In Latter-day Saint discussions about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, someone will almost inevitably point to Boyd K. Packer’s parable of the Mediator. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 14 years, I thought or participated in many lessons where we would mention or discuss this parable. I loved how this parable showed God able to satisfy both the demands of justice and mercy through Jesus Christ.
But looking back on this parable today, I see that it has some significant flaws that reflect erroneous Latter-day Saint attitudes and views toward our relationship with Christ.
You can read the full parable at the link above, or watch this video version of the parable.
The whole thing is quite long so allow me to summarize. A man incurs a debt he cannot pay. The creditor comes to collect the debt. The man requests mercy while the creditor demands justice and that the man go to prison for the debt. There is no way to satisfy both mercy and justice. But then a mediator steps in and offers to pay the debt in order to free the man from prison which will satisfy both mercy and justice.
The crucial part of what I want to focus on is what the mediator tells the man that he will need to do after his debt is paid:
“[Y]ou will pay the debt to me and I will set the terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible. I will provide a way. You need not go to prison.”
I think this accurately reflects how many Latter-day Saints see their relationship with Jesus Christ. He has paid our debt to sin and death, but now we owe him big time. We need to work to pay off our debt to him through our service and commandment keeping. It is difficult and while success is possible, failure is also possible. We are servants to a merciful savior, but we still remain servants.
But this is not what the Bible teaches about what Christ does for us!
When Christ comes, he offer to completely and totally pay the debt we have incurred. “It is finished” he declares. We are not required to pay for our debt or do anything to pay him back. Our sins are nailed to the cross and have been fully paid.
Even more than that, Christ offers us far more than just paying off our debt. Christ has lived the perfect life that we could never live. When we accept him, his righteousness is also credited to us. In this parable, it would be like the debtor receiving back all the money he owed or winning the lottery or being given the Key to the City. When we are in a covenant relationship with Christ, we receive all the blessings of righteousness that are due to Christ.
And Christ does not demand that we work to pay off a debt to him. Instead, he offers to make us a member of his own family! When we are in the family of Christ we are no longer working for a wage or trying to pay off a debt. Instead, we are free indeed and receive the promise of a glorious inheritance.
In Galatians 4 Paul presents his own scripture based parable that conveys all of this effectively. Paul contrasts Abraham’s sons Ishmael and Isaac. Ishamael was born of a bondwoman while Isaac was born free and a full heir of Abraham. Paul explains that before we are born again in Christ, we are in slavery to the obligations and debt of the law. But then,
“God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”
Gal 4:3-7
That is an amazing offer. Christ takes all our debt. He gives us all his righteousness. He adopts us into his family. He promises us an eternal and glorious inheritance. And he gives us the Holy Ghost to signify that we are in God’s family and are heirs.
That is the powerful message of the Gospel. We do not have an impersonal mediator who demands his pound of flesh in compensation. But a personal Savior who paid all of our debt with a pound of his own flesh. And the most extraordinary thing is that Christ makes this offer to us while we were yet sinners and debtors far from him and far from God. We do not need to qualify for this offer or do anything to earn it or pay him back for it.