Grace Versus Faith and Works

I distinctly remember that when I was young, gospel discussions about grace versus faith and works, with grace always losing in the discussion. The premise was that we are saved by faith and works, not by the grace of God. Instructors were pretty emphatic about it sometimes, but not always. I don’t remember a combination of the three being discussed. I am sure that it was I who misunderstood, and because of that misunderstanding I believed for years that faith and works alone would get me accepted into the Lord’s presence. I believed that I would be judged based on my faith and works here in mortality.

While it is certainly true that the judgment will evaluate our faith and works in mortality, there is a third component that is overridingly important to our salvation and exaltation. Grace is not the enemy of works, but is the third element of the salvation and exaltation process. Joseph Smith retranslated Romans 4, adding some plain and precious truth (JST Romans 4:16):

Therefore ye are justified of faith and works, through grace…

Salvation is what much of the world believes is the ultimate achievement of our life here on earth. Stephen E. Robinson, in his book, Following Christ: The Parable of the Divers and More Good News, p 79, makes a very interesting statement:

Some Christians (but not as many as you might think) argue that God requires nothing of us after our conversion. On the other hand, for many years "popular" Mormonism … has wrongly promoted the other side of the false dilemma of grace versus works. Because [others] dismiss the need for works and exalt grace alone, it has been felt for some inexplicable reason that we must take the opposite position, dismissing grace and exalting works alone.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie has taught us in Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed., pp. 475-83:

Does salvation come by grace, by grace alone, by grace without works? It surely does, without any question, in all its parts, types, kinds, and degrees.
We are saved by grace, without works; it is a gift of God. How else could it come?In his goodness and grace the great God ordained and established the plan of salvation. No works on our part were required. . . .In his goodness and grace—and this above all—he gave his Only Begotten Son to ransom man and all life from the temporal and spiritual death brought into the world by the Fall of Adam.He sent his Son to redeem mankind, to atone for the sins of the world, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). And again all this comes to us as a free gift and without works. . . .
There neither has been, nor is, nor ever can be any way nor means by which man alone can, by any power he possesses, redeem himself. . . .All these things are ordained and established by that God who is the Father of us all. And they all came into being and are made available to us, as free gifts, without works, because of the infinite goodness and grace of Him whose children we are.

I did struggle to understand what people taught about the conflict between grace and faith and works. Perhaps there are still those in the Church that struggle with these concepts – as sometimes I have done.

I have come to the conclusion that there is really no conflict between grace and faith and works. They are elements of the Great Plan of the Eternal God (Alma 34:9) that combine in a miraculous way to assure not only salvation, but exaltation.

Part of the problem is that most of the world does not understand the difference between salvation and exaltation. Salvation (that is, resurrection and eternal life) comes (as Elder McConkie said) as a free gift of grace through the Savior’s atonement. Robert J. Matthews, in his book, A Bible! A Bible! p 285, said the following:

Paul preached salvation by grace because he learned that Jesus, out of his infinite love for the entire human family, had made it possible for man to conquer the forces that would bring upon him death and unhappiness. In the scriptural sense, what man does is called "works," and what Jesus does for us is called "grace." Thus, Jesus does for us what we could not do for ourselves, and we are able to obtain salvation because of his grace.

But the grace of God does not just ensure our resurrection and eternal life. Robert L. Millet in his book, Selected Writings of Robert L. Millet: Gospel Scholars Series, p 499, says that grace is with us every day:

Too often we are prone to view grace as that increment of goodness, that final gift of God that will make up the difference and thereby boost us into the celestial kingdom, "after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23). To be sure, we will need a full measure of divine assistance to become celestial material. But the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, is available to us every hour of every day of our lives …The grace of God is a precious gift, an enabling power to face life with quiet courage, to do things we could never do on our own.

I now understand (at least in a rudimentary way) the dependency that we all have on the infinite grace of God and His Son. It is by grace that we are saved, and by grace we are exalted, as Nephi told us in 2 Nephi 25:23:

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

Exaltation comes through the grace of God, “after all we can do.” Elder Eldred G. Smith defined exaltation as follows in his, March 10, 1964 BYU devotion al speech, as recorded in BYU Speeches of the Year, p 5:

To be exalted means to be raised above perfection of mortality-in other words, to be raised above everything, so that there cannot be anything higher than that of exaltation in the celestial kingdom.In other words, exaltation is to be raised above to the point of perfection.

A definition of grace can be found in this quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell, in his book, A Wonderful Flood of Light, p 36:

Being the literal, premortal spirit children of the Father, each of us can, by going from grace to grace, eventually receive of the fulness of the Father, as did Jesus

Why is grace necessary to our salvation and exaltation? In Paul’s epistle to the Romans (Romans 3:23-24) we read:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

So the grace of God repairs our shortcomings and sins (through the atonement and repentance) and lifts us when we fall short of the perfection all of us are seeking. But it also helps us grow in knowledge and understanding, preparing us for further light and knowledge and teaching us the things of the kingdom. This is how the Savior himself gained in knowledge and understanding – he “grew from grace to grace.”

None of us is yet perfect, but sincere desire to live the gospel is the requirement needed to be blessed with the grace we need. Elder Neal A. Maxwell in his book, If Thou Endure It Well, p 49, said:

It is consoling that God's grace flows not only to those "who love [Him] and keep all [His] commandments," but likewise to those "that [seek] so to do" (see D&C 46:9).

I am one of those that love Him and I do “seek to do.” I often fail, and I am grateful for the atonement that helps me overcome my shortcomings.

The grace/works debate will continue. However, for me, the relationship between grace and faith and works is less confusing. They, together and inseparable, are part and parcel of our earthly progress and the key to our eventual return to our Father-in-Heaven. Let us “seek so to do,” and after “all we can do,” there is grace.