Hugh B. Brown, then a counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, delivered an address to the students at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. A transcript of the talk can be found online here. I rather enjoyed Brown's discussion of the atonement, including his using the term "propitiation" to discuss its nature:
ATONEMENT
"The atonement accomplished by the Savior was a vicarious service for
mankind, all of whom had become estranged from God through sin; and through
that sacrifice of propitiation, a way has been opened for reconciliation
whereby man may be brought again into communion with God, and be made able to
live and advance as a resurrected being in the eternal worlds. This
fundamental conception is strikingly expressed in our English word atonement,
which, as its syllables indicate, is at-one-ment, 'denoting reconciliation or
the bringing into agreement of those who had been estranged.'
"The assured resurrection of all who have lived and died on earth is a
foundation stone in the structure of (Mormon) philosophy. 'Blessed and holy
is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death
hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall
reign with him a thousand years.' -- Revelation 20:6.
"But there is a special or individual effect of the Atonement, by which every
soul that has lived in the flesh to the age and condition of responsibility
and accountability may place himself within the reach of divine mercy and
obtain absolution for personal sin by compliance with the laws and ordinances
of the Gospel as prescribed and decreed by the Author of this plan of
salvation. The indispensable conditions of individual salvation are: (1)
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, acceptance of His Gospel and
allegiance to His commandments, and to Him as the one and only Savior of men.
(2) Repentance, embracing genuine contrition of the sins of the past and a
resolute turning away therefrom with a determination to avoid, by all
possible effort, future sin. (3) Baptism by immersion in water, for the
remission of sins; the ordinance to be administered by one having the
authority of the Priesthood, that is to say the right and commission to thus
officiate in the name of Deity. (4) The higher baptism of the Spirit or
bestowal of the Holy Ghost by the authorized imposition of hands by one
holding the requisite authority -- that of the higher or Melchizedek
Priesthood. To insure the salvation to which compliance with these
fundamental principles of the Gospel of Christ makes the repentant believer
eligible, a life of continued resistance to sin and observance of the laws of
righteousness is requisite.
"The life we are to experience hereafter will be the result of the life we
lead in this world; and as here men exhibit infinite gradations of faithful
adherence to the truth, and of servility to sin, so in the world beyond the
grave gradations will exist. Salvation grades into exaltation, and every
soul shall find place and condition as befits him. Mormonism affirms on the
basis of direct revelation from God, that graded degrees of glory are
prepared for the souls of men, and that these comprise in decreasing order
the Celestial, the Terrestrial, and the Telestial kingdoms of glory, within
each of which are orders or grades innumerable. These several glories --
Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial -- are comparable to the sun, the moon,
and the stars, in their beauty, worth, and splendor. Such a condition was
revealed to the Apostle Paul: 'There are also celestial bodies, and bodies
terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the
terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of
the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from
another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. ...' -- I
Corinthians 15:40-42. Thus it is provided in the economy of God, that to
progression there is no end."
We do not believe in death-bed repentance nor in instantaneous salvation.
Salvation is an ongoing process, a lifetime endeavor, in fact an eternal
quest. We believe in the efficacy of the atonement of Christ, that He did
for us what we could not do for ourselves; that through his atoning blood all
men will be raised from the dead, but our individual exaltation will, with
His grace, be achieved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
A man cannot be saved in his sins, but from them. "We accept the scriptural
doctrine of the atonement wrought by Jesus Christ. He broke the bonds of
death and provided a way for the annulment of the effects of individual sin.
He was the only sinless man who ever walked the earth; He was the first
begotten in the spirit world and the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh
and therefore the only one who possessed the full powers of godhood and
manhood. He was chosen and foreordained in the primeval council before the
earth was formed. "And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine Own Self
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." -- St. John 17:5
We believe that He had that existence, premortal state, that He was the
second member of the Godhead, the Son of God, and became the Savior and
Redeemer of the world. He was the only one wholly free from the dominion of
Satan, the only one who possessed the power to hold death in abeyance and to
die only as he willed to do so. "For as the Father hath life in himself; so
hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." -- John 5:26. "Therefore
doth my father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it
again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I
received of my Father." -- John 10:17-18.
Elsewhere, under the heading of “Eternal Progression,” Brown noted that:
We do not believe that salvation may be achieved by mere intellectual assent
or acquiesence, or by subscribing to some creed, nor yet alone by the
administration of sacraments. But we believe in the atoning blood of Jesus
Christ becoming effective to the individual if and when the individual puts
himself in a position to have the benefits of this atonement. There is no
name given under heaven whereby men can be saved except the name of Jesus
Christ. Salvation is an eternal quest where rewards are dependent upon
active obedience to divine law and where disobedience brings sorrow, remorse
and condemnation unless sincere repentance leads to forgiveness. We hold
that salvation from sin is obtainable only through obedience, and that while
the door to the kingdom of God was opened by the sacrificial death and
resurrection of out Lord Jesus Christ, 'no man may enter there except by his
own personal and voluntary application expressed in terms of obedience to the
prescribed laws and ordinances of the Gospel. 'We believe that through the
Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws
ordinances of the Gospel." -- Third article of Faith.
For more on the atonement, see, for example, Critique of "The Christ Who Heals"
