Salvation by Works or Faith

[Loi13]

I'm not a mormon yet but my father and I are considering joining the church.
I've read some of the BoM, not much I'm afraid to say. :/ Although one verse did sorta nag at me:
"For we labor dilligently 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." (2 Nephi 25:23)
So I have 2 questions:
1. Do mormons believe in salvation by grace or works?
2. What does salvation mean for mormons?

[pam]

The second typical explanation goes something like this: The fall of Adam brought two kinds of death into the world—physical death, which is the separation of body and spirit, and spiritual death, which is separation of man from God. The atonement of Christ overcame physical death through the Resurrection. This is salvation by grace because it comes to all men automatically and does not depend on what kinds of lives they have lived. But, if we wish to overcome spiritual death and enter back into God’s presence, we must be obedient to laws and principles. This is exaltation by works. Thus, according to this explanation, we are saved by grace and exalted by works.

*bold is mine*

Salvation: By Grace or by Works? - Ensign Apr. 1981

[slamjet]

Mormons believe that salvation comes by grace and grace alone. Christ's atonement is an act of grace and we are all saved with it. It is a gift given to all God's children. The works part comes by us striving to keep all of God's commandments so that we will be found worthy to inherit the highest kingdom and live in the presence of our Father in Heaven.

So, in a matter of speaking, we believe in both. We are all saved from death by grace. We are all required to strive for perfection to enter into God's Kingdom.

I hope this helps. I'm sure there will be more people who will comment and be better at explaining this than I.

[ThankGodForRepentence]

James 2:14-26
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

So BOTH!

[pam]

Slamjet I think you explained it very nicely.

[livy111us]

Here are a few articles you may be interested in reading:

Mormonism and Christianity/Grace and works/Early Christian views on salvation - FAIRMormon

Mormonism and Christianity/Grace and works - FAIRMormon

Mormonism and Christianity/Grace and works/Salvation by faith alone - FAIRMormon

Grace, the meaning of Baptism - FAIRMormon

[MrShorty]

1. Do mormons believe in salvation by grace or works?

Does it have to be an either or thing? There's no way I can ever do enough to save myself, so salvation has to come by grace through faith. However, as noted, "faith without works is dead." So my faith has to be strong enough to motivate me to strive in all I do to be obedient to God's commands, which means I have to actually do something. So I see both as part of the equation -- I have to have faith in Christ, and I have to show that faith by my works -- the two things go together.

[jayanna]

I think of it this way,

We are saved through Jesus Christ's atonement, so we will live for eternity

Our works determine where we will spend that eternity.

We will be judged by our works.

In Matthew Ch. 7 Jesus is teaching the sermon on the mount, and toward the end he says this:

21¶Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Although we do not do good works just to get a reward later, we truly do care about each other. Through the atonement the Lord has shown us that He loves us, and when we do those things he asks us to do, we are showing Him that we love him, too.

[Traveler]

Because man is fallen not only will all die but all are in a state of spiritual confusion. There are two great gifts that come from G-d for the salvation of man.

First is the grace of G-d that allows Christ to redeem the sins of man - because man is fallen we cannot redeem our own sins.

The second great gift are the commandments whereby the discipline of honoring G-d’s commandments we become spiritually enlightened and able to abide the spiritual powers of G-d - in other words the commandments are the means by which that which is physical is united with that which is spiritual.

So the truth is that for man’s salvation it is necessary that G-d become invested in man - through Jesus Christ and man must also become invested to become whole and holy through subjecting themselves to the commandments of G-d.

The Traveler

[bytebear]

We are saved by Grace, not by Faith alone. Grace and Faith are not the same thing.

In fact, if you think about it, Jesus already paid for the sins of the world. That happened 2000 years before I was even born, so my works have absolutely no bearing on what Christ did. But my faith and works will determine how I benefit from his sacrifice.