Continuing from: ‘Justification by Faith’. . . . Keeping the Commandments II, Stephen Robinson wrote:
In the New Testament, when Paul talks about keeping he commandments or being justified by works, he means obey all the commandments all the time. Therefore he rightly concludes that no one can keep “all the commandments” in this sense, that our failure to keep the commandments perfectly condemns us, and that we must look somewhere else for a means of salvation. Strictly speaking, then, it doesn’t matter which ones you keep and which ones you break; if you don’t keep them all, you are a transgressor and guilty rather than righteous or just. When the terms are defined in this way, clearly whoever would claim to be righteous on the basis of “keeping the commandments” must keep all the commandments all of the time. Good Luck.
The Terms of the New Contract
Where the terms of the old contract, the Mosaic Law, were perfect obedience in exchange for justification before God, salvation from enemies, and an inheritance in the promised land, the terms of the new contract are (1) faith in the Lord Jesus Christ—-an ongoing commitment to the Savior, (2) repentance—-an ongoing process of repudiating our mistakes and trying again, and (3) baptism—a symbolic ordinance in which the actual removal of guilt takes place. When we have done all this, we are worthy to (4) receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Receiving this high gift verifies that the covenant is accepted, that we have been cleansed of our sins, and that we are therefore worthy of the companionship of the third member of the Godhead. (See 3 Nephi 27:19-21.) Those who keep the new covenant also receive justification before God, salvation from enemies (our real enemies—sin and death), and an inheritance in the promised land (the kingdom of God). Thus the new covenant provides us, on terms we can meet, all the blessings promised by, but unattainable under, the old covenant.
So this is one way of understanding the gospel covenant, the Savior’s proposition—the proposal to His beloved. The covenant is an agreement, a partnership agreement, between ourselves and the Savior. We must believe in Christ and we must believe in justification by faith in Christ. We must be committed to both. Knowing that we cannot do everything that the law demanded of us, in the gospel covenant we agree to do all that we can do. We agree to give our Savior our best effort, to give Him everything we have. We agree that perfection is our ultimate goal and that we will work with him toward that goal. Thus the idea of “keeping the commandments” is still a vital part of the arrangement, but keeping the commandments perfectly” isn’t, at least not for now: In return for this wonderful concession, we also agree to repent whenever and however we fail to keep the commandments perfectly and to try again, and again, and again, if necessary, and never to give up repenting and trying to be like him.~Steven E. Robinson, Believing Christ, (Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1992) 87-90 Dwarsligger edition. (~continued see Keeping the Commandments III)
