Relying upon the
totality of Bible teachings and upon clarifications received through modern
revelation, we testify that being cleansed from sin through Christ’s Atonement
is conditioned upon the individual sinner’s faith, which must be manifested by
obedience to the Lord’s command to repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy
Ghost (see Acts 2:37–38). “Verily, verily, I say unto thee,” Jesus taught,
“except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God” (John 3:5; see also Mark 16:16; Acts 2:37–38). Believers who
have had this required rebirth at the hands of those having authority have
already been saved from sin conditionally, but they will not be saved finally
until they have completed their mortal probation with the required continuing
repentance, faithfulness, service, and enduring to the end.
Some Christians
accuse Latter-day Saints who give this answer of denying the grace of God
through claiming they can earn their own salvation. We answer this accusation
with the words of two Book of Mormon prophets. Nephi taught, “For we labor
diligently … to persuade our children … 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 Ne. 25:23). And what is “all we can do”? It surely includes
repentance (see Alma 24:11) and baptism, keeping the commandments, and enduring
to the end. Moroni pleaded, “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him,
and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all
ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his
grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moro.
10:32).
We are not saved in
our sins, as by being unconditionally saved through confessing Christ and then,
inevitably, committing sins in our remaining lives (see Alma 11:36–37). We are
saved from our sins (see Hel. 5:10) by a weekly renewal of our
repentance and cleansing through the grace of God and His blessed plan of
salvation (see 3 Ne. 9:20–22).
The question of
whether a person has been saved is sometimes phrased in terms of whether that
person has been “born again.” Being “born again” is a familiar reference in the
Bible and the Book of Mormon. As noted earlier, Jesus taught that except a man
was “born again” (John 3:3), of water and of the Spirit, he could not enter
into the kingdom of God (see John 3:5). The Book of Mormon has many teachings
about the necessity of being “born again” or “born of God” (Mosiah 27:25; see
vv. 24–26; Alma 36:24, 26; Moses 6:59). As we understand these scriptures, our
answer to whether we have been born again is clearly “yes.” We were born again
when we entered into a covenant relationship with our Savior by being born of
water and of the Spirit and by taking upon us the name of Jesus Christ. We can
renew that rebirth each Sabbath when we partake of the sacrament.
Latter-day Saints
affirm that those who have been born again in this way are spiritually begotten
sons and daughters of Jesus Christ (see Mosiah 5:7; 15:9–13; 27:25).
Nevertheless, in order to realize the intended blessings of this born-again
status, we must still keep our covenants and endure to the end. In the
meantime, through the grace of God, we have been born again as new creatures
with new spiritual parentage and the prospects of a glorious inheritance.(Dallin
H. Oaks, “Have
You Been Saved?,” General Conference Address, April 1998)
