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“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13). “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” (Hebrews 12:15). That grace is not a partial grace. It is a sufficient grace. Then we turn to Paul. Christ’s grace is sufficient for him before his sanctification or perfection. “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” A similar teaching is found in a 2022 General Conference talk (“Then Will I Make Weak Things Become Strong”). This is not about being perfected (exalted). “I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. He then says that His grace is sufficient and that if we will humble ourselves and have faith in Him, then He will “make weak things [plural] become strong unto [us].” In other words, as we first change our fallen natures, our weakness, then we will be able to change our behaviors, our weaknesses. Humility, coupled with faith in Jesus Christ, will allow us to access the enabling power of His grace and the fulness of blessings available because of His Atonement. Third, through His grace He can make weak things become strong. If we humble ourselves and have faith in Jesus Christ, then His grace will enable us to change. In other words, He will empower us to change. This is possible because, as He says, “my grace is sufficient for all men.” His strengthening, enabling grace gives us power to overcome all obstacles, all challenges, and all weaknesses as we seek to change. I witness and testify that Jesus Christ is in reality our Savior and Redeemer. His grace is indeed sufficient.” Here’s another from 2004 General Conference (“In the Strength of the Lord”). “… It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts” (p. 697). Plus another from 2012 Ensign (“The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality”). “It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts. In all these cases, Christ’s grace is sufficient before humans attempt to expend their best efforts. It is not a partial grace that develops into a fulness or sufficient grace. Grace is the divine assistance or heavenly help each of us desperately needs to qualify for the celestial kingdom. Thus, the enabling power of the Atonement strengthens us to do and be good and to serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity.” In all these cases, His grace is sufficient. He does not add “his grace” (insufficient now) to “our grace” so the “combined grace” becomes sufficient.

It sounds like you are making a differentiation between a current, enabling grace for you (insufficient now because you are still progressing) and a future, enabled grace (sufficient only after you are exalted/perfected). Is that what is meant by Doctrine and Covenants 93:12-13, which speaks about how Christ did not receive a fullness at first but continued from grace to grace until He received a fullness – that the progression and growth of the Savior to godhood serves as a model for your own spiritual journey?

When is grace sufficient according to Moroni 10:32?

From your previous reply here. You are correct. Not all references to salvation mean exaltation. Then Elder Dallin H. Oaks, in Have You Been Saved?, explained exaltation is the fulness of salvation. “Finally, in another usage familiar and unique to Latter-day Saints, the words saved and salvation are also used to denote exaltation or eternal life (see Abr. 2:11). This is sometimes referred to as the "fulness of salvation" (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, 4 vols. [1979–81], 1:242). This salvation requires more than repentance and baptism by appropriate priesthood authority. It also requires the making of sacred covenants, including eternal marriage, in the temples of God, and faithfulness to those covenants by enduring to the end. If we use the word salvation to mean “exaltation,” it is premature for any of us to say that we have been “saved” in mortality. That glorious status can only follow the final judgment of Him who is the Great Judge of the living and the dead.”

According to teachings in “Perfection Pending” (October 1995 General Conference), perfection encompasses both resurrection and exaltation. Jesus and Heavenly Father achieved perfection following their resurrection, but ultimately perfection is understood as exaltation. That Jesus attained eternal perfection following His resurrection is confirmed in the Book of Mormon. It records the visit of the resurrected Lord to the people of ancient America. There He repeated the important injunction previously cited but with one very significant addition. He said, “I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” This time He listed Himself along with His Father as a perfected personage. Previously He had not. Eternal perfection is reserved for those who overcome all things and inherit the fulness of the Father in His heavenly mansions. Perfection consists in gaining eternal life—the kind of life that God lives. Another is found in “Scripture Helps: New Testament.” “The perfection that the Savior envisions for us is much more than errorless performance. It is the eternal expectation … that we might be made perfect and be able to dwell with [God and Jesus Christ] in the eternities ahead. Joseph Smith learned that those who inherit the celestial kingdom are those who are “just [individuals] made perfect through Jesus.” The closest references I could find in LDS scripture are Doctrine and Covenants 76:50 69 and 128:15, 18. Why wouldn’t Christ’s grace be sufficient for someone before they are perfected?

Is God’s grace sufficient for a thief before salvation or perfection, or must the person first meet the conditions described in Moroni 10:32?

“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Does “life eternal” refer specifically to eternal life, or does it simply mean immortality?

What is salvation in Alma 11:40-41?

Yes, grace is necessary from the start. However, Moroni 10:32 also speaks to certain conditions that must be met before grace becomes sufficient.

There, fixed it for you, you picked the wrong word to change. @bluebell “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” Jesus’ audience is focused on “works,” and Jesus redirects their attention to what true “work” really means. An article from Ensign qualifies grace and salvation. “But, if we wish to overcome spiritual death and enter back into God's presence, we must be obedient to laws and principles. This is exaltation by works. Thus, according to this explanation, we are saved by grace and exalted by works.”

Who are the righteous that have life eternal in Matthew 25:46?

Satisfy several conditions [C] and then grace is sufficient. The sufficiency of grace brings results [R]. “Yea, [C1] come unto Christ, [C2] and be perfected in him, [C3] and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, [C4] and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, [R1] that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, [R2] ye can in nowise deny the power of God.”

Are individuals who do not meet the minimum requirements you mentioned still considered saved? Does “receiving Christ”, to be saved, means accepting all of the ordinances? In Alma 24, salvation is portrayed as exaltation (see verses 16 and 22), and this understanding is reflected in other passages as well. Alma 7:16 "And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me." Alma 11:40 "And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else. 3 Nephi 9:22 "Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved." Is this the sense in which you interpret “saved” in 2 Nephi 25:23?

“For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.” The parable doesn’t suggest that there was almost no work left to be done at the end. How is “receiving the same payment” meant to function as an analogy for the kingdom of heaven in light of the various kingdoms of glory in your church's theology? Does grace operate only in relation to a person’s salvation—as described in 2 Nephi 31:16–20, where salvation is understood as exaltation? Why is Christ’s grace “sufficient” only after the conditions outlined in Moroni 10:32 are met?

What would 2 Nephi 25:23 mean if it was changed to “... for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, before all we can do?”

The same for Jesus and the Holy Ghost?

If there is a heavenly mother and father then the offspring of a human male (a God) and human female (a God) is a God. There is ample support for spirits being created. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). What “returns” to God must have come from God. An eternal spirit does not exist outside of God. Therefore, the spirit has its origin in God Himself. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). Adam’s spirit is directly received from God. “The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him” (Zechariah 12:1). The spirit originates from God’s creative will. “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” (Hebrews 12:9). God as Father of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:6) means He brought the nation into existence. God as Father of lights (James 1:17) implies He created the heavenly lights. For God to be “Father of spirits” means He is the source from which spirits proceed, not merely the ruler over them. “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:13–14). God forms the inner person, not merely the outer body. This includes the conscience, mind, or soul/spirit. Then we have angels (spirits) that are a separate creation from humans. “Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire” (Psalm 104:4, Hebrews 1:14). Jesus makes a distinction between flesh-and-bone humans and angels in Luke 24:39. “Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created” (Psalm 148:2-5). “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16). Jesus created Lucifer too. Human spirits are redeemed by Christ who became human. Angels are not redeemed by Christ’s incarnation (Hebrew 2:14–17).

No created spirit is a God or god. Except for God, I don't believe spirits are eternal. I would define God as the one, eternal, uncreated, supreme being. By a new creature, it’s a change in mind and heart. Some day it will involve a resurrected body. Would you fill in the blanks?: God is a ---? The offspring of a --- is by nature a --- ?

Those in the terrestrial and telestial kingdoms won't have spirit children but there's nothing to indicate they are resurrected with fewer organs.

So you take it Paul was teaching when we were born as spirits, we were gods too; the same type of being God is – a god. Is it accurate?

Mosiah portrays Jesus as a Heavenly Father. “And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters”. Does this imply he is married or that we need to be nurtured by his wife?

@Calm My statement about you (InCognitus) making a case for no need of a heavenly mother was based on what you said previously - “Unless, of course, being the offspring of God (making humans the same kind of being as God, as the Bible teaches) has nothing to do with God begetting us through physical functions as you suppose”. If one believes she is required, then how is a heavenly mother involved in spirits being begotten and born? Does she need to have physical functions in the body as Joseph Fielding Smith appeared to conclude?

Assuming pre-existing intelligence does not possess gender.

That presents a good case against the need for a heavenly mother.

Don't view sex (procreation) as a bad thing when done in the confines of matrimony. He created it for us.