This afternoon I read Robert Millet’s new book, The Atoning One (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2018). I am not a
fan of Millet’s works, as they tend to be very superficial, and in recent
years, he has accepted, rather uncritically, Protestant concepts of soteriology
(e.g., a forensic understanding of justification and the atonement). For
instance, he holds, rather uncritically, to a strong penal understanding of the
atonement, no doubt due, in part, to his reliance upon Protestant authors, of John
19:30 and 2 Cor 5:21. To see why such is dead-wrong, be sure to pursue:
For more on the atonement, as well as interacting with other Latter-day
Saints who have rather uncritically accepted a lot of Protestant understandings
of the atonement, see:
Notwithstanding, there are some parts of the book that are decent, such
as his discussion of the positive references to the “cross” in uniquely LDS
Scriptures. Indeed, in early LDS history, the symbol of the cross was much more
common than it is now, with its lesser role in modern times being based, in part, to a strong anti-Catholicism from the
1950s that resulted in the cross playing a lesser and lesser role in LDS
symbolism and discourse. An excellent study of this was Michael Reed’s book
(based on his MA dissertation), Banishing
the Cross: The Emergence of a Mormon Taboo (John Whitmer Books, 2012).
On pp. 72-75, Millet writes:
The Cross in Restoration Scripture
The Bible does not
stand alone in testifying of the significance of the cross. Much like Paul,
Lehi’s son Jacob called upon the followers of the Redeemer to experience for
themselves the power of the cross: “Wherefore, we would to God that we could
persuade all men not to rebel against God, to provoke him to anger, but that
all men would believe in Christ, and view
his death, and suffer his cross and bear
the shame of the world” (Jacob 1:8 emphasis added). That is one grand
experiential verse! In my mind, to “view his death” is to focus on that
singular death, ponder and reflect upon it, fasten upon it. To “suffer his
cross” is to be willing to stand up and speak out as a Christian and also to
deny oneself of all ungodliness and every worldly lust (see JST, Matthew
16:26). To “bear the shame of the world” is to be unfazed and unaffected by the
ridicule and rejection of worldly and influential people and to heed them not
(see 1 Nephi 8:33).
Notice the language
of the risen Lord to the people of the Book of Mormon: “Behold I have given
unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I
came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And
my Father sent me that I might be lifted
up upon the cross; and aftr that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that
I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so
should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of
their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil” (3 Nephi 27:13-14;
emphasis added).
The testimony of the
Doctrine and Covenants is that “Jesus was crucified
by sinful men for the sins of the world, yea, for the remission of sins
unto the contrite heart” (D&C 21:9; emphasis added; see also 35:2). In beginning
a brief passage on various spiritual gifts, a revelation in the Doctrine and
Covenants affirms: “To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, and that he was
crucified for the sins of the world. To others it is given to believe on
their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful”
(D&C 46:13-14; emphasis added; see also 53:2; 138:35). President Joseph F.
Smith reminded us that “having been born anew, which is the putting away of the
old man sin, and putting on of the man Christ Jesus, we have become soldiers of the Cross, having enlisted unto the
banner of Jehovah for time and for eternity” (Gospel Doctrine [Salt Lake city: Deseret Book, 1971], 91).
Abinadi, in offering
prophetic commentary on the greatest Messianic chapter in the Old Testament
(Isaiah 53), and if our Lord: “And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit,
or the Son to the Father . . . . suffereth
temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation but suffereth himself to be
mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people” (Mosiah 15:5; emphasis
added). To which temptation did Jesus refuse to yield? Well, to all of them, you respond. That’s correct: The Savior was singles,
perfect, without flaw in his character. In fact, other than the grand act of
Atonement itself, he was never even required to forgive anyone, because he had
never taken personal offense at anyone. Imagine that! But Abinadi seems to be
referring to a more specific temptation, something far more subtle but
infinitely more poignant. Our precious Redeemer refused to yield to the
temptation—and it must have been a monumental one—to shrink from “the bitter
cup,” to stop when the going got roughest in Gethsemane or on the cross, to
refuse to finish his “preparations unto the children of men” (D&C 19:19).
He had a choice, you know. He would have backed down, backed out, and backed
away. But he did not. Why? Because he loves us . . . He who had known us before
we were even born came to know us infinitely better as he knelt in Gethsemane
and as he hung on the cross of Golgoltha. We come to know those we serve (see
Mosiah 5:13; compare 1 John 2:3-4). And we certainly come to love and treasure
those for whom we sacrifice. Conversely, the depth of the pain one feels in
behalf of a loved one is intimately tied to the depth of the love he or she
bears for that loved one. Thus only one filled with infinite and eternal love
could perform an infinite and eternal sacrifice.