The Development of the Mormon Concept of Grace

by Blake Ostler
Originally published Spring 1991 (24:1)
LATTER-DAY SAINTS may be surprised to discover that Joseph Smith did not reject the importance of grace. Indeed, he developed a profound and novel view resolving many problems presented by the grace-freedom dichotomy in classical Christian thought. Moreover, Joseph’s
concept of grace was consistent through his lifetime, even though it underwent a major shift from Pauline to Johannine categories of thought. The notion of grace presented in the Book of Mormon is essentially the same as Joseph Smith taught in the Nauvoo era. However, some early assumptions underlying the Book of Mormon scheme of grace were abandoned in Nauvoo: notably, the ideas of “original sin” and “regenerating grace.” Despite continuity in the underlying concept, the Mormon notion of grace developed from a theology grounded in static states of being to one seeinprocess of growth throughout life and eternity.
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