“We believe that through the sufferings, death, and atonement of Jesus Christ all mankind, without one exception, are to be completely and fully redeemed, both body and spirit, from the endless banishment and curse to which they were consigned by Adam’s transgression; and that this universal salvation and redemption of the whole human family from the endless penalty of the original sin, is effected without any conditions whatever on their part; that is, they are not required to believe or repent, or be baptized, or do anything else, in order to be redeemed from that penalty; for whether they believe or disbelieve, whether they repent or remain impenitent, whether they are baptized or unbaptized, whether they keep the commandments or break them, whether they are righteous or unrighteous, it will make no difference in relation to their redemption, both soul and body, from the penalty of Adam’s transgression. The most righteous man that ever lived on the earth, and the most wicked wretch of the whole human family, were both placed under the same curse without any transgression or agency of their own, and they both alike will be redeemed from that curse, without any agency or conditions on their part” (Orson Pratt, in James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith, pp. 477–78).
Lehi told Jacob that he was redeemed “because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer” (2 Nephi 2:3), not for any act of Jacob’s but because of Jesus Christ. Lehi said, “the way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free” (v. 4).
There is another way in which redemption comes to man. “Men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil” (v. 5), yet all men sin. Hence it is that “by the law no flesh is justified” (v. 5). To be justified means to stand uncondemned before the Lord. No man has ever done that by his own merits, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). No man keeps the law of God in perfection. Thus it is that Christ “offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law” (2 Nephi 2:7). Jesus stood in our place and received the punishment due for all the broken laws of God in all the ages. But this aspect of salvation is not free in the strictest sense of the word, for there are things men must do to claim the benefits of salvation. Lehi says that salvation has value only for those “who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered” (v. 7). Men who would claim the benefits of Christ’s atoning act must exhibit faith in him sufficient to repent of all their sins. There is no other way to receive the full benefits of this redemptive act.
Elder James E. Talmage said: “The individual effect of the atonement makes it possible for any and every soul to obtain absolution from the effect of personal sins, through the mediation of Christ; but such saving intercession is to be invoked by individual effort as manifested through faith, repentance, and continued works of righteousness. The laws under which individual salvation is obtainable have been prescribed by Christ, whose right it is to say how the blessings made possible by His own sacrifice shall be administered. All men are in need of the Savior’s mediation, for all are transgressors. . . . That the blessing of redemption from individual sins, while open for all to attain, is nevertheless conditioned on individual effort, is as plainly declared as is the truth of unconditional redemption from death as an effect of the fall. There is a judgment ordained for all, and all will be judged ‘according to their works.’ The free agency of man enables him to choose or reject, to follow the path of life or the road that leads to destruction; therefore it is but just that he be held to answer for the exercise of his power of choice and that he meet the results of his acts” (Articles of Faith, pp. 89–90).