The Doctrine of Christ
One of my favorite chapters of scripture is 2 Nephi 31. In it, Nephi speaks of the doctrine of Christ. In verse 2, he writes:
Wherefore, the things which I have written sufficeth me, save it be a few words which I must speak concerning the doctrine of Christ; wherefore, I shall speak unto you plainly, according to the plainness of my prophesying (emphasis added).
Then in verse 21, he writes:
And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen (emphasis added).
This tells us that the doctrine of Christ is discussed between those two verses. What is the doctrine of Christ? Basically, it is faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is also enduring to the end. There are, of course, details–keeping the commandments, praying, studying the scriptures, and so forth. We can learn all the details and nuances through studying all the scriptures and attending church (and listening to General Conference!).
I love this chapter, though, because it concentrates on the key items of the gospel that will get us into the strait and narrow path and help us to stay there.
Verse 13 says:
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.
Verse 15 says:
And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
What a marvelous summary of the gospel Nephi gives us here. He explains what is needed and marks the path. He gives us a short chapter to ponder and to evaluate how we are doing.
I love, too, what Nephi writes in verses 19 and 20:
And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.
Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.
Do we rely wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save? Do we exercise faith? Do we press forward with a steadfastness in Christ? It is all there–what we must do. These are things we work on as we live our lives. It is, after all, called the strait and narrow path and not the strait and narrow spot.
Many of these topics were covered in the wonderful talks we heard from General Conference on 31 March and 1 April, 2007. Our prophets and apostles and other leaders teach the same truth that the prophets of old taught–that our Lord and Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, taught. What a reassuring blessing!
I wanted to share this much loved chapter with you. I am sure you have your own favorite phrases and sentences from it. (Please feel free to share!) I would have posted the whole chapter, but thought that would be a bit long! It’s 21 verses of edification for us all.
April 4th, 2007 06:52
“These are things we work on as we live our lives. It is, after all, called the strait and narrow path and not the strait and narrow spot. “
Mary, what an excellent way to put it! (I love a great turn of phrase.) It’s all about eternal progression…
I’ll read this chapter in my scripture study today. Thanks.
April 4th, 2007 11:40
“and endureth to the end”…From that we learn that even at death we must press on. From 3 Nephi Christ explains what “enduring to the end” means. Christ mentions in 3 Nephi 27:16 that he that endureth to the end which is the day when Christ shall stand to judge the world which will be after the millennium shall be saved. Many BoM prophets did not have the knowledge of the spirit world and the work there to redeem the dead. BoM prophets taught that one must endure to the end of his life and then he was automatically saved into the Kingdom of God. In reality, the “end” spoken of is really the great and last day of judgment. The doctrine of “enduring to the end” is still a correct doctrine, but only if one remembers that the end comes after the millennium.
Acccordingly, the doctrine of procrastination of sins until death as taught by the BoM prophets is not altogether correct either. Recent revelations including talks by the Brethren at conference enforce the teaching of D&C 138 that repentance and baptism can be granted to the spirits in prison, even if they procrastinated it until after death. The “enduring to the end” for spirits also applies likewise as they, after their conversion in the spirit world, must also endure to the great last day of judgment after the millennium when Christ shall stand to judge the world.
It truly is all “line upon line”!
April 5th, 2007 06:42
Thanks, Naiah! I have to remind myself often that I don’t have to do everything all at once and be perfect immediately–I just have to be progressing along the pathway.
April 7th, 2007 08:34
Rob, I promise I wasn’t ignoring your comment! I posted a reply from a computer other than my own and I don’t know where it has gone! I appreciate your stopping by and commenting.
I’m not sure I completely understand your ideas–I shall have to ponder on them a bit more. I do think that after this life is over, we will still have choices to make beyond the veil. There is, we understand, much work being done to teach all those who didn’t hear the gospel here, and we could potentially refuse to help with it, I suppose. Also, those who accept the gospel after leaving this life would need to live that gospel as best they can from then on.
I do think that this mortal life is the most difficult in which to endure to the end because we are traveling by faith more than we will beyond the veil, although I think that may take more faith, at least at first, than we realize.
Thanks for the food for thought!
April 13th, 2007 14:12
Do we rely wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save? Do we exercise faith? Do we press forward with a steadfastness in Christ?
Do we really believe what He says, and that He can do what He say, the idea I learned most from the book “Believing Christ”. That is what your post brought to my mind.