The scriptures teach that men, and women alike, are to be perfect. To his disciples and the multitude gathered, Jesus said: "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect" (see 3 Nephi 12:48; compare Matthew 5:48). This imperative is a tall order, in deed, for those who don't seek to water it down. And so, there are some who give up even before the race begins because trying is only certain to bring failure, pain, and feelings of inadequacy. So it is with me, "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). But these feelings of hopelessness needn't remain.
The greatest misunderstanding concerning the directive that Christ gave in 3 Nephi 12:48 is the word "therefore" that introduces the verse. This adverb is called a conjunction, meaning it conjoins two thoughts so as to coordinate their separate meanings. Failure to acknowledge this conjunction causes one to overlook the modus operandi of the Lord's charge to be perfect. Hence, one must look to the previous verses for wisdom and understanding:
Therefore those things which were of old time, which were under the law, in me are all fulfilled.
Old things are done away, and all things have become new" (3 Nephi 12:46-47).
No one needs be so shortsighted as to think that perfection will be the result of his or her efforts; it will not! All things are fulfilled in Christ, old things are done away, and in him all things become new. My perfection will be the product of my faith, rather than the result of my works. Concerning those Jews whose detailed performances of the law were accounted by them as righteousness, the apostle Paul wrote:
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth (Romans 10:2-4).
In this respect, my Christian friend has it right, that "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:9-10). Where my friend goes wrong is with his definition of what it means to "believe in thine heart unto righteousness."
Belief is too often made too easy. Confession with my lips is but a token gesture. It is well to be reminded from the Lord's own lips that "not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). For "every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it" (Matthew 7:26-27). If my deeds do not match my vows, and if my covenants drip with guile, then am I a hypocrite, on whom the greatest of all cursings shall come (see D&C 41:1-2).
Josiah, an Old Testament figure and type of a latter-day prophet, became king of Judah at the tender age of eight. He reigned till martyred some thirty years later in the throes of a battle between Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and Pharoah Necho, king of Egypt. The record notes that "like unto him [Josiah] was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him" (2 Kings 23:25). If any, by taking thought, could add a cubit to his stature (see Matthew 6:27), surely Josiah could. Notwithstanding Josiah's greatness, Israel and Judah did not follow suit, but were steeped in revelry.
Prior to his death, Josiah instigated the greatest Passover known to Israel and Judah since the days of the judges. It is written that "surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah" (2 Kings 23:22, compare the Passover detailed in D&C 110). Much of that celebration was spent "brak[ing] in pieces the images, and cut[ing] down the groves, and fill[ing] their places with the bones of men" (2 Kings 23:14). The courage and fortitude of Josiah to restore the offspring of Judah to their former glory is unmatched: "And he slew all the priests of the high places" (2 Kings 23:20) who "came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but . . . did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren" (2 Kings 23:9).
The characterization of those priests whom Josiah slew is but a shadow of the "professors of religion" in Joseph Smith's day, who took "delight in approaching to God" with their lips, but distanced their hearts far from Him (JS History 1:19, compare Isaiah 58:2). A good man is known by his fruits; it shouldn't be necessary for the Lord to "taste of the fruit, every sort according to its number" before coming to the conclusion that "there is none of it which is good" (Jacob 5:32). Good books should be judged by their cover.
Although true righteousness comes of faith, righteousness is not an easy out. God can, of himself, save no one. Exaltation is a cooperative endeavor. Describing what it takes to "learn by faith", President Harold B. Lee said:
Let no one think that “learning by faith” contemplates an easy or lazy way to gain knowledge and ripen it into wisdom.. . . learning by faith requires the bending of the whole soul through worthy living to become attuned to the Holy Spirit of the Lord, the calling up from the depths of one’s own mental searching, and the linking of our own efforts to receive the true witness of the Spirit (Harold B. Lee, The Iron Rod, Ensign, June 1971, p. 5)
Just as "learning by faith" is not a lazy man's game, the righteousness that comes of faith will be the fruit of hard work, patient enduring, covenant-making and covenant-keeping, denying oneself of all ungodliness, loving God with might, mind and strength, and personal accountability. But even though I know that these things cannot be left undone (see Joshua 11:15), the weightier matters continually draw my thoughts to the righteousness that comes of faith, for after all I can do . . . and despite all that I do . . . it is by HIS GRACE that I will be perfected.
Expressing this idea in a most beautiful manner, Moroni declared that "if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ." Yet, even while making this declaration, Moroni knew how improbable it really was that, without divine assistance, any individual would accomplish this task. Therefore, after painting the dream, Moroni provided the hope and promise that the dream will one day become reality. "And now," he asked, "how is it possible that ye can lay hold upon every good thing?" In response to his own question, Moroni wittily replied (I can hear his sigh of relief even now): "And now I come to that faith, of which I said I would speak; and I will tell you the way whereby ye may lay hold on every good thing" (Moroni 7:20-21).
Expressing this idea in a most beautiful manner, Moroni declared that "if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ." Yet, even while making this declaration, Moroni knew how improbable it really was that, without divine assistance, any individual would accomplish this task. Therefore, after painting the dream, Moroni provided the hope and promise that the dream will one day become reality. "And now," he asked, "how is it possible that ye can lay hold upon every good thing?" In response to his own question, Moroni wittily replied (I can hear his sigh of relief even now): "And now I come to that faith, of which I said I would speak; and I will tell you the way whereby ye may lay hold on every good thing" (Moroni 7:20-21).
It was only by their faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, that my fathers "did lay hold upon every good thing" (Moroni 7:25). And I am likewise reclaimed because of my faith in Him . . . and because of my faith in Him, I will cleave unto every good thing (see Moroni 7:28). This faith is not only knowing that God can reclaim me, it is knowing that He will!
What is justification? It is righteousness. How is it obtained? By faith in Jesus Christ, "the Righteous" (see Moses 7:45, 47)! Therefore, "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God" (Moroni 10:32).
