The greatest threat to Paul’s Gentile converts who
started to embrace false teachings came not from outsiders but from a group of
Jewish Christians called Judaizers. These Jewish Christians made it their
mission to travel to places Paul had success in establishing the Church, to
oppose his teachings and to convince the Gentile converts that they still
needed to adhere to the law of Moses as well, most especially circumcision.
Paul spoke a lot about ‘the law’ vs the gospel. He
claimed that by the law of Moses no man can be ‘justified’, that
‘justification’, or being brought back into alignment with God, can only come
through grace for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ died in vain (Galatians
2:16-21). Very often, we as latter-day saints are focused on obedience more
than on the enabling grace of Christ whom we follow. You might say, that we,
like the early Jewish Christians, have more faith in the law of the gospel and
our obedience than in the author of our salvation.
Because we presently live in the condition of
weakness, meaning mortality, perfect obedience to the laws we live under is an
impossibility. The whole purpose of this weakened condition of mortality is to
bring us to Christ and His grace by which salvation comes (Ether 12:27). If we
were capable of perfect obedience, there would have been no necessity for a
saviour. Lest we think that we are good enough as we are (the narrative the
world teaches) and need no improvement, it is imperative that we understand
that grace is an enabling power of Christ which enables us to continue to
repent and improve and which saves us after all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23;
Moroni 10:32,33).
General Conference is upon us. There is only one
reason why we should flock to hear the leaders of the Church and that is to be
edified through the teachings of the Saviour of the world and to be brought to
the foot of His throne. Salvation does not come by President Nelson or anyone
else we listen to, it comes by the way they bring us to Christ. When we come to
Christ, obedience springs from motivation which comes by the Holy Ghost and the
love of Him who has suffered that we might be saved, now and forever, in the
Kingdom of our God.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: I Came to Call the Sinners to Repentance by Greg Collins)
