Mormon proceeds to tell his listeners that they can lay hold of every good thing through their faith, for a good thing comes through Christ, and God, who knoweth all things, sent angels to minister unto men and manifest concerning his coming (vv. 19–22). Mormon added that God also declared to prophets that Christ would come and that there were various ways that good things were manifest unto men: “wherefore … men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ” (vv. 23–25).
Mormon further attested that men were saved by faith in the name of Christ, and they became the sons and daughters of God (v. 26). We become his sons and daughters through a rebirth experience, through being born again (see Mosiah 5:7, Ether 3:14; Galatians 4:1–7). As the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “Being born again, comes by the Spirit of God through ordinances” (TPJS, 162). Thus faith produces ordinances necessary for salvation.