Without the Law

What exactly does a “righteous judgment” require? In the next verse, King Benjamin explained that to ensure a righteous judgment, the Savior’s blood atoned “for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam” and for those “who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned.” A righteous judgment also required, he taught, that “the blood of Christ atoneth for” the sins of little children.

These scriptures teach a glorious doctrine: the Savior’s atoning sacrifice heals, as a free gift, those who sin in ignorance?—those to whom, as Jacob put it, “there is no law given.” Accountability for sin depends on the light we have been given and hinges on our ability to exercise our agency. We know this healing and comforting truth only because of the Book of Mormon and other Restoration scripture. Elaborating on the doctrine of baptism for the dead, the Prophet Joseph once said: “While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; He views them as His offspring. … He is a wise Lawgiver, and will judge all men, not according to the narrow, contracted notions of men. … He will judge them, ‘not according to what they have not, but according to what they have’; those who have lived without law, will be judged without law, and those who have a law, will be judged by that law. We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and … we shall all of us eventually have to confess that the Judge of all the earth has done right”

Of course, where there is a law given, where we are not ignorant of the will of God, we are accountable. As King Benjamin emphasized: “Wo unto him who knoweth that he rebelleth against God! For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

This too is glad tidings of the doctrine of Christ. Not only does the Savior heal and restore those who sin in ignorance, but also, for those who sin against the light, the Savior offers healing on the condition of repentance and faith in Him. Individuals may be ignorant of certain commandments and covenants or be unable to exercise their agency in some circumstances but still be accountable in other circumstances because of the Light of Christ they possess. The Savior, who is our judge and who has assured a righteous judgment, will distinguish these circumstances. And He has paid the price for both?—the former unconditionally and the latter upon the condition of repentance.]