By His Grace

The last four chapters of the Book of Mormon all speak of the grace of God. Mormon’s address in Moroni 7 to the faithful of his day begins with these words, “And now I, Mormon, speak unto you, my beloved brethren; and it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and his holy will, because of the gift of his calling unto me, that I am permitted to speak unto you at this time” (Moroni 7:2). He recognized that his ability to even speak to the people came through the grace of God. In his letter to Moroni in the next chapter, Mormon also spoke of how he hoped that grace would be with his son: “I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end” (Moroni 8:3). He prayed that the grace of Christ would help his son to be faithful to the end. He wrote again to Moroni in the next chapter and similarly expressed his hope that God’s grace would be with his son: “And may the grace of God the Father, whose throne is high in the heavens, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who sitteth on the right hand of his power, until all things shall become subject unto him, be, and abide with you forever” (Moroni 9:26). Knowing perhaps that Moroni would be left alone as the final witness to the destruction of their people, Mormon entrusted his son to the grace of God for help.

Finally, in the last chapter of the entire book, Moroni wrote of his hope for each of us to be strengthened and perfected by the grace of Jesus Christ. He left us this powerful invitation, “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; 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 10:32-33). Through the grace of Christ we can obtain power, we can become holy, we can be made perfect in Him. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are sometimes accused of not focusing enough on the grace of Christ. If that is a problem in some of us, it is not because of our scriptures—here the final, culminating message of the Book of Mormon is centered on the grace of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from our sins and can perfect us.

One of the most popular speeches of all time given at BYU is by Brad Wilcox on how the grace of God is sufficient for us. In it he said this, “I have born-again Christian friends who say to me, ‘You Mormons are trying to earn your way to heaven.’ I say, ‘No, we are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven. We are preparing for it (see D&C 78:7). We are practicing for it.’ They ask me, ‘Have you been saved by grace?’ I answer, ‘Yes. Absolutely, totally, completely, thankfully—yes!’ Then I ask them a question that perhaps they have not fully considered: ‘Have you been changed by grace?’ They are so excited about being saved that maybe they are not thinking enough about what comes next. They are so happy the debt is paid that they may not have considered why the debt existed in the first place. Latter-day Saints know not only what Jesus has saved us from but also what He has saved us for. As my friend Brett Sanders puts it, ‘A life impacted by grace eventually begins to look like Christ’s life.’ As my friend Omar Canals puts it, ‘While many Christians view Christ’s suffering as only a huge favor He did for us, Latter-day Saints also recognize it as a huge investment He made in us.’ As Moroni puts it, grace isn’t just about being saved. It is also about becoming like the Savior.” Indeed, that is the message of these final verses of the Book of Mormon. Christ’s grace can save us and purify us and change us so that we can ultimately become like Him.