< Mosiah 3 >
v. 11 For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or have ignorantly sinned.
Kaphar
His blood “covers” (kaphar) our sins. The Hebrew word for atonement, kaphar, means:
This is why in English the translators eventually used: “atonement” = at-one-ment or (reconciliation)
That is exactly how kaphar functions: It makes us “one” with God again.
“Kippur” (כִּפּוּר) in Yom Kippur comes directly from kaphar.
It is literally:
“The Day of Covering”
“The Day of Cleansing”
“The Day of Reconciliation”
In Hebrew, the “mercy seat”—the lid of the Ark of the Covenant—is called:
כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet)
It is the place of covering— the place where the high priest sprinkled blood, the place where God’s presence appeared, the place of reconciliation.
Christ is described as our: “propitiation” (Greek hilastērion) the very same word for mercy seat.
Meaning:
Christ Himself is the kapporet—the place where mercy meets justice.
The Atonement Works Because Jesus Was Both Mortal and Divine
His divine nature gave Him the power to:
This combination made Him the only being capable of performing an Infinite Atonement.
What Does Christ’s “Blood” Mean in Scripture?
Literal:
In Gethsemane and on Golgotha, Jesus:
His “blood” means:
Blood = life, so His blood is the giving of His life to save ours.
How Does That Blood Actually “Atone”?
The Book of Mormon explains this more clearly than any other scripture.
Justice demands payment
Alma 42:13
“Justice claimeth the creature.”
Every sin creates:
Christ steps in as our substitute
Alma 34:8–10 calls it:
“An infinite and eternal sacrifice.”
Christ pays what we cannot.
Because He satisfies justice, He can extend mercy
Alma 34:15
“Mercy can satisfy the demands of justice.”
Christ absorbs the punishment, so God is perfectly just AND perfectly merciful.
Alma 7:11–13:
His blood cleanses us
1 John 1:7
“The blood of Jesus Christ… cleanseth us from all sin.”
Mosiah 4:2 describes it as:
Christ’s Blood Also Changes Us (grace isn’t just legal—it’s transformational)
The Atonement doesn’t only pay for sin. It also transforms the sinner.
“Through the blood of Christ… ye may become holy.”
—Moroni 10:33
“Take away our guilt, through the merits of His blood.”
—Mosiah 4:2
The power of the Atonement:
Kaphar
His blood “covers” (kaphar) our sins. The Hebrew word for atonement, kaphar, means:
- to cover
- to cleanse
- to ransom
- to reconcile
This is why in English the translators eventually used: “atonement” = at-one-ment or (reconciliation)
That is exactly how kaphar functions: It makes us “one” with God again.
“Kippur” (כִּפּוּר) in Yom Kippur comes directly from kaphar.
It is literally:
“The Day of Covering”
“The Day of Cleansing”
“The Day of Reconciliation”
In Hebrew, the “mercy seat”—the lid of the Ark of the Covenant—is called:
כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet)
It is the place of covering— the place where the high priest sprinkled blood, the place where God’s presence appeared, the place of reconciliation.
Christ is described as our: “propitiation” (Greek hilastērion) the very same word for mercy seat.
Meaning:
Christ Himself is the kapporet—the place where mercy meets justice.
The Atonement Works Because Jesus Was Both Mortal and Divine
His divine nature gave Him the power to:
- Suffer beyond human capacity
- Overcome death
- Take upon Himself infinite sin, pain, and sorrow
- Experience pain, hunger, fatigue, temptation
- Literally suffer “blood from every pore”
This combination made Him the only being capable of performing an Infinite Atonement.
What Does Christ’s “Blood” Mean in Scripture?
Literal:
In Gethsemane and on Golgotha, Jesus:
- Bled from “every pore” (Mosiah 3:7; D&C 19:18)
- Shed blood as the sacrificial Lamb
- Gave His perfect life in place of ours
His “blood” means:
- His life, offered freely
- His suffering, agony, and death
- His covenant faithfulness
Blood = life, so His blood is the giving of His life to save ours.
How Does That Blood Actually “Atone”?
The Book of Mormon explains this more clearly than any other scripture.
Justice demands payment
Alma 42:13
“Justice claimeth the creature.”
Every sin creates:
- A spiritual debt
- A separation from God
- A consequence that must be paid
Christ steps in as our substitute
Alma 34:8–10 calls it:
“An infinite and eternal sacrifice.”
Christ pays what we cannot.
Because He satisfies justice, He can extend mercy
Alma 34:15
“Mercy can satisfy the demands of justice.”
Christ absorbs the punishment, so God is perfectly just AND perfectly merciful.
Alma 7:11–13:
- He will suffer pains, sicknesses, infirmities
- He will take upon Him sins
- He will overcome death
- He will know how to succor His people
- He will take upon Him the transgressions of His people
His blood cleanses us
1 John 1:7
“The blood of Jesus Christ… cleanseth us from all sin.”
Mosiah 4:2 describes it as:
- Removing guilt
- Filling with peace
- Removing the “burden”
Christ’s Blood Also Changes Us (grace isn’t just legal—it’s transformational)
The Atonement doesn’t only pay for sin. It also transforms the sinner.
“Through the blood of Christ… ye may become holy.”
—Moroni 10:33
“Take away our guilt, through the merits of His blood.”
—Mosiah 4:2
The power of the Atonement:
- Removes guilt
- Changes desires
- Softens the heart
- Enables obedience
- Makes us “new creatures” in Christ
v. 14 Yet the Lord God saw that his people were a stiff-necked people, and he appointed unto them a law, even the law of Moses.
The Law of Moses
The Law of Moses couldn’t save them, but it could prepare them for the One who could. God gave the lesser law because the people were not spiritually ready for the higher law.** Now here’s the full richness:
The Law of Moses was a schoolmaster leading to Christ
Paul says it plainly in Galatians 3:24: “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.”
The Law:
But it was never meant to save. The Law is like scaffolding. Christ is the building.
Why not give them Christ immediately? Because they weren’t ready.**
This is the clearest explanation in the Book of Mormon: Mosiah 3:14–15 (King Benjamin) “I gave unto them commandments…because they were a stiffnecked people, not willing to obey the higher law.” “Yet all these things were types of things to come.” God tried to give Israel the higher law at Sinai, but: D&C 84:23–26:
“Moses sought to sanctify the people…But they hardened their hearts. Therefore the Lord… took Moses out of their midst and the lesser priesthood continued, which ministereth the preparatory gospel.”
So:
The Law of Moses taught them about Christ through symbols
Every aspect of the Law was Christ-centered:
2 Nephi 25:27
“We speak of Christ…that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of sins.”
The law taught them how salvation would come.
The Law helped create a covenant people through whom the Messiah would come
God needed:
The Law kept them separate, identifiable, and covenant-bound. Without the Law of Moses, the covenant people might have disappeared.
The Law of Moses was temporary by design
2 Nephi 25:25 “We keep the law…until the law shall be fulfilled.” Christ fulfills the types and shadows.
The Law of Moses
The Law of Moses couldn’t save them, but it could prepare them for the One who could. God gave the lesser law because the people were not spiritually ready for the higher law.** Now here’s the full richness:
The Law of Moses was a schoolmaster leading to Christ
Paul says it plainly in Galatians 3:24: “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.”
The Law:
- taught obedience
- trained their hearts
- created patterns
- pointed forward to the Messiah
- revealed sin
- created a covenant identity
But it was never meant to save. The Law is like scaffolding. Christ is the building.
Why not give them Christ immediately? Because they weren’t ready.**
This is the clearest explanation in the Book of Mormon: Mosiah 3:14–15 (King Benjamin) “I gave unto them commandments…because they were a stiffnecked people, not willing to obey the higher law.” “Yet all these things were types of things to come.” God tried to give Israel the higher law at Sinai, but: D&C 84:23–26:
“Moses sought to sanctify the people…But they hardened their hearts. Therefore the Lord… took Moses out of their midst and the lesser priesthood continued, which ministereth the preparatory gospel.”
So:
- They refused the higher law
- God withdrew it
- He gave them a law they could obey
- And that law pointed to the Messiah
The Law of Moses taught them about Christ through symbols
Every aspect of the Law was Christ-centered:
- The Passover lamb → Christ
- The mercy seat (kapporet) → Christ
- Sacrificial blood → Atonement
- High priest → Christ
- Scapegoat → bearing sins
- Reconciliation rituals → atonement (kaphar)
2 Nephi 25:27
“We speak of Christ…that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of sins.”
The law taught them how salvation would come.
The Law helped create a covenant people through whom the Messiah would come
God needed:
- a distinct people
- with a distinct covenant
- who preserved scripture
- maintained a temple tradition
- taught moral law
- and retained a lineage through which Christ could be born
The Law kept them separate, identifiable, and covenant-bound. Without the Law of Moses, the covenant people might have disappeared.
The Law of Moses was temporary by design
2 Nephi 25:25 “We keep the law…until the law shall be fulfilled.” Christ fulfills the types and shadows.
v. 19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticing of the Holy Spirit...
What are the 2 forces pulling on our souls? The Natural Man - The Holy Spirit
Our spirits have been placed in mortal fallen bodies. What is natural for our body to do, isn't necessarily natural for our Spirit to do.
The Natural Man?
A car cuts you off on the freeway - anger
You see somebody unkowingly drop a 20 dollar bill on the street - finders keepers
You see somebody that doesn't dress as nicely as you do - pride
A coworker offers to show you an inappropriate picture or video - natural man wants to take a peek.
Have you ever felt that invisible force pulling on you?
Matthew 26:41 - Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Romans 7:23 - But I see another law in my members (body), warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
2 Nephi 4:17 - O wretched man that I am.
2 Nephi 4:27 - Why should I yield to sin, becuase of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul?
This state is temporary, what we are meant to become is God's and Goddesses. We are going to have to learn to overcome the Natural Man.
That was a central theme of C.S. Lewis' theology.
Christ says: Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours. (Mere Christianity)
So which side will win?
The Natural Man (3:19)
Don't: (Mosiah 2:32-40):
- v. 32 - List (a subtle angling of the ship, incline towards something) to obey the evil spirit
- v. 33 - transgressed the law of God
- v. 36 - transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken, withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord (the Spirit doesn't leave, we are the ones withdrawing.
- v. 37 - cometh out in open rebellion against God.
Qualities (Mosiah 16:3): Carnal (relating to physical needs), devilish, sensual (relating to the physical senses - become animals) (Abinadi describes it best) - We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)
Results (2:32-40):
v. 33 - wo pronounced, dieth in his sins, drinketh damnation, everlasting punishment.
v. 37 - the Lord has not place in Him
v. 38 - lively sense of own guilt, filled with guilt, pain, anguish
v. 39 - never ending torment
v. 40 - fallen into trangression
Become (3:19):
- an enemy to God, and I will be forever and ever
The Holy Spirit (3:19)
Do (3:19):
- yield (submit, relinquish, surrender) to the enticings of the Holy Spirit
- Put off (resisting, defer, get rid of) the natural man
Qualities (3:19):
- become like a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit
Results (2:41):
- happiness, being blessing in all things, received into heaven
Become (3:19):
- become a Saint (Latter-day Saints) - a person sanctified, a Holy Person, a Godly person, one eminent for piety and virtue. Saints are people who have learned to put off the natural man.
We can't overcome the natural man on our own, only through the Atonement of Christ the Lord
What are the 2 forces pulling on our souls? The Natural Man - The Holy Spirit
Our spirits have been placed in mortal fallen bodies. What is natural for our body to do, isn't necessarily natural for our Spirit to do.
The Natural Man?
A car cuts you off on the freeway - anger
You see somebody unkowingly drop a 20 dollar bill on the street - finders keepers
You see somebody that doesn't dress as nicely as you do - pride
A coworker offers to show you an inappropriate picture or video - natural man wants to take a peek.
Have you ever felt that invisible force pulling on you?
Matthew 26:41 - Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Romans 7:23 - But I see another law in my members (body), warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
2 Nephi 4:17 - O wretched man that I am.
2 Nephi 4:27 - Why should I yield to sin, becuase of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul?
This state is temporary, what we are meant to become is God's and Goddesses. We are going to have to learn to overcome the Natural Man.
That was a central theme of C.S. Lewis' theology.
Christ says: Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours. (Mere Christianity)
So which side will win?
The Natural Man (3:19)
Don't: (Mosiah 2:32-40):
- v. 32 - List (a subtle angling of the ship, incline towards something) to obey the evil spirit
- v. 33 - transgressed the law of God
- v. 36 - transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken, withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord (the Spirit doesn't leave, we are the ones withdrawing.
- v. 37 - cometh out in open rebellion against God.
Qualities (Mosiah 16:3): Carnal (relating to physical needs), devilish, sensual (relating to the physical senses - become animals) (Abinadi describes it best) - We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)
Results (2:32-40):
v. 33 - wo pronounced, dieth in his sins, drinketh damnation, everlasting punishment.
v. 37 - the Lord has not place in Him
v. 38 - lively sense of own guilt, filled with guilt, pain, anguish
v. 39 - never ending torment
v. 40 - fallen into trangression
Become (3:19):
- an enemy to God, and I will be forever and ever
The Holy Spirit (3:19)
Do (3:19):
- yield (submit, relinquish, surrender) to the enticings of the Holy Spirit
- Put off (resisting, defer, get rid of) the natural man
Qualities (3:19):
- become like a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit
Results (2:41):
- happiness, being blessing in all things, received into heaven
Become (3:19):
- become a Saint (Latter-day Saints) - a person sanctified, a Holy Person, a Godly person, one eminent for piety and virtue. Saints are people who have learned to put off the natural man.
We can't overcome the natural man on our own, only through the Atonement of Christ the Lord