Doctrine & Theologyplanatonementagencyresurrection

The Plan of Salvation

What is the Latter-day Saint “plan of salvation,” and is it more than a missionary diagram?

Bible

The Bible answers

Bible · Romans 8:16–17

KJV + NRSVUE

King James Version
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

NRSVUE
it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Bible · 1 Corinthians 15:22

KJV + NRSVUE

In Christ shall all be made alive. Universal resurrection is mercy.

King James Version
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

NRSVUE
for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon answers

2 Nephi 2:25
Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

Also restored

Moses 1:39
This is my work and my glory — immortality and eternal life of man.
For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Ancient witnesses

Dead Sea Scrolls and related extra-biblical texts that illuminate the same pattern the Restoration restores.

4QInstruction (4Q417) and 1 Enoch

4QInstruction speaks of the “mystery of existence,” an inheritance of glory, and a distinction between the people of spirit and the spirit of flesh. 1 Enoch maps creation, Watchers, flood, judgment, and restoration as one divine plot.

The Restoration’s plan is the Bible’s plot made explicit: origin, fall, redemption, judgment, glory. It is not a corporate flowchart. It is the story Israel’s apocalypses kept telling and that the creeds shortened.

Faithful answers

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Gospel Topics

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Premortal life, mortal probation, the Atonement of Christ, the spirit world, resurrection, and kingdoms of glory form one plan. Agency is essential. Christ is the only name. The diagram on the whiteboard is a map of scripture, not a replacement for it.

The plan of salvation is God’s plan for the happiness of His children. It includes the Creation, the Fall, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and all the laws, ordinances, and doctrines of the gospel.

Immortality (resurrection) is a gift to all in Christ. Eternal life (life with God, exaltation) is a gift to those who come unto Christ by covenant.
The Fall is a necessary step, not a cosmic accident. 2 Nephi 2 will not let us hate the story we are in.
The spirit world (D&C 138; 1 Peter 3–4) means death is not the end of the missionary work of the Lord.
Joy is the telos. A plan that ends only in escape from earth, not in glorified embodiment and family, is too small for Moses 1:39.

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