wrote: "We believe that all mankind, by the transgression of their
first parents, and not by their own sins, were brought under the curse
and penalty of that transgression, which consigned them to an eternal
banishment from the presence of God, and their bodies to an endless
sleep in the dust, never more to rise, and their spirits to endless
misery under the power of Satan; and that, in this awful condition,
they were utterly lost and fallen and had no power of their own to
extricate themselves therefrom" (Pratt's Works, "Remarkable Visions)."
Also the Book of Mormon: "Wherefore the first judgment which came upon
man [the judgment of death] must needs have remained to an endless
duration" (II Nephi ix:7).]
[Footnote A: Shedd, "History of Christian Doctrine," Vol. II, p. 234.
He cites Redepenning; Origines II, 409, for his authority.
The views of Origen are all the more surprising from the fact that the
Epistle to the Hebrews makes clear the inadequacy of the sacrifices
of animals for the satisfaction of the claims of justice for man's
transgression of the law (Chs. ix and x). On this point the Prophet
Alma is very clear: "Behold. I say unto you, that I do know that
Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon himself the
transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of
the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it; for it is expedient that
an Atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the
eternal God, there must be an Atonement made or else all mankind must
unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and
are lost, and must perish except it be through the Atonement which it
is expedient should be made; for it is expedient that there should
be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither
of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human
sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice. * * * *
And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law; every whit pointing
to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice
will be the Son of God; yea, infinite and eternal."]
Abelard (twelfth century) also held that there was "nothing in the
Divine nature which necessitates a satisfaction for past transgression
antecedently to remission of penalty; like creating out of nothing,
redemption may and does take place by a _fiat_, by which sin is
abolished by a word, and the sinner is received into favor. * * *
Abelard denies the doctrine of satisfaction and contends that God may
remit penalty by a sovereign act of will.[A] Even Augustine, according
to Neander, declared that if considered from the point of view of the
divine omnipotence" he believed the answer must be in the affirmative;
that is, that choice of other means for man's redemption than the
Atonement could have been made. "But no other way," Augustine supposed,
"would have been so well adapted for man's recovery from his wretched
condition," as the one that was adopted in the Atonement of Christ.
Not, however, from the "intrinsic nature of the case; not from the daws
of the moral government of the world;" but because of the subjective
influence that the union of the divine nature with the human--effected
in the incarnation and the Atonement by the Christ, would have upon
man.[B]
[Footnote A: Shedd, "History of Christian Doctrine," Vol. II, pp. 260,
261.]
[Footnote B: The matter is stated at length in Neander's "History
of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. IV, pp. 497-8. See also
Augustine (De Trinitate), Lib. xiii, Ch. x. "This idea of an 'abstract'
omnipotence accompanies the history of the doctrine of atonement down
from the earliest to the latest times. In the ancient church, Irenaeus
(Adv. Haer. III, XX.), Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil, and Ambrose contend
for an absolute necessity of Christ's satisfaction; while Athanasius,
Augustine, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret, and John Damascene assert
only a relative necessity. In the mediaeval church, Anselm, and perhaps
Hugh St. Victor assert an absolute, while Abelard, Bernard, Lombard,
Hales, Bonaventure, and Aquinas (Cont. Gent. IV, liv, lv) concede
only a relative necessity. In the seventeenth century, the subject
was discussed by Owen, and Twise (the prolocutor of the Westminster
Assembly); the former asserting and the latter denying, the absolute
necessity of a satisfaction. See Owen's tract, 'On the Nature of
Justice'" ("History of Christian Doctrine," Vol. II, p. 302, note).]
It should be remembered, however, that the doctrine of the "reign
of law," in the moral government of the world, excludes arbitrary
action--action independent of law--even though beneficent; and if that
were not true, then God must act in harmony with his own attributes.
Mercy must not be at variance with Justice. Even God's Omnipotence must
keep step with the attributes of Truth and Wisdom. Satisfaction for
violated law, satisfaction to divine justice is a claim that may no
more be set aside than the pleadings of Mercy. A way shall be found out
of these difficulties, but it must not be by "a schism in the Deity,
and an intestine conflict between the divine attributes."[A]
[Footnote A: Shedd's "History of Christian Doctrine," p. 300.]
It can be readily understood that not even God's Omnipotence could make
it possible for him to act contrary to Truth and Justice.[A] It ought
to be no more difficult to understand that God's Omnipotence could
not permit him to set aside a satisfaction to Justice as an arbitrary
concession to Mercy. Mere power has not the right to nullify law. Not
even Omnipotence has the light to abolish Justice. Might in Deity is
not more fundamental than Right. God we must conclude will act in
harmony with all his attributes, else confusion in the moral government
of the world.
[Footnote A: See closing paragraphs Lesson XII.]
These reflections lead to the inevitable conclusion that there must be
a satisfaction made to justice before there can be redemption for man.
But how?
LESSON XVII.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES--(B) THE REDEMPTION TO BE THE WORK OF GOD.
ANALYSIS.
VI. Repentance and Future Obedience--Ineffectual as Satisfaction for
the Past; Atonement Must Equal Offense.
VII. The Atonement Also a Matter of Power--Ability to Restore that
which was Lost.
VIII. Man May Not Be Left Under the Sentence of a Broken Law, as that
Would Violate God's Promise of Eternal Life.
IX. Conditions that Must Be Met in the Atonement of Deity for the
Salvation of Man.
REFERENCES.
Book of Alma xxxiv; Book of Mosiah xv; St. John x:14-18; also v:19-29.
Mormon Doctrine of Deity--"Jesus Christ the Revelation of God," Ch. iv.
And the quotations and references in the body of this lesson.
_SPECIAL TEXTS: "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he
given to the Son to have life in himself." (St. John v.26.)_
_"For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so
the Son quickeneth whom he will." (St. John v.21.)_
DISCUSSION.
_1. The Helplessness of Man in the Presence of Broken Law:_ The
preceding lesson closed with the question how can satisfaction be made
to justice in order that redemption may reach fallen man. Admittedly
man, the transgressor of law, is powerless to make such satisfaction.
True, it is conceivable that he might repent of his transgression, and
through struggle maintain himself in righteousness for the future. But
that does not reach the past. If he should by struggle maintain himself
in righteousness for the future, that is no more than he ought to do.
Man owes that duty every day in the present and in the future. It is
the breach in the law that must be mended. Man is under the sentence
of eternal death, spiritual and temporal;[A] for a past transgression
of the law of God. Doing what is merely his duty in the present and
the future will not make satisfaction for the past. Man is helpless
in the presence of that broken law; no act of his can atone for the
transgression of Adam or stay the effects of the fall upon the race, or
redeem them from the penalty of death.
[Footnote A: "Wherefore the first judgment which came upon man [the
judgment of death] must needs have remained to an endless duration.
And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its
mother earth, to rise no more" (II Nephi ix:7). Because of the fall of
Adam "all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice;
yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off
from his presence" (Alma xl ii; 14).]
_2. Only Deity Can Satisfy the Claims of Deity:_ The sin of Adam
was a sin against divine law; a sin against the majesty of God. Only a
God can render a satisfaction to that insulted honor and majesty. Only
Deity can satisfy the claims of Deity.
And hence Alma says, in speaking of the Atonement, and in view of the
inadequacy of any atonement man himself can make: "It shall not be a
human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice. * * *
And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law; every white pointing
to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice
will be the Son of God; yea, infinite and eternal. * * * The plan of
mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made;
therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world to bring about
the plan of Mercy, to appease the demands of Justice."[A]
[Footnote A: Alma xxxiv:10-14; xlii:15. See also II Nephi ix:7]
_3. The Atonement Also a Matter of Power to Make It--Capacity:_
Moreover the Atonement is not only a matter of satisfying the insulted
honor and majesty of God adequately by like meeting like, and measure
answering measure; but it is also a question of power. Not only must
the dishonor towards God be removed by satisfaction, but there must be
power over death; there must be a power of life that that which was
lost may be restored; and not only as to the spiritual life of man with
God; but restored union between the spirit and body of man--physical
life upon which the happiness and progress that God has designed for
man depends. "Man," it should be always remembered, "is spirit." "The
elements [meaning elements of matter] are eternal; and spirit and
element inseparably connected receive a fulness of joy."[A] Hence the
importance of man's physical life, the union of his deathless spirit
with a body that must be made equally immortal; and since the fall
brought to man this physical death as well as the spiritual death; his
redemption, to be complete, must re-establish that physical life by
reuniting the essential elements of the body of man and his spirit, in
the resurrection, and the resurrection must be universal; the Atonement
in its redeeming effects must be as universal as the fall. As in Adam
all die, so through the Redeemer of men must all be made alive,[B] if
the redemption is to be complete. It was doubtless these considerations
which led some of the Nephite prophets to say that the Atonement
"must needs be an infinite atonement;" by which, as I think, they
sought to express the idea of the sufficiency of it; its completeness;
the universality and power of it to restore all that was lost, both
spiritual and physical, as well as to express the rank and dignity of
him who would make the Atonement.
[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov., Sec. 93:33, 34.]
[Footnote B: I Cor. xv:22.]
The Redeemer, then, must be a Lord of life, hence Deity. He must not
only have the power of life within himself, but the power to impart it
to others--a God-like power; and to inspire faith in his possession
of such power, the manner of the Atonement must be such as to include
demonstration of that fact, else how shall men have faith in him? All
these considerations lift the Redeemer and the Atonement far above man
and what man can do. Truly the redemption of man is to be the work of
God.
_4. Scripture Warrant for Above Conclusions:_ And now for the
scripture warrant for these conclusions:
"I lay down my life for the sheep [men]. * * * Therefore doth my
Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it
again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
commandment have I received of my Father.[A]
"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up; * * *
he spake of the temple of his body, when therefore he was risen
from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto
them."[B] "Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the
dead the third day."[C]
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men."[D] "Verily,
verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what
he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also
doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth
him all things that himself doeth; and he will shew him greater
works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he
will.[E] Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is come and now
is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they
that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself so
hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given
him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of
man. Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in which all that
are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shall come forth; they
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."[F]
[Footnote A: St. John x:17, 18.]
[Footnote B: Ibid ii:19-22.]
[Footnote C: Luke xxiv:46.]
[Footnote D: St. John i:4.]
[Footnote E: St. John v:19-29.]
[Footnote F: St. John v:25-29.]
_5. Man May Not Be Left to Suffer the Course of Justice, As That
Would Thwart the Divine Purposes and Promises:_ But to return
now to the thought that God himself must make atonement for man's
transgression. And we come back to that thought with increased
conviction after considering the necessary element of power in
connection with the Atonement, the ability to restore that which was
lost--life, spiritual and physical; not the work of man, but the work
of a Deity, a Lord of life--God must himself redeem man. That or
justice must take its course and the sinner be left to satisfy the
justice of God by an endless misery under the sentence of law; without
union with God--spiritual death; and subject to the dissolution of
spirit and body, without the power of resurrection--physical death. But
that would thwart the purpose of God with reference to the earth-life
of man, which was designed for his progress, that progress might bring
him joy.[A] Moreover, to leave man under the penalty of a broken law,
which means to him eternal death, physical and spiritual, would be
contrary to the pledge of eternal life "which God, that cannot lie,
promised before the world began."[B] Under these circumstances justice
may not be left to take its course. There must be an atonement made for
man and as none but God can make an adequate atonement in the case,
then a Deity must make it. And hence one of the Nephite prophets,
coming to the same conclusion, wrote: "And now the plan of mercy could
not be brought about, except an atonement should be made; therefore God
himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of
mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect,
just God, and a merciful God also"[C] The Atonement, we conclude, must
be made by a Deity, in order to be adequate; but it must be made by a
Deity living a man's life--hence the incarnation of the spirit of a
Deity in the person of Jesus Christ.[D] It must be made by a Deity
who will live man's life with all its temptations, yet remain without
sin that the sacrifice might be without spot or blemish;" by one who
will give to the world the illustration and the one demonstration of a
perfect life--a life in which the will is wholly subjected to the will
of God Also the Atonement must be made by a Deity living man's life
that the satisfaction to the justice of God may be rendered from the
same plane on which the offense was offered, and essentially from amid
the same conditions. Hence the special temptation of Jesus by Lucifer.
The Atonement must be made by a Deity who shall die man's death, but
who shall not be holden of it, but break its bands and demonstrate
the power of the resurrection of which he is the first fruits, and
ever after Lord of life and the power of the resurrection--such, for
instance, as was Jesus Christ.
[Footnote A: II Nephi ii:25; Doc. & Cov., Sec. 93:33,34, and I Peter
i:18-20.]
[Footnote B: Paul to Titus: Titus i:1, 2; see also Lesson IV.]
[Footnote C: Jesus Christ not only Divine but Deity. See Lecture by
the writer, "Mormon Doctrine of Deity," Ch. iv.]
[Footnote D: "Ye know that ye were not redeemed by corruptible things,
* * but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish, and without spot" (I Peter i:18, 19). All the victims in the
sacrifices under the law which typified the Christ were required to be
perfect, spotless, without blemish, foreshadowing that he, too, who was
to atone for man's sin would be without fault.]
LESSON XVIII.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
SCOPE AND MOTIVE FORCE OF THE ATONEMENT.
ANALYSIS.
I. Scope of the Atonement Broader Than Individual Sins.
II. Distinction Between Adam's Sin and Individual Sins.
1. Free Redemption from the First.
2. Conditional Redemption from the Second.
III. The Same Principle Involved in Both General and Individual
Atonement.
IV. The Motive Force of the Atonement.
REFERENCES.
Orson Pratt's Remarkable Visions, closing pages. Also The Kingdom of
God, part III, subdivision V, Pratt's Works.
The Gospel (Roberts), Chs. ii and iii.
II Nephi ii, and Alma xii and xlii.
And the text and context of passages quoted and cited in this lesson.
_SPECIAL TEXT: "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
* * * Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto justification of life." (Rom. v:12, 18.)_
DISCUSSION.
1. The Atonement of Broader Scope than Making Satisfaction for Adam's
Sin: So far the Atonement has been considered only with reference to
its effect upon the transgression of Adam. It is, however, of much
broader scope than that. Not only must the sin of Adam be atoned, but
satisfaction must be made for the sins of every man, if the integrity
of the moral government of the world is to be preserved. Man is just
as helpless with reference to his own, individual sins, as Adam was
with reference to his sin. Man when he sins by breaking the laws of
God, sins of course against divine law; commits a crime against the
majesty of God, and thereby dishonors him. And man is just as helpless
to make adequate satisfaction to God, I repeat, as Adam was for his sin
in Eden; and is just as hopelessly in the grasp of inexorable law as
Adam and his race were after the first transgression. For individual
man from the beginning was as much in duty bound to keep the law of God
as Adam was; and if now, in the present and for the future he observes
the law of God and remains righteous, he is doing no more than he ought
to have done from the beginning; and doing his duty now and for the
future can not free him from the consequences of his past violations
of God's law. The individual man, then, is just as much in need of
a satisfaction being made to the justice of God for his individual
transgression of divine law, for his violence to the honor of God, for
his insult to the majesty of God, as was Adam for his sin.
_2. Distinction Between Adam's Sin and Individual Sin:_ The
difference between the sin of Adam and the sin of the individual man
is this: First, Adam's sin, which the scriptures call the fall, was
racial, in that it involved all the race of Adam in its consequences,
bringing upon them both a spiritual and a physical death, the nature
of which has already been explained.[A] Man's individual sin is more
limited in its consequences though for a time his personal sins may
involve the happiness of others in their consequences, yet ultimately
they will be narrowed down to personal results; affecting the actual
sinner's personal relationship to God, to righteousness, to truth, to
progress, to happiness.
[Footnote A: Lesson XV.]
Second. Adam's sin was necessary to the creation of those conditions
under which man could obtain the experiences of earth-life necessary to
the union of his spirit with earth elements; necessary to his progress
as a divine Intelligence; necessary to his knowledge of good and evil
in actual conflict; joy and sorrow; pleasure and pain; life and death;
in a word, necessary that man might become acquainted with these
opposite existences,[A] their conflicts and their values; all which
was essential to, and designed for man's progress, for his development
in virtue and power and largeness and splendor of existence. But man's
individual sins are not necessary to these general purposes of God.
That is, the fall of Adam was necessary to the accomplishment of the
general purposes of God; but it was not necessary to those purposes
that Cain should kill Abel, his brother; or "that every imagination of
the thoughts of man's heart" should be "evil continually."[B]
[Footnote A: See II Nephi, ii also "New Witness for God," Vol. III, pp.
219-227.]
[Footnote B: Gen. vi:5.]
The fall of Adam, I say, was necessary to the attainment of these
possibilities and hence the atonement made for Adam's sin is of
universal effect and application without stipulations or conditions, or
obedience or any other act as a condition precedent to participation
in the full benefits of release from the consequences of Adam's
transgression. Hence it is written: "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."[A] And again: "Therefore, as
by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation;
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men
to the justification of life."[B] Free redemption then is provided
from the consequences of Adam's transgression, because the fall was
essential to the achievement of God's purpose with reference to man.
Not so, however, with the individual man. His individual sinning is not
absolutely necessary to the achievement of God's purposes. All men may
sin; nay, all who come to years of accountability, doubtless, do sin;
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."[C] "And so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." "There is none
righteous, no not one; * * They are all gone out of the way; * * there
is none that doeth good, no, not one."[D] But while all men sin--except
those who die in infancy or early childhood--it is not necessary that
men should sin, and hence they may be held fully accountable to the
justice of God for their individual transgressions of law, and are
so held accountable. The penalty for the individual sins of men is
a second spiritual death, not a physical death, not a separation of
the spirit and the body of man after the resurrection, for what is
achieved for man's physical life by the resurrection remains.[E] But
for his own individual sins (and this constitutes the third distinction
between Adam's sin and the sins of other men) he is subject to a second
spiritual death, to banishment from the presence of God; his spiritual
union and communion with God is broken, and spiritual death ensues.
The Lord, in speaking of Adam and his first transgression, says: "I
the Lord caused that he should be cast out from the Garden of Eden,
from my presence, because of his transgression, wherein he became
spiritually dead, which is the first death, even that same death, which
is spiritual, which shall be pronounced upon the wicked when I shall
say--Depart, ye cursed."[F]
[Footnote A: I Cor. xv:21, 22.]
[Footnote B: Rom. v:18.]
[Footnote C: Rom. iii:23.]
[Footnote D: Rom. iii:10-12.]