The Plan of Salvation in Latter-day Saint Teaching
As taught in the Latter-day Saint tradition
How Latter-day Saints describe the plan of salvation, and where it parts from orthodoxy.
Among the teachings most central to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is what its members call the "plan of salvation" — also named the plan of redemption, the plan of mercy, and the great plan of happiness. Latter-day Saints hold that this plan is the framework within which the whole story of human existence makes sense: where people came from before birth, why they are here, and where they are bound after death. The plan is not, in Latter-day Saint thought, a late addition to the gospel but the very architecture of God's dealings with the human family, laid (in the words attributed to the prophet Alma) "from the foundation of the world."
By the end of this lesson
- Outline the stages of the Latter-day Saint plan of salvation — premortal existence, the Fall as part of the plan, mortality as probation, the Atonement of Christ, resurrection and judgment, and degrees of glory leading to eternal progression.
- Show how Latter-day Saints read the four biblical anchors (John 17:3; 1 Corinthians 15:40-42; John 14:2-3; Revelation 20:12-13) in support of the plan, and how historic Christianity reads the same texts differently.
- Trace the plan through its principal Book of Mormon sources — 2 Nephi 2 on the Fall and agency, Alma 34 on the infinite Atonement and mortal probation, and Alma 40-42 on the spirit world, resurrection, and the reconciling of justice and mercy.
- Explain why the historic churches (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant) regard the plan as standing outside Nicene orthodoxy, especially on the nature of God and the Creator-creature distinction.
- Distinguish this lesson on the plan of salvation from the companion study on the Latter-day Saint Restoration, describing each tradition's view fairly without flattening the disagreement.
Scripture
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