Tuesday, October 6, 2015

N. T. Lesson # 36. ROMANS: Nurturing our Divine Nature

What do Romans chapter 8 verses 16 and 17 suggest about our nature and potential?


Elder John A. Widtsoe said: “[D]ry soil contains nearly all the elements of fertility. All that it needs is the enlivening power of a stream of water...  Is it not so [with us]?  Men [and women] are children of God, not created [by], but literally children of Almighty God, [and so they] contain all the elements … that will lead them into the likeness of their Father in heaven. When a divine being, for in one sense we are all divine, [absorbs Living Water, he or she] blossoms ...” (April 1952 Conference Report; see also President George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth 1:1; John 7:38-39.)

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that God “was once a man like us” and that we “have got to learn how to be Gods … the same as all Gods have done before.” (See The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, Chapter 40, “Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with Christ.”)

Elder Boyd K. Packer said, “[The doctrine] that man is, by his very nature, inclined to be bad … is false ... [W]e have inherited the tendency to be good …”(July 1977 Liahona.) 


President Brigham Young said, “[People] naturally love and admire righteousness, justice and truth more than they do evil…. We are natural children of God and natural heirs to His kingdom… [and]] the love of all good was incorporated in[to our] nature.” (Journal of Discourses  9: 305; see also D&C 88:25; Helaman 12:7-8.)

President Lorenzo Snow said: “Our Heavenly Father has received exaltation … and He points us out the same path; and … says, ‘Walk ye up and come in possession of the same glory and happiness that I possess.’” (JD 5:313.)

President Brigham Young said: “[Our Heavenly] Father, after He had once been in the flesh and lived as we live, obtained His exaltation  [and became on of] the Gods … who have kept the celestial law while in the flesh.” (JD 4:217; 11:234-5).

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What do Romans chapter 2 verses 1 and 4 teach about judging others?



President Brigham Young said: “There is a trait … frequently made manifest in the [members] … to see faults in others when we do not examine our own….  If persons [strive] to walk the path of [righteousness] they will have plenty to do to purify their own hearts; and … they will look for good and not evil [in others].” (Journal of Discourses [JD] 11: 292.)

C.S. Lewis noted that there is a “law” within us that “tells [us] what [we] ought to do … which none of us made, but which we find pressing on us … and cannot quite forget even when [we] try,” and “cannot bear to face the fact that we are breaking … [so] we try to shift the responsibility” (Mere Christianity, 16, 20, 23, 8).

How might Romans 2:1 & 4 and Romans 2:14 & 15 be related?



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re: Romans 3:23President Spencer W. Kimball said, “None are exempt from … the effects of sin upon the soul . . . . Sin creates inner conflict … saps moral strength … makes [us] more susceptible to temptation, and in numerous other subtle ways retards, delays, and blocks our journey toward … and obscures our vision of” our divine potential. (The Miracle of Forgiveness, 145, 323.)  Why do we need Christ’s Atonement?






How does Paul say we are justified?

Romans 2:13

Romans 3:20 

Romans 3:24  

Romans 5:1


Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, “Works are part of the definition of faith and without them there is no faith. . . . Does salvation come, then, by works? No, not by the works of the law of Moses … not even by the more perfect works of the Gospel. Salvation comes through Christ's atonement.” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 3:260; 2:231)

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf has said: “Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience; it is purchased by the blood of the Son of God” (April 2015 Conference Report).

“As we come to Christ in faith, repenting of our sins, and covenant” with full purpose of heart “to keep His commandments, He justifies us—treats us as though we are guiltless—even though we are not…  so that we might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which will cleanse us of sin as we [continue to] repent… The process by which we are cleansed and perfected is … sanctification.” (June 1991 Ensign.)  What does it mean to be justified?     



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Romans 8:6) “For to be sarx [Greek: the physical, mortal] phronema [Greek: have one's mind focused on] is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”  Romans 12:2) “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may dokimazo [Greek: recognize] what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  How can we transcend the carnal mind?



Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said, “To be spiritually minded is to view and evaluate [life] in terms of the enlarged perspective of eternity” (October 2015 Conference Report).

President David O. McKay said, “The man who sets his heart upon the things of this world [becomes] carnally minded [and] spiritually dead” (October 1969 CR).

Elder Kim B. Clark has said, “We do not have to be perfect; but we do need to be good and getting better …  [Then] the Holy Ghost will bless us to see … our brothers and sisters the way God sees them, with love and compassion … We will see and understand ourselves and the world around us the way the Savior does. We will come to have what Paul calls the mind of Christ.” (Oct 2015 CR.)

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What does Romans 8:35, 38-39 say about Christ’s love for us?



What does Romans 13:9–10 say about the 2nd great commandment?



President Dieter F. Uchtdorf has said: “[E]verything else in the gospel—all the shoulds and the musts and the thou shalts —lead to love. When we love God, we want to serve Him.  We want to be like Him. When we love others, we stop thinking so much about our own problems and [try to] help others to solve theirs. And that is what makes us happy.” (October 2015 CR.)

The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “To be justified … we must love one another …and we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 426; quoted in New Testament: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, 151).       

President Rosemary M. Wixom has said: “We [‘nurture’] our divine nature as we feel and give the love of our Father in Heaven” (October 2015 Conference Report).

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