They Have Become Free Forever

Last week my sister Stephanie mentioned the verses that she had chosen to "ponderize" as Brother Devin G. Durrant recently suggested during General Conference.  I thought about a number of different verses, but the one that I finally settled on was 2 Nephi 2:26.  I love this particular verse because it is one of those verses that we often skip over due to the famous verses before and after it.  And yet in many regards I find this verse to be the key to understanding the two verses on opposite sides of it.

Verse 25 reminds us that "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."  And Verse 27 states, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man.  And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he skeet that all men might be miserable like unto himself."

These two verses remind us that the fall and the plan were given to enable us to choose the Lord and his plan of happiness, although we also have the opportunity to choose the captivity of the devil.  These are illuminating verses.  But it is verse 26 that seems to illuminate and expand our understanding of the doctrines of agency taught in the other two verses.

Verse 26 reads, "And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall.  And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given."

There are a number of things that I love about verse 26.  But the principle thing that I love about this verse is the way that it expands our understanding of agency.  It reminds us that the freedom and agency we possess is a purchased freedom, bought with the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ.  So often we speak of agency as though it is just the ability to do whatever we want to do.  At times we will add in the fact that our choices come with accountability, as verse 27 explains.  But even this doesn't seem to give us a full grasp of the weight of those choices.  It is only when we begin to contemplate the fact that the Savior himself purchased our freedom that we begin to understand the accompanying responsibility of our choices.

As we contemplate the meaning of the word agency, it helps to think about the meaning of the word agent.  In sports an agent is the person hired to take care of the things that the player himself does not have the time (and in most cases the ability) to take care of.  He or she negotiates the contracts, determines the conditions of those contracts, and basically acts for an in behalf of the player in question.  This ability and power to act in behalf of that player is his agency.  Agents are therefore given tremendous amounts of power to act in behalf of those they represent.  But this power is also contingent upon how well they represent the player who hired them.  No agent, for instance, would ever negotiate a final contract for a player that blatantly violated that player's personal desires and wishes.  At least no agent that wished to remain employed would ever do that.

By teaching us that, having been "redeemed from the fall," and, as a result, having "become free forever," Lehi is reminding us that our freedom was purchased by the Son of God.  Because Christ came, we have the power within us to work works of righteousness and obedience; we have the power to serve the living God.  Had it not been for the atonement, we must necessarily have "become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself" (2 Nephi 9:9).  In other words, were it not for the atonement, wickedness, sin, and damnation is all that we could ever have known.  But because of the Savior, we have the freedom and power to choose godliness, righteousness, and salvation.  In other words, having been purchased by the blood of Christ, we become agents of the Savior, with power to act in His name and to do His will.

Agency, therefore, is not the right to do whatever we want.  Agency is the right and power to serve our Savior, to do His will, and to bless His children.  Knowing this, it changes my understanding of this important doctrine.

Brett