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After all we can do, Bible, christianity, faith, god, Grace, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Nephi, Parable goats sheep, saved by grace, works
Ah, the old argument between grace vs. works.
2 Nephi 25:23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, 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.
Over the years, I have watched people attack this passage and argue about faith versus works, thinking that Nephi meant we are saved by grace only after and upon the condition that we have tried everything else. What they don’t realize – and I should have written this years ago – is that this statement, “after all we can do,” is a literary and rhetorical device that means “despite all we can do” or “in spite of all we can do” or even “regardless of all we can do.” Let’s rephrase that passage:
After all we can do, it is by grace that we are saved.
Let me put it another way by using a modern world example: After all I have done to fix my car, it was fixed by my mechanic. OR, my car was fixed by my mechanic after all I could do. This begins to make more sense in our modern English vernacular. You see, it doesn’t matter what you do or try to do or how many times you try to do it to be saved. It is only by God’s grace that you are saved. In other words, you can’t save yourself. That’s God’s job. That’s why He sent His son Jesus Christ. I have written two blogs about grace:
Having established that “after all we can do” is another way of saying “despite all we can do,” I want to talk a little about what we are supposed to do, and that is to keep God’s commandments. We are supposed to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. Likewise, we should love our fellow man equally. This is what it means to be godly – to be like Jesus Christ. We cannot be saved by grace without actually doing what God said to do.
1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
Also:
Titus 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
You see, their “works” are worthless. They do not honor God with their works because they don’t love God, and so their works have no true value or worth. Jesus explicitly declared that such people will be cast out in Matthew chapter 25. Contrast the following two scenarios:
Matthew 25:31 ¶ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal
I encourage you to read all three parables in Matthew chapter 25. These three parables are interconnected and should be read in one. This chapter is your cheat sheet in life’s open book test! The first is about receiving the Holy Ghost and staying filled with the Holy Ghost. The second, is about increasing God’s kingdom with the talents that He has given you. The third, which I just quoted, is about being received into His kingdom for loving Him and our fellow man – becoming like Him by our love and obedience and our self sacrificing, or being cast out because you never really wanted to love Him or your fellow man as He loved you and everyone else. You are like a lofty branch that took the strength and nourishment from the roots and never produced any good fruit. Your only value was to be pruned away and discarded/burned.
Latter-day Lamanite 