In the Spring 2015 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 2nd Counselor in the First Presidency gave a remarkable talk on the subject of Grace and Salvation. This talk was surprising to some because it appeared to take a much more liberal position in favor of grace over works in the doctrine of Mormon salvation. Much like the recent interview with Elder Christofferson on the issue of supporting gay marriage, it is necessary to closely examine the language that was used in the sermon in order to understand the real significance of its message.

Soteriology

Soteriology is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. By examining the scriptural and prophetic guidance given about salvation, one can make certain determinations about what would be required in order to achieve this ultimate state. This goal is the highest thing to which a human can aspire. It has been the primary focus of religion to instruct men and women on how to achieve that state – they are in fact the only authority on the matter.

Religions, such as Mormonism, which take an exclusive attitude in this regard teach that it is their prescription alone which can bring a soul to God’s approbation.

Mormonism: Faith & Works

The question of what specific pre-requisites fulfill the requirements of salvation in Christian religions has long centered around the issues of Faith vs. Works. Religions which give Faith primacy in this regard focus on a sincere declaration of belief in Christ and God as the only strict requirement, while those that preach Works hold that obedience or a sincere attempt at obedience to God’s Laws are essential to being justified before God.

I have had numerous discussions with faithful Mormons over the past year and have heard conflicting opinions on exactly what official mormon doctrine is in this regard. The majority opinion has been that Mormons have a hybrid position where it is faith which entitles one to the Grace of God which cleanses you of sin, but only after “all that you can do” – meaning that one must perform labors or works in keeping God’s commandments to be entitled to that Grace. This is usually initially supported by James 2:20 “…faith without works is dead.”

The third Article of Faith declares works to be a conditional requirement for salvation from sin and effects of sin:

“We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” (lds.org)

We also see LDS leaders teach this from the pulpit – from the earliest days of the Church where Heber C Kimball taught “It matters not how much faith you have got, except you have works with it. ” all the way to recent years where in 2008 Apostle Russell M Nelson taught:

“People may also be saved from individual spiritual death through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, by their faith in Him, by living in obedience to the laws and ordinances [works] of His gospel, and by serving Him.”

(“Salvation and Exaltation” 2008 Spring conference, lds.org)

Mormons have great confidence in attaching the performance of works to salvation because of their modern revealed scripture which they give primacy over the bible. In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Nephi states:

“For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”

(2 Nephi 25:23, lds.org)

You will frequently hear Mormons invoke “after all we can do” as a companion to grace by faith because of this scripture.

What is “all we can do?”

2 Nephi 25:23 begs the question – what is all we can do? Mormon leaders in recent years have provided us with the answer:

“And what is “all we can do”? It surely includes repentance (see Alma 24:11) and baptism, keeping the commandments, and enduring to the end. Moroni pleaded, “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, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ”

(“Have You Been Saved?” Dallin H Oaks, April 1998 General Conference, lds.org)

In providing this instruction, Apostle Oaks is clearly attaching the performance of works (i.e. obedience to commandments, performance of ordinances, etc.) to the concept of “all we can do”

Uchtdorf: Faith alone?

In his Easter 2015 talk, 2nd Counsellor Uchtdorf addresses this concept head on and, in effect, seems to redefine “all we can do” to mean something different than a casual reading of the text implies or that past LDS leaders have taught:

“I wonder if sometimes we misinterpret the phrase “after all we can do”. We must understand that “after” does not equal “because”. We are not saved because of all that we can do. Have any of us done all that we can do? Does God wait until we have expended every effort before he will intervene in our lives with His saving grace? Many people feel discouraged because they constantly fall short. They know first hand that the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak. They raise their voices with Nephi in proclaiming “my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities” I’m certain Nephi knew the Savior’s grace allows and enables us to overcome sin. this is why Nephi labored so diligently to persuade his children and brethren to believe in Christ and to be reconciled to God. After all, that is what we can do and that is our task in mortality.”

(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 5 April 2015, general conference.)

In making this distinction, Uchtdorf is stating that a belief in God and reconciliation with God are all that we can do. This sounds very faith centered and actually, as we will see, sounds very familiar to flavors of protestant Christianity which favor faith as the means to grace.

What of works, Uchtdorf?

Uchtdorf also makes a more impressive statement on the role of works – i.e. obedience to Gods commandments:

“Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience – it is purchased by the blood of the Son of God. Thinking that we can trade our good works for salvation is like buying a plane ticket and then supposing that we own the airline or thinking that after paying rent for our home, we now hold title to the entire planet earth.”

(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 5 April 2015, general conference.)

This message seems to be a total departure from the instructions previously quoted by Nelson and Oaks – which tied works inseparably to salvation. His imagery of one purchasing a ticket and comparing that with owning the entire airline is vivid and pays homage to his personal history as a celebrated airline pilot. Uchtdorf continues to explain the role that works play in a Mormons road to salvation:

“If grace is a gift of God, why then is obedience to God’s commandments so important? Why bother with God’s commandments or repentance for that matter? Why not just admit we are sinful and let God save us? Or to put the question in Paul’s words, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Paul’s answer is simple and clear: “God Forbid.” Brothers and sisters we obey the commandments of God out of love for Him. Trying to understand God’s gift of grace with all our heart and mind gives us all the more reasons to love and obey our Heavenly Father with meekness and gratitude. As we walk the path of discipleship it refines us it improves us it helps us to become more like Him and it leads us back to His presence. The Spirit of the Lord our God brings about such a mighty change in us that we have no more disposition to do evil but to do good continually. Therefore, our obedience to God’s commandments comes as a natural outgrowth of our endless love and gratitude of the goodness of God. This form of genuine love and gratitude will miraculously merge our works with God’s grace, virtue will garnish our thoughts unceasingly and our confidence will wax strong in the presence of God.”

(Deiter F. Uchtdorf, 5 April 2015, general conference.)

Here Uchtdorf disconnects works completely from being a causative element of salvation and places it in the category of being an effect of the transformation that God’s grace grants those who have faith. This is a Protestant Biblical Christian sermon on salvation by faith and grace alone being given to a Mormon audience, perhaps for the first time ever in such bold explicit terms.

Except, that it isn’t. You have to pay attention to certain words and definitions that are specific to Mormonism to understand that Uchtdorf is playing a game with the wider Christian world’s own definition of salvation and that of Mormonism.

Salvation vs. Exaltation

In his remarkable essay “Politics and the English Language” George Orwell describes the use of words which have variable definition as a means to hide real meaning:

“Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different.”

(“Politics and the English Language” George Orwell, archive.org)

We have recent acknowledgement that the church has a history of doing this very thing. The LDS.org essay on “Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo” states that during his life, Church leaders issued “carefully worded denials” about Joseph Smith’s teaching and practice of plural marriage – citing a proprietary definition (see footnote 22 in that essay). By using a private definition of “polygamy” the church hid the truth from the world and lay members.

Uchtdorf is doing this very thing in this sermon. He talks in broad terms of “salvation” without ever defining what he means by it. The fact that “salvation” can have many different definitions was made by Dallin H Oaks in the spring 1998 conference when he stated “As Latter-day Saints use the words saved and salvation,there are at least six different meanings.” . Oaks goes on to make an important distinction that must be kept in mind when reviewing Elder Uchtdorf’s comments.

“Finally, in another usage familiar and unique to Latter-day Saints, the words saved and salvation are also used to denote exaltation or eternal life (see Abr. 2:11). This is sometimes referred to as the “fulness of salvation” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, 4 vols. [1979–81], 1:242). This salvation requires more than repentance and baptism by appropriate priesthood authority. It also requires the making of sacred covenants, including eternal marriage, in the temples of God, and faithfulness to those covenants by enduring to the end. ”

(“Have You Been Saved”, Dallin H Oaks, 1998 Spring Conference, lds.org)

Nowhere in Uchtdorf’s sermon does he mention the Mormon doctrinal concept of Exaltation. He simply uses the term Salvation, not otherwise specified. To non-mormon Christians listening to this sermon, and indeed to many Mormons who have not studied the key differences between the terms “salvation” and “exaltation” – they will hear a message that is not a reflection of the true Mormon doctrine of earthly requirements for full divine approbation.

If you ask a non-mormon or Biblical Christian what it means to be saved – they will likely tell you that it is to be found guiltless before God and be received into His presence by the Grace of Christ. That is it. That’s heaven.

If you ask a Mormon what it means to be saved – they will have to explain a bit. You see, there are three heavens – Telestial, Terrestrial and Celestial. The highest kingdom, Celestial, has three levels within it. All of these kingdoms are “heaven” but some of them aren’t really heaven – for example, an unrepentant rapist or murderer would go to the Telestial Kingdom . Most non-Mormons would reserve Hell for such, but Mormons still call this lowest kingdom a degree of Heaven. Definitions matter. The requirements for each of these kingdoms vary.

If you want to compare “salvation” between Mormons and Biblical Christians you must make sure that you are comparing as close to “apple to apples” as possible. To a Christian salvation is entering to the presence of God and receiving all that he has promised for eternity. To a Mormon, this is most closely analogous to exaltation.

To be clear – because they define these terms differently, to find the closest comparison between the two you must compare the Mormon concept of Exaltation with the Biblical Christian Concept of Salvation.

Using Uchtdorf’s analogy – basic salvation is just the ticket – exaltation is the airline. Biblical Christians don’t have a concept of just a ticket. For them, the only thing is the airline.

Rhetoric versus Requirement

Dissecting and parsing the rhetoric that is bantered about by Church leaders to ascertain the requirements of salvation is an elusive thing. Each leader may pick and choose what definition they wish to employ for various vague terms and the reader is left straining for certainty when the apparently conflicting messages can cause confusion.

Another way to analyze the question of what mormon doctrine declares is necessary for full salvation is simply to look at what is expected of every member. Examine the tangible and concrete requirements that make up the road to salvation.

The Mormon pathway to salvation and justification before God includes the following specific requirements – pay close attention to the distinction between “salvation” and “exaltation”:

Salvation

Salvation can be divided into 2 parts – being saved from spiritual death and being saved from physical death. Salvation from physical death is a free gift to all and requires no works or effort. It is accomplished completely by the grace and sacrifice of Christ – through the resurrection. This qualifies you for resurrection and at least the lowest of the three kingdoms of glory – the Telestial kingdom. Salvation from spiritual death (or separation from God) can be accomplished through the grace of Christ – by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. Faith alone without these laws and ordinances will not qualify you for salvation. The laws and ordinances of the gospel are: Faith in Jesus Christ

Repentance

Baptism

Gift of the Holy Ghost. Keeping those laws qualifies you for at least the Terrestrial Kingdom.

Exaltation

Exaltation is the highest state of happiness and glory in the Celestial Kingdom. There are additional requirements to achieve this state Those requirements are to : Stay faithful to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel listed above.

Receive the Melchizedek Priesthood (if you are male)

Receive certain temple ordinances (more on this later)

Be married in the temple

Love your neighbors

Keep the commandments

Continually repent

Attend church meetings/take sacrament

Strengthen your family

Daily prayer

Share the gospel

Scripture study

Follow the prophet

Receive the holy ghost Since Temple attendance is required then you must be able to pass the temple recommend interview to show that you are worthy to enter the temple. This means you must truthfully answer and pass these requirements : Have faith in and testimony of Jesus, God and the Holy Ghost

Have a testimony of the Atonement of Christ

Have a testimony of the restoration of the gospel (this means that you must believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet and called by God and believe in the Book of Mormon, D&C and Pearl of Great Price and all subsequent LDS doctrine)

Sustain the current Prophet and all church leaders

Live the law of chastity (no sex outside of marriage)

Live family relations in keeping with church teachings

Not support or affiliate with people or groups that are not in agreement with church teachings

Try to attend church meetings and live the gospel.

Be honest

Pay 10% of your annual increase to the church (tithing)

Keep the Word of Wisdom (no tobacco, coffee, alcohol, tea, illegal drugs; eat meat sparingly)

Pay any child support owed

Wear temple garments night and day

Confess serious sins to church authorities

Feel worthy to enter the temple Since the temple endowmentis required for exaltation,then you must fulfill the commitments that are part of that ceremony. This includes: Being washed and anointed

Covenanting to obey the “Law of Obedience” where women promise to obey the law of the lord and to harken unto their husbands as they harken unto God, and men promise to harken unto God.

Covenanting to obey the “Law of Sacrifice” where you must promise to sacrifice all that you possess, even your life if necessary, to the sustaining and defending the kingdom of God (the LDS church).

Covenanting to obey the “Law of the Gospel” – avoiding loud laughter, lightmindedness, speaking ill of fellow members, using the name of the Lord in vain and any other impure practice.

Covenanting to obey the “Law of Chastity” (no sex outside marriage).

Covenanting to obey the “Law of Consecration” promising yourself, your time, talents and all that God has or will blessed you with to the LDS church.

Receiving and keeping new names, signs (hand signals) and tokens (handshakes) with special symbolic significance.

If someone is able to achieve all of this and continue to do so while “enduring to the end”, then they will receive exaltation in the highest degree of glory – the Celestial Kingdom. According to Mormon theology they will have the benefit of having all that God has, Being a God themselves and having their own spirit children to raise, just as our God has us.

Exaltation is “the airline” to a faithful Mormon. This Exaltation or “Fullness of Salvation” is not what Elder Uchtdorf is talking about in his sermon. The price of the Airline includes all of the works described above. Uchtdorf doesn’t bother to mention this.

Recap

Long Story short – to a Mormon salvation can be a general term that encompasses any degree of glory. The lowest of these may be achieved by grace alone and the term ‘salvation’ may be applied to that. This is the idea of Salvation that Uchtdorf is referring to in his sermon. That is “The Ticket.”

Exaltation is obtaining the highest degree of glory. This requires obedience to the many laws and ordinances [works] listed above – as well as constant repentance and enduring to the end. That is “The Airline”

If you ask a Mormon what it means to be saved – they will have to explain a bit. More likely than not, they will not lay out all the requirements as I have listed them above. They take a “milk before meat” approach and will likely keep things simple focusing on Faith in Christ and Love. For a Mormon, that is where it starts, but as you can see above – that is not where the story ends.

For a Mormon living the religion day to day – how frequently do you think that leaders teach that basic salvation is really all they need to strive for? That “the ticket” is good enough. I never heard such a sermon in my 38 years as an active faithful Mormon. Exaltation was the only goal worth striving for. The Airline was the goal. The price I was expected to pay was far beyond the simple message that Uchtdorf describes in his sermon.

Conclusion

I have no doubt that sacrament meetings, firesides and blogposts will abound in praise of Elder Uchtdorf’s 2015 Easter sermon on Grace.

As a Mormon, if you read his words and think he is talking about exaltation in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom living in eternity with your family in the full capacity of a God with your own dominion you would likely feel a rush of relief. All the stress you have been feeling about fulfilling callings, attending meetings, watching games on sunday, looking at unclothed shoulders, gossiping – it would all melt away and you would simply focus your spiritual energy on understanding and accepting Christ’s love in your life – trusting that as you did so, those other things would naturally follow. In that case the burden and yoke would be light, just as Jesus taught.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. There has been no retraction of over a century of sermons on the requirements of works for the “fullness of salvation” (a.k.a exaltation). The third Article of Faith is still in effect. The Book of Mormon has not been revised. The temple and all its ordinances have not been disavowed. Uchtdorf was simply referring to Salvation in a lower kingdom.

As a non-Mormon reading his sermon you would likely start to see your Mormon friends as not so different from yourself. The familiar language will make Mormonism even more enticing to Biblical Christians who are introduced to this limited view of Mormon Soteriology. Since new converts don’t go to the Temple till at least a year after joining the church, then they will not even be made aware of the specifics of the additional requirements for the “fullness of salvation” till they have already invested significant time, money and ego into the organization.

Do not be confused. Elder Uchtdorf’s sermon is only talking about the price of the ticket – not the airline.

P.S.

A searching reader pointed out that since Elder Uchtdorf stated “This form of genuine love and gratitude will miraculously merge our works with God’s grace, virtue will garnish our thoughts unceasingly and our confidence will wax strong in the presence of God” That he must be talking about exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom because it is there that we can enjoy the presence of God.

That is a hopeful thought, but one for which there is a linguistic loophole for. The term God also has many definitions – in Mormon theology it can refer to God the Father or God the Son – Christ. The Gospel Fundamentals manual teaches the following about the Terrestrial Kingdom:

“The Terrestrial Kingdom This kingdom is not as wonderful as the celestial kingdom. Even though Jesus will visit the terrestrial kingdom, those who live there will not live with our Father in Heaven, and they will not have all He has. Those who go to the terrestrial kingdom will be honorable people. Some of them will be members of the Church, and others will not. They will be those who did not accept Jesus on earth but later accepted Him in the spirit world. The people who will live there will not be part of an eternal family but will live separately, without families. Our Father in Heaven will give these people the happiness they are prepared to receive.”

(“Chapter 36: Eternal Life” Gospel Fundamentals, lds.org)

As a result, Uchtdorf’s statement may still only apply to the case of basic salvation and not exaltation. Since the numerous other requirements that all prior sermons and lesson manuals have set on exaltation are also not listed, we are compelled to take “the presence of God” to mean the presence of Christ in the Terrestrial Kingdom – the highest kingdom for basic salvation.

Appendix: Past LDS Views on grace vs Works

LDS leaders have had some different views on the grace vs works issue:

“One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation”

(Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 206)

Then there is:

“This second greatest truth is that Christ worked out this infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice so that all men are raised in immortality and those who believe and obey are raised also unto eternal life. Now the opposite of that is the second greatest heresy in all Christendom, and the opposite is that men are saved by some kind of lip service, by the grace of God supposedly, without work and without effort on their part.”

(Bruce R. McConkie, “The Seven Deadly Heresies,” an address given at Brigham Young University on June 1, 1980. Transcribed from actual speech).

and also:

“Even that grace of God promised in the scriptures comes only ‘after all we can do’”

(Boyd K. Packer, “The Brilliant Morning of Forgiveness,” Ensign, November 1995 (Conference Edition), p. 19).

And

“This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts. Divine grace is needed by every soul in consequence of the fall of Adam and also because of man’s weaknesses and shortcomings. However, grace cannot suffice without total effort on the part of the recipient. Hence the explanation, ‘It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do’ (2 Ne. 25:23)”

(LDS Bible Dictionary, p. 697).

Finally:

“For example, some of our friends can’t see how our Atonement beliefs relate to our beliefs about becoming more like our Heavenly Father. Others mistakenly think our church is moving toward an understanding of the relationship between grace and works that draws on Protestant teachings. Such misconceptions prompt me to consider today the Restoration’s unique Atonement doctrine”

(Bruce Hafen, “The Atonement: All for All,” Ensign (Conference Edition), May 2004, p. 97).