Grace and Works: From “Own Merits” to “Cannot Earn”
Earlier Latter-day Saint leaders said salvation came “only after” all a person could do, that each person must proceed on “his own merits,” and that entrance to the celestial kingdom required the works of righteousness. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now teaches that grace, heaven, and eternal life cannot be earned, while still making faith, repentance, ordinances, covenants, obedience, and endurance conditions of exaltation.
The short answer
Did official Church teaching use personal-merit and “only after” language about salvation?
Yes. Marion G. Romney used personal-merit language in general conference in 1976; Harold B. Lee and Boyd K. Packer also placed grace or redemption after human effort. These formulations remain in official publications.
The defining contrast
“Own merits” beside “cannot earn”
Marion G. Romney spoke in a welfare session, but he expressly extended self-reliance to spiritual salvation and the celestial kingdom. Dieter F. Uchtdorf later addressed grace and exaltation directly and rejected earning as the category.
“The truth is that we are saved by grace only after all we ourselves can do. … Nor will anybody go into the celestial kingdom who wants to go there on the works of someone else.Every man must go through on his own merits.”“In Mine Own Way,” Ensign, Nov. 1976, pp. 124–25
“Even if we were to serve God with our whole souls, it is not enough. … We cannot earn our way into heaven; the demands of justice stand as a barrier, which we are powerless to overcome on our own.”“The Gift of Grace,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2015
Context, not erasureRomney’s subject was welfare and self-reliance. His passage still names grace, pearly gates, and the celestial kingdom. Uchtdorf likewise discusses both salvation from sin and exaltation in the celestial kingdom, so the comparison is not limited to universal resurrection.
Foundational LDS scripture
The canon itself contains more than one formulation
The familiar “after all we can do” text stands in a chapter centered on Christ. Other Book of Mormon passages deny human merit or connect sufficient grace with repentance and devotion.
Grace “after all we can do”
“For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
The surrounding passage says there is no saving name other than Jesus Christ, calls the law of Moses “dead,” says people are made alive in Christ through faith, and identifies Christ as the source of remission. It also commands observance of the law until its fulfillment. The verse joins grace, faith, and commanded practice; it does not define “after” by itself.
Saved “by obedience”
“Through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”
The next article names faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The sentence makes Christ’s Atonement indispensable while describing obedience as the means by which people “may be saved.”
No self-merit; grace joined to response
Alma says fallen humanity “could not merit anything of himself” and locates atonement in Christ’s suffering and death, received “through faith and repentance.” Moroni connects grace’s sufficiency with coming to Christ, denying ungodliness, and loving God fully, then says perfection and sanctification occur “by the grace of God.”
Later leaders used these scriptural formulations to give materially different accounts of the relationship between effort and grace.
Earlier leaders
“Only after” became a repeated explanation
The language appears in official curriculum and general conference, not only in an isolated sermon. A BYU devotional by an apostle supplied an especially forceful formulation while also acknowledging that the Atonement itself is a free gift.
Redemption after each person has done all he can
“Truly we are redeemed by the atoning blood of the Savior of the world, but only after each has done all he can to work out his own salvation.”
The Church’s 2000 Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee manual reproduces the statement and follows it with salvation “by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” Lee was First Counselor in the First Presidency and President of the Quorum of the Twelve in October 1970; he became Church President in 1972.
Free gift, followed by cleansing after obedience
McConkie called the Creation, Fall, Atonement, resurrection, and availability of exaltation free gifts requiring no human works. He then drew a sharp line at individual reception:
“Man cannot be saved by grace alone; as the Lord lives, he must keep the commandments; he must work the works of righteousness; he must work out his salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord.”
He later said Christ’s blood was shed as a free gift but “the Saints are cleansed by the blood after they keep the commandments.” This was a Brigham Young University devotional by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, not canon or a formal First Presidency declaration.
Grace comes “only after”
“Even that grace of God promised in the scriptures comes only ‘after all we can do.’”
Packer’s subject was repentance and forgiveness. He first said relief from guilt “can be earned through repentance,” then presented divine grace as following the required human action.
Modern teaching
Grace is not withheld until effort is complete
Uchtdorf asked whether God waits until a person has “expended every effort” before intervening with saving grace. His answer was no: “after” does not mean “because,” and no one has actually done all that could possibly be done.
He also rejected a purchase model: “Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience; it is purchased by the blood of the Son of God.” Obedience remains important, but he described it as love and gratitude and as a mortal hand reaching out to receive a gift—not as the payment for it.
Current Church materials
Unearned gift, continuing conditions
Current official pages consistently reject human merit as the price of grace. The same pages retain acts and covenants that people must undertake to receive exaltation.
“We do not merit or earn”
“We all fall short in our efforts to keep God’s commandments, so we do not merit or earn the gift of grace. Rather, grace is freely given by Heavenly Father.”
The guide also says “none of us can earn God’s assistance and guidance.” It nevertheless distinguishes blessings available generally from others reserved for those who seek to obey, repent, pray, and turn to God.
Exaltation itself cannot be earned
“We do not and cannot earn the gift of eternal life on our own.”
The next sentence says faith in Christ, repentance, and efforts to make and keep covenants prepare people to receive exaltation. The page identifies eternal life with salvation, the highest celestial glory, and exaltation—not merely immortality.
Both formulations on one official page
The article says people must rely on Christ’s grace and make and keep covenants to receive eternal life. It then places Uchtdorf’s “We cannot earn our way into heaven” beside Lee’s “only after each has done all he can” and Jeffrey R. Holland’s statement that perfection cannot be earned.
Current material treats human action as preparing for, reaching toward, or receiving Christ’s gift rather than purchasing it. The 2023 article does not call the earlier and later formulations contradictory.
Salvation and exaltation
The terms overlap, but they are not interchangeable
Current LDS materials use salvation in several senses. Keeping the categories distinct prevents a comparison of an earlier claim about exaltation with a later claim only about resurrection.
| Term | Current explanation | Role of human response |
|---|---|---|
| Resurrection / immortality | A universal gift through Christ for everyone who has lived. | Not earned or conditioned on mortal conduct. |
| Salvation from sin | Forgiveness and cleansing made possible by Christ’s grace. | Faith, repentance, and baptism are required. |
| Eternal life / exaltation | Life with God in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. | Temple covenants, covenant keeping, endurance, and eternal marriage are required. |
Like-for-like comparisonRomney named the celestial kingdom; McConkie named eternal life and celestial salvation; Uchtdorf named heaven and exaltation; the current Eternal Life guide says that same gift “cannot” be earned. The distinction in terms therefore clarifies the record but does not dissolve the central contrast.
New Testament context
Gift excludes boasting; grace produces a life of obedience
The New Testament denies works as the ground of salvation while insisting that living faith bears obedient fruit. It presents eternal life as a gift the believer already has—not a reward reserved for those who complete temple covenants and endure.
Ephesians 2:8–10; Romans 3:20–28
Saved by gift, created for good works
“Not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians places good works after salvation as the life for which believers are created. Romans says works of the law do not justify and calls justification a gift through Christ’s redemption. Christian traditions disagree about the scope of “works of the law,” but the text excludes boasting in human performance.
Romans 4:4–5; 6:23; 11:6
Wages and gift are different grounds
“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift.”
Paul contrasts an owed wage with faith counted as righteousness, calls eternal life God’s “free gift,” and says grace ceases to be grace if its basis is works. These passages speak directly to the category of earning without suggesting that believers may deliberately continue in sin.
Titus 3:4–8; James 2:14–26
Not because of works; devoted to good works
“Not because of works done by us in righteousness.”
Titus grounds salvation in mercy and immediately directs believers to devote themselves to good works. James calls faith without works dead and says Abraham’s faith was completed by his works. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions relate faith and works differently, but James does not state that eternal life is an earned wage, and no historic Christian tradition makes temple rites or marriage a condition of the highest salvation.
Philippians 2:12–13
“Work out,” followed by God’s work within
“For it is God who works in you.”
Paul says to “work out your own salvation,” not to work for or earn it, and the next verse identifies God as the one working in believers both to will and to act.
“Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” (John 5:24); “I write these things to you who believe … that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). In current Latter-day Saint teaching, eternal life means exaltation, and Doctrine and Covenants 131:2–3 says that to obtain the highest degree of celestial glory “a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]” and that “if he does not, he cannot obtain it.” Jesus taught that in the resurrection people “neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Matthew 22:30). Changing “earn” to “receive” does not remove these conditions. Biblical quotations are from the English Standard Version.
What demonstrably changed
The change is specific—and incomplete
The record documents a change in the stated role of human effort while retaining requirements for exaltation.
From personal merit to unearned gift
Romney said each person proceeds on “his own merits.” Current study material says people “do not merit or earn” grace and “cannot earn” eternal life.
From “only after” to present help
Lee, Romney, and Packer placed grace “only after” human effort. Current material says grace helps people daily, and Uchtdorf denies that God waits for every possible effort.
From earning language to receiving language
Earlier explanations spoke of merit, earning relief, and becoming worthy of cleansing. The modern framing describes obedience as preparation for or reception of Christ’s gift.
Exaltation remains conditional
Faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, temple covenants, obedience, and endurance remain necessary in current Church teaching.
Finding
Contrasting explanations remain in official sources
Earlier LDS leaders repeatedly said that salvation or celestial rewards came “only after” human effort, used personal-merit language, or placed obedience before cleansing. More recent Church teaching expressly says grace, heaven, and eternal life cannot be earned and denies that saving grace waits until human effort is complete.
The Church continues to teach that ordinances, covenants, obedience, and endurance are necessary for exaltation. The continued requirements do not explain the change from “own merits” and “only after” to “cannot earn.” The 2023 Liahona article republishes Lee’s earlier formulation beside Uchtdorf’s. This prevents treating the contrast as a clean chronological replacement: the Church continues to present both as compatible teachings, without withdrawing the earlier wording.
Sources and limitations
Read the record
Central quotations were checked against official scripture, conference transcripts, Church curriculum, current topic pages, and the complete BYU devotional transcript. The supplied compilation was used only to identify research leads.
Spencer W. Kimball’s The Miracle of Forgiveness was investigated as a research lead but omitted because the exact passages could not be checked here against a lawful, accessible scan or print copy of the cited edition. The article does not rely on the supplied compilation for any published quotation. “Current” means official pages checked August 29, 2026.