All Things to All Men

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).  Joseph Smith commented on this statement saying, “So must the elders of the last days do” (see here).  So what does that mean to be all things to all men?  Joseph used the statement in a description about the apostate Ezra Booth.  After the latter had returned disgruntled from a mission, the Prophet Joseph observed that Ezra had been disappointed to learn that “he actually learned that faith, humility, patience, and tribulation go before blessing, and that … he must become all things to all mean, that might peradventure save some” (see here).  So perhaps becoming all things to all people means that we put off our own pride and selfishness and learn to focus on how to adapt ourselves to help others. 

                I think we see the best example of this in Paul’s life in the way that he acted upon returning to Jerusalem after his third mission.  Paul clearly knew that there was no more need for the Law of Moses and had focused much of his work on the Gentiles and integrating them into the Church without making them observe rituals of the Law of Moses.  And yet when he got to Jerusalem in Acts 21 he was asked to do a strange thing after declaring to them “what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.”  James and the leaders of the Church explained to him that there were still many believing Jews who were “all zealous of the law” and so they requested that Paul make a sort of reconciliatory gesture towards them by participating in some of the rituals of the law.  Despite his deep feelings that Christ had fulfilled the law and that it was only a yoke for Christians, Paul, “entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification” and participated in the ritual (Acts 21:19-26).  He was not compromising his principles and he was not going against the gospel, but he was being all things to all people in an attempt to help bring unity to a Church that must have been tenuously divided by the issue of the Law of Moses.  Paul cared more about the welfare of the Church and its members than he did about himself and his own feelings.   His earnest desire really was, as he stated to King Agrippa, “I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am” (Acts 26:29).

                The obvious example in the Book of Mormon of a missionary living by this same principle was the story of Ammon amongst the Lamanites.  When he arrived and was taken captive to King Lamoni because he was a Nephite, he made this humble statement, “I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die” (Alma 17:23).  He was willing to basically give up his identity as a Nephite and become as one of these people all in order to be able to preach them the gospel.  If he had walked in and announced that he was a missionary from the Nephites and needed to call them to repentance he never would have converted a soul.  His great success came from becoming one of them while at the same time never compromising the gospel standards.  Both Paul and Ammon provide  excellent examples for us as we try to share the gospel—it must always be about them, never about us.