When I told someone close to me (a Mormon) about my conversion to Christianity, she said “but they think they can just be saved by faith and not keep the commandments!”
I told my Christian friends this, to show how Mormons see them. They wholeheartedly disagreed.
“No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him…This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child” (1 John 3:6,10)
“Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2 and keep reading through the end of the chapter.)
Here’s what Mormons don’t understand. There’s a difference between being saved by works and just doing the works (living a clean life) after you’ve been saved.
Why? Because we love Jesus and don’t take His grace for granted.
It’s like they can’t even comprehend that someone might actually want to keep the commandments, without a threat tied to it.
(But I might lose my temple recommend! I have to be righteous!)
But if anyone does think they can just confess the name of Christ and then continue about their worldly ways, the Bible has a lot to say about that!
We’ve all heard Faith without works is dead. But today I want to focus on the book of Colossians.
An amazing book!
It’s all about living a Christian life and continuing to grow, even after you’ve been saved.
In Mormon-speak, you might call this Enduring to the End, which comes after you’ve been saved (after you’ve gone through the gate—2 Ne 31:17)
“But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard” (Colossians 1:22-23).
This passage shows us, all Christians, that our redemption does depend on us keeping the faith. We cannot confess Jesus and go back to our old ways. If you truly are born again, you will crucify your old life and live the rest of your life for Jesus.
“Just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, being rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught” (Colossians 2:6)
“Put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry…Put away all of the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices” (Colossians 3:5-9).
(Romans 8:6-9 and 1 John 2:15-17 are also favorite scriptures of mine about putting off the world. In the Book of Mormon, see Mosiah 3:19)
And then, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones…put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…forgiving one another…above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ…rule your hearts” (Colossians 3:12-15 but please keep reading!)
This entire book is just lovely.
(I mean, really, the entire Bible is amazing)
And there are many more scriptures, all over the Bible, about proper Christian behavior and keeping commandments! Of course Christians believe they should keep the commandments!
But since I’m still a work in progress, boy am I sure glad salvation comes before all these things have been accomplished. 💗
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippeans 3:12)
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The book of Titus is also about Christian behavior—“that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.”
Here’s a wonderful sermon about continuing to grow in Christ:
All I Possess 