Are Latter-day Saints saved by Christ’s grace only “after all they can do”? Ep. 192

2 Nephi 25:23 is a verse from the Book of Mormon that is often brought up by non-members to argue that Latter-day Saints believe in a works-based salvation. But is that what this verse is really teaching? Research indicates that quite the opposite is true.

Video transcript: https://saintsunscripted.com/faith-an...

— “2 Nephi 25:23 in Literary and Rhetorical Context,” by Daniel McClellin in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: https://bit.ly/3h8aGhN
— “Despite All We Can Do with Daniel O. McClellan,” via LDS Perspectives Podcast (with transcript): https://bit.ly/3h7vx4S
— “What Can We Do? Reflections on 2 Nephi 25:23,” by Joseph Spencer (BYU Studies): https://bit.ly/3Y70YNd
— “‘After All We Can Do’ (2 ​​Nephi 25:23),” by Jared Ludlow (BYU Studies): https://bit.ly/3FfoeQl
— “His Grace is Sufficient,” by Brad Wilcox (BYU Speech): https://bit.ly/3YavNAL
— “‘Have You Been Saved By Grace?’ How Do We Respond?” by Brad Wilcox: https://bit.ly/3W3JX4A

Notes:

— For inquiring minds, the first (admittedly indirect) instance where 2 Nephi 25:23 shows up in print outside of the Book of Mormon is this quote from Brigham Young in 1867:

“It requires all the atonement of Christ, the mercy of the Father, the pity of angels and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with us always, and then to do the very best we possibly can, to get rid of this sin within us, so that we may escape from this world into the celestial kingdom. This is just as much as we can do, and there is no room for that carelessness manifested by too many among us.” Source: Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (London: LDS Booksellers Depot, 1854–1886), 11: 301.

McClellin discusses this quote a bit more in his article (linked above).

— In the video, I said, “I have not found a single instance of this phraseology from that era that did not seem to mean or have to mean, ‘despite all we can do.’” What do I mean by, “era”? To be more specific, I searched through literary works between about 1750 up through about 1863.

— If you want to sift through 18th or 19th century works to see how they are employing the phrase, “after all we can do” (or similar phraseology), the “Google Books” search tool will be helpful to you. There, you can filter results by century.

— Here’s one example of this phraseology from our very own History of the Church: “...he was forced to sneak off without his prey, after all his labor and ingenuity.” Source: https://bit.ly/3FkGND4

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