Grace Works ~ A Calvary Chapel Outreach to Mormons

Q: If Christ paid the debt for all sin for all time, for how many of your sins did he pay?
A: All of them.

Q: How many sins had you committed when Christ paid the penalty for them?
A: None of them.

Q: For how many of the sins that you will commit tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that did Christ pay the debt?
A: All of them.[7]

Q: What further assistance do you need to have a perfect standing before a holy God?
A: None. [8]

The importance of this cannot be overstated. The only thing you earn is debt for your sins; but because God declares you righteous freely by grace through faith, there is no debt remaining and nothing to be earned or paid back. That’s why the Bible states that “to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”[9] Therefore, the Bible ultimately concludes in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (emphasis added).

It’s as if you have accumulated a huge debt that is completely beyond your capacity to pay, but a rich benefactor who is aware of your circumstances shows you grace and pays your debt. He offers no terms for repayment and his only condition is that you place your faith in him and receive his free gift. If you do, your debt is canceled and you are set free from your burden. If you do not, you are forever burdened by your debt. Make no mistake—this is not a refinancing of your debt. It is paid in full. Imagine your joy if someone paid the $5,000 you owe on your credit card. Now, imagine the burden you carry from your sins lifted, never to be set upon you again. That’s inexpressible joy. That’s grace.

It is clear then that works play no part in our righteousness, but they play a huge part in our accumulation of debt to sin. Grace is bestowed on sinful man by God, and we are given the free gift of righteousness. Of course, while righteousness is a free gift to us, it isn’t free at all—Christ paid the price for us, in our place. So how does this compare with the grace presented in Mormon doctrine?

In the LDS Bible Dictionary, grace and Christ’s atonement for sin are depicted in the following way:

This view of grace and the atonement places the work of God and the work of man on equal footing. Without the work of God, man is unable to return to God; however, without the work of man, God’s grace is insufficient to fully reconcile man to Himself. Popular LDS author, lecturer, and BYU professor of religion Robert L. Millet expressed grace in the following way:

“As we have seen already, the grace of God is a necessary condition for salvation; there is no way, in time or in eternity, that man could produce the plan of salvation—create himself, fall, or redeem himself—for such is the work of the Gods (plural in original).

“Therefore, acting alone, the grace of Christ is not sufficient for salvation. The works of man—the ordinances of salvation, the deeds of service and acts of charity and mercy—are necessary for salvation…” (emphasis in original; parenthesis added).[14]

According to Millet then, man’s righteous acts are necessary for salvation. President and LDS prophet Brigham Young conveyed the same notion of grace when he proclaimed in his teachings, “My faith is, when we have done all we can, then the Lord is under obligation, and will not disappoint the faithful; He will perform the rest” (emphasis added).[15]

This notion of grace, a notion that is foreign to plain biblical doctrine and stands in stark contrast to it, portrays God as a debtor and obligates Him to the work of man. Notably, the Bible addresses this false notion and clearly makes the case against grace being an obligation. In Romans 4:4-5, the Bible states, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”[16] The NIV puts it slightly clearer: “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Consequently, the grace of God obviously cannot be an obligation that is dependent on man’s effort. Brigham Young, in accord with every other LDS Prophet, is teaching a doctrine of grace that is clearly contrary to that taught in the Bible.

Furthermore, the portrayal by Brigham Young, and later affirmed by Millet, reveals a low view of God’s grace in that it is insufficient to save man. God is viewed as rewarding man, or rather owing him according to Brigham Young, for the sake of man’s own effort to become righteous. In other words, man’s effort is as necessary as God’s.

Of course, the ultimate problem with this view is that it ignores the reality of man’s condition and diminishes God’s sovereignty in the whole affair of man’s salvation. Biblically speaking, if we were judged and awarded assistance based on our own merits and ability to repent of sin, we would continually fall short of the righteous requirements of God and no assistance would be forthcoming. We know this to be true by our daily battles with and subsequent losses to sin. However, while Mormonism would say work harder to overcome your sin and receive a higher degree of glory, the Bible paints a more accurate picture.

The prophet Isaiah made the point well when he stated, “How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…”[17] Isaiah’s point is that all those meritorious works we do with the intent of making ourselves righteous before a holy God are rubbish. The Book of James sheds further light on man’s condition. In James 2:10 (NIV), the Bible states, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” According to the Bible, because we cannot escape even the slightest sin, we cannot escape judgment. If you believe that you are a partner with God in your own salvation, you must realize that you are perpetually in a state of sin because of your failure to even meet him part of the way.

Therefore, in reality, it is impossible for a Mormon to truly experience forgiveness. Some Mormons, continually feeling the overwhelming burden of their own sin and inability to repent, realize this and walk away from their faith. Others give up hope of ever becoming righteous and numb themselves to the requirements of their religion and reality of their condition, often comparing themselves to others in a vain attempt to feel better. Still others cling to the hope that they will be righteous and perfect someday, laboring on in their religion and ignoring the reality of their continued sinful state. Works to them become a distraction, or narcotic, that gives them a false sense of security.

Regardless of where a Mormon lands on this continuum, according to their religious teachings all Mormons know there is much work ahead of them to obtain the righteous and perfect standing before God. What Mormons must realize is that Mormonism doesn’t just teach a difficult standard, it teaches an impossible one—one that will ultimately leave them unreconciled to a holy God.

Clearly, it’s not assistance that man needs; it’s a substitute. For man, apart from Christ, is eternally under the debt of sin. It’s not our work but God’s work that brings eternal life. It’s not for our sake that we are saved but for God’s own sake: “I [the Lord], even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers them no more.” [18]

Of course, our natural reaction to grace as depicted in the Bible and offered freely by God is to insist that we do something to receive it. Our sense of justice demands that we offer up something to God: our effort, our good works, our unfailing devotion, anything. Somehow we must be accountable for showing that we are worthy of receiving such a great gift as God’s grace. After all, Christ paid such a great price for it. Surely, we owe something in return.

Such is the line of reasoning in Mormonism, and it has led to the development of several analogies that are popular in LDS circles. One of them has to do with a man dying of thirst in a hot and barren desert. As he stumbles in the burning sand, near the point of death, he lays sight on an oasis at the top of a nearby hill. With redemption in view, he redoubles his effort and makes his way up the hill where he receives the life-giving water.

The question put forward is what saved the man, the climb or the water? The answer, according to Mormon doctrine, is both. Without the climb, he could not have received the water. Without the water, he could not have received life. In Mormonism, the climb is equivalent to obeying the gospel, which is faith in Christ, plus repentance of sins, plus being baptized, plus receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, plus obeying all of God’s commandments and ordinances.^{^[19]} Once you do all that, you then receive grace in proportion to your effort. The more meritorious your works, the greater degree of glory you receive, and the better chance you have of eternally being in the presence of the Father.

This doctrine is derived in part from Moroni 10:32 where the Book of Mormon states, “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you” (emphasis added). Note the if/then proposition. Grace is only available after “all” ungodliness is denied and you love God wholly and completely. This, of course, is the continual burden carried by those who work feverishly to live up to the dictates of their religion. For others, the religious requirements are too much and they resign themselves to a lesser degree of glory, yet they still carry the burden, the guilt, and the shame of continually falling short of God’s righteous requirements.

Moreover, Mormons will point to biblical passages in an attempt to support their view that man’s own efforts are a necessary part of his salvation. In Matthew 7:21 (NIV), Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” In Matthew 16:27 (NIV), Jesus again states, “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” And in John 14:23 (NIV), Jesus states, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” What Mormons overlook in pointing to these passages is God’s righteous requirements and man’s inability to keep the law.

In Matthew 5:20, Jesus declared, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” And in Matthew 5:48, Jesus concludes his teaching of the entire spirit of the law of God by stating, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Note that Jesus did not say “become perfect” or “work hard at becoming perfect.” God’s standard is perfection as a state of being, not as a state of becoming. In the light of James 2:10, anything short of perfection, even the slightest transgression, is equivalent to breaking the entire law. Consequently, telling a little white lie, entertaining the slightest improper thought, or refraining from doing what you know is right puts you on the same moral standing as an adulterer or a murderer and leads to eternal separation from God.

Finally, when Jesus was approached by a very pious young ruler who asked what he must do to receive eternal life, Jesus responded that he must keep the commandments of God. When the ruler stated that he had done just that since his youth, Christ replied that there was one more thing he had to do: sell all his possessions, give them to the poor, and follow after him. Jesus’ point was that man cannot do enough.[20] There will always be one more thing; and because man will fail to do it, he will be judged by the entire law. With the full realization of God’s righteous requirements, Jesus’ disciples correctly asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus’ responded, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” [21]

It’s important to note that nowhere in the Bible does God reward man for his effort or attempts at righteousness. God honors obedience and requires perfection now, not at some future time. Perfection to God is not a process, it is a state of being, which is why perfection is often understood as being complete (Matthew 5:48). Because man is incapable of being complete, as we have seen, he is incapable of being perfect, or even becoming perfect by his own effort. Therefore, in reality, the man in the desert is in such a dire state that he is unable to climb the hill, even with the best of intentions and every ounce of effort he can muster. To be with God, he must be at the top of the hill, but each step he takes on the sandy slope sends him sliding back to the bottom, unable to reach his goal. According to the plain teaching of the Bible, then, God’s holiness and man’s inability to reach God by his own effort make the desert analogy false.

Truly, man’s condition is futile. He is under the law, yet the law is powerless to save him.[22] Because of man’s sin, all the law can do is condemn him. In fact, there is no law that can make man righteous; if there were, then Christ would not have needed to die.[23] As it stands, we join in chorus with Jesus’ disciples in asking, “Who then can be saved?”

The answer is that all of us can be saved, but not, as we have seen, by our own effort. It is not that we need assistance. Assistance implies that we could make some sort of valiant effort at righteousness, and God would recognize it and reward it. On the contrary, we need a substitute to pay our debt—a debt impossible for us to pay—and to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law on our behalf.

As our substitute, Christ paid the accumulated sin debt of all mankind on our behalf by going to the cross, taking all sin upon himself, suffering, and dying in our place. What was owed was paid in full. As our substitute, Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law in our behalf. [24] Therefore, when we place our faith in Christ, we receive the double blessing of being redeemed from sin and fulfilling the requirements of the law. All of this is in Christ and not at all in us. The only work for you to do is believe, place your faith, in what Christ has already accomplished in your behalf. That is why when asked what must be done to do the work God requires, Jesus responded, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”[25]

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Can you speak these words and truly know that you are released from sin by God’s grace? Do you long to make these words your own? The cross is where the law and grace come together, and man is made perfect by the blood of Christ. By going to the cross and laying your sin, your burden, at the feet of Jesus, you too can apprehend this amazing grace. Of course, this will take laying aside any notion that you can lay hold on eternal life by your own effort—it will take turning your back on Mormon doctrine.

Some have said that biblical Christianity is “easy believeism” and that true faith requires work. As a believer, good works come as a result of being a new creation in Christ—they are the manifestation of faith and Christ at work in you.[26] Moreover, while it is easy to say you believe, it is a completely different matter to approach God in all humility, confess your sin, and ask for his forgiveness—for the blood of Christ to wash you clean. Christ paid a great price for you to approach God. The only way you can approach Him is by receiving grace first, being completely forgiven of all your sins and reconciled to God, and laying aside your works of righteousness. I suppose one could ask whether you want what you deserve, or earn, or whether you want grace. As we have already discussed, grace is undeserved merit—not deserving righteousness but be treated as though you do. If you want what you deserve, then what you deserve, according to God’s word, is judgment. Grace will set you free, while your works of righteousness will keep you in bondage.

But what of works? Biblical Christianity does not dismiss good works, as some have portrayed. On the contrary, believers are saved and “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”[27] The difference is that in Mormonism good works are required to receive grace, forgiveness, and eternal life, while biblical Christianity depicts good works as a working out of the righteousness the believer has already received. A Mormon may claim to have a sincere desire to please God, but there is no escaping the fact that pleasing God by good works is a requirement of salvation. Fall short in this requirement and the Mormon falls short of perfection. If you fall short of perfection, you fall short of the glory of God and there is no salvation.

When you place your faith in Christ, you are sanctified and literally become a new creation.[28] To be sanctified means to be made holy and set apart. As a new creature in Christ who is holy and set apart, having received forgiveness of sins and fulfilling the requirements of the law in Christ, you will naturally walk in a different light. Christ will be at work within you, transforming you into His image. What that means for the believer is that he becomes more Christ-like in character and action. Because Christ is working in and through the believer, his works of righteousness are no longer filthy rags. Rather, they are a sweet offering to God for the simple fact that they are performed in and through Christ and not at all of himself.

Therefore, instead of proving ourselves worthy by our works, our works are a natural outpouring of our faith. The key is to be declared righteous by Christ. Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”[29] Jesus is not calling you to labor for forgiveness. He is calling you to open the door of your heart and receive His gift of grace. You apprehend grace by relying on what Jesus has done for you and not on what you can do for yourself. If you don’t have complete forgiveness right now, you don’t have Jesus. If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have eternal life.

A dear brother in Christ often tells of a time when the words sung in “Amazing Grace” were not his own. As he sat in an LDS service, he knew that what he was missing was God’s amazing grace. He reflected on the sweet but somehow distant words of John Newton’s composition and flipped through his hymnal in search of the familiar hymn, searching more frantically as he failed time and again to find it. To his utter dismay, Amazing Grace was not in the hymnal.[30] He stared blankly ahead and in a barely audible voice whispered, “Amazing grace is not here.” It was then that he realized that the Mormon religion offered none of the grace he so desperately needed and which Christ freely gives. It was then that he gave his life to Christ and received God’s amazing grace. Won’t you do the same?

For more information on receiving God’s grace and becoming a Christian or reaching out in love to Mormons with the true gospel and Jesus of the Bible, please contact Grace Works, an outreach ministry of Calvary Chapel Boise.

[1] Philippians 2:15b-16 (NIV). All biblical quotes are from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise indicated.

[2] 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

[3] Justification comes from the Greek word dikaiōsis, which literally means to be declared righteous. It is a declaration of “not guilty” by God and speaks to what a person is (i.e., righteous) and has (i.e., a perfect standing before God) rather than what they may become.

[4] Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16.

[5] John 1:29; Acts 10:43; Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 2:13-14.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Hebrews 7:24, 9:26-28, 10:14; 1 John 1:9.

[8] Hebrews 10:14;

[9] 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 2:13-14; Hebrews 3:9; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18.

[10]In Mormonism, the Atonement gives us the opportunity to perfect ourselves and achieve the exalted state that will allow us to be eternally in God the Father’s presence (see Gospel Principles pages 75 to 78).

[11] True repentance in Mormonism means not only forsaking the sin but also never even desiring to commit the sin again (see Gospel Principles, pages 75, 118, and 125; Doctrine and Covenants 14:7 and 76:52).

[12] Gospel Principles (page 75) puts it the following way: “Christ did his part to atone for our sins. Each of us must repent and obey to make Christ’s atonement effective in our lives….it is possible to be saved from our sin if we do our part.”

[13] See also Gospel Principles, pages 75, 118, and 125; Doctrine and Covenants 14:7 and 76:52.

[14] Millet, Robert L., By Grace are We Saved: The Necessity of God’s Grace in Addition to Man’s Good Works (1989 ed.), page 70.

[15] Young, Brigham, as quoted in The Doctrine of Merit, page 125.

[16] The NIV makes this clearer in rendering the translation as follows: “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (emphasis added).”

[17] Isaiah 64:5c-6a.

[18] Isaiah 43:25 (NIV).

[19] Gospel Principles, pages 75, 118, and 125; Doctrine and Covenants 14:7 and 76:52.

[20] Matthew 19:16-22.

[21] Matthew 19:25-26 (NIV).

[22] Romans 8:3.

[23] Galatians 2:21, 3:21.

[24] Romans 8:4.

[25] John 6:28.

[26] 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:13-18, 3:20; Philippians 2:13.

[27] Ephesians 2:10.

[28] 2 Corinthians 5:17.

[29] Revelation 3:20.

[30] “Amazing Grace” is not found in any LDS hymnal nor on its official website, www.lds.org/churchmusic/.

The Grace Divide