Lessons for Our Day From the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ - 2024
Lesson No. Twenty-One

Justice and Mercy, and Repentance and Atonement - Alma 42

The Mediator is the title Elder Boyd K. Packer gave to his April 1977 general conference sermon in April 1977 and which the Church has made in to the accompany video. This sermon and video powerfully teach the doctrines of Alma 42, but when I personally experienced what Elder Packer taught it changed my life forever. Elder Packer began:

“I have not, to my knowledge, in my ministry said anything more important. I intend to talk about the Lord, Jesus Christ, about what He really did—and why it matters now.

“One may ask, ‘Aside from the influence He has had on society, what effect can He have on me individually?’

“To answer that question I ask, have you ever been hard-pressed financially? Have you ever been confronted with an unexpected expense, a mortgage coming due, with really no idea how to pay it?

“Such an experience, however unpleasant, can be, in the eternal scheme of things, very, very useful. If you miss that lesson you may have to make it up before you are spiritually mature, like a course that was missed or a test that was failed.”

Alma 42 – Alma’s council to his son Corianton on how justice and mercy, and repentance and atonement work together may be the most profound, well-reasoned, and life changing discussion of this subject in all of scripture. I will share thoughts, verse by verse, with the hope that it will strengthen our testimony of these interrelated doctrines.

Vs 1 – According to the justice (law) of God there is a punishment (consequence) for sin – According to eternal law, the certain consequence of sin is misery.

Vs 2-3 – To explain the relationship between justice (law) and mercy Alma began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He explained that after they became mortal by partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they were prevented from eating of the tree of life so they would have a time to repent and not live forever in their sins. A wonderful manifestation of God’s mercy is that he gives us time to repent.

Vs 4 – “And thus we see” (Vs 4) – Whenever the phrase, “And thus we see” is used in the Book of Mormon, and it is used frequently, an important point is being emphasized. Here Alma says, “And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God.” The emphasis is that mortality is the time to repent.

Vs 5 – The plan of salvation provides for a mortal experience, a “space for repentance”. If there were “no space for repentance..the great plan of salvation would have been frustrated.”

Vs 6 – Physical death is essential to the plan of salvation – The Fall brought death into the world.

Vs 7 – Agency is an essential part of the plan of salvation – Alma emphasizes the importance of agency in the plan of salvation by using the phrases “and now, ye see” and “thus we see.”

Vs 8 – Man will not be “reclaimed (while in mortality) from temporal death for that would destroy the great plan of happiness” (emphasis and parenthesis mine).

Vs 9 – Man can be reclaimed from spiritual death, in mortality, by the atonement of Christ.

Vs 10 – Mortality is a “probationary state”, the final test, and mortality is also “a preparatory state” a learning experience and a growth opportunity.

Vs 11 – The plan of redemption is the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Vs 12 – The atonement of Christ, by overcoming physical death through the resurrection, unconditionally saves all mortals who have ever lived

Vs 13 – “Using justice as a synonym for law, Alma states, ‘Now the work of justice [that is, the operation of law] [cannot] be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God’ (Alma 42:13). It is His perfect understanding and use of law—or in other words, His justice—that gives God His power. We need the justice of God, a system of fixed and immutable laws that He Himself abides by and employs, so that we can have and exercise agency. This justice is the foundation of our freedom to act and is our only path to ultimate happiness” (D Todd Christofferson, Why We Need Jesus Christ, Ensign, December 2020, emphasis mine}.

Vs 14 – “And thus we see (this is important) that all mankind were fallen and they were in the grasp of justice”;(the law) which cut them off from the presence of God.

Vs 15 – “The plan of mercy” (and the plan of redemption, Vs 13) is the atonement of Jesus Christ which “God himself” will make “for the sins of the world.” The atonement of Christ appeases the demands of justice (the law). Therefore, “God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.” This is expressed in verse in a powerful way by Eliza R. Snow: “How great how glorious, how complete, Redemption’s grand design, Where justice, love, and mercy meet In harmony divine” (How Great the Wisdom and the Love, verse 6, LDS Hymns #195).

Vs 16 – A synonym for “punishment” as used here is “consequence”. The punishment or consequence that is affixed for sin is to be cast out of the presence of God. And just as the life of a soul is eternal this punishment or consequence for sin is also eternal. Because there is punishment (consequences) for sin God in His great mercy provides us time in mortality to repent.

Vs 17 – 21 – God lives in system of eternal laws all of which have consequences. Some of these laws are given to mortals as commandments. Keeping these commandments results in happiness. Braking them brings “remorse of conscience” (Vs 18). Save Jesus only, all mortals who are accountable have sinned and cannot dwell in the presence of God.

Vs 22 – Repentance is granted which mercy claimeth. If there is no repentance then “justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment.”

Vs 23 – 25 – “Mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God…to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice.”

Vs 26 - 28 – “And thus God bringeth about his great and eternal purposes” (Vs 26). His purposes, established in the pre-mortal existence, include preserving mankind’s agency to choose salvation and redemption through the atonement of Christ, or the destruction and misery that always comes if the devil has power in a person’s life.

Testimony – Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote the doctrinal summary outlined in the Headnote to Alma 42: “Mortality is a probationary time to enable man to repent and serve God – The Fall brought temporal and spiritual death upon all mankind – Redemption comes through repentance – God Himself atones for the sins of the world – Mercy is for those who repent – All others are subject to God’s justice – Mercy comes because of the Atonement.” I testify that these truths, expressed so succinctly yet powerfully, are essential parts of the “great plan of happiness”.

Released on August 10th. 2024