Simmons 1

Romans 1-6
Made Right with God by Trusting Him
Dr. David Simmons
(August 5-11, 2019)

Introduction
 The Book of Romans is one of the great treasures of the New Testament. It is,
“arguably Paul’s greatest theological treatise” (Ogden/Skinner, Verse by Verse: Acts
through Revelation, 169).
 Romans contains truths that a few modern members of the Church shy away from,
and then misunderstand. Sadly, these are some of the most vital, important truths in
the Gospel, concerning the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Today let’s open our spiritual
ears to see if Paul can teach us anything that we haven’t understood already. I think
you will be amazed at what you will learn from him.
 During the first century A.D., Rome was the center of the Western World, with
anywhere from one to four million inhabitants (Ogden/Skinner, 169).
 Paul was writing to the saints in Rome from Corinth, probably about A.D. 57-58,
during his third missionary journey (Ogden/Skinner, 169).
 Romans is a mature work. It’s Paul’s most theologically rich and developed letter
(WT 263).
 It may be the last letter we have from by Paul (assuming that Philippians was
written earlier and the Pastorals are pseudonymous) (HCSB 1910).
 As we’ve seen in this class, Paul’s epistles were not placed in the New Testament in
chronological order according to when they were written, but, for the most part, by
length. Romans is the longest of Paul’s epistles and was therefore placed first in the
Pauline canon (Holzapfel/Wayment, Making Sense of the New Testament, 319).
 Unlike Paul’s other epistles, this one was written to a branch of the Church that Paul
had neither founded nor previously visited. However, he has tried to visit several
times in the “many years” it’s been in existence (Romans 1:13; 15:23).
 It’s possible that some of the Romans who were in Jerusalem for the endowment
experience on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10) brought the gospel back home. Paul
certainly talks about temple things with them in this letter (especially Romans 8).
 Rome will also be the location, c. A.D. 64-67, where Paul will be beheaded during the
reign of Emperor Nero (Schaelling, “Paul,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1069).
 In chapters 1-7, Paul lays out how to go through the spiritual rebirth process and
become a son of Jesus Christ. In chapters 8-14, Paul will teach us how to receive the
higher knowledge of the temple and become a son or daughter, an heir, of our
Father in Heaven.
 All of this requires grace. By the end of today, I hope that you and I both will join
Paul in being “defenders of the grace.”

Romans 1:1-17 The One Who Is Righteous Will Live by Faith

 1:1 “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle [Greek: apostelo, “one who
is sent”], set apart for the gospel of God,”
 1:2 “Which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,”
 1:3 “The gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to
the flesh,”
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 1:4 “And was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of
holiness by resurrection from the dead,”
 1:5 “Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the
obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name,”
 1:6 “Including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,”
 1:7 “To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints [Greek: hagiois, “holy
ones”]: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” In
the New Testament “saints” includes all the followers of Christ, not just the
outstanding ones (HCSB 1911).
 Whew! If you ever have problems with run-on sentences, look to Paul. The first
seven verses are all one sentence in the Greek.
 Paul expands his usual salutation (writer, reader, greeting) with a summary of the
gospel (HCSB 1911).
 1:8 “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is
proclaimed throughout the world.” This time Paul is writing to a branch of the
church that is strong. In fact, their faith is known in all the other branches of the
church. Paul will share with them a message that is similar to Galatians, but whereas
he was chastising the members in Galatia, here he is able to share more doctrine and
do it with a more loving tone (B.Y.U. Religion Faculty Podcast, “Only By His Grace”).
 1:9 “For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is
my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers.”
 1:10 “Asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you.”
 1:11 “For I am longing to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gift [Greek:
charisma pneumatikon, “spiritual gift”] to strengthen you.”
 1:12 “Or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both
yours and mine.” Paul is humble here, not thinking that he is the only one who
imparts new spiritual truths. There is a mutual learning between visiting leader and
visited congregants.
 1:13 “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to
you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest
among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles.”
 1:14 “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the
foolish.” Paul is saying that he has learned truths from both insiders and outsiders.
In other words, the gospel is for everyone. Everyone is welcome and needed.
Everyone has new spiritual truths to teach us.
 1:15 “Hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
 1:17 “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith.” “Through
faith” means “through God’s faithfulness.” “For faith” refers to human response to it
(HCSB 1911).
 “As it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith [Greek: pisteos, “trust”].’”
This is the main theme of Romans (HCSB 1911).
 Paul paraphrases Habakkuk 2:4 to set up his thesis. What is it?
 Righteousness doesn’t come from obedience (doing). It comes from trusting
Jesus (being). Ponder that line for just a moment.
 Romans 1:17 was the verse that changed Martin Luther when he read it in 1515.
Before this time, he had given himself zealously to following the rules of his religious
system. He recalls: “I kept the rule so strictly that I may say that if ever a monk got to
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heaven by his sheer monkery, it was I. If I had kept on any longer, I should have
killed myself with vigils, prayers, reading and other work” (qtd. in Shelley, Church
History in Plain Language, 238).
 But then he reads Romans 1:17 and explains: “I felt as if I had been born again.
Immediately the whole of scripture took on a new meaning for me” (qtd. in Fiero,
The Humanistic Tradition, 4th ed. 2:476 and Simmons, Timeline of the Apostasy).
 Martin Luther realized he had been outwardly doing lots of things. But none of them
had changed him. What did change his nature was to trust Jesus and his Atonement.
 It can change our nature too. We may want to ask ourselves:
 Am I an “obedience” member? Or am I a “filled with love” member?
 Pondering that question has the potential to change everything we know about the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
 Do we go to church to sit through two hours of meetings as a way to show our
obedience? Or do we go because we are filled with the love of the Savior and want to
share that love with others?
 Do we share the gospel with others because it’s our duty? Or do we share it because
we have been changed inside, and have a nature that is so filled with love that can’t
wait to help others find this same change?
 Do we give a talk in sacrament meeting because Bro. So-and-So asked us and we
couldn’t find an excuse to get out of it? Or do we give a talk because we are so filled
with the Spirit of love, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that we long to
share more about his Atonement with as many people as we can?
 Do you see how pondering this moves you from the terrestrial level (doing your
duty) to the celestial level (being filled with love). It helps you spiritually ascend
from the level of the church (good people doing things) to the level of Zion (a
community so filled with love for each other that they put each other’s needs first).
 I know what some of you are thinking here. Why can’t I be both an “obedience”
member and a “filled with love” member at the same time? This is Paul’s point: only
one of these saves. Only one of these allows the Atonement to change our nature.
 If you think obedience is the way to righteousness, you rely on yourself, which
cannot save, no matter how much your local culture has taught you that it can. It can
also lead to self-righteousness, where you begin to think that your way of doing
things is the only way of doing things. [As a side note, this is also the problem with
sacrament meeting talks on “Self Reliance.” This idea is never mentioned in
scriptures. It does more harm to the faith of the speakers and the congregation than
it helps bishops who don’t want to deal with so many fast offering requests.]
 Instead, we want to develop trust in Jesus and his Atonement. This is what saves.
This is what changes our nature to become like the Savior’s. This is what the entire
book of Romans will now explicate.
 Pondering Romans 1:17 changed Martin Luther. From this one verse, essentially,
comes all of Protestantism. It is as significant to that movement as James 1:5 is to
the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:18-32 Exchanging Zion for Babylon

 Now Paul is going to show us what happens when we stop trusting Jesus, when we
stop relying on his grace.
 As Adam S. Miller explains: “Grace isn’t God’s improvised response to sin. Sin is our
ongoing refusal of God’s already given grace” (MP 14-15).
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 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.”
 1:19 “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it
to them.”
 WT 1:20 “Since the creation of the world, his unseen attributes, namely his eternal
power and divine nature, have been clearly understood in the things that he created.
So they are left without excuse.” We can learn about God’s nature by observing the
grace he gave us in the world he created. It was given without any merit from us. It
was his free gift (HCSB 1912).
 We can also learn more about God’s nature by looking at the great diversity of
people he created in his image, including those of all genders, sexualities, races,
intellectual gifts, emotional gifts, spiritual gifts and on and on. We learn that God
loves diversity (and that those differences bless the community as a whole) by
looking at all the wondrous, diverse people he created. We would never want to
insist that everyone in our community be just like us, because that goes against the
beautiful diversity of God and his creations (Derek Knox, “The Longest Clobber
Passage,” Aug. 3, 2019, Beyond the Block podcast).
 1:21 “For though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to
him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were
darkened.” By rejecting God’s grace (his unmerited, free gifts to us), we start being
unable to learn from them.
 We begin to follow the way of Babylon (taking money, power, and fame for
ourselves) instead of the way of Zion (giving what we have to others who don’t
merit it.)
 Then our spiritual minds become darkened and we can’t see that the way we are
living (taking) is different from the way God lives (giving).
 1:22 “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.”
 1:23 “And they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a
mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.” This is the
exchange of Zion for Babylon. You give up the glory of God for the glory of yourself.
You put your name on tall buildings to show how important you are and get
rewarded for it.
 1:25 “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the
creature [Greek: ktisei, “the created thing”] rather than the Creator.” We serve the
created, material, human-made things of this world, more than the One who created
the world.
 MP 1:26-32 “If this is what you want, God’s love won’t stop you. He’ll let you make
the exchange. He’ll let you bind yourself to things that can’t love you in return. He’ll
let you exchange love for lust. He’ll let you exchange grace for money. He’ll let you
choose distraction and addiction. And then you’ll simply get what you’ve chosen:
envy, anger, gossip, frustration, vanity, etc. You’ll implode. And though your life may
go on, you’ll be dead in a very real way.” (See “A Note on Translation” at the end of
these notes).

Romans 2:1-24 Why We Cannot Judge Others

 Romans Chapter 2 is one of the great chapters on the dangers of judging others
(Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”). Let’s see how this works.
 2:1 “Therefore, you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in
passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are
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doing the same things.” As Miller puts it: “When you use the commandments to
condemn others and congratulate yourself, you're the one who ends up condemned”
(MP 17).
 We can’t decide that our sins are better than someone else’s sins. That creates a
toxic self-righteousness.
 2:11 “For God shows no partiality.” Although we live in a system that sorts people
(by race, class, sex, gender, sexuality, age, nationality, etc.) and then gives power and
privilege to some and withholds it from others, God does not. He doesn’t show
favoritism (compare Acts 10:34; 2 Nephi 26:33; D&C 38:16).
 We need to make sure that we don’t either (e.g. imagining that someone’s calling
makes them more righteous or deserving of praise than someone else.)
 2:14 “When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law
requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves.” There are many
non-members who follow their conscience and develop a nature that’s filled with
love for others. This is what we all came down here to learn how to develop.
 2:15 “They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which
their own conscience also bears witness.” What matters is what you become on the
inside, rather than what you show on the outside.
 “And their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them.”
 2:16 “On the day when, according to my gospel, God, though Jesus Christ, will judge
the secret thoughts of all.”
 2:17 “But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to
God.”
 2:18 “And know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in
the law.” Paul is specifically talking about Judaizers here: self-righteous Jewish
Christians who were demanding that all Christians should be like them: circumcised
and living the full Law of Moses.
 However, we can also apply this to some self-righteous members today: “But if you
call yourself a member and rely on the restored gospel and boast of your relation to
God, and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the
gospel.”
 2:19 “And if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in
darkness.” “A guide to the blind” is a metaphor meaning a teacher who knows her
way and can lead her students carefully (WT 268).
 2:20 “A corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the
embodiment of knowledge and truth.”
 2:21 “You, then, who teaches others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach
against stealing, do you steal?” Why are you teaching others not to do the same
things that you, yourself are doing?
 2:23 “You that boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?”
 2:24 “For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles
because of you.’” Paul is quoting Isaiah 52:5.
 Non-members and outsiders who want to come to the gospel table are staying away
because of your hypocrisy and judgmental natures.
 You that have the truth, have you become self-righteous? Are you demanding that
everyone around you live the little rules that you have chosen to follow? Are you
breaking any commandments, and if so, how can you judge others for breaking
commandments?
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 Thinking we have all the answers, can, in some cases, bring about a case of self-
righteous-itis, which can then breed and infect others in the Church. Paul sees this
as a big problem (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 Such self-righteousness is the same thing that startled Alma when he saw that some
of the Zoramites had built a tower, a Rameumptom, on which to stretch forth their
hands toward heaven and say, “Holy God, we believe that thou has separated us
from our brethren . . . [and] thou has elected us that we shall be saved, whilst all
around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell” (Alma 31:12-22). These
one-time members booted out the poor from among them, because they viewed
them as being “others” (Alma 32:2-4).
 When we become self-righteous and judge another, we are looking at an external
action or category and then deciding what that person’s heart is like inside. We
decide that our heart is better than their heart (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 Anytime we think we are better than anyone else, we sever the oneness that the
Lord wants his people to have in order to establish Zion, and return to his presence.
And thus we will be the ones left without God.

Romans 2:25-29 What Matters Is What’s on the Inside

 2:25 “Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law,
your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” We can substitute the word
“baptism” for “circumcision” here, since both are symbols of the covenant that we
make with God (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 Paul is saying that if you have not learned to love the outsiders, then all your
ordinances mean nothing.
 This is the same thing that Amos taught (read Amos 5:21-24).
 MP 2:26 “Meanwhile, if outsiders intuitively align themselves with God’s work of
binding up the world’s wounds, won’t they be counted as insiders? Without a
doubt.”
 MP 2:27 “And then those outsiders will scold those who knew the plan but still
abused the law.”
 Let’s substitute a few words here [in brackets] in order to liken the scriptures unto
us (1 Nephi 19:23). This will help us more clearly see how revolutionary Paul’s
message really was:
 2:28 “For a person is not a [member of the church] who is one outwardly; nor true
[baptism] something external and physical.”
 2:29 “Rather, a person is a [member of the church] who is one inwardly; and real
[baptism] is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person
receives praise not from others but from God.” What matters is your inner change,
not your outward performance. What’s important is about becoming, rather than
looking the part. It’s about being, rather than doing.
 Isn’t this powerful? Who’s to say that there aren’t many non-members out there
who have a better heart than I have? There may be many on the margins who have
developed the capacity to love and help people better than I have (Schaelling,
“Romans 1-5”).
 Now, this may lead you to ask the question, “Well, if baptism is in the heart, then
why does anybody need to get baptized at all?” Perfect timing! Paul has already
anticipated your question.

Romans 3:1-23 No Human Is Righteous

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 3:1 “Then what advantage has the [member]? Or what is the value of [baptism]?
 WT 3:2 “Much in every way. First, the [members] were entrusted with the words of
God.” This is where the truth was revealed to help us return to the presence of God.
 MP 3:3 “It’s true that some insiders have treated these books lightly and some have
failed to trust what they reveal. Some have been unfaithful to their charge.”
 MP 3:4 “Will their infidelity cancel out God’s faithfulness? Never! Even if we’re all
liars, God stays true.”
 MP 3:9 “On this score, insiders are no better off than outsiders. I’ve already made
this clear: both insiders and outsiders are under the power of sin. It should be
obvious that some local success with some modest kinds of obedience can’t possibly
save you.” Members can’t assume they are more righteous than non-members
because everyone sins.
 3:10 “As it is written:
‘There is no one who is righteous, not even one.’”
 3:10-18 Paul quotes or paraphrases from several Old Testament scriptures to show
how everyone sins. These include: Psalm 13:1-3; Psalm 53:2-4; Psalm 5:9; Psalm
140:3; Isaiah 59:7-8; and Psalm 36:1 (WT 269; Ogden/Skinner, 173).
 Paul does the same thing that the Book of Mormon does: whenever it teaches about
the Atonement, it first explains the Fall, so that we see how desperately we need the
Atonement (B.Y.U. Religion Faculty Podcast, “Only By His Grace”; Millet, Grace Works
27).
 As President Ezra Taft Benson writes, “Just as man really does not desire food until
he is hungry, so he does not really desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why
he needs Christ. No one adequately and properly knows why he needs Christ until
he understands and accepts the doctrine of the Fall and its effects upon all mankind”
(A Witness and A Warning 32-33).
 As Robert Millet has written, “We cannot look earnestly and longingly to the
Redeemer if we do not sense the need for redemption. Jesus came to earth to do
more than offer sage advice. . . . He is our Savior. He came to save us” (Grace Works
27).
 As Lehi explains: “All mankind were in a lost and fallen state, and ever would be
save they should rely on this Redeemer” (1 Nephi 10:4-6).
 WT 3:20 “For by the works of the law, no one will be declared to be righteous
before God, for through the law comes a knowledge of sin.” We cannot be saved by
obedience to commandments alone.
 This is the same thing that Jacob taught: “And by the law no flesh is justified; or, by
the law men are cut off . . . and . . . they perish from that which is good, and become
miserable forever” (2 Nephi 2:5).
 What do commandments do? They teach us what sin is. Without commandments,
there would be no sin. So what’s the effect of commandments? To create sin
(Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 3:23 “Because all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” Who among us has
not sinned? Nobody. We all have sinned. This is why we cannot judge others.
 But if all of us have sinned, how are we able to be made clean again and return to
God’s presence? What can I do to save myself? Paul tells us: nothing. Jesus Christ is
the only one who can make me clean again.

Romans 3:24-31 Justified by Faith Alone

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 3:24 “They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus.” Joseph Smith makes this even stronger by adding: “justified only by his
grace” (JST Romans 3:24). Joseph understood that I can only be made right by grace
alone.
 To understand Paul, we’d better understand what the word “justify” means. It
means “to be made right” or “to be pronounced clean.” It’s a legal term that means,
“being made just before God.”
 You can think of this in terms of writing a paper on a computer. When you click on
the “right justify” icon, it makes all of the words line up in a straight line. The words
themselves haven’t changed, but they are now seen as being ordered in a beautiful
way.
 This is similar to being justified: it means we have been made right in the sight of
God (B.Y.U. Religion Faculty Podcast, “Justified of Faith”).
 How does this work? We can understand being justified with Christ in terms of a
marriage. Let’s say that I’m in debt a thousand dollars, but I marry a millionaire.
When we combine assets, my spouse’s excess covers my lack. I am suddenly out of
debt. In the same way, when I enter a covenant relationship with the Savior, his
merit makes up for my lack.
 This is called “The Great Exchange.”
 Paul explains it like this: “On our behalf, God made him who did not know sin
[Christ] to become sin so that we might become the righteousness of God” (WT 2
Corinthians 5:21).
 In other words, Christ takes our sins and gives us his righteousness (Millet,
“Doctrinal Teachings of Paul,” Selected Writings of Robert L. Millet, 73).
 Justification does three things for us:
1) It pronounces us clean before God.
2) It fills us with Christ’s righteousness so we have merit before God.
3) It opens the way for the Holy Spirit to empower us (B.Y.U. Religion Faculty
Podcast, “Justified of Faith”).
 Paul’s very true and beautiful doctrine is that all of these things happen, not through
the Law of Moses, but only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
 How do I become cleansed from sin and return back to the glory of God? It’s not
through my works, because no matter what I do, I can’t cleanse myself from sin. Paul
says it’s only through “his grace” that I am made clean again.
 “Grace” is another one of those words that some members of the restored church
don’t embrace as fully as they should.
 What does the word “grace” mean? The Bible Dictionary defines it as “the enabling
power of the Savior’s Atonement” (p. 697).
 If you are afraid of this word, just substitute “the Atonement” every time you see it,
and suddenly everything makes sense.
 I cannot be cleansed from sin by myself. I can only be cleansed from sin through the
Savior’s Atonement.
 Do you see how I not only shouldn’t be scared of the word “grace,” I should cling to
it; I should embrace it. I should thank God every night for grace. I should become
like Paul, everywhere I go, and be a “defender of the grace.”
 3:25 “[Jesus], whom God put forward as a sacrifice of Atonement by his blood,
effective through faith [Greek: pisteos, “trust”].” This unmerited gift of grace gets
activated as I trust Jesus.
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 “He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had
passed over the sins previously committed.”
 3:26 “It was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he
justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.” We are not righteous. The only way we can
become righteous is not through obedience (our own righteousness) but only
through the righteousness of Jesus (see 2 Nephi 2:3; Moroni 6:4).
 3:27 “Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of
works? No, but by the law of faith.” Can I boast about how I have cleansed myself
from sin? That would make no sense, because it’s impossible. I can only boast in how
the Atonement of Jesus Christ has the power to cleanse us all from sin.
 What does this do to self-righteousness, then? It throws it out the window. We have
nothing to feel superior to other people because all of us have sinned and we can
only return back to God’s presence through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
 3:28 “For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from the works prescribed
by the law.” Joseph makes this stronger by adding: “justified by faith alone” (JST
Romans 3:28). He wants us to clearly understand that we are cleansed through the
Atonement of Christ, not by keeping commandments.
 Isn’t this beautiful doctrine? It’s so true and so beautiful. And we don’t have to flee
from it. We can embrace it!
 I love teaching this, because there are several members of the church who
misunderstand this, and then teach it incorrectly to others (see Appendix 1: We
Are Saved by Grace, Notwithstanding All We Can Do).
 They emphasize the problematic teaching of self-reliance. The scriptures teach us to
only rely on Jesus. And this is absolutely what Paul is teaching right here.
 3:29 “Or is God the God of the [members of the church] only? Is he not God of
[everyone in the world] also? Yes, of [everyone in the world] also.” As members of
the church, we need to be careful to not teach the false idea that, because we have
the gospel, God loves us better, or blesses us more, than other people.
 3:30 “Since God is one; and he will justify the [baptized] on the ground of faith
[Greek: pisteos, “trust”] and the [unbaptized] through that same faith [Greek: pisteos,
“trust”].” (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 It’s at this point that you may be asking yourself, “Why do we need commandments
then?” Perfect timing! Paul has an answer for you!
 3:31 “Do we then overthrow [the commandments] by this faith? By no means! On
the contrary, we uphold [the commandments].” We need the commandments, but
we need to understand them with the proper perspective. Paul is now going to help
us to do this (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).

Romans 4: Evidence of Being Justified by Faith While Outside the Covenant Path:
Abraham
 Paul is now going to provide evidence for how we are made right before God
through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and not through our own works. He’ll use
Abraham as his example, to show us how that patriarch was made right before God.
 4:2 “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not
before God.” If Abraham could make himself right, through obedience, then he
would have something to boast about.
 As Millet explains: “It is with us as it is with Abraham; if in fact we are saved by our
deeds and our merits alone, then we might have something about which to boast;
namely that our own genius, our own resources, our own righteousness were what
 Simmons 10
allowed us to be bound into glory” (Millet, “Walking in Newness of Life: Doctrinal
Themes of the Apostle Paul,” Sperry Symposium Classics: The New Testament, 273).
 4:3 “For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed [Greek: pisteuo, “trusted”]
God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’” Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 to
show that Abraham’s trust of God was what made him right with God.
 Whenever you see the word “faith” or “believed” in the New Testament (used over
550 times), it is a form of the Greek word pistis (the noun) or pisteuo (the verb),
which actually means “trust.” When Paul talks about having faith in Christ, he’s
talking about fully trusting Christ, fully trusting that his Atonement can cleanse us.
 In this verse, Abraham’s faith—his willingness to trust God, even when God asked
him to do the most outrageous thing, to sacrifice his miracle son, Isaac—was what
made him right before God (Millet, “Walking in Newness of Life: Doctrinal Themes of
the Apostle Paul,” Sperry Symposium Classics: The New Testament, 273).
 When we get to the point where we trust God so much that we follow wherever he
leads us, that’s what righteousness is. It’s not a matter of how much we’ve managed
to do or not managed to do.
 Let’s imagine a situation where two people die on the same day. One has been a
member all his life, has done lots of good deeds, and has given his heart to God. The
other was baptized last week but really repented and gave her heart to God. Which
one gets the greatest degree of glory? It’s the same. Their deeds are irrelevant. What
matters are their hearts. Their states of being. How much they trust God (Schaelling,
“Romans 1-5”).
 4:4 “Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.”
If you’re always counting it up by how much you do, by how many commandments
you keep, what will happen? You’ll always come up short. The function of the
commandments is to determine by how far you’ve missed it. Everybody misses it.
Everybody falls short (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 If you’re trusting in your works to save you, instead of the Savior, then you’ll never
make it. “To argue that we are saved by our works is to argue that Christ’s atoning
mission was unnecessary” (Millet, “Walking in Newness of Life: Doctrinal Themes of
the Apostle Paul,” Sperry Symposium Classics: The New Testament, 273).
 As Paul explained to the Galatians: “for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21).
 As Bruce R. McConkie asks, “How else could salvation possibly come? Can a man
save himself? . . . Salvation must and does originate with God, and if man is to
receive it, God must bestow it upon him, which bestowal is a manifestation of grace. .
. . Salvation does not come by the works and performances of the law of Moses, nor
by ‘circumcision,’ not by the ‘law of commandments contained in the ordinances’ . . .
nor does it comes by any good works standing alone. No matter how righteous a
man might be, no matter how great and extensive his good works, he could not save
himself. Salvation is in Christ and comes through his Atonement” (DNTC 2:499-500).
 4:5 “But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith
is reckoned as righteousness.” Paul has a radical understanding of God, who longs to
make “the ungodly” right. “The ungodly” includes everyone (Romans 3:19-20, 23;
HCSB 1915).
 Those who learn how to stop trusting their own obedience, but instead trust God
totally, so that they become what God wants them to become, their faith is counted
for righteousness (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 Simmons 11
 4:9 “Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the
uncircumcised? We say, ‘Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.’” Paul is
now going to make the argument that the blessings of being made right with God are
not just given to insiders (members of the church). They are also given to outsiders
(non-members) (MP 26).
 4:10 “How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been
circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.” Did this righteousness
come before Abraham made a covenant with God or after Abraham made a covenant
with God? It came before Abraham made a covenant with God. It comes to him as a
result of his trusting God (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 God’s goodness can make us right even when we’re not on the covenant path.
 4:11 “He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had
by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” Circumcision, to Paul, is a symbol of being
on the covenant path. Circumcision to Abraham is the equivalent of baptism to us.
Baptism is a seal of what we have accomplished inside of ourselves. That’s when it’s
sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 “The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being
circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them.” Abraham is the
father, not just of Israel, but of everyone who lives outside the law, but still trusts
God. These outsiders, like Abraham, are as right with God as anyone else (MP 26).
 4:12 “And likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised
but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before
he was circumcised.” How do insiders or outsiders become Abraham’s children?
They trust God like Abraham did (MP 26).
 4:13 “For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or
to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” What’s
true for the ancestor is true for the descendants: it’s trust that matters, not
obedience (HCSB 1915).
 WT 4:14 “For if the heirs are those who follow the law, faith is empty and the
promise is void.” If you can become an heir of God by keeping commandments, who
needs to trust God? We don’t have faith in commandments; we have faith in Jesus
Christ (Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 WT 4:15 “For the law brings wrath.” Without faith and grace, the law just brings
frustration and anger (MP 27).
 Since we’ve all sinned, the law can only bring us to punishment. “The purpose of the
law is to show you that you can’t live the law. . . . Therefore you need a Redeemer”
(B.Y.U. Religion Faculty Podcast, “Only By His Grace”).
 “But where there is no law, there is no transgression.” Jacob said the same thing
(compare 2 Nephi 9:25).
 4:19-20 More evidence of Abraham’s great trust in God: he trusted God’s promise
that he would have a son, even though his own body, and Sara’s, were well passed
child bearing.
 4:21 “Being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”
 4:22 “Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him for righteousness.’” Another
quotation of Genesis 15:6.
 I love these words (of vs. 21-22)! I memorized them on my mission. It’s this trust in
the Savior and his Atonement that changes your nature, not just checking off a list of
duties you’ve accomplished.
 4:23 “Now the words ‘it was reckoned to him,’ were written not for his sake alone.”
 Simmons 12
 4:24 “But for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised our
Lord from the dead.”
 4:25 “Who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our
justification.” Abraham’s faith didn’t just bind Abraham to God. Abraham’s faith
tapped into a much bigger grace, a universal love that’s fixed in its commitment to
every one of us. We, too, can be made right with God. God has done it before and he
has the power to do it again (MP 27-28).

Romans 5: What True Faith Means (Trusting God Completely)

 5:1 “Therefore, since we are justified [Greek: dikaiothentes, “made right”] by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
 How many members of the church do you know who, when thinking about doing a
huge list of things, come to the conclusion that they will never make it? Have you
ever felt that way? Sometimes we even pound it into each other in talks: “you need
to be doing this, and this, and this.” What kind of peace does that help you feel?
None. But where does Paul say that true peace comes from? Through the Atonement
of Jesus Christ. You can know that you can make it, independent of whether or not
you’ve done the things on a checklist. We have that through faith in Jesus Christ
(Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 5:2 “Through whom we have obtained access by faith to this grace in which we
stand; and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.” The first thing we
must know is that it is by grace that we are saved. Totally. We cannot save ourselves.
It’s only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can be saved. It’s a free gift
that the Savior offers us.
 But how do we access that grace, according to this verse? By having faith: meaning
we trust God and follow wherever he leads us. When we learn to trust God as much
as Abraham trusted God; then the Savior’s grace (his free gift of the Atonement)
makes us clean and holy so we can return back into his presence (Schaelling,
“Romans 1-5”).
 And even more than being cleansed, what matters is that we are changed (Millet,
“Walking in Newness of Life: Doctrinal Themes of the Apostle Paul,” Sperry
Symposium Classics: The New Testament, 275).
 This is how we are able to “rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God,” which
means we are able to develop a nature that is like God’s, living the kind of life that he
lives, sharing all that we have in a great eternal consecration (compare Romans
8:16-17).
 Now, you can see why there’s a difference between trusting in God totally and just
believing that he exists. We can believe that someone exists, without trusting him
(see James 2:19). When you trust God, it means that you follow wherever he leads
and develop a nature that is as loving and giving as his.
 If you are ever asked, “Have you been saved by grace?” you can say without
hesitation, “Yes—absolutely.” It’s the same thing that we say when we refer to a
couple as having been “sealed in the temple.” Have they really had that ordinance of
eternal marriage sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise? Who knows? But we refer to
this in the past tense, as if it’s already happened. If they continue to develop giving-
love for each other and others around them, it’s like an escalator that brings the
couple to the top floor: they are seen as if they are already there, because they are
on the way there. So there is no problem in answering “yes—absolutely” to the
question of whether you have been saved by grace.
 Simmons 13
 What may be a more helpful question to ask in return (and to ponder for yourself)
is: “Have we been changed by grace?” (Brad Wilcox, “His Grace is Sufficient,” B.Y.U.
Devotional, July 12, 2011, https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/brad-wilcox/his-grace-is-
sufficient/).
 5:3 “And not only that, but we rejoice in [Greek: kauchometha, “rejoice in” or “glory
in”] our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance [Greek: hypomone,
“the ability to stay under the load” (to not give up during difficulties)].”
 5:4 “And endurance produces character [Greek: dokimen, “approval”]; and character
produces hope.”
 5:5 “And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love [Greek: agape tou Theou,
“God’s giving-love”] has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has
been given to us.” This is a sequence: a list where order matters. Paul is explaining
how suffering leads us through a systemic process, where we are changed inside
and filled with the selfless, giving love that’s called agape.
 Here’s how it works: suffering teaches us how to not give up in difficult times. That
helps us to have a feeling of approval from God and know that everything will be OK
in the long run. That gives us hope, which give us power through the Holy Ghost.
Finally, we are filled with agape. In that state, we are ready to return to the presence
of God and live the way people with a Zion (celestial) nature live.
 Paul has just given us the sequence of the spiritual rebirth process.
 5:6 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
While we were fearful, unfaithful, numb to everything but our favorite distractions,
Jesus sacrificed his life on our behalf (MP 29).
 5:7 “Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—through perhaps for a
good person someone might actually dare to die.”
 WT 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us, because while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.” Love like this—love for an enemy in open rebellion—is
an even higher kind of love (MP 30).
 5:9 “Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we
be saved through him from the wrath.” This higher love cost Jesus his life, but it also
saved us from the wrath that accompanies sin (MP 30).
 5:10 “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of
his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.” If
the Savior were willing to give his whole life for us back in that sinful, weak state,
how much more then will He help us now, after we have been made right and are
walking in the Spirit?
 WT 5:11 “But not only that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation [Greek: katallagen,
“reconciliation”].” Paul uses a Greek word here that is most closely conveyed in
English by “reconciliation,” meaning “to bring together again.” This comes from the
Latin re, “again” and concilare, “make friendly.”
 The KJV translates this as “atonement,” which is an Old English word meaning “at-
one-ment,” or “being brought into a unity.” This is the only time the KJV translators
used “atonement” in the New Testament (Ogden/Skinner, 175).
 Yet, “reconciliation” more closely conveys the Greek meaning (WT 272). And
katallagen is used in other places in the New Testament; it is always translated as
“reconciled” (see Matthew 5:24; 1 Corinthians 7:11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20;
Holzapfel/Wayment, Making Sense, 327).
 Simmons 14
 Here’s a thought experiment: what if, in the church, we used “the reconciliation”
instead of “the atonement?” Would it change the way you understand what Jesus’
sacrifice does for us?
 5:18 “Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s
act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” Here Paul introduces the
Law of Proxy. Just as sin and death came into the world because of the Fall of Adam,
so the Atonement of Jesus Christ can reconcile us to God from those same two things
(Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 5:19 “For just as by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the
one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” We trusted both Adam and
Jesus, that whatever they did would be done on our behalf. That is real trust
(Schaelling, “Romans 1-5”).
 WT 5:20 “But a law entered with the result the sin increased, but where sin
increased, grace abounded all the more.” The commandments, remember, create sin.
Where there are no commandments, there is no sin (4:15).
 The commandments can’t rescue anyone; only Jesus can be our rescuer (MP 31).
 The exciting part of what Paul is saying here is that the Savior’s grace is so
abundant, so overflowing, that it is enough to cover any of our sins and then some.
You can’t sin so much that Christ’s grace won’t be able to cover you (Schaelling,
“Romans 5-8”).
 WT 5:21 “So that as sin ruled in death, even so grace might rule through
righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” For Paul, sin is not
something a person does; rather sin does something to a person: it makes one
subject to a dead nature (HCSB 1917).
 Grace is what offers us new life in a spiritually mended world (MP 31).

Romans 6: Killing Our Fallen Nature So We Can Live A New Life in the Spirit
 At this point, you might be asking yourself the question, “Does this mean I can just
go out and sin all I want because there’s more than enough grace to cover it?” Paul
has an answer for you!
 WT 6:1 “What will we say then? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may
increase?”
 WT 6:2 “Certainly not. Can we who are dead to sin still live in it?” No, we cannot just
freely sin because of grace, because, Paul says, we are dead to sin. We are no longer
under its power (HCSB 1917).
 We can’t continue to live as if sin owned us (MP 33).
 6:3 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death?”
 6:4 “Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in
newness of life.” Paul is teaching something very significant about the ordinance of
baptism. The word baptiso means “to dip or immerse.” This passage only makes
sense if we are talking about baptism by immersion (a redundant phrase because
this was the only kind of baptism in Paul’s day.)
 When we are immersed in the water, what is the symbol? That our fallen nature has
died, and we leave that behind. Our new nature as a woman or man in Christ leaves
that fallen nature behind and rises up to take its place.
 Simmons 15
 The pattern, of course, is Christ, who left behind his mortal body, but received a
new, resurrected body. The mortal body of Christ represents our fallen nature. His
resurrection represents our spiritual rebirth.
 In other words, baptism represents the death of our fallen nature and our spiritual
rebirth as a daughter or son of Christ.
 The baptismal font really is a symbol of the tomb. This is why baptismal fonts are
usually underneath street level, both in churches and in temples (B.Y.U. Religion
Faculty Podcast, “Justified by Faith”).
 As Joseph Smith wrote: “The baptismal font was instituted as a similitude of the
grave, and was commanded to be in a place underneath where the living are wont to
assemble, to show for the living and the dead, and that all things have their likeness”
(D&C 128:13).
 Note, nowhere in the scriptures is the metaphor about baptism “washing our sins
away.” That is slightly problematic because it is an external metaphor, rather than
an internal one, like Paul is talking about.
 Ordinances teach us something physically (outside) to represent something
spiritually (inside).
 Paul’s internal metaphor is more correct and more powerful. It shows us that
baptism is teaching us, in an outward, physical way, how we want to become in an
inward, spiritual way, in the (hopefully near) future.
 Baptism is a sign, a witness, a token. We are saying to God: “I want the Atonement to
change my nature, so that I become more like the Savior. I want to give up being
spiritually dead to become spiritually alive. I no longer want to walk after the flesh,
so that I can walk in the Spirit.”
 Then God says, “If this is how you are, then I will give you the Gift of the Holy Ghost
to help you do this.” This is called the spiritual rebirth process (Schaelling, “Romans
5-8”).
 6:5 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be
united with him in a resurrection like his.” Baptism teaches us how to be spiritually
born again so that we can live a life, right now, like he lived: filled with love for
everyone.
 6:6 “We know that our old self is crucified with him so that the body of sin might be
destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.” Our old way of being human
was crucified with Jesus. Our old habits, our old ways of thinking, our old desires,
died with him (MP 33).
 Just as crucifixion was a painful process, so is the killing of our fallen nature. It’s
sometimes difficult to give up our favorite sins.
 6:7 “For whoever has died is freed from sin.” People who are dead and buried aren’t
charged with crimes. They’re beyond sin’s jurisdiction. They belong to Jesus (MP
34).
 6:8 “But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” We
crucify, or kill, our fallen nature, so that it no longer has any power over us. This
doesn’t mean that we no longer are tempted. It means that we no longer give into
temptation. We don’t listen to our fallen nature anymore to tell us what to do. We
listen to what God would have us do. And the Atonement changes everything about
us. We go from being spiritually dead, to being spiritually alive (Schaelling, “Romans
5-8”).
 Isn’t this a beautiful doctrine? Have you ever heard anyone give a baptism talk like
this? There’s a lot we can learn from Paul!
 Simmons 16
 WT 6:13 “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness,
but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your
members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.” Use your spirit and
your body to help, lift, and love other people, rather than using them to take from
other people.
 Since you have been bought with a price (just like Jean Valjean in the opening of Les
Miserables), now you can give yourself fully to God to be used as his instrument for
the relieving of others’ misery.
 6:14 “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but
under grace.” We’re under the new, freeing dominion of grace, which is far better
than the oppressive dominions of sin (6:6), or the law (7:6), which used to rule us
(HCSB 1918).
 Now when sin creeps in and tries to claim us as its own, we’re free to refuse. Even if
we make mistakes, we’re no longer bound to heel at its beck and call. We can put
things right and move forward (MP 34).
 At this point, you may be asking yourself: “So can I just sin because I’ve been
spiritually reborn, and am in a state of grace?” Paul has an answer for you!
 6:15 “What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?
By no means!”
 6:16 “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of
obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Paul is explaining that whomever you
obey, that’s whom you become a slave to. If you obey Satan by giving in to your
fallen nature, then that’s whom you become a slave to. If you obey God by following
the Spirit, then that’s who your master is (Schaelling, “Romans 5-8”).
 A small, historical side note: people in Paul’s world didn’t have servants; they only
had slaves. You became a slave if you fought a battle and lost. Anytime a New
Testament translation uses the word “servant,” the Greek actually means “slave.”
 A second historical side note: this does not mean that slavery is the best way to live.
The mortal writers of the New Testament used spiritual allegories familiar to their
particular time and place and were not implying that their miserable, fallen world,
oppressed by Roman domination, was the best way to live. Slaveholders of the
1600s through the 1800s, who used the Bible to justify their purchase and use of
people as property: you have missed the entire point of the New Testament—to love
and care for the vulnerable. Hopefully, in our day, we will not miss this point as well.
 WT 6:17 “But thanks be to God that although you were formerly slaves to sin, you
obeyed the type of teaching to which you were entrusted from the heart.” Why do
we follow God? Is it out of fear? No. (That’s a telestial motivator.) Is it out of duty?
No. (That’s a terrestrial motivator.) It’s out of love, out of agape. (That’s a celestial
motivator—the kind that has the power to change your nature for the better.)
 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through
Christ Jesus, our Lord.” We become dead to our fallen natures because they can only
bring us spiritual death. We become alive to the Spirit because it brings us to eternal
life.
 Isn’t it wonderful to read well-known passages in their context? This brings a lot
more meaning to them, doesn’t it?

Conclusion
 Simmons 17
 Today we laid the doctrinal foundation. Paul has taken through the steps of the
spiritual rebirth process, similar to what King Benjamin does (Mosiah 2-5).
 Next time, we will cover the second half of Romans and hit the real payoff that Paul
has been building up to. There’s yet another spiritual ascent that is possible after the
spiritual rebirth. I think you will find this astonishing!
 I am grateful to Paul for writing these words, which are so beautiful and so
important, not only to the members of the Church in ancient Rome, but to me today.
 I don’t mistrust Romans, I embrace it. I rejoice in and am a defender of the grace—
the enabling power of the Savior’s Atonement.
 I know that I am only changed through grace. And I know that I have access to the
Savior’s grace through faith: a word that means I trust God completely and will
follow wherever he leads me.
 Even more, I will be the kind of person he wants me to become.

Testimony

Next Lesson: Romans 7-16 (Aug. 12-18, 2019)

A Note on Translation:
The translation used in these notes is the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) found
in: The Harper-Collins Study Bible, Harold W. Attridge, ed., NY: Harper-Collins, 2006.

Occasionally, if the translation from the Greek is clearer or more doctrinally accurate, I will
switch to the Wayment Translation (WT) found in: Wayment, Thomas A., The New
Testament, A Translation for Latter-Day Saints: A Study Bible, SLC: Deseret Book, 2019.

If you prefer the King James Version (KJV), feel free to read the verses in that translation
from 1611 and then read these study notes.

The Miller Paraphrase (MP) is a ground-breaking read of Romans from LDS scholar Adam
S. Miller, who is a Professor of Philosophy at Collin College in Texas. He presents a
paraphrase of Romans that illuminates Paul’s arguments in a much clearer way. It’s found
in: Miller, Adam S. Grace Is Not God’s Backup Plan. CreateSpace Independent Publishing,
2015.

If you have any questions or comments about these notes, feel free to email me:
filmteach@me.com.
 Simmons 18
Appendix 1: We Are Saved by Grace, Notwithstanding All We Can Do
 There is a high likelihood while teaching this lesson that you will encounter a
member using 2 Nephi 25:23 in an attempt to nullify Paul’s entire argument in
Romans. Do not allow this to happen. This is one of the Twelve Deadly Heresies
influencing the church today (for more, email me for my piece, “Twelve More Deadly
Heresies”).
 Such members teach the false doctrine that we have to do all we can do before grace
can help us. This is a profound misunderstanding of grace.
 This arises from a misreading of 2 Nephi 25:23. After Nephi has spent an entire
chapter explaining how it’s only through the Savior and his Atonement that we can
be saved (see especially 25:20), he remarks: “For we know that it is by grace that we
are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). The word “after” has changed in
English since 1829. In Joseph’s day, it meant “notwithstanding,” and this is how we
should understand it here. In other words, this verse means: “We know that it is
only through the Savior’s Atonement that we are saved, no matter what other
wonderful things we do.” This is consistent with all of 2 Nephi 25, and, in fact, all of
scripture.
 President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught: “I wonder if sometimes we misinterpret the
phrase ‘after all we can do.’ We must understand that ‘after’ does not equal
‘because.’ We are not saved ‘because’ of all that we can do. Have any of us done all
that we can do? Does God wait until we’ve expended every effort before He will
intervene in our lives with His saving grace? . . . I am certain Nephi knew that the
Savior’s grace allows and enables us to overcome sin” (“The Gift of Grace,” Ensign,
May 2015).
 To imagine that grace is only a last-minute push once we have exhausted all of our
energy is to misunderstand grace. The Savior’s grace (the enabling power of his
Atonement) is something we have access to all the time. Grace is what gives us the
power to get through the difficult times that we can’t get through on our own.
 By misunderstanding grace, many members trust in themselves, rather than the
Savior. Then they remain in the state of the natural man, unchanged by the
Atonement, never going through the spiritual rebirth.
 In our day, let’s please stop teaching the heresy: “We have to do all we can do before
grace can help us,” which keeps people from accessing and being changed by the
Atonement right now.
 For extended discussions on this, read any of the following:

1) Brad Wilcox, “His Grace Is Sufficient,”

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1966;

2) Brad Wilcox, The Continuous Atonement 103-120;

3) Robert L. Millet, Grace Works 94;

4) Robert L. Millet, “After All We Can Do,” Selected Writings of Robert L. Millet 509;

5) Donald P. Magnum/Brenton G. Yorgason, Amazing Grace, 58-61;

6) Stephen E. Robinson, Believing Christ, 91;

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7) Sheri L. Dew, “Sweet Above All That Is Sweet,” BYU Magazine, Fall 2014, 26-33;

8) Elder Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, 155.