Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Alma 42





Corianton took the teaching “God is love” to mean that God loves us too much to punish us, and thereby he justified his sins of pride and fornication.  This chapter explains very well that justice and mercy both seek to claim us, but cannot do so together.  Because of the Fall of Adam, justice has the say and demands the price of that action.  God is just.  God is also merciful.  This is only possible through the atonement of Jesus Christ, who paid the price of Adam’s action with His own redeeming blood.   The atonement made it possible for God to be merciful to the penitent while being just to the unpenitent.  Or as Alma explained: “For behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also claimeth all which is his own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved” (v. 24). As Alma said to Corianton, “let the justice of God, and his mercy, and his long-suffering…bring you down to the dust in humility” (v. 30).

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