Articles of Faith: What Do Latter-day Saints Believe About the Atonement of Jesus Christ? 9

                                                                       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 ninth and last 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. The third week, the discussion concerned the Atonement of Jesus Christ as a vicarious sacrifice. The fourth week, the discussion was about Christ’s sacrifice being voluntary and love inspired. The fifth week, the discussion was about the Atonement being foreordained and foretold. The discussion for the sixth week was about extent of the Atonement of Christ. For the seventh week, the essay was about the general effect of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Last week the discussion was about the individual effect of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This week’s discussion will use the words of Elder James E. Talmage to discuss salvation and Exaltation (Articles of Faith [1913], 91-93).

Salvation and Exaltation – Some degree of salvation will come to all who have not forfeited their right to it; exaltation is given to those only who by righteous effort have won a claim to God’s merciful liberality by which it is bestowed. Of the saved, not all will be exalted to the higher glories; rewards will not be bestowed in violation of justice [emphasis added]; punishments will not be meted out to the ignoring of mercy. No one can be admitted to any order of glory, in short, no soul can be saved until justice has been satisfied for violated law. Our belief in the universal application of the atonement implies no supposition that all mankind will be saved with like endowments of glory and power. In the kingdom of God there are numerous degrees or gradations provided for those who are worthy of them; in the house of our Father there are many mansions, into which only those who are prepared are admitted. The false assumption, based upon sectarian dogma, that in the hereafter there shall be but two places, states, or conditions for the souls of mankind – heaven and hell, with the same glory in all parts of the one and the same terrors throughout the other – is untenable in the light of divine revelation. Through the direct word of the Lord we learn of varied kingdoms or glories.

Degrees of Glory – The revelations of God have defined the following principal kingdoms or degrees of glory, as prepared through Christ for the children of men.

1. The Celestial Glory [Doctrine and Covenants 76:50-70, 92-96] – There are some who have striven to obey all the divine commandments, who have accepted the testimony of Christ, obeyed “the laws and ordinances of the Gospel,” and received the Holy Spirit; these are they who have overcome evil by godly works and who are therefore entitled to the highest glory; these belong to the Church of the Firstborn, unto whom the Father has given all things; they are made kings and priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek; they possess celestial bodies, “whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical”; they are admitted to the glorified company, crowned with exaltation in the celestial kingdom

2. The Terrestrial Glory [Doctrine and Covenants 76:71-80, 87, 91, 97] – We read of others who receive glory of a secondary order, differing from the highest as “the moon differs from the sun in the firmament.” These are they who, though honorable, failed to comply with the requirements for exaltation, were blinded by the craftiness of men and unable to receive and obey the higher laws of God. They proved “not valiant in the testimony of Jesus,” and therefore are not entitled to the fulness of glory.

            3. The Telestial Glory [Doctrine and Covenants 76:81-86, 88-90, 98-106, 109-112] – There is                 another grade, differing from the higher orders as the stars differ from the brighter orbs of the                 firmament; this is for those who received not the testimony of Christ, but who, nevertheless, did              not deny the Holy Spirit; who have led lives exempting them from the heaviest punishment, yet             whose redemption will be delayed until the last resurrection. In the telestial world there are                    innumerable degrees comparable to the varying light of the stars [See Doctrine and Covenants                76:81-86, 98]. Yet all who receive of any one of these orders of glory are at last saved, and upon             them Satan will finally have no claim [emphasis added]. Even the telestial glory “surpasses all                understanding; And no man knows it except him to whom God has revealed it” [Doctrine and                Covenants 76:89, 90). Then there are those who have lost all claim upon the immediate mercy of             God, whose deeds have numbered them with Perdition and his angels.