Stephen E. Robinson from his book ‘Believing Christ’ taught:
The only other way of being justified, of being declared not guilty before God, is to admit our own imperfections, admit we can’t be perfect on our own or save ourselves by our own efforts, and have faith in Christ our Savior. We must accept his offer of help by entering into a completely new covenant in which his efforts are added to our own and make up for our deficiencies. This is called justification by faith in Christ.
In the new covenant of faith, perfect innocence is still required, but it is required of the team or partnership of Christ-and-me, rather than of me alone. Because Christ and I are one in the gospel covenant, God accepts our combined total worthiness, and together Christ and I are perfectly worthy. As a result, in Christ I am clean and worthy today. My individual perfect performance remains a long-term personal goal and will be the eventual outcome of the covenant relationship, but it is not a prerequisite to being justified in the short run by faith in Christ. “We know that all men must repent and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, and worship the Father in his name, and endure in faith on his name to the end, or they cannot be saved in the Kingdom of God. And we know that justification through the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is just and true.” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:29-30.)
In the New Testament the two means of justification, by law and by faith, are referred to as separate yokes and burdens. The obligation of the law with its demand for perfect obedience was compared to a heavy “yoke and bondage” (Gal. 5:1; see Acts 15:10), while the obligations of the gospel covenant with its repentance, forgiveness, and atonement are called “easy” and “light”: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28-30.)
There is no heavier yoke than the demand for perfection—the curse of the law. And many of the Saints still struggle under its load. But the good news is that in Christ we are set free from that crushing burden. He bore that particular burden for us, and his perfect performance extended and applied to us frees us from a similar requirement at this time. In the gospel covenant, we exchange the burden of sin for the obligation to love Him and each other and to do the very best we can. ~Stephen E. Robinson (deceased): Believing Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), 81-83 Dwarsligger edition) (For the next post in this series, click Keeping the Commandments )
