In the centuries that have passed between the death of the
Apostles and our modern age there has been much debate and disputation over the
precise nature and means of our individual and collective salvation. Since the
Reformation, this debate has largely taken the form of a question of whether
faith (or grace) alone will bring salvation, or if works are necessary as well
(or instead), and if so, to what degree? Most often, this has been couched in a
sort of Faith VERSUS Works argument in which opposing camps put forward one or
the other as competing and opposing routes to salvation.
This argument often centers on the idea that we are saved by the grace of God
regardless of our personal actions, and that any notion that we must complete a
checklist of works in order to gain admittance to heaven is the worst kind of
human arrogance, and a relic of the long-abandoned Law of Moses. This doctrine
was a natural reaction by the Protestants of the Reformation to the Catholic
assertion that one must receive certain rites, and complete certain performances
under the exclusive auspices of the Church in order to gain salvation. The Protestants
referred to Paul’s writings as they denounced the notion that salvation depends
on empty performances (or as Paul puts it, dead works). Some even went so far
as to say that it does not matter what we as individuals do, salvation through
the grace of Christ is a free gift to all, saints and sinners alike, regardless
of any action or lack thereof on our part. They claimed that, due to our mortal
weakness, we are incapable of keeping the commandments, and that keeping them is
no longer necessary in any case, because we are all saved through the atonement
of Christ. In another view, John Calvin, in his doctrine of predestination and
total election, claimed that God has already determined who is saved, and who
is not, and that we have no choice in the matter.
As a missionary I talked to many people who tried to draw me into an argument
over whether salvation is through faith or through our own works. These people
often proceeded from the false assumption that the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints is a “works church” (as opposed to a church that teaches that
salvation comes only through the grace of Christ), and that it was their task
to instruct me and my companion on the non-biblical fallacy of our doctrine.
The fact is that the LDS Church is not a “works church,” nor
is it entirely a “grace church” in the sense that many evangelical Protestants
define both terms today. My answer to the question of which of the competing
doctrines of Salvation by Faith alone and Salvation by Works alone (as the
world understands them) is the true one is a resounding “neither!"
