Knowledge
I just came across another Answerbag post that I’m pretty pleased with. The question was as follows:
Mormons: This statement from Joseph Smith has always puzzled me, "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge…" (History of the Church, 5:588) What does it mean?
Here’s my response:
First of all, let’s put this in a little more context:
As far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge, and without knowledge we cannot be saved….
A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God (HC 5:588).
So let’s establish first what President Smith is not saying. I think we need to recognize that he is certainly not talking about salvation from physical death—which is a free gift to all, through resurrection—but rather from spiritual death. While Latter-day Saints do tend to use the term “salvation” to describe the former and “exaltation” to describe the latter, it is certainly not improper to describe salvation from spiritual death as “salvation.”
That having been established, what constitutes salvation from spiritual death? Obviously, complete salvation therefrom would include dwelling in God’s presence, i.e. salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God. Since no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God (see Moses 6:57), we must first be completely without sin. This entails casting one’s sins wholly and completely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, thus activating his Atonement in our lives and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. However, it also entails a cessation of sin thereafter. If we return to our sins, we’ll also have to return to our Savior—again—that His blood might atone for our new sins as well. And while the Atonement of Christ is an absolutely amazing gift that we can never afford to forget, His ultimate goal is that each of us eventually stand on his or her own two feet, so to speak. Until that time, we won’t have power over those “evil spirits [that] have more knowledge.”
Isaiah 1:16-20 comes to mind, here:
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Obviously the context of this passage is dealing with effectual idol worship, but the principles certainly apply. The central point of this passage is that Atonement, prefigured in v.18. However, in true chiastic structure, this central point follows the commandment in v.17, that we learn to do well; and is itself followed by the prophecy in v.19-20, that we must be “willing and obedient.” Christ is obviously ready, willing, and able to pay the price for any and all of our sins, but His ultimate goal is that we each get to the point where we never commit them, in the first place. As we learn to overcome each of those sins that so easily beset us (see Hebrews 12:1), those sins can be wiped out by the Atonement and replaced with that much greater measure of perfection. Ultimately, this learning to overcome sin—coupled with the Atonement of Christ—allows us to become perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect (see Matthew 5:48).
So to summarize: as we learn the laws of God, we learn what constitutes perfection, from an academic standpoint. As we obey the laws of God (which obedience is obviously predicated on learning said laws), we learn how to achieve perfection from a practical standpoint. It’s one thing to say it; it’s another to actually do it. And by actually learning to do it, we gain that knowledge and power that allow us to not “be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world.”
Now… are there also other, perhaps more mundane things that we’ll need to learn in the Eternities that lie beyond? Indubitably. However, as these things would necessarily postdate our completely overcoming sin, I don’t think them pertinent to the original statement.
So, dear readers, what do you think about this one? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
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