Lehi taught that, without opposition, the plan of salvation
cold not occur. He now begins to explain
why this is true.
Lehi teaches that, without choices, creation would have
meant nothing as there would have been no reason for creation. A lack of choices would destroy the wisdom,
eternal purposes, the power, mercy and justice of God. Kent Brown comments:
Lehi taught that without choices we
are unable to be or feel righteous or unrighteous. Note the dramatic result
that Lehi said would follow: "If these things are not there is no God. And
if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no
creation" (2 Nephi 2:13). According to Lehi, all of existence would cease
and make no sense if opposition were removed. This observation led Lehi to say:
"Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his
eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of
God" (2 Nephi 2:12). Since Lehi had just previously been dealing with the
redemption to come through the Messiah (2 Nephi 2:6-10), we should probably
understand this series of passages in terms of the Redeemer's work. That is, if
there exists no opposition, there is no reason for a redeemer who can bring
about God's mercy and justice.[1]
What this means is if there is no law, there can be no sin;
if there is no sin, there is no righteousness.
If there is no righteousness, there is no happiness. If there is no righteousness and happiness,
there is no punishment and misery. Paul
emphasized this point in his epistle to the Romans. He wrote:
“Because the law worketh wrath:
for where no law is, there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15); “For until the law sin was in the world: but
sin is not imputed when there is no law” (Romans 5:13).
Lehi’s words would have an impact on Jacob and his
teachings. Echoing Lehi, Jacob would
say, “Wherefore, he has given a law; and
where there is no law given there is no punishment; and where there is no
punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the
mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the
atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him” (2 Nephi 9:25).
The consequences of all this is that if there were no
choices, there is no God. If there is no
God, there is no Earth or creation, so we wouldn’t be here. “[A]ll
things must have vanished away” (2 Nephi 2:13). Nephi would also reiterate his father’s words
when he wrote, “For if there be no Christ
there be no God; and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been
no creation. But there is a God, and he
is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time” (2 Nephi 11:7).
We know there is a God who created all things in heaven and
on Earth, Lehi tells Jacob. He also
tells all his sons “I speak unto you
these things for your profit and learning” (2 Nephi 2:14).
[Joseph Smith] also maintains that
God gave mortals freedom to act for themselves and not merely to be acted upon
(see 2 Nephi 2:26–27). The world is divided into "both things to act and
things to be acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:14). Additionally, God gave mortals
agency "to act for" themselves by placing them in an environment of
"opposition in all things" so that they might know the sweet by
tasting the bitter, know joy by experiencing misery, and know good because they
must face evil (see 2 Nephi 2:16, 23). [2]
After God had created Adam and Eve, there had to be opposition.
“And
I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is
given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die” (Moses 3:16 - 17). God gave Adam and Eve a choice – You may obey
My command and not eat the fruit or you can ignore My command and eat the
fruit, but there will be consequences for not obeying My command.
Paul would write to the Romans:
For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
For
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
The
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
And
if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be
that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
For
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us [GR to us].
For
the earnest expectation [GR eager hope] of the creature [GR creation, material
universe] waiteth for the manifestation [GR revelation] of the sons of God.
For
the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
who hath subjected the same in hope,
Because
the creature [GR creation, material universe] itself also shall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of
God.
Romans 8:14 - 21
He would write to the Ephesians:
Whereof
I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me
by the effectual working of his power.
Unto
me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
And
to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ:
To
the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might
be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
According
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
In
whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
Ephesians 3:7 - 12
King Benjamin taught the people that because “Therefore, they have drunk out of the cup
of the wrath of God, which justice could no more deny unto them than it could
deny that Adam should fall because of his partaking of the forbidden fruit;
therefore, mercy could have claim on them no more forever” (Mosiah 3:26).
Alma2 would teach:
What does the scripture mean, which
saith that God placed cherubim and a flaming sword on the east of the garden of
Eden, lest our first parents should enter and partake of the fruit of the tree
of life, and live forever? And thus we
see that there was no possible chance that they should live forever.
Now Alma said unto him: This is the
thing which I was about to explain. Now
we see that Adam did fall by the partaking of the forbidden fruit, according to
the word of God; and thus we see, that by his fall, all mankind became a lost
and fallen people.
And now behold, I say unto you that
if it had been possible for Adam to have partaken of the fruit of the tree of
life at that time, there would have been no death, and the word would have been
void, making God a liar, for he said: If thou eat thou shalt surely die.
Alma
12:21 - 23
And thus God bringeth about his
great and eternal purposes, which were prepared from the foundation of the
world. And thus cometh about the
salvation and the redemption of men, and also their destruction and misery.
Alma
42:26
All of this was, according to Lehi,
part of the plan by which "there is an opposition in all things,"
allowing men to choose between good and evil (2 Nephi 2:11). The first of these
choices was made in the garden of Eden, where the "forbidden fruit [was]
in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other
bitter" (2 Nephi 2:15). Jacob reflected these concepts when he declared,
"Reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil
and the flesh" (2 Nephi 10:24).[3]
God gave man the ability to act for himself; but, there was
only one way we could act for ourselves and that is if we are “enticed by one or the other” (2 Nephi
2:16).
Jacob would remind the Nephites to “remember
that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death
or the way of eternal life” (2 Nephi 10:23).
Alma2 told Zeezrom God “gave commandments unto
men, they having first transgressed the first commandments as to things which
were temporal, and becoming as Gods, knowing good from evil, placing themselves
in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act according to their wills
and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good—“ (Alma 12:31). The Lord told Joseph Smith:
And
it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could
not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could
not know the sweet—
Wherefore,
it came to pass that the devil tempted Adam, and he partook of the forbidden
fruit and transgressed the commandment, wherein he became subject to the will
of the devil, because he yielded unto temptation.
D&C 29:39 - 40
Closely related to the teachings
about opposition is Lehi's understanding of the role of Adam and Eve in the
drama of salvation (see 2 Nephi 2:15-27). Lehi insisted that two ingredients
were essential in our first parents' situation—a choice, along with freedom to
choose. There had to be "an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition
to the tree of life. . . .Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should
act for himself" (2 Nephi 2:15-16).[4]
Lehi set out the conditions that
must exist before agency can be exercised. First, there must be opposing
choices (2 Nephi 2:15). Second, both choices must be enticing. Said he,
"Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself.
Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed
by the one or the other" (2 Nephi 2:16). As Elder Harold B. Lee commented,
"Father Lehi explained to his son that in order to accomplish that eternal
purpose there must be opposition in all things, and that to every individual
upon the earth there had to be given the right of free agency and also that there
must be in the world the power to entice to do evil and the power to entice to
do good.”
The Book of Mormon teaches that on
the one hand the Spirit of Christ is the agent that entices men and women to do
good (Moroni 7:16–17). On the other hand, it is the "the will of the flesh
and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to
captivate" that entices men and women to do evil (2 Nephi 2:29). Without
the Spirit of Christ there would be no opposing enticements and, therefore, no
agency. With evil as the only enticement, man would forever become evil with no
hope of change.[5]
[1] Nephi's Use of Lehi's Record, S. Kent Brown, Provo, Utah:
Maxwell Institute, accessed June 18, 2013.
[2] Sin, Suffering, and Soul-Making: Joseph Smith
on the Problem of Evil, Blake
T. Ostler, and David L. Paulsen, Provo, Utah: Maxwell
Institute, accessed June 19, 2013.
[3] The Influence of Lehi's Admonitions on the
Teachings of His Son Jacob, John
A. Tvedtnes, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed June 19,
2013.
[4] Nephi's Use of Lehi's Record, S. Kent Brown, Provo, Utah:
Maxwell Institute, accessed June 18, 2013.
[5] The Divine Justification for the Babylonian
Destruction of Jerusalem, Bruce
Satterfield, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed June 19,
2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment