Relying Alone Upon the Merits of Christ

D&C 45:3-5-"Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him— Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;  Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life."

This passage is one of my favorites in all of scripture.  We speak of Christ often as the Judge, but I prefer his role as Advocate (lawyer) as well.  I just finished reading Tad R. Callister's book "The Infinite Atonement" and one of the last chapters is about Christ's dual role as Judge and Advocate.  I highly recommend at least reading that chapter.  The understanding that there are numerous Judges and the Father can be seen as a head Judge is important to understanding what relying alone upon the merits of Christ means (see Moroni 6:4).  Especially since we know Christ himself taught that "except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."  The whole issue comes back down to Christ pronouncing us clean because of His works.

We see that Christ's case before the Father's for our defense is not based upon anything we have done.  At no point does Christ say "look at all the good things they have done, or listen to these people that have been so good" (when he says "spare these that believe on my name" he is simply stating his request. Since this comes after the word "wherefore" it is clear that he has already presented all of his "evidence" in the previous verse).  Christ's only defense for us relies alone upon His merits.  What a unique case.  How many times have you heard of a lawyer standing before a judge and saying "listen judge, I know this guy is guilty, I mean he has repeatedly broken this law.  But, look at all the good things I have done."  That would never stand in court.  Amazingly though, that is our only hope with God.  This is part of why Tad R Callister explained that it had to be an Infinite Atonement because anything short simply would not justify any of us being saved.  We simply are not worthy of anything according to justice.  However, because there is a mediator (as Boyd K Packer eloquently explains) we stand a chance.  The Father doesn't have to pay any regard to what we have done, he can completely turn a blind eye at that and rely alone upon the merits of Christ.  He effectively says to his Son, "I see thy sufferings and death when thou wast sinless, and because of this I will allow thee to be merciful towards whomever thou pleasest."  The verse explains that the people for which Christ is pleading his case are those that believe on his name.  So there is the key for us (meaning the only things we can do, hence "all that we can do"), we must believe on his name (which implies repentance, righteous works, charity, and ordinances-since all ordinances are symbols of Christ's Atonement which is also explained in the "Infinite Atonement".)  

In other words, the only reason the Father will extend mercy to us is because of what Christ did.  So then Christ says to the Father that in honor of his grace, spare those that believe in him.  So the terms of the contract have been changed so that now they are reasonable (just like Boyd K Packer's parable between justice and mercy).  Now instead of us trying to stand before the Father and make a useless case for why we should be forgiven, we rely alone upon the merits of Christ and then Christ tells us his new terms.  He says, believe on me, come unto me, be cleansed in my blood, be thou perfect, even as I am.  So because of Christ's works-his Infinite Atonement- he can appease the Father and justices demands and then he is allowed to assign us whatever requirements he pleases.  So returning back to the subject of multiple Judges, we may be able to say: Christ's Atoning blood completely and 100% satisfies the requirements of the first Judge, the Father.  We really don't even appear in the court room, this is a one on one meeting between Judge and Advocate, Father and Son, Creditor and Mediator, Justice and Mercy.  Then, once the Advocate has satisfied the Judge we are all freed from the demands of Justice that we could never meet, this can be thought of what it means to be saved by grace.  The Advocate has saved us solely based on his actions.  We are no longer under justice but under grace or mercy.  Salvation is now possible 100% thanks to Christ.  However, he then turns to us and says that we still must meet his requirements, that of obedience to what he teaches us.  He explains that for us to live with him we must love him, which we all automatically reply "of course we will love you, you just saved us."  He then rebuttals, "if you love me, keep my commandments".  This is why other religions erroneously accuse us of believing we are saved by works, because we believe that we have a contract or a covenant with Christ that we will be obedient to him because he has done for us what we could not. 

Elder James E. Talmage puts it succinctly: "We will be saved through the merits and by the atoning sacrifice of our Redeemer and Lord; and our claim upon the salvation provided is strictly dependent on our compliance with the principles and ordinances of the gospel as established by Jesus Christ."

(I acknowledge that for some people viewing the final judgment as a debate between the Father and Son does not seem consistent with them being one in mind, purpose, justice and mercy.  But I do believe this scriptural figurative example helps us understand how Christ is able to save us from our sins.)