Exceeding Faith

In the midst of his call to repentance to his people, Jacob counseled those who were not caught up in sin, “Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith” (Jacob 3:1).  One of the phrases that is unique to the Book of Mormon in scripture is “exceeding faith.”  The word “exceeding” means “exceptional in amount, quality, or degree,” and to me the idea seems to connote constantly increasing in faith.  To “exceed” means to be greater or more than, and so perhaps to have exceeding faith means that we are continually growing our faith so as to exceed that which we previously have had.  The Book of Mormon is full of stories of people who had great faith, and one of the book’s purposes is to bring its readers to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Joseph Smith taught us that faith is the first principle of the gospel, and his life was also one of incredible faith.  Joseph in Egypt confirmed this in his prophecy about Joseph Smith: “[He] shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders” (2 Nephi 3:24).  The Book of Mormon itself came to us because of the faith that Joseph had which enabled him to translate it, and its invitation to all who read it is to increase their own faith in Jesus Christ.

               We see both the prophets and the ordinary people in the Book of Mormon who are described as having “exceeding faith.”  The angel told Alma the Younger, “Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding faith in the words alone of my servant Abinadi” (Mosiah 26:15).  The Lord told the Brother of Jared, “Never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast” (Ether 3:9).  The description of those who were foreordained in the preexistence states that it was “on account of their exceeding faith and good works….  It was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God” (Alma 13:3, 10).  That certainly has reference to some of the great prophets like Abraham and Moses, but I believe it is also a description of many average saints trying to trust in the Lord without fanfare.  In the Book of Mormon, the people of King Benjamin “received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come” (Mosiah 4:3).  Their great faith in the words of King Benjamin brought them forgiveness of their sins.  Helaman said that the stripling warriors were preserved miraculously “because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe” (Alma 57:26).  They didn’t have to be prophets like their leader Helaman in order to receive great power because of their great faith. Similarly, in his letter to Pahoran, Moroni praised the freemen “because of their exceeding faith, and their patience in their tribulations” (Alma 60:26).  They were able to do great things and protect the Nephites because of their faith.  Ammon said to King Lamoni’s wife –who trusted in his words despite what others said—“Blessed art thou because of thy exceeding faith” (Alma 19:10).  She was not a great prophet but rather a woman who knew almost nothing about spiritual matters.  And yet she was still able to exhibit incredible faith.  These examples give us hope as we nurture our own faith since we see that even those who were not powerful prophets still exhibited exceeding faith and received great power from the Lord.  The Book of Mormon’s call to each of us is to likewise live with exceeding faith so that the Lord can “work mighty wonders” through us too.