“For the Power of Redemption Cometh on All Them That Have No Law”

George Reynolds, Janne M. Sjodahl

We imagine that for the sake of emphasis, Mormon repeated almost in detail, the things he wanted Moroni to declare as the Word of the Lord: That all little children are alike, and partakers of Salvation; God is not a partial God, neither a changeable Being; little children cannot repent, because they cannot sin; they are all alive in Christ because of His mercy; he that saith that little children need baptism setteth at naught the Atonement of Christ, and denieth the power of His Resurrection.

Wo, wo, wo, unto such, for they have neither faith, hope, nor charity, which is everlasting love. Of all the self-inflicted woes that occupy the human heart, the wo most bitter and malignant, is in him in whose heart there is no love. We mean by that, a heart like granite; a heart wherein love does not enter, neither does it abound and therefore cannot go out. In such a heart there is no hope of attaining, that which the eye of faith reveals. And if a man has charity, which, we repeat is the pure love of Christ, his aim, like the purpose Christ had in offering His life for the good of mankind, will be to help the helpless and those who have no helper but the Lord. That is charity, which does not mean donations to the Poor Box, alms-giving.

The power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law. A great truth which is not understood by the people of the world, but the justice of it is made, known in the love and mercy of God for all His children, is beautifully shown in the simple words of Nephi, who spoke as he was moved upon by the power of the Holy Ghost:

"And if they will not repent and believe in His name, and be baptized in His name, and endure to the end, they must be damned; for the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has spoken it.

"Wherefore, He has given a law; and where there is no law given there is no punishment; and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the Atonement; for they are delivered by the power of Him.

"For the atonement satisfieth the demands of His justice upon all those who have not the law given to them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell, and the devil, and the lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment; and they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel.

"But wo unto him that has the law given, yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for awful is his state! (II Nephi 9:24-27)

Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 7

References