Dennis Largey notes that, historically, Christians have supported divergent views of the doctrine of perseverance, or endurance to the end. . . . which necessarily includes a discussion of the influence of and the balance between God's grace and man's works . . . Joseph Smith concluded that "the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (Joseph Smith-History 1:12).
However, the doctrine taught in the Book of Mormon about enduring to the end is clear: "Unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved" (2 Nephi 31:16). . . .
The doctrine of endurance to the end is taught twenty-two times in the Book of Mormon in teachings by Christ, an angel, and seven prophets. The doctrine spans the entire Book of Mormon time period and probably was taught in the plates of brass as well. The requirement of endurance to the end appears consistently in context with the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. One could easily make the case that the Book of Mormon teaches that there are five first principles and ordinances of the gospel, the fifth being enduring to the end. [Dennis L. Largey, "Enduring to the End," in Doctrines of the Book of Mormon: The 1991 Sperry Symposium, pp. 57-59]