Article of Faith 3
We believe that through the
Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved,
by obedience to the laws and
ordinances of the Gospel.
This is
the fourth essay about the Atonement of Jesus Christ as stated in the third
Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The first
week, I discussed the importance of understanding how the atoning sacrifice of
Jesus Christ, as the third pillar of eternity, is essential to Heavenly
Father’s plan for the eternal happiness of His children. The second week, the
discussion was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the nature of the
atonement. Last week, the discussion concerned the Atonement of Jesus Christ as
a vicarious sacrifice. This week, the discussion will be about Christ’s
sacrifice being voluntary and love-inspired, using the words of Elder James E.
Talmage (Articles of Faith [1913], 79-81).
Christ’s Sacrifice Was Voluntary and Love-Inspired – We have noted in passing that Christ
gave His life willingly and voluntarily for the redemption of mankind. He had
offered Himself, in the primeval council in heaven, as the subject of the
atoning sacrifice made necessary by the foreseen transgression of the first
man; and the free agency shown and exercised in this, the early stage of His
saving mission, was retained to the very last of the agonizing fulfilment of
the accepted plan. Though He lived on earth a man in every particular that
concerns us in our regard for Him as an example of godliness in humanity, yet
it is to be remembered that, though born of a mortal mother, he was begotten in
the flesh by an immortal Father; and so combined within His being the capacity
to die, and the power to hold death indefinitely in abeyance. He gave up His
life; it was not taken from Him against His will. Note the significance of His
own declaration: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life,
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of
myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” On
another occasion Jesus testified of Himself in this way: “For as the Father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And
hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of
Man.” Amidst the tragic scenes of the betrayal, when one who had been a
professed follower and friend gave Him with a traitorous kiss to His
persecutors, and when Peter, with a rashness prompted by personal zeal, drew
and used the sword in His defense, the Master said: “Thinkest thou that I
cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve
legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it
must be?” And on to the bitter end, marked by the expiring though triumphant
cry “It is finished,” the incarnated God held in subjection within Himself the
power to thwart His torturers had He so willed.
The motive inspiring and sustaining Him through all the scenes of His
mission, from the time of His primeval ordination to the moment of victorious
consummation on the cross, was twofold: first, the desire to do His Father’s
will in accomplishing the redemption of mankind; second, His love for humanity,
of whose welfare and destiny He had assumed charge. [Emphasis added.] Far from
cherishing the least feeling of vindictiveness against those who put Him to
death. He entertained for them compassion to the last. Hear Him in the hour of
extreme agony, praying aloud: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what
they do.” Not less is the Father’s love, as shown by His accepting the Son’s
offer and permitting Him whom He delighted to call His Beloved to suffer as
only a God could suffer: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved.” Further, we hear the teaching
of the apostle, whom the Savior loved so well: “In this was manifested the love
of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world,
that we might live through him.”
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