Jacob 1 - That We Might Persuade Them to Come Unto Christ I'm taking an online economics class right now, which prompted me to think of the definition of economics in the context of the scriptures. Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. In the case of Nephi and his successor Jacob, the plates upon which they engraved their record was a scarce resource. They were costly to make and difficult to engrave, and instilling a tradition of passing them through generations was surely cumbersome. Recognizing the great importance of spiritual things and the challenge of maintaining records, Nephi instructed Jacob to prioritize religious instruction saying, " if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people" (Jacob 1:4). This priority was not only reflecte
In this doctrinally rich passage, Abinidi teaches about the divinity and saving role Jesus Christ.
One of the passages that has been most difficult for me to understand in the past is found in versus 2-5. While God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages, Christ is often referred to as the "Father." Abinidi explains the the use of this title for Christ this way: "And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son—The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son—And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth. And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people" (Mosiah 15:2-5).
Abinidi is not saying that Heaven;y Father and Jesus Christ are the same person, but that the singular Christ has elements of submission and creation within Himself. Kelly Ogden and Andrew Skinner in Verse by Verse: the Book of Mormon summarized it this way: "Jesus Christ is both the Son and the Father—the Son because he was begotten by God the Father and submitted to the will of the Father, but also the Father in the sense that he is the creator or father of the earth; he is the father of our flesh because our flesh is made form the dust or elements of the earth that he created; he is ... the Father or Author or our salvation .. and by divine investiture he serves the role of the Father in all things relative to our salvation ... he became our covenant Father, and as we are spiritually reborn we become the children of Christ" (Kelly, Ogden, pg. 354).
Another key doctrinal point Abinidi explains relates to who will benefit from Christ's atonement. We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved, but God will force no one to heaven. We have to choose as individuals to accept the immense gift that Christ offers us. When we accept Christ through faith, repentance, and covenants like baptism, we become his spiritual seed, daughters and sons of God. Abinidi questioned, "And who shall be his seed? Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God. For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now, are they not his seed?" (Mosiah 15:10-12).
We can be spiritually begotten of Christ by listening to and heeding the instructions of His chosen servants, the prophets. Abinidi spoke before Christ came to the earth and therefore referred to His mortal ministry as a future event and "looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins." For us living millennia after Christ came to earth, we can look forward to the day of our personal remission of sins. Christ has completed the atonement, but its full effect in our lives is a future event contingent on our choices. In His intercessory prayer for the children of the world, Christ explained the distinction between the world and those who would follow him. "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are" (John 17:9-11).
People who follow the commandments with faith in Christ are "given" to Him to be saved. They are healed of sin and sanctified to be more like God. While Christ's saving power wrought through the atonement is extended to all, He performed the atonement knowing that many would not accept it. He did it for the few. In a manner of speaking, only the chosen, those given to Christ by Heavenly Father, are saved. The caveat is that we choose ourselves.
Abinidi closes by testify of Christ's saving power, "For were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, I say unto you, were it not for this, all mankind must have perished" (Mosiah 15:19). I echo Abinidi's words and have found them to be true in my own life. For now the evidences I have include profound feelings of certainty and elevating thoughts that confirm these truths, and the transformation I have observed in my own life as a result of Christ's cleansing and enabling influence. I'm certain enough to bet my life and the way I live it that these things are true, and trust in an even greater destiny He has promised in the future.
Application Questions
What do you know to be true about Jesus Christ? How can you come closer to Him and embrace and internalize his teachings?
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