Salvation is grace alone (Sola gratia) through faith alone (Sola fide) in Christ alone (Solus Christus). Our mission to Mormons continues. How do Mormons believe they gain salvation?

From the time of the Reformation the Christian church has recognized the three solas of salvation: grace alone (Sola gratia) through faith alone (Sola fide) in Christ alone (Solus Christus. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. It is grace—the free gift of God. It is freely given to us by God through faith which is also a work of God through the Holy Spirit, not a faith which is of human origin. And that faith is placed in Christ and his redemptive work alone. He paid the full price for our sins and nothing we must or indeed can do to contribute to our salvation. All trust in human efforts is futile. That trust in Christ is an on going work of the Holy Spirit throughout our lives. We continue trusting in Christ daily for our salvation and at no point in our Christian walk does salvation become the result of anything we can do.

What do our lost friends in the Mormon Church believe?

(1) They believe that no one can be saved without the intervention of a Mormon priest. The individual sinner can not draw near to God except through the church priest. . ." for nothing will save a man but a legal (Mormon) administrator, for none other will be acknowledged by God or angels." (Smith, J. F. (1976). Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith) Christians have faith that the Great High Priest of our profession is Christ.

(2) They are taught that coming to God for salvation is a matter of the intellect, not the heart or will. "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits have more knowledge and consequently more power." (Smith, J. F. (1976). Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith) Christians rightly believe that we come to Christ through faith, not through intellect.

(3) They are taught that God intervenes in salvation only after our best efforts have been exhausted. "It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” (II Nephi. 25:23) Christians rightly understand that there is nothing we can do to earn salvation.

(4) Finally, and worst of all, they believe that forgiveness of sins is only conditional. If sin occurs again in the life of the Mormon believer, the previous forgiveness of sins is canceled and the sinner is again guilty of sins that had been forgiven. "Remission of sins can be lost through recurrent transgression, for ‘unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God’” (Doctrine &Covenants 82:7). The Word of God teaches us that our forgiven sins are buried eternally in the sea of God’s forgetfulness (Micah 7:19).

What a bleak, hopeless, and impossible outlook faces the Mormon believer. By contrast what a glorious hope is the Christian believer's! Another reason to reach out to the lost Mormons among us and to win them to our gracious Lord and Redeemer!

This and many more Mormon doctrines are examined in my soon to be released book Mormonism and the Bible.