Our mortal story begins in a pre-mortal setting where God presented a plan and two people volunteered to implement the plan. One offered to return everyone to God, at the cost of our agency, and was rejected. The other, Jesus Christ, offered to sacrifice Himself in order for us to be able to have a mortal experience with its attendant risks. He would redeem all who would accept redemption. Thus, first came God, then Christ, then creation and mortality (See Abraham 3:25-28, Moses 4:1-2, and 2 Nephi 2:4).
God has given us commandments and instructed us sufficient to know good from evil (2 Nephi 2:5). The commandments can be thought of as rules of thumb for how a good person should live. It is human nature, though, to break commandments. Sometimes we break commandments due to a lack of understanding because, while we know good from evil, we may not understand all of the commandments. Other times, we ignore them out of desires for physical experiences or for other reasons. In any case, no matter how good the law or commandments from God might be, we break them and experience sin (2 Nephi 2:5, Romans 3:20,23).
I think that in the pre-mortal world we understood that sin would, inevitably, be part of our mortal experience. The reason we were willing to enter into mortality was because of the chance to obtain a body and to learn by our own experience, knowing that Jesus Christ would bring us back home to God. Sin is inevitable. The real challenge for us is not sin but, rather, to learn from sin. When we sin we “taste the bitter” in order to learn to prize the good (see Moses 6:55).
Paul anticipated a likely reaction to these ideas. He realized that some people would think that they can sin as much as they want, as long as they eventually repent. Paul says, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid (Romans 6:1-2).” If we choose to continue in sin, because we like the bitter taste, then we choose to serve the adversary. If, on the other hand, we choose to turn to Jesus Christ then He will change our nature so that sin has no power over us. Thus, the law or commandment gives occasion for sin and sin may cause us to turn to Christ. We become the servant of who we choose to obey (see Romans 6:16-18). Thus, sin does not define us. Rather, our reaction to sin and who we choose to obey is what really matters.
Baptism symbolizes our burial with Christ into death followed by being raised up by God into new life. We can live now in likeness to Christ’s resurrection in new life, free from sin (see Romans 6:4-7). In another translation of Romans 6:7 it says, “For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.” Thus, through the death of the person of sin as symbolized in baptism a new person that is alive in Christ can rise and be free from the power of sin.
To live after the desires of the flesh is to embrace the bitterness of sin. To choose to live by the Spirit is to choose to follow Christ into this new life (Romans 8:5-6). Ultimately, it is this Spirit that raised Christ from the dead and that will quicken our bodies in the resurrection (Romans 8:11). And, it can be our guide in life right now. We can begin now to live a life that is quickened by the Spirit as if we are already risen in Christ. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons (and daughters) of God (Romans 8:14).”
Jesus Christ has overcome mortal death by the resurrection and has overcome spiritual death by the power of the atonement. We are thus free to choose whether to live in the death of sin or in the life of the Spirit. We cannot do it on our own. No matter how hard we try, on our own we are subject to sin and death. It is by the grace of God that we are freed from sin and death and can live a life that is alive in Christ not only now, but in the eternities (2 Nephi 10:23-25 and “The Gift of Grace” by Deiter Uchtodorf, April 2015).
The sacrament is a wonderful blessing that allows us to declare our willingness to obey the commandments every week. Notice in the prayer on the bread that we say that we are willing to take upon us the name of the son, that we are willing to obey his commandments, and that we are willing to always remember Him. The promised blessing is His Spirit to be with us. Each week, despite our willingness to obey, we find ourselves breaking commandments. But, this is not condemning us. Rather, it is giving us the opportunity, through grace, to feel His Spirit as we repent and renew our willingness. In the prayer on the water we say that we do remember Him. We remember Him when we learn from breaking the commandments and turn to Him to be alive in His Spirit. Thus, when we remember Him, we do have His Spirit to be with us (D&C 20:77,79). By this process, Jesus Christ teaches us and makes us more like Him. And, as we become alive in His Spirit, we are less prone to sin until we are completely set free from the power of sin.
The most important thing I have learned through studying these topics is that the grace of God came first. God loved us and invited us to participate in a plan that allows us to become more like God. Jesus Christ was an integral part of the plan from the very beginning. He was sent by God to create the earth, give commandments, be born into mortality, overcome temporal and spiritual death and to raise us up to return to God and to be able to stay with God. The atonement was not an afterthought to heal a plan that failed when Adam and Eve fell. Rather, grace was first, last, and always the plan. Jesus Christ really is the first and the last, the beginning and the end of the plan. Thus, sin is already forgiven and overcome. We just need to accept it and live a new life in the Spirit of Christ right now. In this there is peace and joy.
