'Despite All We Can Do' – 2 Nephi 25:23 in Literary and Rhetorical Context


maklelan
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3 hours ago, Jersey Boy said:

This verse cannot be properly understood without reference to the fact that the reason why Nephi was laboring so diligently wasn’t to persuade his people to understand that it is by grace that they are saved after all they can do, for that is mentioned only to the reader as a clarifying aside. No, the reason why Nephi was laboring diligently was to persuade his people to believe in Christ and be reconciled to God the Father through his atoning sacrifice. With this in mind , it becomes clear that what Nephi is trying to communicate TO THE READER is that a man can wear out his life in devoted service to God, but unless he first believes in Christ and has been reconciled to God through his atoning sacrifice all that expenditure of effort is in vain, for a man cannot be saved by his own effort. This is why we are told that “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess to the glory of the Father that Jesus is the Christ”. Without faith in Christ, receiving his forgiveness for our sins, and being redeemed from the fallen nature by virtue of his atoning sacrifice, all is lost.

I don't that we can ever say that being saved is merely an "aside" to any message about the Good Word as that is the focal point of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is being saved that gives meaning to and defines everything else, not the other way around. But I do agree with your assessment of being reconciled to God as the context in which this statement is uttered. 

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3 hours ago, laronius said:

I don't that we can ever say that being saved is merely an "aside" to any message about the Good Word as that is the focal point of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is being saved that gives meaning to and defines everything else, not the other way around. But I do agree with your assessment of being reconciled to God as the context in which this statement is uttered. 

Literarily speaking, it’s a clarifying aside to the reader. In this case, my use of the word aside has no reference to the statement’s relative importance. From the dictionary: Aside, in reserve; in a separate place, as for safekeeping; apart; away.

Edited by Jersey Boy
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