9 O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world.10 And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.11 And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls. (Helaman 5, italics added)
In denotes present or inclosed, surrounded by limits; as in a house; in a fort; in a city. It denotes a state of being mixed, as sugar in tea; or combined, as carbonic acid in coal, or latent heat in air. It denotes present in any state; as in sickness or health. It denotes present in time; as in that hour or day. The uses of in, however, cannot, in all cases, be defined by equivalent words, except by explaining the phrase in which it is used; as in deed; in fact; in essence; in quality; in reason; in courage; in spirits, &c. A man in spirits or good courage, denotes one who possesses at the time spirits or courage; in reason is equivalent to with reason; one in ten denotes one of that number, and we say also one of ten, and one out of ten. (Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)
Whereas,
The sense of from may be expressed by the noun distance, or by the adjective distant, or by the participles, departing, removing to a distance. Thus it is one hundred miles from Boston to Hartford. He took his sword from his side. Light proceeds from the sun. Water issues from the earth in springs. Separate the coarse wool from the fine. Men have all sprung from Adam. Men often go from good to bad, and from bad to worse. The merit of an action depends on the principle from which it proceeds. Men judge of facts from personal knowledge, or from testimony. We should aim to judge from undeniable premises.
There is no question that mankind is sinful by nature, and one of the greatest evidences of God’s mercy is the opportunity that he extends to mankind to repent, but one of the biggest misconceptions that the majority of Christians have is the idea that God will save people who continually sin. I frequently hear phrases like “We are all sinners” or “God saves sinners.” Well, actually, no. A sinner is someone who is “in” sin. A sinner is one whose present state is sinful. Jesus Christ did not come to redeem mankind in their sins. He came to redeem them from their sins. He redeems individuals who remove themselves from sin and who create a distance between them and their sins. He redeems those who depart from their sins and leave them behind. These people are no longer sinners. When people meet the conditions of repentance and obtain a remission of their sins, the scriptures clearly teach that they become “new creatures” and have “no more disposition to do evil”.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. (Mosiah 27)
And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. (Mosiah 5:2)
“No more disposition” doesn’t just mean that that they no longer had a desire to sin. It means that they no longer had a tendency to sin. The following definitions of “disposition” are applicable here:
3. Natural fitness or tendency. The refrangibility of the rays of light is their disposition to be refracted. So we say, a disposition in plants to grow in a direction upwards; a disposition in bodies to putrefaction.
4. Temper or natural constitution of the mind; as an amiable or an irritable disposition.
5. Inclination; propensity; the temper or frame of mind, as directed to particular objects. We speak of the disposition of a person to undertake a particular work; the dispositions of men towards each other; a disposition friendly to any design. (Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)
When men truly repent, God not only forgives them of their past sins, but he also removes their disposition to do evil. He removes their propensity to sin. Statements like “No one will ever be perfect in this life” are completely untrue. The fact of the matter is that we have been commanded to be perfect.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)
And we know that God always provides a means whereby we can keep his commandments.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. (1 Nephi 3:7)
From the scriptures, we are able to understand that God is merciful and long-suffering. He is just. He is a God of truth. He is love. He doesn’t go around giving us commandments that we are unable to keep. And yet, keeping his commandments isn’t always easy. While it is possible to keep all of God’s commandments, it isn’t exactly a walk in the park, but that is only because our understanding is not the same as God’s and so, consequently, we will not always understand why he gives us the commandments he does. When our understanding is lacking, our trust in his character and attributes must give us reason to believe that, having been forgiven of our past sins, our obedience to his commandments will result in a greater understanding of why he does what he does and that that understanding will steel us to withstand any temptation. And let me just mention here that an actual forgiveness of sin is a non-negotiable part of salvation. Heaven actually has to witness to you that you are clean, every whit. That forgiveness testifies of God’s character and attributes and it results in your improved ability to understand the things of the Spirit.
Our ability to remain perfect and steadfast in obedience to law—which is what makes God who he is and which is the means of our own salvation—improves with each decision we make to obey him because it invariably results in both a tangible positive outcome and an understanding of how that outcome was obtained. Satan becomes less and less capable of tempting us to disobey God’s laws because our “eyes become open”. His reasons to disobey don’t stand up to God’s reasons to obey and it becomes easier for us to leave behind our sins that previously beset us. Our improved ability to choose righteousness over sin (which is obviously a result of God’s grace in imparting forgiveness of sin and continued and increased understanding) is what creates that “distance from” sin. We separate ourselves from sin and, by natural consequence, are redeemed and inherit salvation.
You can’t remain a sinner and have that happen. You cannot continually yield to temptation and expect that tendency to sin to change once you die. The scriptures provide you with absolutely no reasonable expectation to believe that. God does not save sinners. He saves those who repent and sin no more. He saves those who depart from their sins and remain clean.
36 Now Amulek saith again unto him: Behold thou hast lied, for thou sayest that I spake as though I had authority to command God because I said he shall not save his people in their sins.
37 And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins. (Alma 11)
But behold, and fear, and tremble before God, for ye ought to tremble; for the Lord redeemeth none such that rebel against him and die in their sins; yea, even all those that have perished in their sins ever since the world began, that have wilfully rebelled against God, that have known the commandments of God, and would not keep them; these are they that have no part in the first resurrection. (Mosiah 15:26)
35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. (1 Kings 8)
Quit telling yourself that you will never be perfect in this life. Quit telling yourself that it’s not possible to be obedient to all of God’s commandments. Christ has laid the foundation. Your own unwillingness to believe that he can make you capable of perfect obedience is your Achilles heel, a token of your unbelief, and an open mockery of the great sacrifice that he has made for you.
Quit believing that your verbally professed belief in Christ without an attendant obedience to his commandments is sufficient for salvation. Not only is it not enough for salvation, it will also not be enough to support you through the increasingly difficult times that lie ahead and that have been foretold in scripture. (And for those who believe in some form of rapture that will be a means of your escape from those difficult times, I would ask, what gives you reason to believe that God will raise you up to be with him when you are nothing like him?)
The idea that God will redeem people “in their sins” is a lie. God cannot do that and remain just. He would cease to be God. He would cease to be any kind of being in whom we could exercise faith. We will need his deliverance in the days ahead. We will need to exercise faith in him in order to obtain that deliverance. Let us exercise faith in him now. Let us believe in his ability to make us perfect. Let our obedience to him be a manifestation of his power to change us, to redeem us, and to make us holy, without spot.