2 Nephi 2 : Foundational Doctrines

 This week in Come Follow Me we read just two chapters, 2 Nephi 1-2.  2 Nephi 1 is Lehi's final admonitions to his posterity. 2 Nephi 2 is a longer discourse that Lehi gives to his younger son, Jacob.  It is hard to know how old Jacob was when he received this talk, but Lehi is clearly seeing Jacob as a future spiritual leader of the family.  He imparts to Jacob the most complete understanding of the role of the Messiah and the Plan of Salvation that we see anywhere in the scriptures.  It seems that Lehi has learned all of this as an adult.  His spiritual education began in 1 Nephi 1 where he first saw the Savior and didn't seem to recognize who he was, "And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day. And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed the stars in the firmament" (v. 9-10).  By 2 Nephi, he not only knows Jesus' name and role as the Messiah, but he has a clear understanding of why a Messiah was needed. 

Much of what Lehi expounds are beliefs that are shared among all Christians: 

• That Jesus brings about the resurrection of the dead (v. 8)
• That Jesus makes intersession for us to the father (v. 9)
• There will be a final judgement (v. 10) 

These are familiar principles from the New Testament, but we need to remember that these were not widely known to the ancient Hebrews.  Lehi received these truths 600 years before almost all other people did.  Isaiah might have seen a glimpse of it.  (Actually, According to Taylor Halverson, it might have been more widely known than we think, but the knowledge was later taken out of the record by the reforms under Josiah, but that is a discussion for another time). Still it is remarkable how fully Lehi, at this point, understood the plan of salvation.

Lehi, then goes into a discussion of Adam and Eve. Much of what he recounts about the Adam and Eve story is commonly held among Christians, but some of what he says is unique to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:  

• The idea that Adam and Eve would not have had children if they had stayed in the Garden (v. 23) 
• The Fall was a good and necessary part of the plan and leads ultimately to joy.  (v. 25)

These two beliefs, so easily stated, change everything about what we see as our purpose on earth.  The Fall was not, as many believe, an unfortunate event caused by man's (or woman's) depravity, that broke the wonderful world God had intended for us to inhabit.  It was, instead, the way we gained free moral agency.  The story of Adam and Eve's fall is symbolic of the choice each of us made to leave the pre-Earth life and experience the vicissitudes of mortality. It enabled us to come to a world where we could could learn to choose between good and evil, be organized into family units, and ultimately return to God and enjoy eternal life with him. The passage, "Adam fell that man might be; and men are that they might have joy." is probably the most original Christian doctrine to come from the restoration.