JESUS CHRIST

Matthew records Jesus’ now famous phrase, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28). Contrasting Jewish teachers at the time, Jesus invites people to come unto him, not the Law. No teacher before or any after ever invited Israel to come unto them; instead they invited people to the Law itself or the wisdom teachings that included the Law. This startling invitation proved once again that Jesus stood apart and above all teachers of the Law—and that he stood above the Law and all wisdom. (more…)

Paul taught that to come unto Christ is to enter a new realm of existence, a spiritual realm. It is to forsake death and come unto life, to put away evil and darkness and learn to walk in righteousness and light. “Know ye not,” Paul asked the Romans, “that so many of  us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:3-6). (more…)

The Fall of Adam brought into the world both physical death, which is the separation of the spirit from the body (James 2:26), and spiritual death, separation from God or alienation from the things of God (Alma 12:32). The Atonement of Christ redeems, or ransoms, us from the effects of the Fall. “Redemption,” Bruce R. McConkie taught, is of two kinds: conditional and unconditional” (Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed., Bookcraft, 1966, 623.)

Unconditional redemption provides two free gifts to mankind. The first unconditional gift is that all who ever have or ever will live in mortality will be redeemed from physical death through the Resurrection, because Jesus “taste[d] death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). John recorded the Savior’s own testimony that all “shall come forth; they who have done good, in the resurrection of the just; and they who have done evil, in the resurrection of the unjust (Inspired Version, John 5:29). (more…)

The New Testament portrays Joseph and Mary, the mother of Jesus, as observant Jews (Luke 2:22-24). Luke reveals that Jesus was raised according to the customs of the people (Luke 2:41-42). We assume, therefore, that Jesus observed the Law of Moses as an obedient and faithful son of the Law.

During his mortal ministry, Jesus often quoted from the Jewish scriptures—from the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms ( Luke 4:4, 8, 12). During his famous Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught, “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18). (more…)

Jesus Christ is the author of peace, the Prince of Peace. In this learning laboratory of mortality, we find that peace comes as we put Him first in our lives. We come to know that He lives, that He truly paid the price of our sins, our poor vision, our weaknesses, by suffering personally for each one of them, and that He has become our Advocate with the Father through His atoning sacrifice, to enable us, lift us, save us, and redeem us. He alone can bring peace to us through the gift of His Spirit.

The Savior’s words are literal and are for you and I: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14: 27). (more…)

Let not ignorance and thoughtlessness lead us into the error of assuming that the Father’s foreknowledge as to what would be, under given conditions, determined that such must be. It was not His design that the souls of mankind be lost; on the contrary it was and is His work and glory, “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). Nevertheless He saw the evil into which His children would assuredly fall; and with infinite love and mercy did He ordain means of averting the dire effect, provided the transgressor would elect to avail himself thereof. The offer of the firstborn Son to establish through His own ministry among men the gospel of salvation, and to sacrifice Himself, through labor, humiliation and suffering even unto death, was accepted and made the foreordained plan of man’s redemption from death, of his eventual salvation from the effects of sin, and of his possible exaltation through righteous achievement. (more…)

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ most famous discourse. Many Christians and non-Christians have been deeply impressed and motivated by its teachings. Some people refer to it as the revelation of the higher law at a time when God’s people were still under the obligation of the lower one. On a superficial level, the Sermon on the Mount and its counterpart in Luke-the Sermon on the Plain-are a commentary on the ethics of the Law of Moses. Some elements they retain-as evidenced through silence on many important subjects-while other elements they specifically reform or transform.

Three main points of the Sermon on the Mount stand out as representative of the meaning and focus of the sermon as a whole: the Beatitudes, the six antitheses of Matthew 5, and the directions given to the disciples about how they should care for the flock. The Beatitudes, a later term that comes from the Latin “Blessed,” although simple in language and straightforward in presentation, offer one of the sermon’s most profound teachings. The Beatitudes form a cohesive unit, and when read as a sequence, they detail the process from conversion to salvation. The first beatitude promises the poor a place in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:2), a process that fits well with those who hear the gospel and prepare themselves for baptism. The second beatitude promises those who “mourn” that they “shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:3), a sentiment that describes all those who are entering the kingdom and undergoing the often-painful process of repentance.

Each of the Beatitudes builds upon this foundation in sequential order. However, the eighth beatitude follows all those who live a Christlike life, reminding us that the devil will not permit us to progress to salvation without opposition (”Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake”). The sequential order of the Beatitudes also seems to have a direct correspondence to the ordinances of the gospel in order. The Beatitudes represent the essence of what is required of those who wish to enter the kingdom of heaven.

A second main focal point is the five laws that are transformed in Matthew 5. In order, they are “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou salt not commit adultery,” “Thou shalt not forswear thyself,” “An eye for an eye,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy” (Matthew 5:21, 27, 33, 38, 43). Surprisingly, not all of these passages are direct quotations from the Old Testament; some, for example, refer specifically to a scripture (Exodus 20), and some appear to summarize an interpretation of the law: “thou shalt not forswear thyself.” Of these five important laws or concepts that were changed, several glaring gaps are noticeable. For example, the law of sacrifice and the law of tithes and offerings are nowhere altered.

The five laws of Matthew 5 are not comprehensive in content but instead consistently teach a method-the method of internalizing an external commandment. In essence, the issue is whether an external commandment or an internal principle is greater. If we obey the external commandment, will we always be obedient to the principle? Or if we obey the principle, will we always be obedient to the commandment? One of the core features of the Sermon on the Mount is its teachings on how to internalize an external commandment and therefore achieve a greater level of obedience.

The final chapter of the Sermon on the Mount does not teach the disciples new doctrine but instead trains them in the future affairs and government of the church. For example, it teaches how to differentiate between those who look like sheep but are not and to distinguish between those who call on the Lord in righteousness and those who know his name and pretend to do his works but inside are full of iniquity. The issue is not encroachment from the outside but corruption from the center. The purity of the kingdom is of first concern, and the disciples of the Lord were taught how to maintain that purity. In almost all aspects, the Sermon on the Mount teaches how to be Christian from the inside working out, a transformation that will later shape environment. Changes in behavior have a greater influence on environment than changes to environment have on behavior.