just faith. To say Jesus is strong enough to get me home.

I once heard the true story of a woman named Elizabeth who's meeting her future in-laws for the first time. They're in Boston, a very financially blessed family. There's an antique tablecloth laid across the table. And as Elizabeth sits down and at some point earlier on in the dinner or at some point, she spills her glass with just a little drop of her drink. She's so embarrassed that she starts to feel like she can't even talk.

A few minutes later or sometime later, the matriarch of the family spills her entire glass on the tablecloth.

The children say, “hey mom, you know, Elizabeth has a reason to be nervous, but you don't.” This antique tablecloth, wine spilled all over it. And then this is what Elizabeth says.

“That old matriarch, I swear she gave me the tiniest little hint of a smile. Blink and you would have missed it. But I knew what she'd done.”

That mother-in-law, that future mother-in-law said, “it's gonna be okay. I'm here for you. I love you. You're accepted into this family.” And she did it at great sacrifice. This is not the only thing that the Book of Mormon says about forgiveness of sin and salvation. But I think these four things work together in a way that cause us to rejoice, cause us to get excited. In fact, when we understand them and they sink in, we can't help but wanna worship and sing.

We can't wait to read scripture, not as a list of things to do, although that's part of it, but to remember what he has done for us, placed us in this new guiltless state before God. Our prayers are not just thank you, and they're not just please bless, but they're filled with worship and gratitude like King Benjamin asked us to. And we cannot wait to get on a mission to preach the gospel of forgiveness of sin. And every week we partake of the sacrament to remember the time when we were baptized and received the Holy Ghost and placed in this new state. But here's the best part, here's the best part, because we've been forgiven and we know this and have confidence in it, we think less of ourselves. You'll see someone skip a little bit of college football one Saturday afternoon to go can peaches, or they'll give a little extra to the perpetual education fund. And they don't look at it as a duty, but as an opportunity to get out and minister and bless people. Why?

Because President Irene said, “Gratitude for the remission of sins is the seed of charity, the pure love of Christ.”

I get it though, it's hard. It's hard to accept this. Gospel literally means good news. It's hard to believe that. It's hard to take a gift from someone. I think it's one of the hardest things in the world to do. Why? Because if you take a free gift from someone, it may mean we have to have kind feelings towards the person who gave us the gift. It's also hard to take a gift from someone because it may mean that we were wrong about the way we've treated the person who gave us the gift.

It may mean that we have enough to give to others now.

I once heard this story. It's not true, but it's true, if you know what I mean. It's about this French guy. He steals a loaf of bread. He gets thrown in prison. He doesn't act very well in prison, so he ends up staying there about 20 years. He gets out, and one night, you wouldn't believe it, the first night out, is that right? The first night out, he goes to Bishop Mariel's house, and he steals from a bishop. On the list of sins not to do, it's pretty high. The next day, the cops catch him. They bring him back, and they say, “Bishop Mariel, don't worry, we caught Jean Valjean.” And the bishop says, “oh no, no, no, no, no. I gave him that stuff.”

And then the bishop walks over to Jean Valjean, and if you've read Les Mis, at least at the very beginning, he describes how the bishop really loves these two silver candlesticks. And he walks over to Jean Valjean and he gives him the two candlesticks. And then the bishop says in a low voice, the same thing that God said to you the day you were baptized.

“Jean Valjean my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good.

It is your soul that I buy from you. I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.”

Jean Valjean doesn't know how to react. It's hard to take a free gift. Victor Hugo writes, “he could not have told whether he was touched or humiliated.” Why humiliated? Because all, every one of his excuses for living a bitter, self-centered life begin to melt like ice on a July sidewalk. The day someone encounters that kind of grace.

I mean, just think, Jean Valjean had a choice. He could insist on guilt and anger and shame, or he could take the grace.

I can't think of a more important question.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.