“Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole”

Monte S. Nyman

Enos was promised to be blessed (v. 5, also partially quoted above by Elder Kimball). His brief record that follows enumerates only some of the blessings. Enos’ knowledge that God could not lie (v. 6) probably came to him with the experience he was having. When the Lord asked the brother of Jared if he would believe the things he was about to tell him, he responded: “Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie” (Ether 3:11– 12). Another possibility is that his father, Jacob, had taught him this concept from the scriptures. In the book of Numbers, which would have been on the plates of brass, the Lord told Balaam to tell Balak: “God is not a man that he should lie” (Numbers 23:19; see also 1 Samuel 15:28–29). Satan is “the father of all lies” (Moses 4:4), and only man will be enticed by him.

Enos had his guilt taken away (v. 6) as well as having his sins forgiven (v. 5). Some people remove their guilt without being forgiven. They harden their hearts. “But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught” (2 Nephi 33:2). Others are forgiven, but will not rid themselves of the guilt. They cannot forgive themselves. While the Lord leaves the memory of the sin in our mind as a preventive against future sins, we must forgive ourselves after going through the repentance process.

The guilt will be taken away when the Lord sees fit. Both the forgiveness and the guilt removal come because of faith in Christ. For Enos it was faith in His coming in the flesh (Enos 1:8). For us it is that he has come in the flesh.

Book of Mormon Commentary: These Records Are True

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