Jesus—Savior and Redeemer

Marion G. Romney, “Jesus—Savior and Redeemer,” New Era, Apr 1984, 33

Taken from an address delivered to the student body of Brigham Young University on February 5, 1978.




During this season our thoughts are naturally directed to the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. In harmony with these thoughts, I shall in these remarks emphasize the manner in which he became and is our Savior and Redeemer.

First I shall call attention to a few fundamentals which are essential to an understanding of him and his ministry. The most important of these fundamentals is a knowledge of God the Father, man, and their relationship to each other. Without such knowledge it is impossible to realize the manner in which Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer.

The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another” (Joseph Fielding Smith, comp., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345; hereinafter referred to as TPJS). In reporting his first vision, the Prophet wrote concerning God as follows:

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

… [In it] I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other—“This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (JS—H 1:16–17).

Later the Prophet said that “the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s” (D&C 130:22). He also declared that “if … God … was to make himself visible, … you would see him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man” (TPJS, p. 345).

Such teachings seemed blasphemous in the days of Joseph Smith. It will help us to appreciate their impact if we remember that the Athanasian Creed was then, and so far as I know still is, the generally accepted concept of God held by the so-called Christian world. It reads:

“We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreate, but one uncreate and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty; and yet there are not three almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God” (History of the Church, 1:85).

The clear and simple truth concerning God revealed through and taught by the Prophet was certainly a great contrast to this mystifying confusion.

A knowledge of the Prophet’s teachings concerning God and a personal testimony that they are true is a prerequisite to an understanding of the way in which Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. Next in importance to an understanding of Jesus and his mission is an understanding of what and who men are. On this subject the Lord has revealed the truth that men are souls and he has revealed the fact that a soul is a dual being, a spirit and a body combined—that each of us is a spirit clothed in a physical body. The Lord has further revealed the truth that God, who is an immortal, exalted, glorified, eternal soul, is the Father of our spirits. Paul was referring to our spirits when, in his great speech on Mars’ hill, he said: “In him we live, and move, and have our being; … For we are … his offspring” (Acts 17:28).

The scriptures repeatedly confirm this truth. God the Father himself declared that we are his children.

“At a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain,

“… He saw God face to face, and he talked with him, …

“And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, …

“And behold, thou art my son” (Moses 1:1–4).

Another truth we should keep in mind as we consider how Jesus is our Savior is the universal law that the offspring of all reproducing life has the capability to become, in full maturity, like unto its parents. In harmony with this law, we, the offspring of God, have the capability of becoming like him. To bring us to that likeness is what the gospel is all about.

The gospel, frequently called the plan of salvation, is so called because it is the program by and pursuant to which we, spirit children of God, come to the earth, receive corporeal bodies, are placed between the forces of good and evil, are given our free agency, and by the choices we make here on earth prove ourselves worthy—or unworthy—to return to God’s presence and receive eternal life, which is the type of life God the Father and Jesus enjoy and which they have made it possible for us to enjoy. The gospel is called the gospel of Jesus Christ because he, Jesus Christ, was the firstborn spirit son of God, and volunteered, in the great pre-earth council of spirits, to come to earth and implement—that is, put into operation—the gospel plan.

We learn of that great heavenly council and something about what took place in it in Abraham’s account of it as reported in the Pearl of Great Price.

“Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

“And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

“And there stood one among them that was like unto God [that, of course, was Jesus Christ—the spirit Jesus Christ], and he [Jesus Christ, understanding at that time the gospel plan] said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell [we were all there, and he was talking about a dwelling place for us as spirits];

“And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

“And they who keep their first estate [referring to those who would be faithful there in the spirit world] shall be added upon [that is, given bodies]; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate [of course, this referred to those who would and did reject the gospel plan there in the spirit world and who followed Satan. They are not to have glory in the same kingdom with those who there followed Christ]; and they who keep their second estate [that is, those mortals who prove faithful in this estate] shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.”

This refers, of course, to those who accept and live the gospel here in mortality. They are the ones who will “have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.”

With reference to a Redeemer, which the gospel plan required, the Father said, in that great council,

“Whom shall I send? [That was to be the Redeemer.] And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.

“And the second was angry and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him” (Abr. 3:22–28).

There is a followup on this account in the book of Moses, in which the Lord said to Moses—Moses was on the mount and had an interview with the devil and they did not agree; so Moses told him where to go, and he went. And so the Lord appeared to Moses and said,

“That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me [referring to the spirit council in heaven] saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.

“But, behold [said the Father to Moses,] my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.

“Wherefore, [continued the Father,] because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;

“And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice” (Moses 4:1–4).

Speaking of this event, John the Revelator wrote:

“And there was a war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

“And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Rev. 12:7–9).

These scriptures make it clear that in the great council Jesus volunteered and was accepted and appointed to be our Savior and Redeemer; and that Satan with the spirits who followed him was cast out.

The earth was created according to plan and prepared to be man’s dwelling place during his mortal probation. Adam, who was Michael referred to by John and who stood with Christ in the great council, and his companion Eve were placed in the “Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it” (Moses 3:15). In their coming to earth, as has been true of all their posterity, the memories of Adam and Eve were suspended. They had to be taught the gospel after they came to the earth.

The Lord, there in the Garden of Eden, commanded them, saying:

“Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,

“But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat … , 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).

As everyone knows, Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit. As a consequence, pursuant to the Lord’s statement, death passed upon them and all their posterity.

Death—which is the separation of body and spirit—unless it could be overcome, would make it impossible for men ever to obtain the exaltation and eternal life which God the Father enjoys. This is so because he, God, has a body of flesh and bones. If we ever attain unto his likeness we must have bodies of flesh and bones, which we would not have unless death is overcome and we are resurrected. Jacob, the brother of Nephi, recognized this and emphasized it in these beautiful words:

“For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfill the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.”

Jacob also knew that the transgression—that was the partaking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—which brought death must be atoned for in order to bring about the resurrection, and he added:

“It must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man [which is death and banishment from the presence of God] must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh [this, as I read it for the hundredth time, went deeper into my understanding than it ever did before] must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.

“And then Jacob declares,] O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more.

“And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself” (2 Ne. 9:6–9).

That would have been our condition without the Resurrection. The required “infinite atonement” could not be made by any man nor by all men together because all men, being descendants of Adam, inherited by nature the death penalty. Atonement for disobeying the Father’s command not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which brought death, could not be made by one who was subject to the penalty. It had to be one who was not subject to death. That someone was Jesus Christ, whose Father in the flesh as well as in the spirit was Elohim.

Jesus was and is our Savior because he brought about our resurrection, through which our bodies and spirits will be united again. We shall be raised from the grave as immortal souls never again to be separated. This Jesus accomplished by voluntarily giving his life to satisfy the demands of justice for the broken law which brought death. This he was qualified to do because he was not subject to death. He was not a descendant of Adam in the same sense as are other men. He was the literal Son of God in the flesh as well as in the spirit. He thus inherited from the Father life in himself. He could have lived on indefinitely. Being the Son of God in the flesh, death had no claim upon him.

By voluntarily giving his life, he won the victory over the grave. Paul put it in these terms:

“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21–22).

Adam and Eve were responsible for death. Jesus brought about universal resurrection. In this respect, he was and is our Savior.

The fact that all men are to be resurrected, regardless of their conduct, does not, however, mean that all men shall obtain eternal life in the celestial kingdom. There are many kingdoms to which resurrected beings will be assigned—some of glory and some of less than glory. The kingdoms to which they will go will be determined by how well they, while in mortality, do things the Lord their God commands them. Resurrected souls will have to be clean and pure to dwell with God. As the resurrected Jesus taught the Nephites, “no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom,” regardless of the fact that they are resurrected (3 Ne. 27:19).

Since all men become unclean by sinning, it follows that there must be—if men are to reenter the kingdom of God—in addition to resurrection, a means provided whereby they can be cleansed from the stain of their sins. This means Jesus also provided. In the great heavenly council he voluntarily undertook to, and later came to earth and did, atone for the sins of all men by suffering on the cross and in Gethsemane sufficiently to satisfy the demands of justice for the sins of all men.

Men do not, however, get the benefit of Christ’s atonement for their sins unconditionally. They obtain the benefit of Christ’s victory over the grave unconditionally because they were not in any way responsible for the transgression which brought death. On the other hand, they are responsible for their own sins and are, therefore, required to do all they can do by way of atoning for them. This is so because, while they are in mortality, men—being endowed with free agency—are placed between influences for good, led by Christ, and influences for evil, led by Satan. They will be held responsible for the choices they make because they are endowed with the means to distinguish between good and evil. As Mormon says, “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil” (Moro. 7:16). Every man has that power; he is endowed with it at birth and will be responsible for his choices. The Lord confirmed this truth when he said to the Prophet Joseph Smith that “the Spirit [of Christ] giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and [that] the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit” (D&C 84:46).

On the other hand, Satan and his minions tempt everyone to do evil.

From the days of Adam until today, Satan has fought against Christ for the souls of men. Every person who has reached the age of accountability, except Jesus, has yielded in some degree to sin, some more and some less, but all save Jesus only have yielded sufficiently to be barred from the presence of God. This means that every person must be cleansed through the atonement of Jesus Christ in order to reenter the society of God. Jesus stated the situation to the Nephites in these words:

“Nothing [a term which, as Jesus used it, included no person] entereth into his [God’s] 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” (3 Ne. 27:19).

As has already been said, Jesus provided the means whereby men can be cleansed from the stain of their sins through his suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross. This he was able to do because he himself never sinned; he therefore never was banished from God’s presence. By voluntarily taking upon himself to suffer as he did, he satisfied the demands of justice so that men, if they will repent, may be cleansed from the stain of their sins by the spilt blood of Christ.

He explained the purpose of his mortality to the Nephites when he visited them following his resurrection, as follows—this is Christ’s own statement as to why he came into the world:

“I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.

“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 is, by the resurrection], that as I have been lifted up by men [when he was making this statement he was a resurrected being, having been crucified and ‘lifted up upon the cross’ by men, and he was talking to the Nephites following his resurrection] 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 [we have all got that experience coming in the future, because we will all die, be resurrected, and stand before the judgment bar of Christ to see whether we are worthy of exaltation]—

“And for this cause [he said] have I been lifted up [speaking of his crucifixion]; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.

“And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled [he means filled with the Holy Ghost]; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall … judge the world.

“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.

“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 [spoken], and he lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words.

“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. [Those are the words, my beloved brothers and sisters, of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.]

“Now this is the commandment [the Savior is still talking]: 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.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel” (3 Ne. 27:13–21).

In the 19th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord declared that suffering is the inevitable result of unrepented sin, and that he had redeemed men from sin upon condition of repentance. Speaking to Martin Harris, he said, giving the revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith:

“I command you to repent … lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.

“For behold, I, God [the Savior is speaking], have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

“But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

“Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore [can you imagine the suffering that Christ went through in Gethsemane, where he sweat blood from every pore? I have been in the hospital and seen people suffering what the doctor said was the severest pain that man can suffer, but I never saw one sweat a drop of blood], and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

“Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (D&C 19:15–19).

He made the atonement for our sins on the condition that we repent. If we can remember and keep in mind these basic truths, along with what Alma says about what happens to the soul between death and resurrection (read that in Alma 40:11–14), we will be able to more fully understand and appreciate Jacob’s great discourse on the mission of Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, recorded in 2 Nephi 9:10–14 [2 Ne. 9:10–14], and the sermon of Amulek and Alma as recorded in Alma 11:40–45 and Alma 12. We will know with certainty that Jesus Christ is our Savior because he brought about our resurrection and because he atoned for our sins on condition that we have faith in him and comply with the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, my young brothers and sisters, I bear you my personal witness that I know that these things are true. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; he walked the earth as the Son of God in the flesh and in the spirit, he brought about the resurrection unconditionally, and he has opened the way for you, for me, and for all mankind to have our sins forgiven through acceptance of his gospel, repentance, and living the commandments. Oh, how glorious it would be if every one of us would qualify that we might someday meet around the throne of God, cleansed and purified and admitted into his celestial presence! I pray that it may be so, and leave you my blessing that you may have the strength you desire to bring that about, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, our Redeemer, and our Savior, amen.

“Mom, Are We Christians?”

Gary J. Coleman, “‘Mom, Are We Christians?’,” Ensign, May 2007, 92–94


I am a devout Christian who is exceedingly fortunate to have greater knowledge of the true “doctrine of Christ” since my conversion to the restored Church.




Christianity celebrates the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God the Eternal Father. Christian churches with great variations of doctrine dot the land the world over. When 14-year-old Cortnee, a daughter of a mission president, entered a new high school as a freshman, she was asked by classmates if she was a Christian. They scoffed at her response that she was a Mormon, a common reference to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Upon arriving home she asked her mother, “Mom, are we Christians?”

Growing up in my family, we lived as devout members of another Christian faith. I was baptized a member of that church shortly after my birth. Our family went to church each week. For many years my brothers and I assisted the pastors who conducted our Sunday services. I was taught the importance of family prayer as our family prayed together each day. I thought that someday I would enter the full-time ministry in my church. There was no question in our minds that we could define ourselves as devout Christians.

When I was a university student, however, I became acquainted with the members and teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Christian faith centered on the Savior. I began to learn about the doctrine of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days. I learned truths that I had not known before that changed my life and how I viewed the gospel. After much studying, prayer, and faith, I chose to embrace beautiful restored truths found only in this Church.

The first restored truth that I learned was the nature of the Godhead. The true Christian doctrine that the Godhead consists of three separate beings was known in biblical times. God bore witness of Jesus, His Only Begotten Son, on several occasions. He spoke at Jesus’s baptism: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”1 Jesus Himself testified of God, His Father, when He said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”2 After Jesus’s death and Resurrection, we learn that Stephen, “he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”3 What a dramatic testimony of the Godhead from that disciple of Christ.

The knowledge of God and His physical separateness from His Son and the Holy Ghost was lost after the death of Christ and His Apostles. Confusion and false doctrines about the Godhead were fashioned out of the Nicene Creed and Constantinople councils, where men declared that instead of three separate beings, the Godhead was three persons in one God, or the Trinity. Just as Christian Protestant reformers struggled with these creeds of men, I did as well. The teachings about the Trinity that I learned in my youth were incomprehensible to me.

However, when I was introduced to the glorious truths of the First Vision experienced by the Prophet Joseph Smith, it was a stunning awakening for me to finally understand the truth about the nature of God the Eternal Father and His Only Begotten Son. Joseph declared: “I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”4 This heavenly vision restored the wondrous yet plain and precious knowledge of God and His Son to the earth again, dispelling at once the teachings I had learned about the Trinity.

I know that heaven-sent revelations have replaced the gross errors of man-made doctrines concerning the Godhead. I know that God is our Heavenly Father. His Son, Jesus Christ, is my Savior. The Holy Ghost testifies of the Father and the Son. I express my profound gratitude to God for introducing the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ to mankind in these last days. The Savior lives; He has been seen; He has spoken; He directs the work of His Church through apostles and prophets today. What magnificent truths He has taught as the Good Shepherd who continues to look after His sheep.

The second restored truth I learned as an investigator of this Church was the reality of additional scripture and revelation. The prophet Isaiah saw in vision a book that he proclaimed was part of “a marvellous work and a wonder.”5 I testify that the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is that book. It is a sacred record written by prophets of God to persuade all people to come unto Christ, and it helps to reveal the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness. The Book of Mormon tells of prophets and other faithful members of the Church who took upon themselves the name of Christ, even before the Savior’s birth.6 This book tells of the resurrected Christ teaching men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the world to come. What could be more Christian than seeking to take His name upon ourselves and follow His counsel to become like Him?

President Gordon B. Hinckley has said, “I cannot understand why the Christian world does not accept this book.”7 I first read the Book of Mormon at the age of 21. I then asked God if it was true. The truth of it was manifested unto me by the comforting power of the Holy Ghost.8 I know that the Book of Mormon is a second testament of Jesus Christ. I join my testimony with the prophets of this sacred book to declare that “we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ.”9 I am deeply grateful for every word that He has spoken and for every word He continues to speak as He quenches our thirst with living water.

Another restored truth of the gospel I became acquainted with was the restoration of priesthood authority, or the power to act in God’s name. Former prophets and apostles, such as Elijah, Moses, John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John, have been sent by God and Christ in our day to restore the holy priesthood of God. Every priesthood holder in this Church can trace his priesthood authority directly to Jesus Christ. Men now possess the keys to establish the Church so that we can come unto Christ and partake of His eternal ordinances of salvation.10 I testify that this is the Church of Jesus Christ—the only church authorized with true priesthood authority to exercise the keys of salvation through sacred ordinances.

Cortnee asked, “Mom, are we Christians?” As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you are a Christian, and I am too. I am a devout Christian who is exceedingly fortunate to have greater knowledge of the true “doctrine of Christ”11 since my conversion to the restored Church. These truths define this Church as having the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like other members of the Church, I now understand the true nature of the Godhead, I have access to additional scripture and revelation, and I can partake of the blessings of priesthood authority. Yes, Cortnee, we are Christians, and I testify of these truths in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Notes
1. Matthew 3:17.

2. John 17:3.

3. Acts 7:55–56.

4. Joseph Smith—History 1:17.

5. See Isaiah 29:14; see also vv. 11–12, 18.

6. See Alma 46:14–16.

7. The Marvelous Foundation of Our Faith,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2002, 81.

8. See Moroni 10:4–5.

9. 2 Nephi 25:26.

10. See D&C 2; 13; 110; 112:32.

11. 2 Nephi 31:2; see also 3 Nephi 11:31–36.

The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent,” Liahona, Nov 2007, 40–42


As Elder Ballard noted earlier in this session, various cross-currents of our times have brought increasing public attention to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Lord told the ancients this latter-day work would be “a marvellous work and a wonder,”1 and it is. But even as we invite one and all to examine closely the marvel of it, there is one thing we would not like anyone to wonder about—that is whether or not we are “Christians.”

By and large any controversy in this matter has swirled around two doctrinal issues—our view of the Godhead and our belief in the principle of continuing revelation leading to an open scriptural canon. In addressing this we do not need to be apologists for our faith, but we would like not to be misunderstood. So with a desire to increase understanding and unequivocally declare our Christianity, I speak today on the first of those two doctrinal issues just mentioned.

Our first and foremost article of faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”2 We believe these three divine persons constituting a single Godhead are united in purpose, in manner, in testimony, in mission. We believe Them to be filled with the same godly sense of mercy and love, justice and grace, patience, forgiveness, and redemption. I think it is accurate to say we believe They are one in every significant and eternal aspect imaginable except believing Them to be three persons combined in one substance, a Trinitarian notion never set forth in the scriptures because it is not true.

Indeed no less a source than the stalwart Harper’s Bible Dictionary records that “the formal doctrine of the Trinity as it was defined by the great church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries is not to be found in the [New Testament].”3

So any criticism that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not hold the contemporary Christian view of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost is not a comment about our commitment to Christ but rather a recognition (accurate, I might add) that our view of the Godhead breaks with post–New Testament Christian history and returns to the doctrine taught by Jesus Himself. Now, a word about that post–New Testament history might be helpful.

In the year a.d. 325 the Roman emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea to address—among other things—the growing issue of God’s alleged “trinity in unity.” What emerged from the heated contentions of churchmen, philosophers, and ecclesiastical dignitaries came to be known (after another 125 years and three more major councils)4 as the Nicene Creed, with later reformulations such as the Athanasian Creed. These various evolutions and iterations of creeds—and others to come over the centuries—declared the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be abstract, absolute, transcendent, immanent, consubstantial, coeternal, and unknowable, without body, parts, or passions and dwelling outside space and time. In such creeds all three members are separate persons, but they are a single being, the oft-noted “mystery of the trinity.” They are three distinct persons, yet not three Gods but one. All three persons are incomprehensible, yet it is one God who is incomprehensible.

We agree with our critics on at least that point—that such a formulation for divinity is truly incomprehensible. With such a confusing definition of God being imposed upon the church, little wonder that a fourth-century monk cried out, “Woe is me! They have taken my God away from me, … and I know not whom to adore or to address.”5 How are we to trust, love, worship, to say nothing of strive to be like, One who is incomprehensible and unknowable? What of Jesus’s prayer to His Father in Heaven that “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”?6

It is not our purpose to demean any person’s belief nor the doctrine of any religion. We extend to all the same respect for their doctrine that we are asking for ours. (That, too, is an article of our faith.) But if one says we are not Christians because we do not hold a fourth- or fifth-century view of the Godhead, then what of those first Christian Saints, many of whom were eyewitnesses of the living Christ, who did not hold such a view either?7

We declare it is self-evident from the scriptures that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are separate persons, three divine beings, noting such unequivocal illustrations as the Savior’s great Intercessory Prayer just mentioned, His baptism at the hands of John, the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the martyrdom of Stephen—to name just four.

With these New Testament sources and more8 ringing in our ears, it may be redundant to ask what Jesus meant when He said, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.”9 On another occasion He said, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”10 Of His antagonists He said, “[They have] … seen and hated both me and my Father.”11 And there is, of course, that always deferential subordination to His Father that had Jesus say, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”12 “My father is greater than I.”13

To whom was Jesus pleading so fervently all those years, including in such anguished cries as “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”14 and “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”?15 To acknowledge the scriptural evidence that otherwise perfectly united members of the Godhead are nevertheless separate and distinct beings is not to be guilty of polytheism; it is, rather, part of the great revelation Jesus came to deliver concerning the nature of divine beings. Perhaps the Apostle Paul said it best: “Christ Jesus … being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”16

A related reason The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is excluded from the Christian category by some is because we believe, as did the ancient prophets and apostles, in an embodied—but certainly glorified—God.17 To those who criticize this scripturally based belief, I ask at least rhetorically: If the idea of an embodied God is repugnant, why are the central doctrines and singularly most distinguishing characteristics of all Christianity the Incarnation, the Atonement, and the physical Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? If having a body is not only not needed but not desirable by Deity, why did the Redeemer of mankind redeem His body, redeeming it from the grasp of death and the grave, guaranteeing it would never again be separated from His spirit in time or eternity?18Any who dismiss the concept of an embodied God dismiss both the mortal and the resurrected Christ. No one claiming to be a true Christian will want to do that.

Now, to anyone within the sound of my voice who has wondered regarding our Christianity, I bear this witness. I testify that Jesus Christ is the literal, living Son of our literal, living God. This Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer who, under the guidance of the Father, was the Creator of heaven and earth and all things that in them are. I bear witness that He was born of a virgin mother, that in His lifetime He performed mighty miracles observed by legions of His disciples and by His enemies as well. I testify that He had power over death because He was divine but that He willingly subjected Himself to death for our sake because for a period of time He was also mortal. I declare that in His willing submission to death He took upon Himself the sins of the world, paying an infinite price for every sorrow and sickness, every heartache and unhappiness from Adam to the end of the world. In doing so He conquered both the grave physically and hell spiritually and set the human family free. I bear witness that He was literally resurrected from the tomb and, after ascending to His Father to complete the process of that Resurrection, He appeared, repeatedly, to hundreds of disciples in the Old World and in the New. I know He is the Holy One of Israel, the Messiah who will one day come again in final glory, to reign on earth as Lord of lords and King of kings. I know that there is no other name given under heaven whereby a man can be saved and that only by relying wholly upon His merits, mercy, and everlasting grace19 can we gain eternal life.

My additional testimony regarding this resplendent doctrine is that in preparation for His millennial latter-day reign, Jesus has already come, more than once, in embodied majestic glory. In the spring of 1820, a 14-year-old boy, confused by many of these very doctrines that still confuse much of Christendom, went into a grove of trees to pray. In answer to that earnest prayer offered at such a tender age, the Father and the Son appeared as embodied, glorified beings to the boy prophet Joseph Smith. That day marked the beginning of the return of the true, New Testament gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the restoration of other prophetic truths offered from Adam down to the present day.

I testify that my witness of these things is true and that the heavens are open to all who seek the same confirmation. Through the Holy Spirit of Truth, may we all know “the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He has] sent.”20 Then may we live Their teachings and be true Christians in deed, as well as in word, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Notes
1. Isaiah 29:14.

2. Articles of Faith 1:1.

3. Paul F. Achtemeier, ed. (1985), 1099; emphasis added.

4. Constantinople, a.d. 381; Ephesus, a.d. 431; Chalcedon, a.d. 451.

5. Quoted in Owen Chadwick, Western Asceticism (1958), 235.

6. John 17:3; emphasis added.

7. For a thorough discussion of this issue, see Stephen E. Robinson, Are Mormons Christian? 71–89; see also Robert Millet, Getting at the Truth (2004), 106–22.

8. See, for example, John 12:27–30; John 14:26; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 1:1–3.

9. John 5:19; see also John 14:10.

10. John 6:38.

11. John 15:24.

12. Matthew 19:17.

13. John 14:28.

14. Matthew 26:39.

15. Matthew 27:46.

16. Philippians 2:5–6.

17. See David L. Paulsen, “Early Christian Belief in a Corporeal Deity: Origen and Augustine as Reluctant Witnesses,” Harvard Theological Review, vol. 83, no. 2 (1990): 105–16; David L. Paulsen, “The Doctrine of Divine Embodiment: Restoration, Judeo-Christian, and Philosophical Perspectives,” BYU Studies, vol. 35, no. 4 (1996): 7–94; James L. Kugel, The God of Old: Inside the Lost World of the Bible (2003), xi–xii, 5–6, 104–6, 134–35; Clark Pinnock, Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness (2001), 33–34.

18. See Romans 6:9; Alma 11:45.

19. See 1 Nephi 10:6; 2 Nephi 2:8; 31:19; Moroni 6:4; Joseph Smith Translation, Romans 3:24.

20. John 17:3.