President Joseph Fielding Smith taught, “The forgiveness of sins comes through faith and sincere repentance.” He said that “it is necessary, not merely that we believe, but that we repent,” and he also taught that when we perform good works in faith until the end, we will “receive the reward of the faithful and a place in the Celestial kingdom of God.” With a desire for all people to receive this reward, he testified of Jesus Christ and preached repentance throughout his ministry.
Repentance. The literal Greek word metanaow means to turn away from or to go in a different direction. In Mormonism, repentance is the catch-all word when the issue of sin is considered. While Latter-day Saints are instructed to hold to a higher standard if they hope to qualify for the celestial kingdom, most realize that they’re not doing everything they should to successfully “keep the commandments continually,” as D&C 25:15 instructs.
In the review of this chapter, let’s consider Mormonism’s version of repentance and see if this fits with the teachings of the Bible.
Those who worked closely with President Smith saw that behind his stern warnings was a man with tender concern for people who struggled in sin.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is centered in the Lord Jesus Christ, and through him in the Father. We believe in Christ, accept him as the Son of God, and have taken his name upon us in the waters of baptism.
4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior(F) appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
6 You see, at just the right time,(M) when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood,(R) how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
“One who has been justified stands before God uncondemned and uncondemnable—not because of what he is in himself, but because of what Christ is in him.” (The God Who Justifies, 98).
This issue is of utmost importance; as we have discovered over the years, it effectively gets to the heart of the matter of salvation. If people do not know for sure that their sins are forgiven, how can it be known with confidence that they are God’s “people”? Without this assurance, their claim to the title of “Christian” is merely presumptuous.
If you are an Evangelical Christian trying to make sense of Smith’s previous paragraph, it is important to have these differences in mind or confusion will reign. The language used by the Latter-day Saints is very similar but with important differenes in meaning.
… The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and of course we are not going to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ without having faith in His Father. Then if we have faith in God the Father and the Son and are guided, as we ought to be, by the Holy Ghost, we will have faith in the servants of the Lord through whom He has spoken.
Notice the logic in this paragraph. If a person has faith in Jesus, then that person will also have faith in God the Father. With this I agree. But notice the next step. If a person has faith in God and Jesus, then (guided by the Holy Ghost) God’s “servants” (read: General Authorities) should also be believed and accepted. Of course, the reference here certainly refers to the LDS leadership. But Smith misses a step, for if the so-called “servants” are teaching another gospel (Gal. 1:8-9) and another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4), then that “gospel” ought to be rejected! Only if these “servants” are teaching in the biblical version of Jesus should they be accepted and believed. Too many Mormons will skip right over this as they are willing to blindly accept the idea that the teachings and commandments coming from Salt Lake City should be accepted in order to have a relationship with God. This is a tragic error! As Jesus said in Matthew 7, false prophets dress up like wolves in sheep’s clothing.
“One erroneous teaching of many Christian churches is: By faith alone we are saved. This false doctrine would relieve man from the responsibility of his acts other than to confess a belief in God, and would teach man that no matter how great the sin, a confession would bring him complete forgiveness and salvation. What the world needs is more preaching of the necessity of abstaining from sin and of living useful and righteous lives, and less preaching of forgiveness of sin. This would then be a different world. The truth is that men must repent of their sins and forsake them before they can expect forgiveness. Even when our sins are forgiven, God can­not reward us for the good we have not done” (A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, pp. 25-26. Italics in original).
But Mormonism says faith is not a requirement for general salvation, or resurrection. It is provided to all who have ever lived, regardless of their faith or actions. This, then, could not fit an LDS interpretation. Was Paul, then, referring to “individual” salvation, or exaltation? When the word saved is replaced with exalted, it says, “For by grace are ye exalted through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast.” As Smith and other leaders throughout the years demonstrate, however, Mormonism teaches that many works are required for exaltation, which is inconsistent with Ephesians 2:8–9.
It would be illogical to say that Paul was contradicting himself right after he said salvation is “not of works.” He is certainly not advocating a sin-however-you-want mentality. Instead, he explains that Christians were created to do good works. Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that a converted believer becomes “a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” In essence, the Christian possesses a different spiritual DNA.
In John 15:14 Jesus said, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” He is a Friend who sticks closer than a brother and offers a life that benefits His people both temporally and spiritually. We value His friendship and willfully follow His directives, knowing they are for our good and not meant for harm. When it is understood that God justified His people freely through no act of their own and gave them a gift that can never be repaid, then the role of good works in the Christian’s life becomes clear.
Faith is a gift of God. Every good thing is a gift of God. That is a teaching of the scriptures as found in the 11th chapter of Hebrews—which chapter is a very fine dissertation on faith—[and] in the revelations the Lord has given us in the Doctrine and Covenants, and in other scriptures. Faith cannot be obtained by inaction or through indifference or passive belief. The mere desire to obtain faith will not bring faith any more than the desire to be skilled in music or painting will bring proficiency in these things without intelligent action. There is where our trouble comes. We get a testimony of the Gospel, we believe in Joseph Smith, we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in the principles of the Gospel, but how hard are we working at them?
Hebrews 11 is a great passage, though it’s being abused here. The writer of Hebrews is saying that faith is made manifest through good works. Of course good works (the proof in the pudding) matters! Jesus said we ought to be fruit inspectors. But it’s not the fruit that makes the tree, but rather it’s the tree that makes the fruit. And so it is in a healthy, vibrant Christian life.
“Be active in the performance”—In Mormonism, it’s all about “performance.” What Jesus did on the cross is nothing more than a precursor to what the individual must do for him/herself, no matter how impossible the demands might be. According to Mormonism, the Latter-day Saint is on the stage. This life is the one chance to perform. Just don’t mess up your lines!
“Every duty”—Did you catch that? You are not required to keep some of the commandments or even most of them. Rather, you are commanded to keep every one of them.
“Members of this church”—Christian, take notice. According to Mormonism, a person cannot keep the commandments outside the LDS church. Period. End of story.
We are not walking now by sight, as we did before we came into this world, but the Lord expects that we shall walk by faith [see 2 Corinthians 5:7]; and walking by faith we shall receive the reward of the righteous, if we adhere unto those commandments which are given for our salvation.
Whenever discussion is made about “walking by faith” or “salvation by grace,” always look for an “if.” Here, it comes in the last phrase. Walk by faith and adhere to the commandments. Sola fides is completely rejected in Mormonism.
Unless a man will adhere to the doctrine and walk in faith, accepting the truth and observing the commandments as they have been given, it will be impossible for him to receive eternal life, no matter how much he may confess with his lips that Jesus is the Christ, or believe that his Father sent him into the world for the redemption of man. So James is right when he says that the devils “believe and tremble,” but they do not repent [see James 2:19].
So here is a stab-and-twist statement in an attempt to refute the interpretation made in Evangelical Christianity in reference to Romans 10:9-10. According to Mormonism, a person does not come to God to be forgiven by faith alone—even though the Bible is replete with references saying this is true. Rather, works—many works—are required for the Latter-day Saint to ever hope to attain celestial glory.
There are six verses from LDS scripture that can be used to show how futile the Mormon’s plan of salvation really is. May I recommend this article on this topic for futher reference?
Repentance is the second principle of the gospel and is essential to our salvation and exaltation. Repentance is the second fundamental principle of the gospel and the outgrowth of faith. What we need in the Church, as well as out of it, is repentance. We need more faith and more determination to serve the Lord.
Spencer Kimball added, “And incomplete repentance never brought complete forgive­ness” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, 212).
Latter-day Saint, do you have any hidden sins? Maybe they’re sins you are too embarrassed to speak out loud. Perhaps you haven’t asked forgiveness of someone who deserves your repentance. Or, possibly, could you have hidden sins in your life that you don’t even realize are there? If “no unclean thing can dwell with God,” how can you be sure that you are really clean?
Is it true that some among us have an idea that it matters not that we sin so long as it is not a grievous sin, a deadly sin, that we will yet be saved in the kingdom of God? Nephi saw our day. He said that people would be saying that [see 2 Nephi 28:7–9]. But I say unto you, we cannot turn away from the path of truth and righteousness and retain the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord.
There is no place in Zion for the wilful sinner. There is a place for the repentant sinner, for the man who turns away from iniquity and seeks for life eternal and the light of the Gospel. We should not look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, any more than the Lord can do so, but walk uprightly and perfectly before the Lord.
Men can only be saved and exalted in the kingdom of God in righteousness; therefore, we must repent of our sins and walk in the light as Christ is in the light [see 1 John 1:7], that his blood may cleanse us from all sins and that we may have fellowship with the Lord and receive of his glory and exaltation.
We need repentance, and we need to be told to repent.
“To be forgiven one must repent. Repentance means not only to convict yourselves of the horror of the sin, but to confess it, abandon it, and restore to all who have been damaged to the total extent possible; then spend the balance of your lives trying to live the commandments of the Lord so he can eventually pardon you and cleanse you” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, 200).
“This progress toward eternal life is a matter of achieving perfec­tion. Living all the commandments guarantees total forgiveness of sins and assures one of exaltation through that perfection which comes by complying with the formula the Lord gave us.” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 208-209. See also church manual The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, 1979, 386).
“Your Heavenly Father has promised forgiveness upon total repen­tance and meeting all the requirements, but that forgiveness is not granted merely for the asking. There must be works—many works—and an all-out, total surrender, with a great humility and ‘a broken heart and a contrite spirit.’ It depends upon you whether or not you are forgiven, and when. It could be weeks, it could be years, it could be centuries before that happy day when you have the positive assurance that the Lord has forgiven you. That de­pends on your humility your sincerity, your works, your attitudes” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, 324-325).
“If one wishes to be forgiven of his sins and reach the celestial kingdom and have associations with the Father and his Son, [he must] repent and serve and do the proper works….” (The Teach­ings of Spencer W. Kimball, 69. Brackets and ellipses in original).
“We can hardly be too forceful in reminding people that they can­not sin and be forgiven and then sin again and again and expect repeated forgiveness. The Lord anticipated the weakness of man which would return him to his transgression, and he gave this rev­elation in warning: And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, will not lay any sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God. (D&C 82:7.)” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, 360).
Doctrine and Covenants 82:7. We are commanded to forsake sin. If we sin again after repenting, our former sins return. (5–10 minutes) Bring several rocks to class that are all labeled with the same sin (for example, breaking the Word of Wisdom). Tell students a story about an imaginary person who commits this sin. Invent details to embellish your story. Each time the imaginary person commits the sin, pick up a rock, until you are holding several of them. Set all the rocks you are holding aside and ask: • What might setting the rocks aside represent? (Repentance.) • What happens to our sins when we repent? (The Lord forgives them.) Read Doctrine and Covenants 82:7 and look for what happens when we sin again. Ask: • How many rocks would a person need to pick up if he sins after repenting? (All that you were previously holding plus a new one.) • Why do you think our former sins return? • What does that teach you about the importance of forsaking sin? • How can knowing this doctrine help you avoid sin?” Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Seminary Teacher Resource Manual, 134. Bold in original.
Latter-day Saint, as you understand it, doesn’t forgiveness follow repentance? How many sins must you forsake? Have you forsaken all of your sins? If not, doesn’t that mean you have not truly repented? There is no doubt that, in Mormonism, the faithful and successful keeping of all commandments is not just a suggestion but a concrete requirement.
In the principle of repentance, the mercy of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is made manifest.
I’m not sure how the “mercy” of God comes into play since the Latter-day Saint is the one doing the performing. If past repented sins can return upon reversion to that sin—as discussed above in our analysis of D&C 82:7—then can there be any hope for the Latter-day Saint?
Repentance is one of the most comforting and glorious principles taught in the gospel. In this principle the mercy of our Heavenly Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, is made manifest perhaps more strongly than in any other principle. What a dreadful thing it would be if there were no forgiveness of sin and no means for the remission of sin for those who are humbly repentant! We can only imagine in part the horror that would overtake us, if we had to endure the punishment of our transgressions forever and ever without the hope of any relief. How is that relief obtained? By whom may it be obtained?
“Complete forgiveness is reserved for those only who turn their whole hearts to the Lord and begin to keep all of his command­ments not just those commandments disobeyed in the past, but those in all fields. ‘He that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven’” (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doc­trine, 1966, 295).
“All men should seek forgiveness with all their hearts, but only those who keep the commandments can obtain that self assurance which enables them to approach the throne of grace with bold­ness” (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 3:154).
“20. In order to remain forgiven we must never commit the sin again” (Mormon Missionary Discussion F, Uniform System for Teach­ing Families. 1981, p. 36).
Our Lord has said: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” [John 3:16–17; see also verses 18–21.] If the Father had not sent Jesus Christ into the world, then there could have been no remission of sins and there could have been no relief from sin through repentance.
Here the language changes, ever so subtly. There could be no remission of sins, Smith says, without Jesus. There is no doubt that, according to Mormonism, Jesus is an important player who takes a person to the ball. But this is only entrance into the main event. How a person does on the dance floor is what is required. There is “no relief” unless there is repentance and the stopping of sin, which can only be effected by the individual.
If we really understood and could feel even to a small degree, the love and gracious willingness on the part of Jesus Christ to suffer for our sins we would be willing to repent of all our transgressions and serve him. Repentance includes sincere sorrow for sin and complete turning from sin.
… Repentance, according to the definition given in the dictionary, is sincere sorrow for sin with self-condemnation, and complete turning from the sin. … There can be no true repentance without sorrow and the desire to be freed from sin.
Repentance is a gift of God. … It is not so easy for some people to repent, but the gift of repentance and faith will be given to every man who will seek for it.
I’ve learned from my own experience that when you want to change, really want to change, you can do it. Our conscience and the scriptures tell us what to live by—and they tell us what habits we should change for our eternal welfare and progress.
More of the same, but one phrase really sticks out: If a person “really wants to change,” then this says that a person “can do it.” Do you want to change, Latter-day Saint? According to your leaders, you have no excuses.
God is not going to save every man and woman in the celestial kingdom. If you want to get there, and you have failings, if you are committing sins, if you are breaking the commandments of the Lord and you know it, it is a good time right now to repent and reform, and not get the idea that it is such a little thing that the Lord will forgive you, just a few stripes, just a little punishment and we will be forgiven; for you may find yourselves cast out, if you insist and persist in such a course.
Do not let us forget the words of [Amulek]: “For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
If Alma 34 can be trusted, then indeed the time to repent is now, not after this life when it is no longer possible to repent.
I know of nothing that is more important or necessary at this time than to cry repentance, even among the Latter-day Saints, and I call upon them as well as upon those who are not members of the Church, to heed these words of our Redeemer. Now he has stated definitely that no unclean thing can enter his presence. Only those who prove themselves faithful and have washed their garments in his blood through their faith and their repentance—none others shall find the kingdom of God.
I plead with the world to repent and believe the truth, to let the light of Christ shine in their lives, to keep every good and true principle they have, and to add to these the further light and knowledge that has come by revelation in this day. I plead with them to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and reap the blessings of the gospel. I plead with the members of the Church to do the works of righteousness, to keep the commandments, to seek the Spirit, to love the Lord, to put first in their lives the things of God’s kingdom, and thereby work out their salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord [see Philippians 2:12].
Why such a plea for people to join the Mormon Church? After all, anyone who becomes LDS becomes subject to keeping the whole LDS law. No coffee, no watching a game on Sundays, and no ability to know if you’ve ever done enough. There is no “reaping” of “blessings of the gospel.” Those who enter into this system become prisoners of the hell-hole of attempting to do what is truly impossible.
Some Mormons may think, “I just need more time. Someday I’ll attain what the church tells me I’m supposed to do.” In some ways there is a parallel between those who think they only need more time to make things right and the servant in Jesus’ story in Matthew 18:23–27. In this passage Jesus tells of a servant who owed the king an insurmountable debt of ten thousand talents. The servant pleaded with the king to have patience with him. Somehow, he thought having more time would solve his problem. Thankfully for him, the king had compassion and canceled the debt.
True Christians can be confident of their forgiveness because it has nothing to do with their personal merit or performance. Latter-day Saint, this is the gospel of peace that passes understanding.