Skip to main content

"Grace" Defined: An LDS Perspective

Here's what grace means from an LDS perspective: Grace justifies us, it sanctifies us, and it grants us God's power to become stronger.

(1) Justification - Through repentance and a sincere desire to gain the help of Christ's atonement in our lives to do better, we are justified--declared innocent of the sins we have committed.

(2) Sanctification - A purification process that removes from us the effects of sin and gives us hope and optimism to succeed and a realization that God loves us as we are but sees us as we can become.

(3) Empowerment - God's grace--and Christ's atonement--only remove both the punishment for sin and the effects of sin in our lives, they also empower us to become more able to resist committing further sin, a process by which we become more and more like God.

I think that facets 1 and 2 above are very similar concepts in all Christian denominations. Where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seems a bit unique is in the idea that grace empowers us to become better--in other words, to become like our Heavenly Parents.

For what it might be worth, this sermon is, I think, an excellent explanation of how sanctification and justification are similar, and how they are different.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for commenting. If you have a Google/Blogger account, to be apprised of ongoing comment activity on this article, please click the "Subscribe" link below.

Popular posts from this blog

School Vouchers: "The Bramble Memo"

$429 million? What? Where? The legislative fiscal analyst for the State of Utah calculated the costs to the public schools over the next 13 years if school vouchers are implemented. It said the costs would be $5.5M in the first year, and $71M in the 13th year. Suddenly, the number I have started seeing thrown around was $429 million, the total costs for vouchers over 13 years. Where did that number come from? Enter the mysterious "Bramble Memo". In the past few days several of us (Jeremy, Utah Taxpayer, Craig, Sara, Urban Koda, Jesse, and me) have (sometimes?) enjoyed a lively discussion about school vouchers in Utah . Jeremy clarified to me the costs of the venture by linking to a copy of the Utah Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Impartial Analysis (LFA) of the costs of Vouchers , found on "The Senate Site". In my previous voucher article, I quoted some of Lavar Webb's article from last Sunday's Deseret News, wherein he stated that those total costs ...
66 comments
Read more

Red Clothing and Resurrection: Jesus Christ's Second Coming

The scriptures teach that when Christ comes again to the earth, that he will be wearing red apparel. Why red ? They also teach that at Christ's coming, many of the dead will become resurrected. Will this only include members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Not by a long shot, no matter what some Mormon might tell you.
2 comments
Read more

The Legend of Enkidu and Shamhat: Wait!...Did I just Read About Adam and Eve???

The story of Enkidu and Shamhat seems similar to that of Adam and Eve.  See what similarities you can find in my description of the story of Enkidu, Shamhat, and Enkidu's alter-ego, Gilgamesh below.
Post a Comment
Read more