...believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them. (Mosiah 4:10)
Salvation is not possible without God freely giving us what we do not deserve. This concept is called grace. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” (Ephesians 2:8) It is indisputable that God freely gave the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Does this mean that everyone is automatically saved, or that salvation is easy?
Myth 1: Salvation is automatic.
Some claim that all men are saved. These arguments hinge on words and phrases like “saved by grace” and “salvation is free.” While these words and phrases are found in the scriptures, when placed in context of the body of scripture, there is no argument for automatic salvation.
Grace requires faith, and cannot therefore be automatic. If salvation did not require any action from us, then everyone would be saved, and no one would be separated from God. Yet very few people in this world are saved, as evidenced by several observations. First, very few people have had an audience with God. Second, Jesus himself indicated that few will be saved: “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:14)
The biggest problem with the doctrine of “free salvation” is that its believers have absolutely no reason to change. They can continue to disobey God with blatant disregard. In doing so, they are perpetuating their alienation from God and voiding the purpose of this life—to prepare to meet God by correcting the conditions that caused individual separation from him.
In order to reconcile the obvious contradictions between “free salvation” and God’s word, proponents seem to have contrived an arbitrary God who saves some few for no particular reason, and damns all others. If we will be so foolish as to impose a doctrine upon God, we ought to at least ensure that whatever we concoct is consistent with God’s rarely disputed attributes: He is all-knowing, perfectly just, and perfectly merciful. The doctrine of automatic salvation for the arbitrary few is not just by any shade. Since God is just, automatic salvation cannot be true.
While salvation from death is free, salvation from individual sin is not.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus _unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them._ (Ephesians 2:8-10)
The scriptures teach that we are saved by grace only after all we can do:
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. (2 Nephi 25:23)
In other words, grace is free, and grace is necessary, but grace is not sufficient when we deviate from its scriptural meaning and instead use it to refer to something happening independent of our own faith and works. Real grace—scriptural grace—is conditional. It comes from God and is a result of his goodness and glory, but always includes the heart, mind, and might of the individual. Without grace, man could not be saved from his sins, because without Jesus there would be no way of obtaining forgiveness from those sins. Yet, even with grace, man cannot be saved without actually doing what God says.
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2)
Although professed believers are probably truthfully expressing that they believe in something, they cannot actually believe in God without doing his works. If you believe in God, you will accept God’s grace and perform good works.
When most professed believers say belief, what they actually mean is wishing. They look at God as a genie who will do what they say, rather than a deity to whom we must submit. They wish that God would save them without them having to believe him by doing what he says. If what they actually meant was belief as defined by the scriptures, belief in Christ would indeed be sufficient to save.
Professed believers in God who don’t actually obey God are not new. Paul wrote of them in his day: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:16) If you believe in God, you will actually keep his commandments.
Myth 2: Salvation is easy.
If salvation isn’t automatic, is it easy? Is real faith or real belief easy? Recall the man who brought his sick child to Jesus,
23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. (Mark 9)
This man’s child was in grave danger, and he had witnessed Jesus perform countless miracles. Still, he had to plead with Jesus to help him obtain sufficient faith for his child to be healed. The man required faith, and it was not easy to obtain.
We tend to overlay our current understanding and behavior onto gospel topics like grace, faith, and belief. “Faith” means much more than our common understanding, “grace” is not as easily obtained as we might like to think, and “belief” is a much deeper and difficult-to-exercise concept than we assume.
Consider the belief of Simon the sorcerer:
18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. (Acts 8)
As we see, Simon recognized God’s power in Peter, and he was willing to pay good money for it. But believing in God’s power is not enough.
Belief in God is an all-or-nothing proposition. Any part of him that we reject will cut us off from salvation. Simon was willing to believe in God’s power, but not in his character. God’s power does not exist independent of the kind of being he is—the laws he chooses to live. Without becoming like God in character, one cannot become like God in power.
Because Simon’s heart was not right, he was not able to acquire the power of God. It is possible, then, to both believe in God’s power and still be cut off by your wickedness, leaving you “in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.”
Proponents of “saved by belief” proclaim that you can believe in God’s power to save while disbelieving everything else about him. They posit that God can arbitrarily change a sinner to a saint, and will do so for anyone who simply confesses him. Some (Catholics and Latter-day Saints, among others) believe in a slightly modified version of the belief-only doctrine, which is the ordinance-only or sacrament-only doctrine (Catholics use the word sacrament to refer to what LDS call ordinances). Under this mantra, God will save those who participate in a list of ordinances (sacraments).
“Saved by belief” and its variants do not require a fallen man to change. Instead, they suppose that either a man can live with God as he is, or that God will magically and forcefully change sinners into saints if they fulfill some minimal criteria.
The idea that you can somehow believe in God’s power to save while disbelieving his words is ludicrous. Holistic belief in God will definitely save you, but salvation-by-belief is not believing in God. Rather, it’s an attempt to believe in God without believing God. This is not belief as defined in the scriptures. Instead, it is an attempt to claim the blessings promised without obeying the instructions they are predicated upon. If we are saved by this kind of belief, then we are saved independent of whether or not we sin. This kind of belief in God is man-made.
Salvation-by-belief is believing in the idea of God without believing in the effect of God. We must believe in both. God saves us not through arbitrary favor, but through making us holy. When we become holy through obeying him, we become able to abide in his holy presence.
With so many differing beliefs out there, and God’s indication that many who believe in him are not actually saved, we ought to exercise great caution in our belief systems. We ought to seek to believe God. Believing God means that we seek out and reconcile ourselves to what he has actually said, not to what we would like to think he has said. It means that we trust him enough to do what he says. It means that we interpret any lack of promised blessings as a signal that our faith is off course.
Jesus will not save anyone who does not obey him. "And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice;" (2 Nephi 9:21) God can save us from our sins, but he cannot save us in our sins.
And I say unto you again that [God] cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins. (Alma 11:37)
You can claim to believe in Jesus, but until you actually do what he says, your claim is hollow.
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46)
For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens. (Moroni 7:28)
Those who truly believe God will keep his commandments.
3 For _this is the love of God,_ that _we keep his commandments_ : and his commandments are not grievous.
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 _Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?_ (1 John 5)
Much of the confusion comes from a conflation of forgiveness and salvation. Forgiveness of sin is free for all who sincerely ask:
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7)
However, obtaining forgiveness is not the same as being saved. To be saved from the effects of the fall, you must change your character, habits, and desires. Forgiveness of sins absolves you from penalty of past sins, but it does not make you any less capable of committing future sin. It makes you clean, but not holy. Those who do not forsake their sins gain nothing from asking forgiveness: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13) Those who continue in sin despite being taught God’s commandments do not believe God, but are in open rebellion against God, and are not saved.
37 I say unto you, that the man that [sins], the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples.
38 Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever.
39 And now I say unto you, that mercy hath no claim on that man; therefore his final doom is to endure a never-ending torment. (Mosiah 2)
Belief in God of itself doesn’t remove an individual’s tendency to sin. The devils believe in God, but that hasn’t saved them: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” (James 2:19). This is further proven by the abundant examples of self-professed Christians who live ungodly lives. God’s purpose is not to incite shallow claims of belief from his children. Instead, his purpose is to give us the opportunity to become more like he is so that we can enjoy more of the blessings he has. Good works don’t spontaneously appear through divine intervention in the lives of believers.
Without changing your desires, you will continue to commit the same sins for which you have asked forgiveness. In the presence of God, there is no difference between one who has committed sin and one who can commit sin. The Lord said that those who desire to commit sin are guilty of sin: “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)
Recognizing that confession of Christ has not changed their behavior, some believe that while their belief may not change them presently, it does qualify them to dwell with God hereafter. Does death change your capacity for sin? Did birth separate you from God, or did sin? If sin separates you from God, why would death reunite you with him?
Death does not change your relationship with God. The scriptures clearly teach that death does not change your character. As a godly man once taught his son:
2 I say unto thee, my son, that the plan of restoration is requisite with the justice of God; for it is requisite that all things should be restored to their proper order. Behold, it is requisite and just, according to the power and resurrection of Christ, that the soul of man should be restored to its body, and that every part of the body should be restored to itself.
3 And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.
4 And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other—
5 The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.
6 And so it is on the other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness.
7 These are they that are redeemed of the Lord; yea, these are they that are taken out, that are delivered from that endless night of darkness; and thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil.
8 Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved.
9 And now behold, my son, do not risk one more offense against your God upon those points of doctrine, which ye have hitherto risked to commit sin.
10 Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.
11 And now, my son, all men that are in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state, are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness.
12 And now behold, is the meaning of the word restoration to take a thing of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?
13 O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.
14 Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethren; deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually; and if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again.
15 For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored; therefore, the word restoration more fully condemneth the sinner, and justifieth him not at all. (Alma 41)
If belief were sufficient to save, yet insufficient to magically change a sinner into a saint during this life, why should you assume that it could magically change a sinner into a saint after this life? Yet, this is exactly what proponents of “saved by belief” propose. Has God ever said that a sinner’s tendency to sin magically disappears after death if they claimed to believe in him during life? Of course not. If your religion does not have power to bring you into God’s presence now, you have no reason to believe it will then. If it doesn’t work now, it would be foolish to assume it will suddenly start working after you die.
This life is not a test to save those few who happen to encounter the gospel of Jesus and arbitrarily claim to believe in him. God is not arbitrary, and salvation is not so simple. If you truly desire salvation, the only way to obtain it is through complete surrender to God.