I recently welcomed local Latter-day Saint (LDS) missionaries into my living room. No surprise, they were friendly and pleasant. They even opened by proclaiming the grace of God in Christ.
But what is this grace they proclaimed?
As Mormon friends have admitted to me, if you ask 10 of them that question, you may get 10 different answers. Mormon belief about grace isn’t monolithic and is likely evolving; it’s a spectrum ranging from traditionally Mormon to sounding near-evangelical.
Having lived in Salt Lake City for almost 30 years, I’ve seen the LDS church make intentional moves toward evangelical culture and language, including speaking of grace more frequently. But the question remains: What’s meant by “grace”?
2 Aspects
In the web of Mormon scriptures, teachings, and practice, two aspects of grace are prominent.
1. Grace Accomplishes
Mormons teach that God’s grace brought about the atonement of Christ (an important LDS term) and its blessings—including payment for sins (as defined by Mormons), worldwide resurrection to various eternal states (Alma 11:40–45), and a pathway to exaltation (eternal life and salvation) in the example of Jesus Christ, open to all (Alma 34:9–17).
However, Mormon belief about grace is built on an understanding of God’s and Christ’s ontologies (both were created, then exalted) that differs from historic Christianity’s teaching (both are eternal and share the same nature). And so we get a different definition of “grace.” In historic Christianity, God and his Son are grace; in Mormonism, God and his Son gained grace—along with the divine nature—on the pathway of exaltation.
Mormons say they believe in salvation by grace and that true salvation (attaining the celestial kingdom with all its blessings) comes from grace coupled with ongoing works. As my friend Travis Kerns says, it’s as if Jesus built the house of salvation, but entering through the door and how high you go in the house are up to you.
As Kerns says, it’s as if Jesus built the house of salvation, but entering through the door and how high you go in the house are up to you.
2. Grace Empowers
According to Mormon teaching, God’s grace gives power to progress along the divine pathway of salvation—and bridges our best efforts and the perfect obedience God requires. This is summarized in the oft-cited 2 Nephi 25:23: “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.” The grace of God then attends the believer’s effort and eventually becomes congruous. (In Mormon theology, “congruity” describes this phenomenon of God’s grace empowering and attending our efforts.)
Mormons are exhorted to walk the pathway of salvation on the basis of Christ’s gracious atonement. Joseph Smith’s Articles of Faith provide the first steps: faith in Jesus, repentance, baptism, and reception of the Holy Ghost. For salvation to become effectual, however, these principles must then be coupled with a lifelong increase in obedience to God.
As LDS apostle Bruce R. McConkie said in an address at Brigham Young University (BYU), “The blood of Christ was shed as a free gift of wondrous grace [first aspect], but the Saints are cleansed by the blood after they keep the commandments [second aspect, emphasis added].” Though God’s gracious gift of salvation was made available through the atonement of Christ, it only becomes effectual when his commands are obeyed.
Ultimately, Mormons believe God’s grace will cover the gap between our best efforts and God’s demands. In an address at BYU, scholar Stephen E. Robinson likened this second aspect of grace to his daughter bringing a small amount of money she’d earned to buy a new bike—with Robinson graciously covering the rest at the register.
This perspective is captured in Moroni 10:32: “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” (emphasis added).
Historic Christianity, meanwhile, understands grace as God’s unmerited favor and love toward sinners in the person of Christ (Rom. 5:8–10). Our LDS friends would likely agree (first aspect). But in distinction from the second aspect, Ephesians 2:8–10 is clear:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Grace Is Everything
In historic Christianity, grace isn’t a starting point—it’s everything.
Mormons believe God’s grace will cover the gap between our best efforts and God’s demands.
It’s grace for God to look upon sinners with love and mercy. It’s grace for him to save us through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. It’s grace for him to impart Christ’s righteousness to us in exchange for our sin—apart from our efforts or works. It’s grace that, upon confessing Jesus as Lord by faith, we immediately stand perfect before the Father now and forever (Heb. 10:14). And then, in response to God’s astonishing grace, we perform good works—not meritoriously to secure God’s favor but gratefully because we already have it.
Pray with me that our LDS friends, neighbors, and relatives would come to know God’s all-sufficient grace, through faith in his eternal Son.
The Gospel Coalition