A Gospel Covenant

The Process of Salvation

By Robert L. Millet

Robert L. Millet was a Richard L. Evans Professor of Religious Understanding and former dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University at the time this was published.

"It is not uncommon for a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be asked the following questions by a caring or curious Christian: “Are you a saved Christian?” or “Have you been saved?” Latter-day Saints may stumble over their words and wrestle with how to respond, for we generally associate salvation with the life to come and believe that being saved has to do with gaining eternal life following death and eventual resurrection.

Here, as in other theological matters, we use the same or similar words as our Christian neighbors to describe a Christian concept, but discover upon more serious investigation that what we mean is at least slightly different. In that vein, I would suggest that for Latter-day Saints being saved is a process, one that has something to do with what has been accomplished in the past, what is going on now, and what will yet take place in the future. Thus, our hesitation to respond to a rather straightforward question about being saved derives not from any effort to avoid the issue or to suggest that we do not believe in the saving role of Jesus Christ but rather from the fact that the question is not easily answered...

Latter-day Saints have often been critical of those who stress salvation by grace alone, while we have often been criticized for a type of works-righteousness. We believe that the gospel is, in fact, a gospel covenant. The Lord agrees to do for us what we could never do for ourselves—forgive our sins, lift our burdens, renew our souls and re-create our nature, raise us from the dead, and qualify us for glory hereafter.  

Whereupon, we strive to do what we can do: have faith in Christ, repent of our sins, be baptized, love and serve one another, and do all in our power to put off the natural man and deny ourselves of ungodliness. In short, we believe that more is required of men and women than a verbal expression of faith in the Lord, more than a confession with the lips that we have received Christ into our hearts. Without question, the power to save us, to change us, to renew our souls, is in Christ. True faith, however, always manifests itself in faithfulness. Thus, the real question is not whether one is saved by grace or by works...

President Hinckley observed that 'the whole design of the gospel is to lead us onward and upward to greater achievement, even, eventually, to godhood. . . . Our enemies have criticized us for believing in this. Our reply is that this lofty concept in no way diminishes God the Eternal Father. He is the Almighty. He is the Creator and Governor of the universe. He is the greatest of all and will always be so. But just as any earthly father wishes for his sons and daughters every success in life, so I believe our Father in Heaven wishes for his children that they might approach him in stature and stand beside him resplendent in godly strength and wisdom.'

Latter-day Saints teach that through the cleansing and transforming power of the blood of Jesus Christ, men and women may mature spiritually over time. That is, by and through His blood, we 'have a forgiveness of sins, and also a sure reward laid up for [us] in heaven, even that of partaking of the fullness of the Father and the Son through the Spirit. As the Son partakes of the fullness of the Father through the Spirit, so the saints are, by the same Spirit, to be partakers of the same fullness, to enjoy the same glory; for as the Father and the Son are one, so, in like manner, the saints are to be one in them. Through the love of the Father, the mediation of Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, they are to be heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.' (Lectures on Faith, pg. 61)

Some people have asked the following question: If the doctrine of theosis or the deification of man is a true part of Mormonism, why is it not found in the Book of Mormon? The answer is that although the Book of Mormon is said to contain “the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ” (D&C 20:9), this does not mean that it contains the fulness of gospel doctrine, or that it contains all of the doctrines within the faith. The Book of Mormon teaches the fulness of the gospel—the message of salvation in Christ—with simple plainness.

The repetitive focus in the Book of Mormon is upon such principles as faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, enduring to the end, the Atonement, bodily resurrection, and eternal judgment. Many of the more distinctive doctrines of Mormonism are found in the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. Latter-day Saints would not expect all of the principles and doctrines of the faith to be set forth within the pages of the Book of Mormon any more than traditional Christians would expect all of the doctrines of salvation to be articulated within the four Gospels...

It is glorious and heartwarming to know that God our Father has a plan for His children, a plan of recovery, a plan of renewal and reconciliation, a plan of salvation, a plan by which those who wander—and that includes all of us—can pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and through the cleansing and enabling power of the Atonement, return home. None of us is bright enough or powerful enough to do it alone; we must have help. And were it not for divine assistance, each of us would falter and fail, would lose the battle of life."