VERSE
23
By Grace We are Saved. The doctrine here stated is, salvation is freely
given and cannot be "earned." We find the same thought in the
Doctrine and Covenants (6:13): "There is no gift greater than the gift of
salvation." And the Apostle Paul recognizes the difference between
earnings and favors, when he says that the "wages of sin" is death,
but the "gift" of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Rom. 6:23) We can earn death, but we must receive life as a gift, or not at
all.
The Prophet Joseph explains that to be saved is to be placed
beyond the reach of all enemies, even death, and that this can be done only
through the Priesthood. (Hist. of the Church, Vol. 5, p. 403)
A seemingly hopeless discussion has been carried on by
philosophers, as well as theologians, on the question of the ability of man to
earn salvation, and his responsibility in case of failure to do so. Great
thinkers, such as Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Ritschi, and many others, have
contributed their conclusions on the all-important problems presented. The old
notion that human history is but a marionette show in which the strings are
being pulled by some one behind a screen to make the dolls move, has been
abandoned long ago, for the only rational concept presented by the revelations
of God, that the human family is his children, being fostered under his care
and gradually educated for their eternal testing. God, because of his love, has
provided this course for us, and, as the Apostle says (1 John, 4:19): "We
love God, because he first loved us"; but where there is genuine mutual
love, the question of "wages" is far in the background. Love
engenders love, but if our love of God is real, it finds expression in
unselfish service of our fellowmen. (1 John 3:17; 4:20, 21) In recent
years the gospel doctrine of the Fatherhood of God, with the infinite love and
the immeasurable responsibility of a Divine Father, possessing unlimited power
and wisdom, has replaced the contradictory notions of God of former ages. (Janne
M. Sjodahl and George Reynolds, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 1)