The Atonement Archive
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Mormon beliefs treat the fall of Adam differently than do most religions, and their teachings about Eve are greater still, an affirmation that God values the wisdom and spiritual contributions of women.
The Fall of Adam refers to the time Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. God told them they could eat from any tree in the garden except one, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, he reminded them they had agency and could decide for themselves, but they must remember they would die if they ate from it. Eventually, they chose to eat from that tree and were cast out of the garden into the mortal world. Death became possible and their bodies became mortal. They had to begin to work for the things they needed. This has been referred to as the fall of Adam.
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Jesus Christ did not actually use the word grace in His earthly ministry. Only two verses reference this word in the four gospels, and these were both spoken by others. Luke tells us the grace of God was on Jesus as a child. John taught: “For3058 the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17, King James Version of the Bible). Therefore, our understanding of the word grace comes from others.
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The evening before the Lamb of God was to be crucified for the sins of the world and hours before He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus was sitting with his Apostles in a “large upper room” (Mark 14:15). It was here that He first instituted the sacrament: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples,” (Matthew 26:26). Then He said, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me” 1 Corinthians 11:24). Then, “After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Thus, the purpose of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is to look back and remember Jesus the Christ and what He has done for each of us. Everything points “to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice [is] the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal” (Alma 34:14).... Read the rest of this entry »
The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ “embraces, sustains, supports, and gives life to all other gospel doctrines. It is the foundation upon which all truth rests and all things grow out of it and come because of it.”1 “The wondrous and glorious Atonement was the central act in all of human history.”2 Because of these statements, all things also point to Christ and His atonement. Those who lived before Christ looked forward to Him and His infinite and eternal sacrifice. Those who live after Christ look back to this greatest of all events and “remember what was done.”3
There were many different ways in which the blood sacrifices before Christ were types and shadows of the great and last sacrifice. Note a few of the details:
First, like Christ, the [sacrificial] animal was chosen and anointed by the laying on of hands. (The Hebrew title Messiah and the Greek title Christ both mean “the Anointed One.”) Second, the animal was to have its life’s blood spilt. Third,... Read the rest of this entry »
The atonement of Jesus Christ is the central doctrine of Christianity, and all other Christian doctrines come out of and are appendages to it.1 Not only can these other doctrines be connected back to the Savior and His Atoning Sacrifice, but if they are not, “there will be no life nor substance nor redemption in them,” to use a phrase by President Boyd K. Packer, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.2 It is therefore not only important, but necessary, when studying any doctrine or teaching or appendage of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to connect it back to Jesus Christ and His eternal sacrifice.
When Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, they were commanded “that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord” (Moses 5:5). Yet M. Russell Ballard, another apostle of the Church, has said that some have wondered, “How could the slaughtering of an animal upon an altar... Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes some of the simplest questions are also some of the most profound. These types of questions are therefore some of the most difficult to answer. “Why is Jesus called the Son of God?” is one of these questions, simple, profound, and difficult to answer. But as one of my English Professors told me the other day, “The hard questions are really the only questions worth asking.” In that case, Why is Jesus called the Son of God?
In a basic sense, the question is closely related to the question the Spirit of the Lord asked Nephi: “Knowest thou the condescension of God?” (1 Nephi 11:16). Note a definition of “condescend” that the Oxford English Dictionary gives the word, “To depart from the privileges of superiority by a voluntary submission; to sink willingly to equal terms with inferiours.” I feel like I can use Nephi’s response to the Spirit’s question as my own response, “I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning... Read the rest of this entry »
Because Jesus’ name-titles are symbolic, one might analyze them in order to both gain a greater appreciation of and learn who He really is. One of the titles of Jesus Christ that has a very profound level of symbolism is when he is called “the Lamb of God.” I will attempt a basic explanation of what this name-title means, and why of all creatures, a lamb was chosen to represent the Savior.
Long before the Lamb of God was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, Isaiah likened the Savior of all men and women unto a lamb when he wrote, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). The lamb is therefore a symbol of meekness, humility, and of willingness to submit to the will of the master. It is true that Jesus is all of these (humble, willing to submit to the Father) but the level of symbolism goes much deeper than this.
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But... Read the rest of this entry »
Before Jesus Christ was born, even before the world began, Jesus Christ committed Himself to taking on the role of our advocate to the Father. An advocate is someone who pleads for another person.
John explained this role in 1 John, chapter 2 of the King James Bible:
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
God is a just God. He’s given us laws we’re expected to obey. However, He is also a loving God and He knows us perfectly. Because of this, He knows we will not keep all the laws and will sin during our life. Justice would require us to be punished for every sin, including the punishment of being unable to return to God’s presence. The scriptures teach us no unclean thing can enter into God’s presence. Since it would be impossible for any fully... Read the rest of this entry »
Through the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ—a redeeming service, vicariously rendered in behalf of mankind, all of whom have become estranged from God by the effects of sin both inherited and individually incurred—the way is opened for a reconciliation whereby man may come again into communion with God, and be made fit to dwell anew and forever in the presence of his Eternal Father. This basal thought is admirably implied in our English word, “atonement,” which, as its syllables attest, is at-one-ment, “denoting reconciliation, or the bringing into agreement of those who have been estranged.” (New Standard Dictionary under “propitiation.”) The effect of the atonement may be conveniently considered as twofold: Read the rest of this entry »
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Death has come to be the universal heritage; it may claim its victim in infancy or youth, in the period of life’s prime, or its summons may be deferred until the snows of age have gathered upon the hoary head; it may befall as the result of accident or disease, by violence, or as we say, through natural causes; but come it must, as Satan well knows; and in this knowledge is his present though but temporary triumph. But the purposes of God, as they ever have been and ever shall be, are infinitely superior to the deepest designs of men or devils; and the Satanic machinations to make death inevitable, perpetual and supreme were provided against even before the first man had been created in the flesh. The atonement to be wrought by Jesus the Christ was ordained to overcome death and to provide a means of ransom from the power of Satan.
As the penalty incident to the fall came upon the race through an individual act, it would be manifestly unjust, and therefore impossible as part of the... Read the rest of this entry »
