By Grace We Are Saved!

“For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” 2 Nephi 25:23

I read this verse again today while studying the Book of Mormon with my son and pondered the meaning of the verse with the new perspective I have gained from the teachings of Elder Bednar on the atonement.

Elder Bednar taught that grace is the enabling and strengthening power of the atonement. He said he often replaces the word grace with this description of what it is when he reads the scriptures. That if you do this it brings greater understanding of the grace and how the power of the atonement works in our lives.

He says, “The enabling power of the atonement strengthens us to do and be good... beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity... Grace is the enabling power that allows men to receive strength to do good works that we would not be able to maintain if left to our own means.”

“The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality” Elder Bednar

“For we know that it is by [enabling and strengthening power of the atonement] that we are saved, after all we can do.” 2 Nephi 25:23

Even our best efforts require us to rely upon the power of his atonement. We cannot be what we need to be upon our own merits. We cannot maintain the good works of his gospel by our own means. When Paul taught that it is by grace alone that we are saved, and yet testified that Faith without works is dead, he was not being inconsistent. The gospel of Christ requires that we “go and sin no more,” (John 8:11) and yet are we able to forsake our sins merely because we have been forgiven of them? No, this requires a “mighty change of heart” and an increase in capacity beyond our natural strength; “that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” (Mosiah 5:2) First, we are cleansed through the atonement but that is not all, it is not the end of our reliance upon the grace and power of Christ’s atonement. “We must press forward with steadfastness in Christ... and endure to the end.” (2 Nephi 31:20) And this we cannot do without a full reliance upon Christ.

So, do we as Christians understand the power of grace? Do we understand what the scriptures teach us about this power? — I know I have not always understood it, and even though I understand it better now, it is still a miracle beyond words and often beyond my understanding — God wants a powerful people, he wants a pure people, he wants a steadfast and immovable people and he is able to give us all that we need to be these things for Him. So let us try Elder Bednar’s tool for better understanding of grace and replace grace with “enabling and strengthening power of the atonement” in these key scriptures about the power of grace.

“For my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” (Ether 12:27)

“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 (“If he love me keep my commandments” - John 14:15) then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

“And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.” (Moroni 10:33-33)

“For by grace we are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Discipleship is obedience, it is steadfast and immovable, and repentance requires the forsaking of sin. We must do all that we can do, and much more that we could never do without Christ’s grace. Christ enables us in all the requirements of the law, lest we should boast of our own strength.