Question: How is the atonement of Jesus Christ portrayed in Latter-day Saint hymns

The atonement as portrayed in Latter-day Saint hymns

The Song of the Righteous

From the earliest times Christians have "sung hymns to Christ as to a God."108 The singing of those hymns was a method of instructing the congregation in the doctrines of the Church. Paul wrote to the Colossians that at their religious gatherings they were to "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."109 He taught the same concept to the members in Ephesus: "speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."110 Most frequently those hymns are meant simply as a means of expressing devotion to the Savior, or to His Father. But at times they have been polemical, a means of inculcating new doctrine, as in the period following Nicaea.111 The hymns penned by John and Charles Wesley "were more than specimens of devotion. They were tools for doctrinal instruction."112 The hymns of the Latter-day Saints have also been an effective means of instructing the membership of the Church about their relationship to the Savior. It has been so from the earliest hymnal, published in 1835, to the present. A look at some of those hymns will indicate the centrality of the Savior's atonement, and the elements of it that were taught to the membership.

The 1835 edition of the hymnal was a collection of ninety hymns, over one-third written by members of the young church, and put together by Emma Smith, wife of the Prophet.113 Twenty-six of those hymns are still in the current hymnal, which includes many written by non-LDS authors. The 1835 edition (which is not available to me) includes hymns with the following thoughts expressed: "Blest inhabitants of Zion, purchased by the Savior's blood; Jesus, whom their souls rely on, makes them kings and priests to God."114 Another hymn, by Isaac Watts, stated, "The Lord of Glory died for men. But lo! What sudden joys were heard! The Lord, though dead, revived again."115 Another hymn, by LDS writer William W. Phelps, indicated that Christ "died for us."116 One of the more popular hymns in the current edition, also written by W.W. Phelps, is "O God, the Eternal Father," and appeared in the 1835 edition. It included the phrases "Jesus, the Anointed…gave himself a ransom to win our souls with love… And die, or all was lost."117

In 1889 another edition of the LDS hymnal appeared. A third reprint of this particular edition was published in 1906. Many of the current hymns also appeared in it, but it also included hymns no longer in the current hymnbook. Among this latter group of hymns, for which no authors are listed, are several which declare the importance of the Atonement of the Savior. "Spirit of faith, come down, reveal the things of God, and make to us the Godhead known, and witness with the blood. 'Tis thine the blood to apply, and give us eyes to see; who did for every sinner die, did surely die for me."118 Another hymn includes the phrase "remembering God's incarnate Son, who suffered death on Calvary to set the contrite sinner free."119 Another taught the Saints "when He our Savior did the same, without a place to lay his head, a pilgrim on the earth he came, until for us his blood was shed."120 Another hymn records that "they follow their General, the great Eternal lamb—His garments stained in his own blood—King Jesus is his name."121 Another, applicable to participation in the Eucharistic celebration (Sacrament of the Lord's Supper), reads: "O Lord of Hosts, we now invoke Thy spirit most divine, to cleanse our hearts while we partake the broken bread and wine. May we forever think of thee, and of thy sufferings sore, endured for us on Calvary, and praise thee evermore. Prepare our minds, that we may see the beauties of thy grace; salvation purchased on that tree for all who seek thy face."122 Another tells the family not to weep for their dead child, for "your child is saved through Jesus Christ [for they have] washed their robes and made them white in Christ's atoning blood."123 Another hymn, penned by LDS poet Eliza R. Snow, first appeared in an LDS hymnal in 1871, and continues today. It reads, as per 1906: "How great the wisdom and the love, that filled the courts on high, and sent the Savior from above to suffer, bleed and die! His precious blood He freely spilt, his life He freely gave; a sinless sacrifice for guilt, a dying world to save."124 Another hymn indicates that Christ "died that we might live."125 Yet another refers to "him who died, that we might live."126 Another hymn refers to him "who died to save."127 One proclaims the activities of the missionaries who go out in order to teach "that divine and glorious conquest once obtained on Calvary."128 Another hymn, written by LDS author William W. Phelps, found in the 1835 hymnal and still very popular today, refers to "that sacred, holy offering, by man least understood… when Jesus the Anointed, descended from above, and gave himself a ransom to win our souls with love… He was the promised Savior." The recent edition includes a fourth verse that concludes "and die or all was lost."129 Another hymn, still in the modern edition, tells that "Jesus, our Lord and God, bore sin's tremendous load."130

There are simply too many hymns in the current hymnal to recount all of them satisfactorily. But there are several which need some attention. First though, it should be remembered that there are several hymns in the current book which were written by non-LDS authors, and which bear on our theme. Many of these have already been mentioned above. The current hymnal contains many sentiments relative to our theme. "I am the sacrifice offered for thee."131 "…thou Son of God, who lived for us, then died on Calvary."132 "Thou gavest thy life on Calvary, that I might live forever more."133 "Let me not forget, O Savior, thou didst bleed and die for me when thy heart was stilled and broken on the cross at Calvary."134 "For us the blood of Christ was shed; for us on Calvary's cross he bled… Jesus died that justice might be satisfied."135 "Oh, wondrous plan—to suffer, bleed, and die for man!… For Jesus died on Calvary! That all thru him might ransomed be."136 "May we forever think of thee and of thy sufferings sore, endured for us on Calvary, and praise thee evermore… Salvation purchased on that tree for all who seek thy face."137 "Leaving thy Father's throne, on earth to live, thy work to do alone, thy life to give… Bruised, broken, torn for us on Calvary's hill—thy suffering borne for us lives with us still."138 "…praise and honor give to him who bled on Calvary's hill and died that we might live… The bread and water represent His sacrifice for sin; ye Saints, partake and testify ye do remember him."139 "When thy self thou gavest an offering, dying for the sinner's sake."140 Vilate Raile wrote: "Upon the cross of Calvary they crucified our Lord and sealed with blood the sacrifice that sanctified his word. Upon the cross he meekly died for all mankind to see that death unlocks the passageway into eternity. Upon the cross our Savior died, but, dying, brought new birth through resurrection's miracle to all the sons of earth."141 "Again we meet around the board of Jesus, our redeeming Lord, with faith in his atoning blood, our only access unto God. He left his Father's courts on high, with man to live, for man to die… Help us, O God, to realize the great atoning sacrifice, the gift of thy beloved Son, the Prince of Life, the Holy One." Additional verses included: "Jesus, the great facsimile of the Eternal Deity, has stooped to conquer, died to save from sin and sorrow and the grave."142 "Thyself the Lamb forever slain… View thee bleeding on the tree: My Lord, my God, who dies for me."143 "Our Savior, in Gethsemane, shrank not to drink the bitter cup, and then, for us, on Calvary, upon the cross was lifted up. We reverence with the broken bread, together with the cup we take, the body bruised, the lifeblood shed, a sinless ransom for our sake."144 "…sent the Savior from above to suffer, bleed, and die! His precious blood he freely spilt, his life he freely gave, a sinless sacrifice for guilt, a dying world to save."145 "O Savior…upon the cross they nail thee to die, O King of all. No creature is so lowly, no sinner so depraved, but feels thy presence holy and thru thy love is saved. Tho craven friends betray thee, they feel thy love's embrace; the very foes who slay thee have access to thy grace. Thy sacrifice transcended the mortal law's demand, thy mercy is extended to every time and land… What praises can be offer to thank thee, Lord most high? In our place thou didst suffer; in our place thou didst die, by heaven's plan appointed, to ransom us, our King. O Jesus, the anointed, to thee our love we bring."146

Clearly, there is much in the hymns that the Latter-day Saints sing regularly which teaches that the Savior, Jesus Christ, came to earth for the specific purpose of "being lifted up upon the cross" to save the world. Through the sacrifice of His life, the spilling of His blood, he has redeemed all mortals who will come to Him. Back To Gethsemane

McKeever and Johnson correctly indicate, nevertheless, that the LDS do place a good deal of emphasis on the Lord's experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane does present some interesting problems. McKeever and Johnson reject it in part because it is only mentioned twice in the New Testament (Matthew 26:36 and Mark 14:32). While this may be so, the events that transpired there are mentioned also in the other two gospels. In other words, all four gospel writers felt it important enough to include it in their 'memoirs.' In John 18:1 it is reported that Christ and His disciples "often resorted thither." Luke 22:39 tells us that He went there, "as he was wont" (compare Luke 19:29 and 21:37, the latter of which says He spent the 'nights' on Mount Olive). This was apparently a special place for them to seek solitude, a private place to seek their Father in prayer. It is evident from the commentaries written on the various gospels that the exact purpose of the experience is not well understood. We don't need to go into the events verse by verse, but there are some things that need to be noted. Despite the importance the Lord places on prayer in general, there are only a few places where He is actually depicted as doing so; this prayer in Gethsemane is one of them147. Furthermore, there are few places in the New Testament where He is depicted as being 'strengthened' by an angel (Matthew 4:11). The experience in the Garden is one of them (Luke 22.43, an angel to strengthen him during His prayer). There are others who have also commented on the singularity of this experience, and attributed it, at least in part, to the atonement.

Christian theologian Leon Morris is quoted frequently by McKeever and Johnson. It is not without significance, therefore, that Morris quotes Lesslie Newbigin as follows:

The Son of God, the Word of God made flesh, kneels in the garden of Gethsemane. He wrestles in prayer. His sweat falls like great drops of blood. He cries out in an agony: "not my will, but thine be done." That is what it costs God to deal with man's sin. To create the heavens and the earth costs Him no labor, no anguish; to take away the sin of the world costs Him His own life-blood.148

Elsewhere, Leon Morris himself admits that, at least for Matthew, "what took place in the Garden was very important."149

In a recent commentary, Donald A. Hagner of Fuller Theological Seminary writes:

The thought of what he will have to undergo in the near future fills Jesus with dread and anguish. A real struggle within the soul of Jesus takes place in Gethsemane, and he craves the support of those who have been closest to him during his ministry. The mystery of the agony of God's unique Son cannot be fully penetrated. That it has to do with bearing the penalty of sin for the world to make salvation possible seems clear.150

In a commentary on Matthew 26, first published in 1864, German scholar John Peter Lange refers to several interpretations offered by earlier commentators. He quotes a scholar named Ebrard: "His trembling in Gethsemane was not dread of His sufferings, but was part of His passion itself; it was not a transcendental and external assumption of a foreign guilt, but a concrete experience of the full and concentrated power of the world's sin."151 At the same place Lange refers to the reformer Melanchthon as teaching that in the Garden Christ "suffered the wrath of God in our stead and our behalf."

Another recent commentary quotes favorably a statement to the effect that Matthew 26:37 ("And he took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy") indicates that "at this point the Passion, in its full sense, began."152

J.M. Ford writes, "the theological importance, however, is that for Luke the blood that redeems humankind begins to flow in the garden."153 Popular evangelical scholar Thomas C. Oden paraphrases Catherine of Siena this way:

[Christ] was not externally compelled to be baptized with the baptism of sinners, to set his face steadfastly toward Jerusalem or go to Gethsemane, or drink the cup of suffering. Rather he received and drank that cup not because he liked to suffer—the very thought cause him to sweat profusely—but rather because it was an intrinsic part of the purpose of his mission to humanity.154

B.H. Roberts quotes the following from the International Commentary on Matthew:

This conflict presents our Lord in the reality of His manhood, in weakness and humiliation, but it is impossible to account for it unless we admit His Divine nature. Had He been a mere man, His knowledge of the sufferings before Him could not have been sufficient to cause such sorrow. The human fear of death will not explain it. As a real man, He was capable of such a conflict. But it took place after the serenity of the Last Supper and sacerdotal prayers, and before the sublime submission in the palace and judgment hall. The conflict, therefore, was a specific agony of itself. He felt the whole burden and mystery of the world's sin, and encountered the fiercest assaults of Satan. Otherwise, in this hour this Person, so powerful, so holy, seems to fall below the heroism of martyrs in His own cause. His sorrow did not spring from His own life, His memory of His fears, but from the vicarious nature of the conflict. The agony was a bearing of the weight and sorrow of our sins, in loneliness, in anguish of soul threatening to crush His body, yet borne triumphantly, because in submission to His Father's will. Three times our Lord appeals to that will, as purposing His anguish; that purpose of God in regard to the loveliest, best of men, can be reconciled with justice and goodness in God in but one way; that it was necessary for our redemption. Mercy forced its way through justice to the sinner. Our Lord suffered anguish of soul for sin, that it might never rest on us. To deny this is in effect not only to charge our Lord with undue weakness, but to charge God with needless cruelty. "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" [Isaiah 53.4-5]"155

David B. Haight, of the Quorum of the Twelve, quotes the following from the Reverend Frederic Farrar:

They then rose from the table, united their voices in a hymn, and left the room together to walk to the Garden of Gethsemane and all that awaited them there "The awful hour of His deepest [suffering] had arrived…. Nothing remained…but the torture of physical pain and the poignancy of mental anguish…. He…[calmed] His spirit by prayer and solitude to meet that hour in which all that is evil in the Power of [Satan] should wreak its worst upon the Innocent and Holy [One]. And He must face that hour alone…. 'My soul,' He said, 'is full of anguish, even unto death.'" It was not the anguish and fear of pain and death but 'the burden…of the world's sin which lay heavy on His heart.156

Evangelical scholar Klaas Runia has recently drawn our attention to a prayer which was formerly read at the beginning of the Lord's Supper service in the Reformed Churches in Holland. The prayer said in part: "We remember that all the time he lived on earth he was burdened by our sin and God's judgment upon it; that in his agony in the garden he sweated drops of blood under the weight of our sins."157

Alfred Edersheim referred to the Garden as "the other Eden, in which the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven, bore the penalty of the first, and in obeying gained life.'"158 Adam Clarke is quoted as having once said that "Jesus paid more in the Garden than on the Cross."159 S. Lewis Johnson, from whose article these previous two quotations derive, concluded, "Gethsemane sets forth for us the passion of our Lord for the souls of men. The voice of Gethsemane sounds forth, 'I am willing,' while the voice from Calvary cries, 'It is finished.' Both illustrate how much He cared."160

This is the one thing which seemingly all commentators, LDS or otherwise, agree: He loved us and He manifested that love by His life and by His death. As the above quotations indicate, there is a fair amount of non-LDS support for the idea that the experience of our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane is also related to the atoning sacrifice which He made for us. There is also enough material by non-LDS scholars to indicate that the exact mechanics of the Atonement are not known; and therefore to state that "this position" (i.e., my position) is the only correct interpretation, and that "that position" (i.e., your position) is false, is rushing to judgment. Historical Christianity and the Atonement

They never state it explicitly, but McKeever and Johnson seem to assume that the LDS position is a "ransom" theory of atonement, and that the mainstream Christian interpretation is one of sacrificial death on the cross. They quote some statements from Latter-day Saint leaders emphasizing the Garden of Gethsemane as being the place of the atonement (which has been dealt with above). They write, "Christians have long maintained that this glorious act of sacrifice took place on Golgotha Hill… It was here that God Himself was subject to the humiliating death of a common criminal."161 They conclude this chapter by writing that "Christians realize that salvation is a result of what Jesus did for them on the cross… To even insinuate that this took place in the Garden of Gethsemane is a foreign concept to the Christian."162

The Church of Jesus Christ has often been maligned for rejecting "historical Christianity" and therefore it is important that we determine exactly what the historical position of the Christian church has been regarding the atonement of Jesus Christ. This would not be an easy task for McKeever and Johnson, for until the twelfth century there was no explicit study of the theory of the atonement; there was no single predominating theory of redemption. Michael Winter has recently written that "there is a consensus among [modern writers], which is something of a paradox in the context of this study, as they all agree that the New Testament does not tell us how the atonement was effected."163 Leon Morris, so frequently quoted by McKeever and Johnson, writes that "the New Testament does not put forward a theory of atonement." Morris goes on to write that "there are several indications of the principle on which atonement is effected" and refers to sacrifice, redemption, new covenant, victory, propitiation, reconciliation. "But however [salvation] is viewed, Christ has taken our place, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Our part is simply to respond in repentance, faith, and selfless living."164 J.N.D. Kelly wrote (in a book McKeever and Johnson claim to have read):

The development of the Church's ideas about the saving effects of the incarnation was a slow, long drawn-out process. Indeed, while the conviction of redemption through Christ has always been the motive force of Christian faith, no final and universally accepted definition of the manner of its achievement has been formulated to this day.165

Lutheran scholar Robert Jenson recently wrote, "it is one of the more remarkable and remarked-upon aspects of theological history that no theory of atonement has ever been universally accepted."166 Later, Kelly writes that

The student who seeks to understand the soteriology of the fourth and early fifth centuries will be sharply disappointed if he expects to find anything…elaborately worked out…[because] the redemption did not become a battle-ground for rival schools until the twelfth century.167

This should not be too much of a surprise to our friends McKeever and Johnson. Leon Morris has written that there is a "problem confronting anyone who would write a theology of the New Testament…namely, a widespread recognition that there are considerable differences among the writers of the various New Testament books." Although such recognition does not mean that there are "irreconcilable contradictions" between the various authors, it should help to understand why no strict theory regarding the atonement developed during the first twelve hundred years of Christian history.168

Things don't get better after the closing of the canon, either. In his study of the Atonement Morris writes that "through more than nineteen centuries the church has been working at that problem and it still has not come up with an agreed solution."169 The point of all this of course is to indicate that, rather than a single theory acceptable to all Christians, there were presented over the centuries several theories regarding the atonement. Reformed scholar Shirlie Guthrie indicates there were four basic images used by the New Testament writers, all of which contain weaknesses; therefore they must be used in conjunction with each other to provide a consistent theory. "The biblical doctrine of the atonement teaches that it is God who initiates and fulfills the reconciliation between sinful humanity and God."170 Beyond that statement we cannot be dogmatic. Further, we are told that William Tyndale "does not appear to have had a clear doctrine of the atonement."171 The same is true for John Wesley. W.R. Cannon has written that "there is in all of Wesley's writings no single work on the atonement, and there is no reason whatever for us to believe that he had any clear, well-thought-out theory of the meaning of Christ's death."172 Crawford Knox has recently contrasted the early Christian view with that of the modern West, on various theological themes. With reference to the atonement, he points out that it was Anselm, who died in 1109, "who is seen as the theologian who first crystallised the main Western view of the Atonement, the sacrifice of Jesus as a man on the cross had to be made on behalf of all morally sinful and guilty men to God." By contrast, "in the earlier tradition, Christ is seen as overcoming sin and death in a series of sequential steps which lead through his life on earth, his death and resurrection to his ascension. His death is one crucial step in this process but it is not all-important."173

Perhaps the indecisiveness of both the New Testament specifically and Christian history in general will provide a better backdrop for the discussion of the atonement as taught in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will certainly be a more correct version of what that church teaches, than the image McKeever and Johnson have provided their readers. Certainly the suggestions made by Knox would seem to coincide more closely with the position taken in this paper: that the Latter-day Saints are more closely aligned with the early Church, than with the modern West.

Endnotes

109 Colossians 3:16.

110 Ephesians 5:19.

111 Daniel Liderbach recently wrote that prior to Nicaea the hymns appeared to embody expressions that had their origins in response to the Spirit moving the congregation. "However after the Council of Nicaea and again after that of Chalcedon /451 AD/, the tone of the hymns used by the community shifted to polemical, theological insistence upon the doctrine that the church at Nicaea and Chalcedon had approved," Daniel Liderbach, Christ in the Early Christian Hymns (Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1999), 79–80.

112 Alan C. Clifford, Atonement and Justification: English Evangelical Theology 1640–1790. An Evaluation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), 99. Estimates for the number of hymns composed by John and Charles Wesley vary between 6500 and 8000. They published at least 57 hymn collections during their lifetime. The most significant one was in 1780, and was based in part on eight previous collections. In the preface to the 1780 edition John Wesley wrote, "It is large enough to contain all the important truths of our most holy Religion, whether speculative or practical; yea, to illustrate them all, and to prove them by Scripture and Reason." He also wrote that "the hymns are not carelessly jumbled together, but carefully ranged under proper heads, according to the experience of real Christians. So that this book is, in effect, a little body of experimental and practical divinity." Quoted in Ken Bible, "The Wesley's Hymns on Full Redemption and Pentecost: a Brief Comparison," Wesleyan Theological Journal 17:2 (1982).

113 See Doctrine and Covenants 25:11–12 for the calling of Emma to edit the volume. The Preface to the 1835 edition states: "In order to sing by the Spirit, and with the understanding, it is necessary that the church of the Latter-day Saints should have a collection of 'Sacred Hymns,' adapted to their faith and belief in the gospel, and, as far as can be, holding forth the promises made to the fathers who died in the precious faith of a glorious resurrection, and a thousand years' reign on earth with the Son of Man in his glory. Notwithstanding the church, as it were, is still in its infancy, yet, as the song of the righteous is a prayer unto God, it is sincerely hoped that the following collection, selected with an eye single to his glory, may answer every purpose till more are composed, or till we are blessed with a copious variety of the songs of Zion," quoted in Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and Modern Revelation, Melchizedek Priesthood Manual (Salt Lake City: Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1948), 93.

114 John Newton, "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken," hymn 46 in the 1998 version. Newton, an Anglican clergyman, was also the author of the hymn "Amazing Grace."

115 Isaac Watts, "He Died! The Great Redeemer Died," hymn 192 in the current hymnal. It is hymn 56 in the 1906 (1889) edition.

116 W.W. Phelps, "Come, All Ye Saints Who Dwell on Earth," hymn 65 in the current hymnal; 114 in the 1906 edition.

117 W.W. Phelps, "O God, the Eternal Father," hymn 175 in the current edition, 255 in the 1906.

118 Hymn 173, The Latter-day Saints Psalmody, Third Edition (Salt Lake City: The Deseret News, 1906).

119 Ibid., hymn 20.

120 Ibid., hymn 31.

121 Ibid., hymn 105.

122 Ibid., hymn 109.

123 Ibid., hymn 135.

124 Eliza R. Snow, "How Great the Wisdom and the Love," hymn 136; number 195 in the current hymnal.

125 Ibid., hymn 42.

126 Ibid., hymn 198.

127 Ibid., hymn 224.

128 Ibid., hymn 239.

129 William W. Phelps, "O God, the Eternal Father," hymn 255. It is hymn 175 in the 1998 edition The 1835 edition contained eight verses; the fifth verses included "He is the true Messiah, that died and lives again; we look not for another, He is the Lamb 'twas slain."

130 James Allen, "Glory to God on High,"., hymn 262. Hymn 67 in the current edition

131 Theodore E. Curtis, "Lean on my Ample Arm," hymn 120.

132 L. Tom Perry, "As Now we Take the Sacrament," hymn 169.

133 Zara Sabin, "With Humble Heart," hymn 171.

134 Mabel Jones Gabbot, "In Humility, Our Savior," hymn 172.

135 John Nicholson, "While of the Emblems we Partake," hymn 174; also in the 1906 edition, hymn 50.

136 George A. Manwaring, "'Tis sweet to sing the Matchless Love," hymn 176.

137 Andrew Dalrymple, "O Lord of Hosts," hymn 178; also in 1876 and 1950 editions.

138 Hugh W. Dougall, "Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King," hymn 181; also in 1927 edition.

139 Richard Alldridge, "We' Sing all Hail to Jesus' Name," hymn 182. It was first published as a poem in the Millennial Star, 1871, with music in Juvenile Instructor, 1883 (both LDS publications). It originally had a sixth verse which read, in part: "Then hail, all hail, to such a Prince who saves us by his blood!", in Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1988), 199. That a verse is occasionally dropped from an earlier hymn book to a more recent one should not be interpreted as necessarily significant; John Wesley also did the same during his lifetime; see Bible, "The Wesley's Hymns on Full Redemption and Pentecost: a Brief Comparison," in the section headed "Overlap of the Two Collections." Recall also the comments made above by others regarding Paul's use of, and additions to, earlier hymns.

140 Evan Stephens, "In Remembrance of Thy Suffering," hymn 183.

141 Vilate Raile, "Upon the Cross of Calvary," hymn 184.

142 Eliza R. Snow, "Again We Meet Around the Board," hymn 186; first published in the Millennial Star, 1871, later in Utah Musical Times, 1877. It was included in the 1906 hymnal, hymn 13. The additional verse was included in the hymnals from 1950 until the 1985 edition; Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns, 201–202.

143 William H. Turton, "O Thou, Before the World Began," hymn 189; in LDS hymnals since 1927.

144 Frank Kooyman, "In Memory of the Crucified," hymn 190. Notice that both the Garden and the cross come into play here, with the strongest emphasis being on the cross, where the sacrifice took place.

145 Eliza R. Snow, "How Great the Wisdom and the Love," hymn 195.

146 Karen Lynn Davidson, "O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown," hymn 197.

147 Luke 6.12 and parallels: on a mountain alone all night, prior to calling the Twelve; Matt 19.13: blessed the little children; Luke 9.29 and parallels: transfiguration; Luke 22.32: I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not; John 17. 1 ff.: Intercessory prayer; Hebrews 5.7: in the days of his flesh he offered up prayer and supplication. Compare Matthew 26.39.

148 Morris, The Cross in the New Testament, 28, note 30, quoting Newbigin, Sin and Salvation (London: SCM, 1946), 32. As mentioned earlier, Morris is designated by McKeever and Johnson as a Christian theologian from whom they elicit support.

149 Leon Morris, New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 1985), 134.

150 Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14–28: Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 33b (Dallas, Texas: Word Books, 1995), 785. Notice that Professor Hagner mentions the 'dread and anguish' which Jesus felt as He looked ahead to His death on the Cross; this is precisely what several of the LDS Church leaders have said.

151 Ebrard, quoted in John Peter Lange, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical, Vol. 1, Matthew, translated by Philip Schaff (New York: Scribner, 1899), 481. No further details are given about this 'Ebrard.' However, it is probable that it could be Johannes Heinrich August Ebrard (1818–1888), who, about 1860, wrote a work translated in English as Apologetics; or the Scientific Vindication of Christianity. He was also the author of a Biblical Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (1853); and another on the Epistles of St. John (1860). In 1858 was published the American version of his Biblical Commentary on the New Testament.

152 W. D. Davies, Dale C. Allison, Jr., The International Critical Commentary. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. Volume III: Matthew 19–28 (Edinburgh, T and T Clark Publisher 1997): 494, note 27, quoting A.H. McNeile, The Gospel according to St. Matthew. The Greek Text with Introduction and Notes (Grand Rapids 1980): 389. "Magisterial" is a word way overused with reference to others' studies, but it is used with reference to Davies and Allison's commentary by John Jefferson Davis, "'Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.' The History of the Interpretation of the 'Great Commission' and Implications for Marketplace Ministries," Evangelical Review of Theology 25.1 (2001): 77.

153 J. Massyngberde /Allen, this name is spelled 'Massyngbearde'; I checked it in the library; I have found her name spelt with and without the last 'a' in online discussions; she apparently has the 'a' in; her name is J. Massyngbearde Ford/Ford, My Enemy is my Guest. Jesus and Violence in Luke (Maryknoll, New York Orbis Books 1984): 118. Dr. Ford is a professor at the University of Notre Dame. She cites A. Feuillet, L'Agonie de Gethsemani (Paris 1977): 147–50.

154 Oden, The Word of Life, Vol. 2, 323, citing The Prayers of Catherine of Siena (New York: Paulist Press, 1984), 17–18, 174.

155 B.H. Roberts, The Seventy's Course in Theology, 2:127–128, quoting International Commentary, Matthew, page 359. I have not been able to locate the original of this volume.

156 David B. Haight, A Light Unto the World (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1997), 16, quoting Frederick W. Farrar, Life of Christ (Hartford, Connecticut: S. S. Scranton Company, 1918), 575–576, 579.

157 Klaas Runia, "The Preaching of the Cross Today," Evangelical Review of Theology 25:1 (2001), 57.

158 Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1953), 534, partially quoted in Lewis Johnson, Jr., "The Agony of Christ," Bibliotheca Sacra 124 (October 1967), 306.

159 Quoted in Johnson, "The Agony of Christ," 307. Clarke was a Methodist theologian and died in 1832.

160 Johnson, Ibid., 313.

161 McKeever and Johnson, Mormonism 101, 145.

162 Ibid., 148.

163 Michael Winter, The Atonement (Collegeville, Minnesota: Michael Glazier/Liturgical Press, 1995), 30.

164 Leon Morris, "Atonement," Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, second edition, edited by Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Books, 2001), 114. The passage is also quoted in Terry L. Miethe, "The Universal Power of the Atonement," The Grace of God and the Will of Man, edited by Clark H. Pinnock (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 1989), 71–72. Notice the emphasis Morris places on the need for our acceptance of the atonement for it to be efficacious in our lives. This is exactly the position taken by the Latter-day Saints.

165 J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, Second Edition (New York: Harper and Row, 1960), 163. One wonders how the LDS position could be considered in error if no particular theory has received unanimous consent.

166 Robert W. Jenson, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1: The Triune God (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 186.

167 Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 375. McKeever and Johnson cite this volume several times, so should have been aware of this statement. In 1914 Melville Scott referred to "the fact that, up to the time of Anselm, there was no specifically Latin theory of the Atonement," [Melville Scott, Athanasius on the Atonement (Stafford, England: Mort, 1914), xi]. Lutheran scholar Robert Jenson writes, "the closest approach to a historically successful theory of atonement is that of Anselm… But Anselm's theory has never enjoyed favor in the East, and also in the West has been under continuous devastating attack, maintaining its hegemony mostly, one suspects, for want of a better alternative," (Robert W. Jenson, Systematic Theology, Vol 1, 186). Burnell Eckardt wrote, "it was St. Anselm of Canterbury who had first given celebrated status to the question of the necessity for the atonement, in his Cur Deus Homo," [Brunell Eckardt, Anselm and Luther on the Atonement. Was it 'Necessary'? (San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press, 1992), xvii]. Eckardt also quotes Gustaf Aulen to the effect that Anselm has given the first "real beginnings of a thought-out doctrine of the atonement," [Eckardt, 173, quoting Aulen, Christus Victor: an Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of the Atonement, translated by A.G. Hebert (New York: MacMillan, 1969), 1]. Aulen's book is a classic in the field. Eckardt also quotes Lutheran scholar Gerhard Forde: "Anselm was the first to pose the question about the necessity for the actual event of the cross," [Eckardt, 173, quoting Forde, The Law-Gospel Debate: An Interpretation of Its Historical Development (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg, 1984), 21 ff]. Abelard was the first to respond to Anselm; he also asked why it was necessary for God to become man, but concluded only that God could have chosen to simply remit the debt man owed God (Eckardt, 173, note 2).

168 Leon Morris, New Testament Theology, 15–16.

169 Leon Morris, The Atonement. Its meaning and Significance (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1983), 13. Apparently we cannot expect an agreed upon definition anytime soon: Morris writes on page 12, "with few exceptions people are not writing about the atonement." McKeever and Johnson refer frequently to this book.

170 Shirley C. Guthrie, Jr., Christian Doctrine, Revised Edition (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 252–259 (quotation from page 259).

171 David Broughton Knox, The Doctrine of Faith in the reign of Henry VIII (London: J. Clarke, 1961), 6.

172 William Ragsdale Cannon, The Theology of John Wesley, with Special Reference to the Doctrine of Justification (New York: Publisher Unknown, 1946), 208.

173 Crawford Knox, Changing Christian Paradigms and their Implications for Modern Thought (Leiden, Netherlands,: E.J. Brill, 1993), 62–3.