Saturday, August 24, 2019

Camille Fronk Olson on "All We Can Do"


Concerning the meaning “all we can do” in 2 Nephi 25:23, LDS (correctly) point out to the only other instance of “all we [could] do” elsewhere in the Book of Mormon:

And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do, (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain-- (Alma 24:11)

Here, the locution refers, not to raw works righteousness, but instead, all we can do to repent of our sins and be reconciled to God. Furthermore, my friend, James Stutz has an excellent paper on the phrase in 2 Nephi 25:23 itself, showing (convincingly) it refers to Nephi et al having to keep the Law of Moses, notwithstanding their knowledge of the then-future coming of the Messiah and then-future abrogation of the Mosaic Law:


In her essay on the enabling power of grace, Camille Fronk Olson (the Chair of Brigham Young University's Department of Ancient Scripture) wrote the following about “all we can do”:

“All We Can Do”

Recognizing our overwhelming need for the Savior, does anything remain for us to do? Prophets in every era and direct and unequivocal in their reminders that we have a role to play in our redemption. Again, the essence of grace reflects not only a gift given but also a gift humbly received. But our receipt of the gift, we confirm our faith “in the strength of the Lord I can do all things” (Philippians 4:13; see also Alma 26:12). But specifying our role in receiving help presents another temptation to misunderstand. How do you separate our role from the Savior’s grace that enables us to perform that role?

Choosing to accept His grace is at the heart of “all we can do.” Both James and Peter stressed that God gives grace to “the humble” (James 4:16; 1 Peter 5:5). In all His magnanimous offering, the Lord will not force us to accept Him or His enabling power to return to God. “For there is a God, and he hath created all things, . . . both things to act and things to be acted upon” (2 Nephi 2:14). We are not mindless robots waiting to be programmed to conform to Christ’s law. We are more than empty vessels waiting to be filled. Our role is therefore neither passive nor independent of Christ’s enabling power.

Nephi’s discussion of salvation by grace “after all we can do” concludes with free will and actions describing our essential part: “Believe in Christ, and deny him not; . . . wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out” (2 Nephi 25:29).

More specifically, Christ taught that our role in His gospel is to have faith in Him, repent of all our sins, be baptized in His name, “be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost,” and endure to the end (3 Nephi 27:13-20). In essence, this constitutes “coming to Christ.” These same requirements are reiterated and reinforced elsewhere in scripture as being interconnected to the grace of Christ.

Exercise faith in Christ. Paul taught, “By whom [Christ] . . . we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand” (Romans 5:2, emphasis added; see also 4:16). Alma counseled priesthood leaders to trust in the Lord and not the people for support in their office. “For their labor they were to receive the grace of God, that they might wax strong in the Spirit . . . that they might teach with power and authority from God” (Mosiah 18:26). By having faith in the Lord’s grace, they were enabled to teach with power from on high. The same is true for us.

Repent of all our sins. Peter testified, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, . .. but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Accepting Christ’s gift of grace is nowhere more resplendent than when we choose to turn our lives around to follow Him. To his son Corianton, Alma explained: “The plan of redemption could not be brought about, only on conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state, . . . for except it were for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except  it were these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should destroy the work of justice” (Alma 42:13). In profound awareness of the grace of Christ in their conversion and rebirth, the king of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies reminded his people, “For it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain” (Alma 24:11; emphasis added). (Camille Fronk Olson, “Saved and Enabled By the Grace of Jesus Christ” in Ray L Huntington, Frank F. Judd Jr., and David M. Whitchurch, eds. Shedding Light on the New Testament: Acts-Revelation [Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 2009], 46-66, here, pp. 60-62, italics in original)