Ponder the Path of Sanctification Mormons Born Again

"Chapter 18: Spiritual Rebirth: True Conversion," Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual (2000), 49–50

Introduction

Sometimes we larn all-time by seeing the contrast between white and black, good and evil, sour and sugariness. Alma the Younger appeared first in the Book of Mormon as a wicked and an idolatrous man going among the Church members attempting to destroy the work of his father. During Alma's rebellion, an angel appeared to him and chastised him, bearing witness of God'south purposes. Alma was so impressed by the visitation that for a fourth dimension he was unable to movement or speak. Finally, he stood upon his anxiety and declared, "I have … been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit" (Mosiah 27:24).

An experience such equally the ane that and then transformed the life of Alma is essential to our own development within the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our feel may not, and probably will not, take the same form every bit Alma's, but its results tin can be the same. We will be able to declare with Alma that nosotros are "redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity" and that our "soul is pained no more than" (Mosiah 27:29).

Doctrinal Outline

1. All accountable persons must be born again of h2o and of the Spirit.

   1. To receive salvation in the celestial kingdom, all members of the Church must exist built-in over again and receive the baptism of burn down (see Mosiah 27:24–29; John three:3–8; Alma vii:14).

   2. To exist born once again is to be quickened by the Spirit and receive a change of heart (encounter Moses 6:65–66; Mosiah 5:two, 5–7).

   3. Our rebirth begins at baptism and is completed when we receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost and are apple-pie from sin (meet 3 Nephi 12:one–2; Alma 36:24; Mormon 7:x).

   4. Being born again is a continual process (see Alma 5:14–31; 1 Peter two:2).

2. Justification is being forgiven by the Lord and set upon the path of righteousness.

   1. Being born again justifies us earlier the Lord and puts us on the road to sanctification (see D&C 20:29–31; Moses six:60; 1 Corinthians 6:11).

   2. Justification comes through faith in Jesus Christ and through private righteousness (come across JST, Romans four:16; Romans 5:i, nine; Isaiah 53:11).

   3. All covenants pertaining to our exaltation must be entered into in righteousness and be justified and sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (see D&C 132:seven; 76:53).

3. Sanctification is a state of saintliness and purity.

   1. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ are allowable to get sanctified (see D&C 43:nine, 11, 16; 88:68; 133:4; 39:xviii).

   2. To be sanctified is to become holy and without sin (see Moroni 10:32–33).

   3. Those who obtain eternal life in the presence of God must be sanctified (see iii Nephi 27:xix–20; D&C 76:20–21; 88:2, 116).

   4. Sanctification is accessible considering of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but only if nosotros obey His commandments (see D&C 76:40–42; 43:9; 88:21; 133:62).

   5. Sanctification comes by the power of the Holy Ghost (see Alma xiii:12; 3 Nephi 27:20; 1 Peter i:2).

   6. Those who are sanctified tin can fall (encounter D&C 20:34).

Supporting Statements

1. All answerable persons must be born again of water and of the Spirit.

   • "The Son of God came into the world to redeem information technology from the fall. But except a human being be born again, he cannot run across the kingdom of God. This eternal truth settles the question of all men'due south faith. A man may be saved, later the judgment, in the terrestrial kingdom, or in the telestial kingdom, but he tin can never encounter the celestial kingdom of God, without being born of water and the Spirit" (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 12).

   • "Alma was trying to arouse his hearers at Zarahemla to a realization that their being able to await up 'to God at that day with a pure heart and clean easily' would depend upon their experiencing the mighty change wrought in men's hearts by the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost.

     "Reminding them that his male parent had accepted the words of Abinadi and that 'according to his religion there was a mighty alter wrought in his heart. …

     "'And [that he had] preached the discussion unto [their] fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts,' he continued,

     "'And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, accept ye spiritually been born of God? …

     "'Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?' (Alma v:12–xiv).

     "Information technology was against this background that he put the question: 'Can ye await upwards to God at that day with a pure centre and clean easily?' (Alma 5:19).

     "This 'mighty change' wrought by the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost should and does, if the proselyte is prepared to receive it, occur when he is baptized by immersion for the remission of sins and receives the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost—the two required ordinances for existence 'born of h2o and of the spirit.'" (Marion G. Romney, Wait to God and Live, 269–seventy).

   • "The start nascency takes identify when spirits laissez passer from their pre-existent beginning estate into bloodshed; the second nascence or birth 'into the kingdom of heaven' takes place when mortal men are born again and become alive to the things of the Spirit and of righteousness. The elements of water, blood, and Spirit are nowadays in both births. (Moses six:59–60.) The second nascence begins when men are baptized in water past a legal administrator; it is completed when they actually receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost, becoming new creatures by the cleansing power of that fellow member of the Godhead" (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 101).

   

2. Justification is being forgiven by the Lord and set upon the path of righteousness.

   • "What then is the law of justification? It is simply this: 'All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations' (D. & C. 132:vii), in which men must abide to be saved and exalted, must be entered into and performed in righteousness so that the Holy Spirit can justify the candidate for salvation in what has been done. (1 Ne. 16:ii; Jac. two:thirteen–xiv; Alma 41:15; D. & C. 98; 132:1, 62.) An act that is justified past the Spirit is ane that is sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, or in other words, ratified and approved by the Holy Ghost" (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 408).

   • "Justification is a judicial act, whereby God declares that the sinner who repents and by faith accepts the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and who is baptized according to the Word of God, is acquitted and received into His Kingdom" (Hyrum Thou. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, The Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, 104).

   • "To be justified earlier God we must love one some other: we must overcome evil; nosotros must visit the fatherless and the widow in their disease, and nosotros must keep ourselves unspotted from the globe: for such virtues flow from the great fountain of pure religion, strengthening our faith by adding every good quality that adorns the children of the blessed Jesus, we can pray in the season of prayer; we can beloved our neighbour equally ourselves, and exist faithful in tribulation, knowing that the advantage of such is greater in the kingdom of heaven. What a alleviation! What a joy! Permit me alive the life of the righteous, and let my reward exist like his!" (Smith, Teachings, 76).

3. Sanctification is a state of saintliness and purity.

   • "To be sanctified is to become clean, pure, and spotless; to be free from the claret and sins of the world; to get a new creature of the Holy Ghost, one whose torso has been renewed by the rebirth of the Spirit. Sanctification is a state of saintliness, a state attained but past conformity to the laws and ordinances of the gospel" (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 675).

   • "When the volition, passions, and feelings of a person are perfectly submissive to God and His requirements, that person is sanctified. It is for my will to be swallowed upwardly in the will of God, that will pb me into all expert, and crown me ultimately with immortality and eternal lives" (Brigham Immature, in Journal of Discourses, 2:123).

   • "I volition put my own definition to the term sanctification, and say it consists in overcoming every sin and bringing all into subjection to the police force of Christ. God has placed in us a pure spirit; when this reigns predominant, without permit or hindrance, and triumphs over the flesh and rules and governs and controls as the Lord controls the heavens and the earth, this I call the approval of sanctification" (Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 10:173).

turnergibecompas.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/doctrines-of-the-gospel-student-manual/18-conversion?lang=eng

Share this post