Doth Salvation Come by the Law?

When Abinadi was speaking to the priests of Noah, he asked them what they taught the people.  They responded, “We teach the law of Moses.”  He questioned them as to why they didn’t keep the law themselves if that’s what they taught, and then he queried them saying, “And what know ye concerning the law of Moses? Doth salvation come by the law of Moses? What say ye?”  This would be like him asking us today, “Does salvation come by keeping the commandments?” (Mosiah 12:28-32).  On the one hand we would emphatically answer no, since salvation comes only through Jesus Christ, as King Benjamin taught, “And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17).  But on the other hand, we might want to answer yes, since we will only be saved if we keep the commandments as the Savior Himself declared in our day: “And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 14:7).  So what is the right answer to Abinadi’s question?    

               I believe that Abinadi’s subsequent teaching about the Savior to the priests of King Noah showed that salvation comes through the Savior in conjunction with our own obedience to what He requires of us.  When the priests answered his question in the affirmative, “that salvation did come by the law of Moses,” Abinadi did not wholeheartedly agree or disagree with them, but rather he said, “I know if ye keep the commandments of God ye shall be saved; yea, if ye keep the commandments which the Lord delivered unto Moses in the mount of Sinai” (Mosiah 12:33).  But he realized that he needed to explain clearly the doctrine of the Savior to them, and through the miraculous power of God he was protected from them until he could explain clearly that salvation is through Christ.  After affirming the importance of the ten commandments, he came back to this question, saying, “And now ye have said that salvation cometh by the law of Moses. I say unto you that it is expedient that ye should keep the law of Moses as yet….  And moreover, I say unto you, that salvation doth not come by the law alone; and were it not for the atonement, which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses” (Mosiah 13:27-28).  In other words, yes, it is imperative to keep the law; but if there was no atonement made by Christ it wouldn’t matter if we kept the law or not, for without His grace we would perish. 

               Abinadi then went on to teach these wicked priests about Christ in a profound way, trying to help them see beyond the law and how it pointed in every way to the Messiah.  He quoted Isaiah’s passage on the Savior’s suffering, and then he taught about how Christ would “be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.”  Because of this, “God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men.”  He then described how salvation comes to those who are “the seed” of Christ: “I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.” Those who then hearken unto the words of the Lord are those “whose sins he has borne” and who will receive salvation as “heirs of the kingdom of God” (Mosiah 15:7-12).  Thus keeping the law is necessary for salvation, but it is because that is what enables us to become of the seed of Christ and receive “a remission of [our] sins” through His redemption.