Do Mormons Believe in Grace?
When Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane, he took on the sins of the world. This was a painful process, and the greatest gift we’ve ever received from anyone, made more extraordinary because it was done voluntarily out of love for us. Jesus Christ then died on the cross, again voluntarily, because no one could take His life, and rose again from the dead.
This process of love brought into the world two miracles and gifts of love. The first was grace. Grace allows each person to rise from the dead and live forever, as did the Savior, and, as did the Savior, receive our perfected bodies in the resurrection. It also makes it possible for us to fully repent of our sins. We were, until that time, unable to make a full repentance, because atonement had to be made by someone who was sinless, and only the Savior was sinless. Grace makes it possible for us to do good works beyond our personal abilities-the gift of being able to serve at a much higher level.
Mormons, however, believe there is more to eternity than grace. Grace comes to everyone, but God commanded us to keep His commandments. The Savior said that if we really love Him, we will keep His commandments. Is there a purpose to doing so?
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21, KJV of the Bible)
This is what the Bible tells us. If we don’t do God’s will-obey the commandments-we can’t return to God’s presence no matter how many times we say we’ve accepted Christ as our Savior. It’s our actions, combined with what’s in our hearts, that show who we really are.
Can you then buy your way into Heaven by doing a long series of good works? No, you can’t.
“ 6 For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.
7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.” (Book of Mormon, Moroni 7)
How do grace and atonement work together then? Grace gets us started. In our mortal lives, it gives us the ability to repent and to call on God for help. After death, it continues to bless us. We’re resurrected, given a perfected body, and allowed to live forever.
But who wants to live forever without the fullness of the blessings promised? If we love God, being with Him for eternity is the best part of God’s promises. The Book of Mormon tells us no unclean thing can dwell in heaven, and certainly this is logical. If we say we’ve accepted Jesus as our Savior, but go right on living as we lived before we accepted Him, then we really don’t have a true testimony and our love for God isn’t what it needs to be. God is pure and when we live with Him, we have to be pure also. No one will want to live in Heaven forever with people who are wicked or who don’t really put God first. Heaven is not to be just like earth, certainly not where God is.
Our good works show God where He is in our priorities, but the works must be done out of love, and not out of a desire for a reward.
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. (Matthew 6:5)
You can see how grace works together with the atonement to provide a complete gift that eventually leads to eternity in God’s presence. Mormons do indeed believe in grace, which is mentioned nearly twenty times in the Book of Mormon.
