The covenant of salt and "none righteous"

Salt is mentioned in reference to covenants twice in the Old Testament, first here:

13 And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. (Leviticus 2)

Then again here:

19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee. (Numbers 18)

Like so many other covenant symbols, salt has both positive and negative connotations.  On the one hand, salt is an important preservative. On the other, in excess it can bring agricultural barrenness and desolation. Leviticus 2 contains some interesting concepts which will be the subject of this post:

Because salt was employed as a preservative, its use in a covenantal context also emphasized the expectation that the covenant would last for a long time... Because salt inhibits the leavening action of yeast, which represented rebellion, salt could additionally stand for that which prevented rebellion. An additional explanation for the appropriateness of salt in connection with the covenant is found in its association with agricultural infertility: In a Hittite treaty, the testator pronounces a curse: if the treaty is broken, “may he and his family and his lands, like salt that has no seed, likewise have no progeny.” (Zondervan,. NRSV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, p. 832).

This adds context to Christ's famous saying:

13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. (3 Nephi 12; see also Matthew 5)

Let's take this just a little bit deeper. In what way do the covenant people of the Lord preserve the broader population? We actually have examples of this.  A classic example is found in the story of Abraham:

23 ¶ And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

26 And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.

30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.

32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. (Genesis 18)

Ten righteous people can save an entire city from destruction.  The principle here is that the righteous can serve as salt -- a preservative.

This also serves to highlight the significance of covenant rebellion. When none are found to be righteous, the people are in a truly terrible position. Paul gives us a somber summary of this state by pulling together verses from Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Isaiah:

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:

16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:

17 And the way of peace have they not known:

18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3)

The highlighted passage above paraphrases Ecclesiastes 7:20.

The Book of Mormon makes use of this phrase twice to underscore the degree of wickedness preceding eras of destruction among the Nephites.  The first example is here:

11 And because they did cast them all out, that there were none righteous among them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that their wickedness and abominations might be hid from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints whom I sent among them might not cry unto me from the ground against them. (3 Nephi 9)

The other example is found at the end of the period of righteousness following the visitation of Christ:

46 And it came to pass that the robbers of Gadianton did spread over all the face of the land; and there were none that were righteous save it were the disciples of Jesus. And gold and silver did they lay up in store in abundance, and did traffic in all manner of traffic. (4 Nephi 1)

(Side note: "no, not one" from Romans 3:10 is also found twice in the Book of Mormon, both times in an interesting but unrelated context to the purpose of this post.  See Moroni 7:17 and Moroni 10:25.)

The fancy word for this dual meaning is "bivalence" -- the covenant of salt highlights the fact that the same covenant which can bring about everlasting life also leads to severe consequences if rebellion sets in.

Faith, hope and charity leading to good works

My last post is more or less an introduction to this one. I have tried to figure out what to make of some connections between Moroni 7 and Moroni 10 and will try to organize my thoughts in this post. My thoughts build on several previous posts. For instance, a lot has been written already on this blog about Moroni 7. See here, here, here and here, for instance. I know I usually link too many previous posts so the reader will have to read five when they are supposed to read one:) But this is optional. I think we can capture the essence briefly with a few points:

• Mormon admonishes to lay hold upon every good thing through faith
• My last post shows that the ancient understanding of faith is more related to covenant fidelity than our modern understanding
• "Every good thing", a term that Mormon repeats multiple times in Moroni 7, is related to covenants, miracles and the creation

In addition, Mormon makes it absolutely clear that:

• Christ is the source of all that is good
• Faith, hope and charity are inseparably connected. You cannot really have one without the other two

These preceding bullet points are useful as backdrop. This post will elaborate on the following two additional points.

• Faith, hope and charity is the gateway to every good thing, because it binds us to the source of all good (Christ). In this union with Christ, good works flow from us naturally. 
• This is also related to the gifts of the Spirit

Lord Wilmore has previously shown here, here and here that good works, holy works and works of righteousness are used interchangeably (Yes, I know, even more links) and postulated that they describe covenant making. I think this is correct but I also think that they describe covenant keeping or the good that naturally flows from us when we are in a covenant union with Christ. In my previous post I quoted Ether 12:4

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

A very similar verse is found in Alma 7:24

And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

Coupled with Mormon's reasoning in Moroni 7, this is very clear. All that is good comes from God. We need to lay hold upon it by faith, hope and charity. Doing so, we link to the source and the good naturally flows from us, or rather from Him through us. Later in Ether 12, we read

Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness.

This is why faith, hope and charity makes us abound in good works or works of righteousness; it leads to the source. But what do these works look like? "Good" and "righteous" are very general terms and when "all things which are good cometh of God" (Moroni 7:12) that encompasses a great deal. Still, it seems that Moroni has a specific interpretation of his father's admonition to "lay hold upon every good thing". In Moroni 10, he discusses the gifts of the Spirit. After having mentioned several of them, he concludes

18 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ.
19 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that all these gifts of which I have spoken, which are spiritual, never will be done away, even as long as the world shall stand, only according to the unbelief of the children of men.
20 Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.

We get a sense here that Moroni is linking the gifts of the Spirit to his father's sermon in Moroni 7, discussing how we can lay hold upon every good thing through faith, hope and charity. This becomes even more clear in the following verses:

24 And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth—that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief.
25 And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God...
30 And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.

The message is clear and consistent with the other quotes. Through faith, hope and charity we have access to every good gift. We can lay hold upon it by coming unto Christ (the source of all good and righteous). When there is unbelief, these gifts are taken away and we are unable to do good. Moroni replaces "every good thing" with "every good gift" after having discussed the gifts of the Spirit. I am not sure if Moroni is clarifying what his father really meant by "every good thing" or if he is just using the gifts of the Spirit that he just discussed as an example that fits into a broader term.

In any case, the gifts of the spirit also fit into the covenant context discussed before. We know these are special gifts for baptized members who have received the gift of the Holy Ghost and entered into a covenant. When Paul writes about the gifts of the Spirit to the Corinthians, he compares it with "the body of Christ" (1 Cor 12:27). Becoming the body of Christ with various body parts/gifts is Paul's version of Moroni's "come unto Christ and lay hold upon every good gift". Paul also links this to faith, hope and charity. At the end of 1 Corinthians 12, after discussing the gifts of the Spirit, he writes:

But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. (1 Cor 12:31)

Bible commentaries who understand the underlying Greek interpret this as a way of introducing charity in the next chapter as the means to attain these gifts.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts (1 Cor 13:13-14:1)

I hope this is not getting too messy yet, so let me try to summarize: Faith, hope and charity lead to the source of all good and righteous. In a covenant union with Him, good naturally and abundantly flows from us in the form of various spiritual gifts that we can use to build "the body of Christ".

We think of the gifts of the Spirit as something belonging to New Testament times. The Book of Mormon verses I have quoted so far almost exclusively come from Mormon and Moroni living 300-400 AD. But they seem to be expanding on more ancient and perhaps partly lost teachings. I already quoted Alma 7:24, being proclaimed more than 80 years BC. Several decades earlier, Amaleki in the Book of Omni is

exhorting all men to come unto God, the Holy One of Israel, and believe in prophesying, and in revelations, and in the ministering of angels, and in the gift of speaking with tongues, and in the gift of interpreting languages, and in all things which are good; for there is nothing which is good save it comes from the Lord: and that which is evil cometh from the devil.

After a great destruction among the Nephites, Amaleki fled the land of Nephi under Mosiah-1's lead to Zarahemla. Mormon and Moroni had also witnessed great destruction among the Nephites. I believe that this circumstance is related to their admonitions to believe in and lay hold upon spiritual gifts. Moroni was clear about this: When these gifts are gone, it is because of unbelief and then there is none that "doeth good". What follows is destruction. Amaleki and Moroni do not want their readers to make the same mistakes as their people. 

The power of the name -- Part 1

There are multiple posts on this blog (too many to link) discussing the power of "the word". It is clear from the scriptures that the word is much more than a string of letters. It is the means of creation and salvation. It is quick and powerful and sharper than a double edged sword. It is sometimes equated with Christ.

I have noticed something similar about "the name". In many ancient cultures, including Israel, your name was not just something that people could say to have you respond. It was connected to your character and it was always a word with a specific meaning in that language (like some English names  today, like Faith, Charity, Joy). Your name was more important in many respects than what is the case today in the Western world. 

The name, Jesus Christ, also has specific meaning. Jesus comes from the Hebrew, Yeshua, and is the same name as the one transliterated as Joshua. As a side note, the fact that this was the name of the successor of Moses is interesting in the context of Jesus as the second Moses. Christ is the anglicized form of the Greek, chrīstós, which in turn is the translation of the Hebrew, Messiah. It means "anointed one" and refers to the tradition of anointing kings. He is the anointed one, the king, who brings salvation to mankind. 

But when it comes to the name of Christ, I think there is even more to it than its literal meaning. The name of Christ is the only name under heaven whereby man can be saved. The scriptures frequently admonish to believe in his name, rather than just believe in Him. We are asked to take upon us his name. Miracles and ordinances have been and are performed in his name. There is great power in the name.

One particular aspect I found as I studied this, is how the name is the means to bind us to him. Through the name we become his sons and daughters or his sheep, and are granted a place at his right hand. This is taught very clearly in the Book of Mormon. I will give several examples below

18 Yea, blessed is this people who are willing to bear my name; for in my name shall they be called; and they are mine.
19 And because thou hast inquired of me concerning the transgressor, thou art blessed.
20 Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep.
21 And he that will hear my voice shall be my sheep; and him shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive.
22 For behold, this is my church; whosoever is baptized shall be baptized unto repentance. And whomsoever ye receive shall believe in my name; and him will I freely forgive.
23 For it is I that taketh upon me the sins of the world; for it is I that hath created them; and it is I that granteth unto him that believeth unto the end a place at my right hand.
24 For behold, in my name are they called; and if they know me they shall come forth, and shall have a place eternally at my right hand. (Mosiah 26)

And as many as have received me, to them have I given to become the sons of God; and even so will I to as many as shall believe on my name, for behold, by me redemption cometh, and in me is the law of Moses fulfilled. (3 Nephi 9:17)

And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you. (Moroni 7:26)

And blessed is he that is found faithful unto my name at the last day, for he shall be lifted up to dwell in the kingdom prepared for him from the foundation of the world. And behold it is I that hath spoken it. Amen. (Ether 4:19)

5 Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day;
6 And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day. (3 Nephi 27)

There are numerous examples like this. When we bear his name, believe in his name, have faith in his name and are faithful unto his name, we are his, we are his sheep, we become his sons and daughters, we have a place at his right hand and are lifted up to dwell in his kingdom. Here are a couple of examples from other standard works:

I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will believe on my name, that they may become the sons of God, even one in me as I am one in the Father, as the Father is one in me, that we may be one. (D&C 35:2)

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1)

Ancient Israelites used patronymic names, which means that they were identified by their personal name and who was their father. For instance, we have "John the son of Zacharias" (Luke 3:2), "David the son of Jesse" (2 Chronicles 23:1) and "Manasseh the son of Joseph" (Joshua 17:2). So did the Nephites: "Amaleki, the son of Abinadom." (Omni 1:12), "Nephi the son of Helaman" (Helaman 7:1), "Ammon the son of Mosiah" (Alma 48:18), etc.

From their perspective, it is therefore natural that taking upon us the name of Christ means that we become his sons and daughters. We are born of him and even become one with him. Imagine being called <first name> the son/daughter of Christ! This is something King Benjamin wants for his people and this concept is detailed in the early chapters of Mosiah more than anywhere else in the scriptures. We will spend the next post going through that. But I will close this with a final example from Moses 6. In verse 52, God speaks to Adam

And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you.

In verses 59-60, God goes on to describe this spiritual rebirth, after which Adam is baptized. When he comes out of the water, God speaks to him again

Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons