One of the “Items of instruction given by Joseph Smith the Prophet” to the Church was: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (section heading to Doctrine and Covenants 130:20–21 and Alma 32:20–21). Just as there is a requirement for obedience to eternal law to receive a blessing, there is also a punishment required for repentance to pay the justice (v. 16). The wording of this verse may be misleading. The punishment is required for a broken law, and after the sinner has repented, the Atonement of Jesus Christ will pay for the sin or transgression for which a person has repented. President Spencer W. Kimball warned the priesthood of the Church:
There can be no forgiveness without real and total repentance, and there can be no repentance without punishment. This is as eternal as is the soul… . Please remember these things when someone comes before you who has broken the laws of God. It is so easy to let our sympathies carry us out of proportion ; and when a man sins he must suffer. It is an absolute requirement—not by the bishop—but it is a requirement by nature and by the very part of man. [CR, April, 1975, 115]
If the sinner does not repent, he must endure the punishment. The Savior told Martin Harris, through Joseph Smith:
15 Therefore I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.
16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—
19 Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.
20 Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.[D&C 19:15–20]
Having paid the requirement for the broken law, either by repentance or through their own suffering, happiness is obtainable because they know they have been forgiven.
Alma asks three questions (Alma 42:17), and then answers them in the reverse order of their being asked (v. 18). These three questions and answers are outlined below.
•Third question:“How could there be a law save there was a punishment?”•Answer:“There was a punishment affixed.”•Second question:“How could he sin if there was no law?”Answer:“A just law [was] given.”•First question:“How could a man repent except he should sin?”•Answer:“[The law] brought remorse of conscience unto man.”
Father Lehi had previously answered the three questions, in the Book of Mormon, but Alma was teaching his son. Alma may have been drawing on this source. The questions are repeated for convenience, and Lehi’s answers are given.
•Third question:“How could there be a law save there was a punishment?”•Answer:“Men are instructed sufficiently that they may know good from evil” (2 Nephi 2:5).•Second question:“How could he sin if there was no law?”Answer:“The law is given unto men, and … by the law men are cut off” (2 Nephi 2:5).•First question:“How could a man repent except he should sin?”•Answer:“By the temporal law they were cut off; and also, by the spiritual law they perish from that which is good, and become miserable forever” (2 Nephi 2:5)
Therefore, three things are necessary for men to obtain salvation: (1) a law; (2) an ability to understand the law; (3) agency, the right to choose.
Alma gave Corianton some examples. Murder would be common without law (Alma 42:19). Sin would be rampant without law (v. 20). Without law neither justice nor mercy would have control over the population (v. 21).
Alma draws his conclusion (v. 22). Law is the basic element or the foundation for happiness. Law is eternal and comes from God. There is a punishment for breaking the law, and also repentance to avoid the punishment. Mercy (Christ) will pay the law, but the law requires repentance before the mercy is applied. Justice requires a punishment and there is a law that determines what punishment is affixed. The punishment cannot be varied or ignored because the law inflicts the punishment (v. 22). If these eternal laws were not followed, God would cease to be God. Apparently God became God by conforming to eternal law, and will observe those laws because his nature has become eternal with the law. To borrow from the book of Daniel, when men are “weighed in the balances,” the conditions below will determine who will be “found wanting” (Daniel 5:27), and who will be balanced for eternal life. Through the Atonement, men are brought back into the presence of God to be judged of their works according to law and justice. The same doctrine was taught by Samuel the Lamanite:
15 For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence of the Lord.
16 Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual.
17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord. [Helaman 14:15–17]
The same doctrine was also taught by father Lehi (see 2 Nephi 2:10–15); previously by Alma (see Alma 12:12–14); and later by Moroni (see Mormon 9:13–14).