2 Nephi 26:12

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Reference Search: 2 Nephi 26:12

12 And as I spake concerning the convincing of the Jews, that Jesus is the very Christ, it must needs be that the Gentiles be convinced also that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God;

Quotes for Discussion

Moroni wrote on the title page of the Book of Mormon that one of the major reasons the Book of Mormon had been preserved was for the purpose of the “convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.” Jesus is, of course, the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. As to this verity there is wholesale rejection by unconverted Jews but little dispute among the believing element in modern Christendom.

But Jesus Christ is also the Eternal God. He is Jehovah. He is the Holy One of Israel. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the same eternal being who gave the Law of Moses on Sinai. And he is a separate and distinct being from that of his eternal parent, the Almighty Elohim. As to these latter verities there is almost universal ignorance in the Christian world and, once again, complete rejection by Jews who have not come to accept Jesus as the Christ. The Book of Mormon is thus a Sacred volume which manifests the identity of the premortal Jehovah, the Shepherd of Israel. It establishes beyond question that a God became a man, that he condescended to leave his throne divine to take upon him a tabernacle of clay, and that he who was and is the Lord Omnipotent came to earth to suffer and bleed and die to atone for the spiritual and physical death of the human family.

This Jesus Christ, this Eternal God, is the same yesterday, today, and forever in the sense that he always manifests himself unto those who call on his name in faith and endure in righteousness. The Holy Ghost is the “gift of God unto all those who diligently seek [Christ], as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men. For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him.” (1 Nephi 10:17-18.)

Millet & McConkie, BOM Commentary, Vol 1, p. 304-305

Christ-Messiah is God!

Such is the plain and pure pronouncement of all the prophets of all the ages. In our desire to avoid the false and absurd conclusions contained in the creeds of Christendom, we are wont to shy away from this pure and unadorned verity; we go to great lengths to use language that shows there is both a Father and a Son, that they are separate Persons and are not somehow mystically intertwined as an essence of spirit that is everywhere present. Such an approach is perhaps essential in reasoning with the Gentiles of sectarianism; it helps to overthrow the fallacies formulated in their creeds.

But having so done, if we are to envision our Lord’s true status and glory, we must come back to the pronouncement of pronouncements, the doctrine of doctrines, the message of messages, which is that Christ is God. And if it were not so, he could not save us.

Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p. 98