"Christianity Contrasted to Mormonism" - What is the Gospel? recap

On Monday December 12^th, 2016 we had our sixth and final meeting to study “Christianity Contrasted to Mormonism.” We looked at the gospel proclaimed by Mormonism and then turned to the Bible to see what it declares as the good news of the gospel. In this exercise it became clear that the Mormon gospel is not the Christian gospel.

You can check out the slides we reviewed and/or a video of the class here. A written recap is provided here…

The right gospel matters

To set the stage for this discussion we turned to Paul’s words on the importance of the right gospel as written in his letter to the Galatians:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”  (Gal 1:6-9)

In other words, getting the gospel message right matters. Otherwise, as Paul says (twice), “let him be accursed!”

Overview of Mormon salvation

As a refresher, we quickly reviewed the top-level Mormon theology: All humans came from the preexistence and their actions in this life determine their eternal destiny.

The Fall: A fall forward?

In Mormonism, the Fall of man into sin is not view as a bad event, it is honored as a positive event. This is because, in Mormonism, there is literally an infinite potential that can be achieved by living well in a sinful world.

In contrast, we looked at the Bible to see the Fall described as a sinful event that is put on the opposite side of the scales of the awesome gift of grace offered through Christ’s work on our behalf (Rom 5:12, 15, 18).

The Atonement: Garden or Cross?

Interestingly, Mormonism and Christianity disagree on where the work of the atonement took place. Mormonism clearly teaches that the atonement took place at the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus agonized and sweat drops of blood. However, the Bible speaks of Christ’s expiration not perspiration being the efficacious atoning work (1 Cor 15:3, Rom 5:8).

The cross is never featured in Mormon churches because they view it as simply a form of torture and death. But, the Scriptures commend us to boast in the cross (Gal 6:14) because it was there that man was reconciled to Christ (Eph 2:16; also see Phil 2:8; Col 1:20; Heb 12:2)! Christians do not worship a form of torture; they honor Jesus and the work he did on the cross, dying that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).

Mormon Salvation: General and Individual

In Mormonism the effect of the atonement is that it secures immortality, or general salvation, but individual effort is additionally needed to earn individual salvation. As Joseph Fielding Smith said, 

“Immortality [general salvation] and eternal life [individual salvation] are two separate things... Every man shall receive immortality, whether he be good, bad, or indifferent, for the resurrection from the dead shall come to all. Eternal life is… something in addition. None shall receive eternal life save it be those who keep the commands of the Lord and are entitled thus to enter into his presence...That is eternal life, to dwell in the presence of the Father and receive exaltation from him.”

In other words, the atonement gave everyone immortality but that’s enough. Each person needs to do “something in addition” to earn their individual salvation.

Mormon Gospel: Good or bad news?

In Mormonism each individual’s eternal destiny is conditional on how they live their life. Here are some Mormon scriptures that highlight how grace is not free, it is earned:

• “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23)
• “go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God.” (D&C 58:43)
• “Keep my commandments continually, and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive. And except thou do this, where I am you cannot come.” (D&C 25:15)
• “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” (Moroni 10:32) [notice the “if-then” clause here]

So when have we done enough to earn grace? Mormon leaders affirm that we just cannot know.

Therefore the Mormon gospel is not good news, it is bad news. This is because:

• Is impossible to fulfill,
• Offers no assurance of salvation, and
• Is contrary to the Biblical gospel (as we will see).

Biblical Gospel

We then turned to the Bible to see how it describes the gospel message.

The first part of the Biblical gospel is bad news. Every single person is unrighteous, unworthy, a rebel, and under condemnation from God. Worse still, there is nothing we can do to merit that righteousness (this is why the Mormon gospel is impossible!). E.g., see Romans 3; 1 John 1:8-10; Eph 2:3.

But, the good news of the gospel (which is really what “gospel” means, “good news”) is that we, imperfect and tarnished as we are declared righteous before the holy, perfect God because of what Christ has done for us on the cross. This can be ours today, right now. And we can be sure of it. The best part is that this is a free gift. It is not earned by works, it is received by faith.

The New Testament is bursting with this gospel proclamation. I’d encourage everyone to read through some of the following passages and let the good news of Christ sink in: Romans 3:20-31; Romans 4:4-5, 21-25; Romans 5:1-2, 8; Titus 3:5-7; Ephesians 2:5-9; Hebrews 10:10-14, 17-18; Philippians 3:9, 12-13, 20; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 2:24-26; Galatians 3:5-9; John 5:24; John 6:27-29; Matthew 5:17-18; John 3:16.

Faith and Works

“So what you’re saying,” the accusation against the Christian gospel may begin, “ that it doesn’t matter what you do. You can lie, cheat, and steal all your life but still be saved because you simply have faith?!” And the answer is: sorta.

Good works are a necessary part of a person’s salvation. But they are only necessary as evidence of a prior saving faith. Good works are not necessary as an instrumental cause for salvation. It is by faith that we are saved. Period. But as a natural response, outpouring, and evidence of that saving faith will be good works.

Justification and Sanctification

We didn’t have too much time to talk about the differences between justification and sanctification but it is important to note that they are distinct.

Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he:

1. thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and
2. declares us to be righteous in his sight.

Justification is based on an external declaration of righteousness, not on something internal about us.

Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.

I found this one chart helpful in understanding that justification happens at “(1) Conversion” and sanctification is part of the “(2) Christian Life”.

So while Christians should be growing in holiness, this is distinct from being declared rightous before God because of what Christ has done.

“What must I do to be saved?”

As I was planning this topic I prayed for a clear cut example in the Bible showing how someone is saved. And I was struck by the account of the Jailer in Acts 16. He asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved. Paul and Silas didn’t say, “stop sinning, live a good life, help others, tithe, get baptized, and do all of this until you die. After that you will be saved.” No, all the jailer was told to do to be saved was, “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

Wow. This is the gospel that saves. I pray that we know and trust in this good, saving news!