Lessons on the Plan of Salvation
Lesson No. Twenty-Nine

To Act and Not Be Acted Upon

Because we have a body we experience, “opposition in all things” – If it weren’t for opposition we could not know good and evil; there would be no righteousness or wickedness, and therefore, no happiness or misery, and the entire plan of salvation would fail.  (See 2 Nephi 2:11-12; all references hereafter will be from 2 Nephi 2 unless otherwise noted).

“Things to act and things to be acted upon” – In all creation there is a fundamental difference between things that have agency, the ability to choose (“things that act”), and those that do not have agency (“things acted upon”).  (Vs 13-14)  Mankind has both a body and a spirit.  Our spirit, which will never die, is to act, and our body, which has life only if it has a spirit, is to be acted upon.

  • Intelligences have agency and are intended to act – Before our spirits were begotten by Heavenly Parents we were first intelligences and as such had agency.  (D&C 93: 29-30). 
  • Our spirit also has agency and is intended to act – Spirit sons and daughters of God had agency in our pre-earth existence, and our spirit continues to enjoy agency in this life. 
  • Things that are acted upon are elements – Our bodies are made from the elements of the earth and are to be acted upon by our spirits.  Only when the body and the spirit are inseparably connected in a celestial resurrection is there a fullness of joy.  (D&C 93: 33-35)
  • Agency requires meaningful alternatives and choices – “Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other” (Vs 16).
  • Because of the atonement our agency and the consequences of our choices are assured (Vs 26) – With men having knowledge, and their agency guaranteed, and the consequences of their choices certain “all things are given them which are expedient unto man.  And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (Vs 27).
  • We are enticed by both the appetites of the flesh and the desires of our spirit – The enticement to our spirit to “choose eternal life” comes “according to the will of his Holy Spirit” (Vs 28).  When our spirit “acts” according to the enticement of the Holy Spirit, and the flesh is “acted upon” (see Vs 14) then our body is a wonderful servant and a great blessing to our spirits.  The enticement of the Holy Spirit comes to us in a still small voice.
  • The devil entices us “to choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh” – This gives Satan “power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom” (Vs 29).  If we let physical appetites “act” and dominate our lives then our spirits are “acted upon” and become addicted.   The devil, through the appetites of the flesh, screams and rages at us in an attempt to overpower the quiet enticements of the Holy Spirit.   

Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ enables our spirit to act and to overcome the flesh – “It is through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means.  This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts.  Divine grace is needed by every soul in consequence of the fall of Adam and also because of man’s weaknesses and shortcomings” (See LDS Bible Dictionary, Grace)

Like Nephi in the Book of Mormon, we receive many blessings yet still experience the weaknesses of the flesh.  (See 2 Nephi 4: 17-28)  But if we put our trust in the Lord and not in “the arm of flesh” (2 Nephi 4:34-35) then his “grace is sufficient for [us]” (D&C 17:8, 18:31).