The Book of Mormon repeatedly warns against rejecting a simple path to salvation. Nephi taught his brothers about the bronze serpent lifted up by Moses, saying that "after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished" (1 Nephi 17:41). We see here that being healed by looking can be simply too easy to believe.
In the book of Helaman, Nephi explained that the image of the bronze serpent is a parallel to Christ's Atonement. Nephi teaches that it is in looking to Christ that we will live. "And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal" (Helaman 8:15).
In our own days we have also received warnings against relying on our abilities rather than looking to Christ. In 1988, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve warned of one trend in contemporary Christian thought that emphasizes being "reconciled to God entirely through (one's) own righteousness." He then asked, "Are Latter-day Saints susceptible to such heresies?
"The Apostle Paul wrote that we should 'work out (our) own salvation with fear and trembling' (Philippians 2:12). Could that familiar expression mean that the sum total of our own righteousness will win us salvation and exaltation? Could some of us believe that our heavenly parentage and our divine destiny allow us to pass through mortality and attain eternal life solely on our own merits? On the basis of what I have heard, I believe that some of us, some of the time, say things that can create that impression. We can forget that keeping the commandments, which is necessary, is not sufficient." (Dallin H. Oaks, "What Think Ye of Christ?" Ensign, November 1988, pp. 66-67.)
The Book of Mormon testifies of the good news that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, but it also clarifies this central principle of the gospel by teaching that "if (we) believe on his name (we) will repent of all (our) sins" (Helaman 14:13). The Book of Mormon dissolves the false dichotomy between faith and works. Its doctrine of faith unto repentance shows us how we can and must focus on faith in Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon teaches the doctrine of faith unto repentance by both precept and example, showing that the "fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ" is truly the simple way (Doctrine and Covenants 20:9).
The Book of Mormon further testifies of the simple way by teaching that we can be saved only through Christ. By emphasizing our fallen state, the Book of Mormon teaches that our faith cannot be in our ability to obey the law by ourselves but in Christ and His Atonement.
Faith unto Repentance: A Book of Mormon Doctrine
In the Book of Mormon the fulness of the doctrine of faith is clearly and simply expressed. The most basic expression of what faith produces is found in the teaching of Samuel the Lamanite. From his place on the city wall he taught the hardened Nephites that "if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins" (Helaman 14:13). Samuel explains that if we have faith then we will repent—the two are inseparable. This "if-then" relationship also makes clear that if we do not repent it is because we do not have faith in Christ, we do not "believe on his name." Our choice to believe on the Atonement of Christ gives us the desire to change "that thereby ye may have a remission of them (your sins) through his merits" (Helaman 14:13). Faith in Christ produces repentance.
The Book of Mormon gives repeated examples of what faith produces as people call upon Christ's name for mercy.
In Hebrew the verb translated "repent" means to turn, and in Greek the term describes a change of mind and heart. The Book of Mormon illustrates how repentance can be seen as both turning to God in calling upon the name of Christ and producing a change of heart by faith unto repentance.
One of the classic experiences of faith unto repentance is Alma the younger's conversion. In the Book of Mormon we have three different accounts of his choice to "call upon (Christ's) holy name" (Alma 34:17). In Mosiah chapter 27, Alma's first words after he awakens are: "I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord" (Mosiah 27:24). The process of faith unto repentance is more fully described in the retrospective account in Alma 36. In this chapter we see that Alma's faith unto repentance produces both a freedom from guilt and a change of heart. This distinction of the freedom from guilt and the change of heart can be seen as justification, the immediate result of being forgiven, and sanctification, the long-term process of being made holy and having a change of nature.
To his son Helaman, Alma describes how he exercised faith by calling on the name of Christ for mercy: "I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me" (Alma 36:18). He then describes the forgiveness aspect of repentance, saying that "when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more" (Alma 36:19). Alma's faith also produced a change in his heart so that "from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance" (Alma 36:24). Alma's repentance is shown here to be both a freedom from guilt and a change of nature resulting from his choice to exercise faith in the Atonement of Christ.
The same long-term exercise of faith unto repentance is illustrated by some of the Nephites at a time of great division among the people. Many members of the Church were prideful and persecuted their brethren (see Helaman 3:33-24). Those who remained humble did so through their choice to exercise their faith unto repentance. We see that "they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God" (Helaman 3:35).
Their continued dependence on Christ produced in them a change of heart. Their prideful brethren may have at one time exercised faith unto repentance, but, as Alma asks, "If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26). It is easy to feel as though our spiritual progress is a result of our own strength and wisdom, that it has been achieved through our willpower rather than our faith unto repentance.
Through these and many other examples, the Book of Mormon illustrates the simple way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It teaches the fulness of the gospel by clarifying the connection between real faith in Christ and repentance. Faith is not merely a mental or verbal acknowledgment of Christ. True faith will lead us to call upon the name of Christ for mercy. This is not a call to be saved in our sins, but from our sins (see Helaman 5:10). As we exercise our faith in Christ, we experience repentance, which includes both forgiveness and a change of heart. The Book of Mormon also makes clear that repentance is inseparably connected to baptism, obedience, and sanctification (see Moroni 8:25-26). When we have faith, we will repent; and when we repent, we will obey and follow Christ.
The key doctrines of the Fall and the Atonement are taught more clearly in the Book of Mormon than in any other book of scripture. I believe that one of these plain and simple doctrines taught in the Book of Mormon is the fulness of what it means to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ. With the Book of Mormon's clarification of the doctrine of faith unto repentance, we can wholeheartedly embrace being saved by faith, confident that our focus on developing faith in Christ will produce repentance and bring forth the fruit of eternal life.
This article was excerpted from Jennifer C. Lane's address given at the 2003 Sidney B. Sperry Symposium at BYU. Sister Lane is an adjunct assistant professor at Brigham Young University-Hawaii.