OK, I lied.
Well, sort of.
I said at the end of my last post that the “fulness of the gospel” is found all over scripture. That part is true. I also said that this post would focus on that topic, but it won’t. It will lightly touch upon the subject, but it won’t be the focus, and it definitely will not make a serious study of all of the places where “the fulness of the gospel” is found in scripture. And this is one of those times when I have to say, “Sorry, not sorry.” God has to teach me so many things and take me down so many paths before one concept comes together, and I often don’t know how to share those concepts with others without taking them along for the ride. But there is value in the ride, so don’t feel bad if you have been buckled in so far and feel jilted. I don’t know that I can take you to the final destination of what “the fulness of the gospel” is, but anyone reading this would do well to get out of the car and walk the rest of the way. We will see how close we can get in the meantime.
Before we start discussing the “fulness of the gospel,” let’s establish what “the gospel” is.
GOS'PEL, n. [L. evangelium, a good or joyful message.]
The history of the birth, life, actions, death, resurrection, ascension and doctrines of Jesus Christ; or a revelation of the grace of God to fallen man through a mediator, including the character, actions, and doctrines of Christ, with the whole scheme of salvation, as revealed by Christ and his apostles.
I appreciate Noah Webster’s definition of “gospel” and ones like it. Most definitions will include the happenings of Christ’s life and his teachings, but only some will include the purpose behind them. Webster says that the gospel comes “with the whole scheme of salvation.” A “scheme” is a plan—a design, and my personal opinion is that if you do not understand “the whole scheme of salvation,” the life and teachings of Christ can be misrepresented and/or misunderstood and, ultimately, be of far less consequence than what they were meant to be.
So, we are going to take a slight detour now. Actually, this post is likely to take a few little detours. My brain has taken several in coming up with this post, so neither I nor the reader should be surprised if what I write follows suit.
There are a few places in scripture where the Lord clearly defines things. They are “this is...” statements. I love these so much! Here’s one:
39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1)
God’s work—his “scheme”—is to bring about the salvation of man, which is to save man from physical death (the separation of one’s spirit from the mortal body) and from spiritual death (the separation of one’s spirit from God, which is eternal in nature).
The fall of Adam causes all men to experience death.
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2)
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)
22 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.
23 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.
24 And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead. (Alma 12)
The atonement of Christ causes death and hell to deliver up their dead to be judged.
10 O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.
11 And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave.
12 And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel.
13 O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.
14 Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.
15 And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then cometh the judgment, and then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of God. (2 Nephi 9)
Christ makes this clear in another “this is” passage of scripture:
13 Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.
14 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—
15 And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works. (3 Nephi 27)
I want to pause here at the end of verse 15 because it marks a point at which Christ fulfills one part of his work and mission. What is his gospel? What are the glad tidings? Well, for starters, it is defined by the will of his Father, and we have already established that God’s work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Christ’s atonement facilitates that. His being “lifted up on the cross” causes all men to be “lifted up” by the Father “that they may be judged according to their works.”
However, it is critically important to note that Christ, alone, cannot bring about the Father’s work. Because men are “judged according to their works,” the agency of men in their natural state causes them to be enemies to God.
19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3)
3 For they are carnal and devilish, and the devil has power over them; yea, even that old serpent that did beguile our first parents, which was the cause of their fall; which was the cause of all mankind becoming carnal, sensual, devilish, knowing evil from good, subjecting themselves to the devil.
4 Thus all mankind were lost; and behold, they would have been endlessly lost were it not that God redeemed his people from their lost and fallen state.
5 But remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God. (Mosiah 16)
And so we see that God’s work and glory cannot be brought to pass without man, also, subjecting himself to the Father’s will. Knowing this, we can go back to Christ’s words in 3 Nephi 27 and understand why he continues expounding his gospel:
16 And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.
17 And he that endureth not unto the end, the same is he that is also hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence they can no more return, because of the justice of the Father.
18 And this is the word which he hath given unto the children of men. And for this cause he fulfilleth the words which he hath given, and he lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words.
19 And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.
20 Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.
21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;
22 Therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day. (3 Nephi 27)
The gospel—“the whole scheme of salvation”—cannot do what it was designed to do without the willingness—the submission—of man to the will of the Father. Christ’s atonement notwithstanding, God cannot force man to comply with the requirements for eternal life.
I won’t go into this in great detail here, but verses 16-20 reiterate the doctrine of Christ found in 2 Nephi 31-32 and 3 Nephi 11:32-35. A “doctrine” is a teaching, and those passages of scripture are “this is my doctrine” passages. The effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ require us to apply the doctrine of Christ in order for the Father’s will to come to pass. We are, therefore, commanded to exercise faith, to repent, to be baptized, to receive the Holy Ghost, and to endure to the end.
Varying levels of righteousness in men cause the Father’s will to be carried out to different degrees in this life. This is why Jesus spoke of many “mansions”:
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)
What level of righteousness would be required before a man could honestly expect “salvation?” Does “salvation” exist by degrees? It would be a desperate attempt to soothe one’s conscience to believe so, but it just isn’t the case.
From Lecture Seven of the Lectures on Faith:
As all the visible creation is an effect of faith, so is salvation, also. (We mean salvation in its most extensive latitude of interpretation, whether it is temporal or spiritual) In order to have this subject clearly set before the mind, let us ask what situation must a person be in, in order to be saved? or what is the difference between a saved man and one who is not saved? We answer from what we have before seen of the heavenly worlds, they must be persons who can work by faith, and who are able, by faith to be ministering spirits to them who shall be heirs of salvation. And they must have faith to enable them to act in the presence of the Lord, otherwise they cannot be saved. And what constitutes the real difference between a saved person and one not saved, is the difference in the degree of their faith: one's faith has become perfect enough to lay hold upon eternal life, and the other's has not. But to be a little more particular, let us ask, where shall we find a prototype into whose likeness we may be assimilated, in order that we may be made partakers of life and salvation? or in other words, where shall we find a saved being? for if we can find a saved being, we may ascertain, without much difficulty, what all others must be, in order to be saved—they must be like that individual or they cannot be saved: we think, that it will not be a matter of dispute, that two beings, who are unlike each other, cannot both be saved; for whatever constitutes the salvation of one, will constitute the salvation of every creature which will be saved: and if we find one saved being in all existence, we may see what all others must be, or else not be saved. We ask, then, where is the prototype? or where is the saved being? We conclude as to the answer of this question there will be no dispute among those who believe the bible, that it is Christ: all will agree in this that he is the prototype or standard of salvation, or in other words, that he is a saved being. And if we should continue our interrogation, and ask how it is that he is saved, the answer would be, because he is a just and holy being; and if he were any thing different from what he is he would not be saved; for his salvation depends on his being precisely what he is and nothing else; for if it were possible for him to change in the least degree, so sure he would fail of salvation and lose all his dominion, power, authority and glory, which constitutes salvation; for salvation consists in the glory, authority, majesty, power and dominion which Jehovah possesses, and in nothing else; and no being can possess it but himself or one like him: Thus says John, in his first epistle, Behold, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not appear what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And any man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.—Why purify himself as he is pure? because, if they do not they cannot be like him.
To be saved is to be exactly like Christ. Only one who becomes exactly like Christ can say that they have taken advantage of “the whole scheme of salvation.” Only one who becomes exactly like Christ employs “the fulness of the gospel.”
This blogpost will seem like it is coming to an abrupt end to anyone who would be satisfied with what I have said.
For those who are not, I encourage you to study “the fulness of the gospel” in scripture. For now, I will just close with some words from King Benjamin:
4 ...My friends and my brethren, my kindred and my people, I would again call your attention, that ye may hear and understand the remainder of my words which I shall speak unto you.
5 For behold, if the knowledge of the goodness of God at this time has awakened you to a sense of your nothingness, and your worthless and fallen state—
6 I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body—
7 I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.
8 And this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you. (Mosiah 4)