Mormon Teaching: Salvation Is Earned

Ahar

Active member
In Mormonism salvation is earned by keeping the commandments and good works. The Mormon scripture Doctrine and Covenants 18:46 declares, “If you keep not my commandments you cannot be saved in the kingdom of my father”.

The Book of Mormon Alma 3:26 teaches: “And in one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal world, that they might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it be a good spirit or a bad one.”

According to the Bible, salvation is a totally free gift:

The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

For is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Eph. 2:8-9

Jesus promised: I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28

Further, the Bible teaches that salvation does not occur by observing the law or personal righteousness:

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:5

We know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Gal. 2:15

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Rommans 3:28

Just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works.... Rom. 4:6
But if it [salvation] is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. Rom. 11:6
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Romans 10:4
 
In Mormonism salvation is earned by keeping the commandments and good works. The Mormon scripture Doctrine and Covenants 18:46 declares, “If you keep not my commandments you cannot be saved in the kingdom of my father”.

The Book of Mormon Alma 3:26 teaches: “And in one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal world, that they might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it be a good spirit or a bad one.”
I'm not a Mormon, but your critique of Mormon teachings is incorrect insofar as neither if those quotes as speaking out earning salvation as a wage. Works can be required for any number of reasons other than in order to earn our salvation as a wage, so the fact that we can't do that even through perfect obedience does not mean that our salvation does not require us to do works for some other reason, such as faith.

According to the Bible, salvation is a totally free gift:
The content of a gift can itself by the experience of doing someone, such as giving someone the opportunity to experience driving a Ferrari for an hour, where the gift requires them to do the work of driving it in order to have that experience, but where doing that work has nothing to do with trying to earn the opportunity to drive it as a wage. In a similar way, the content of God's gift of eternal life is the experience of knowing God and Jesus (John 17:3) and the gift of God's law is His instructions for how to have that experience (Exodus 33:13, Matthew 7:23).

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Romans 10:4
In Romans 9:30-10:4, the Israelites had a zeal for God, but it was not based on the experience of knowing Him, so they misunderstood the goal of the law by pursuing it as through righteousness were earned as the result of their works in order to establish their own instead of pursuing the law as though righteousness were by faith in Christ, for knowing Christ is the goal of the law for righteousness for everyone who has faith. In Romans 10:5-10, our faith references Deuteronomy 30:11-16 as the word of faith that we proclaim in regard to saying that God's law is not too difficult for us to obey, that the one who obeys it will attain life by it, in regard to what we are agreeing to obey by confessing that Jesus is Lord, and in regard to the way to believe that God rose him from the dead, so nothing in this passage has anything to do with ending God's law, but just the opposite.

The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
In Romans 6:19-23, no longer presenting ourselves as slaves to impurity, lawlessness, and sin is contrasted with now presenting ourselves as slaves to God and to righteousness leading to sanctification and the goal of sanctification is eternal life in Christ which is the gift of God, so the experience of living in obedience to God's law is the content of His gift of eternal life.

For is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Eph. 2:8-9
In Ephesians 2:8-10, we are new creations in Christ to do good works, so while we do not earn our salvation as the result of our good works lest anyone should boast, the experience of doing good works is nevertheless a central part of our salvation from the experience of not doing good works.

Jesus promised: I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28
Jesus said in Matthew 19:17 that the way to enter eternal life is by obeying God's commandments, and in Luke 10:25-28, he said that the way to inherit eternal life is by obeying the greatest two commandments.

Further, the Bible teaches that salvation does not occur by observing the law or personal righteousness:

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:5

We know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Gal. 2:15

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Rommans 3:28

Just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works.... Rom. 4:6

While we do not earn eternal life as the result of having first done works as through it were earned as a wage, it is nevertheless still true that eternal life requires us to do good works. In Hebrews 5:9, Jesus has become a source of eternal salvation for those who obey Him. In Revelation 22:14, those who obeyed God's commandments are given the right to eat from the Tree of Life.

Likewise, while the one and only way to become righteous is through faith, becoming righteous means becoming someone who practices righteousness. God's law is His instructions for how to practice righteousness, not for how to earn our righteousness as a wage. For example, God's law reveals that helping the poor is a way to practice righteousness, but no amount of helping the poor will ever cause someone to become righteous. When God declares someone righteous through faith, He is declaring them to be someone who practices righteousness in obedience to His law through the same faith, which is why the faith by which we are justified apart from works does not abolish our need to do practice righteousness, but rather our faith upholds it (Romans 3:27-31).

But if it [salvation] is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. Rom. 11:6
Grace is a gift and gifts can't be earned as a wage, so grace is incompatible with works insofar as they are done to earn a wage, however, there can be any number of other reasons for doing works that compatible with grace, especially because God's law was never given as a way of earning our righteousness even through perfect obedience (Romans 4:1-5).

This is why there are many verses that connect grace with works, such as in Psalms 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching hi to obey His law, and he chose the way of faithfulness by setting God's law before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he might know Him and Israel too. In Genesis 6:8-9, Noah found grace in the eyes of God, he was a righteous man, and he walked with God, so God was gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law and he was righteous because he obeyed through faith. In Romans 1:5, we have received grace in order to bring about the obedience of faith. In Titus 2:11-14, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so God graciously teaching us to experience doing those works is again the content of His gift of saving us from not experiencing doing those works.
 
as said above, Salvation is a GIFT. but....... but ....... but ....... one must accept a Gifts. and a gift is not earned. if's free with one acceptance.

101G.
 
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