This article is part of a series on Contradictions between the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Click on the link to access a brief overview of the series. 

The Book of Mormon states, “we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all that we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). The first part of this statement comes from Ephesians 2:8. Compare the two statements: 

For by grace are ye saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8a).
It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23).¹

The LDS Church’s leadership consistently interprets 2 Nephi 25:23 to mean that we are saved by grace as we do all we can. That is, only those who make the effort to do all that they can do to live obediently and faithfully to the “gospel” as taught by the LDS Church will be “saved” in the sense of attaining eternal life in the presence of God. (We note here briefly that being “saved” in this context is understood in LDS doctrine specifically to mean attaining to the highest, celestial kingdom, something attainable only through the LDS Church and its ordinances.) To put it another way, doing “all we can do” is a necessary though not sufficient condition for salvation. People cannot be saved except by grace, but the salvation that comes from grace has doing all one can do as a necessary condition.

The question to be answered here is whether this idea, which LDS authorities understand 2 Nephi 25:23 to teach, contradicts the teaching of Ephesians 2.

The Meaning of 2 Nephi 25:23

The question at hand is complicated or muddied by disagreements among Mormon interpreters as to the meaning of 2 Nephi 25:23. As noted above, the dominant interpretation, going back over half a century, is that “all we can do” expresses a condition for being saved by grace. The official LDS doctrine concerning grace is summarized rather clearly in the article on “Grace” in the online Bible Dictionary on the LDS Church’s official website:

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…. However, grace cannot suffice without total effort on the part of the recipient. Hence the explanation, “It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Ne. 25:23).²

A similar statement appears in the LDS reference work True to the Faith:

The phrase “after all we can do” teaches that effort is required on our part to receive the fulness of the Lord’s grace and be made worthy to dwell with Him. The Lord has commanded us to obey his gospel, which includes having faith in him, repenting of our sins, being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.³

Robert J. Matthews, a leading Mormon scholar on the relation between the Bible and the LDS scriptures, stated: “God does for human beings only what they cannot do for themselves. Man must do all he can for himself. The doctrine is that we are saved by grace, ‘after all we can do’ (2 Nephi 25:23).”⁴

Some LDS authorities have explained 2 Nephi 25:23 more specifically to mean that the grace of God saves people only “after” they have done all they can, apparently meaning that grace chronologically follows their works. This order is also sometimes explained as God’s grace making up the difference or shortfall between a person’s best efforts and the perfection that would qualify them for salvation on the basis of their works alone. For example, Dallin H. Oaks, who became the LDS Church President in late 2025, stated in a general conference address in 1993: “He is our Savior, and when we have done all that we can, he will make up the difference, in his own way and in his own time. Of that I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”⁵ Harold B. Lee, the eleventh President (1972–73), expressed the same understanding, as quoted in a current LDS Church curriculum manual:

Spiritual certainty that is necessary to salvation must be preceded by a maximum of individual effort. Grace, or the free gift of the Lord’s atoning power, must be preceded by personal striving. Repeating again what Nephi said, “By grace . . . we are saved, after all we can do.” [2 Nephi 25:23]⁶

Against this “chronological” interpretation of 2 Nephi 25:23, some LDS scholars have argued that the expression “after all we can do” should be interpreted to mean something like “apart from” or “regardless of” all we can do. Stephen E. Robinson, a Mormon New Testament scholar, seems to have been the first LDS writer to advance such an interpretation:

I understand the preposition “after” in 2 Nephi 25:23 to be a preposition of separation rather than a preposition of time. It denotes logical separateness rather than temporal sequence. We are saved by grace “apart from all we can do,” or “all we can do notwithstanding,” or even “regardless of all we can do.” Another acceptable paraphrase of the sense of the verse might read, “We are still saved by grace, after all is said and done.”⁷

Scholars who interpret 2 Nephi 25:23 along these lines raise several points against the chronological view. Theologically, they argue that grace is active throughout a person’s life and not just after they have expended their best efforts.⁸ From a more pastoral perspective, they express the concern that it is not realistic to expect people to have done all they can do, and indeed they point out that no one can realistically claim to have done so. Dieter Uchtdorf, while not advocating a specific interpretation of 2 Nephi 25:23, warns against the chronological interpretation for precisely this reason:

However, I wonder if sometimes we misinterpret the phrase “after all we can do.” We must understand that “after” does not equal “because.” We are not saved “because” of all that we can do. Have any of us done all that we can do? Does God wait until we’ve expended every effort before He will intervene in our lives with His saving grace?⁹

From a linguistic angle, Dan McClellan has argued that the word “after” in the expression “after all . . . can do” in the English of Joseph Smith’s era was an idiomatic way of saying “despite.”¹⁰

Not all Mormons are convinced (and the LDS Church leaders have offered no final answer to the question). Some have argued that Robinson’s “separation” interpretation leads to the opposite concern of implying that works play no role in a person’s salvation, and they have attempted to develop alternative explanations of the passage.¹¹

We need not try to settle this intramural debate among LDS interpreters as to the precise nuance of the phrase “after all we can do” in 2 Nephi 25:23. Even if one accepts the chronological interpretation, the text in its Book of Mormon context still indicates that there are things that the person must “do” in order to be saved by grace. Even Robinson, who originated that interpretation, agreed:

The good news is that God will not require of us more than the best we can do, but the bad news is he will not accept less than that either. . . . As we demonstrate our good faith by doing all that we can and consecrating all our own resources to the common purpose, the grace of God and the atonement of Christ are sufficient to meet all our other needs, but the covenant still demands our best efforts assumes progress will be made, and aims at eventually making us self-sufficient as far as righteousness is concerned.¹²

Elsewhere, the Book of Mormon elaborates in detail on what is required of people in order to be saved by God’s grace. For example, later in the same book of 2 Nephi, we read:

For the gate by which ye should enter, is repentance, and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire, and by the Holy Ghost. 31:18 And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate: ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witness of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, That if ye entered in by the way, ye should receive. 31:19 And now, my beloved brethren, after that ye have got into this strait and narrow path, I would ask, If all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far, save it were by the word of Christ, with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of Him who is mighty to save; 31:20 wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (2 Nephi 31:15–20) 

Here the reader is told that a person must repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, “press forward,” have “a perfect brightness of hope” as well as love for God and people, “and endure to the end.” Only if one does all these things will one “have eternal life.” Later the Book of Mormon teaches that charitable works are required to retain one’s “remission of sins” (Mosiah 4:26; Alma 4:13–14). Moroni, the last book in the Book of Mormon, even teaches that one must fulfill the commandments and become perfected in Christ in order to receive remission of sins:

And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith, unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins; 8:26 and the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart, cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God. (Moroni 8:25–26)

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in no wise deny the power of God. 10:33 And again, if ye, by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father, unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy without spot. (Moroni 10:32–33)

The doctrine of Moroni 10:32–33 is very much along the same lines as the traditional LDS interpretation of 2 Nephi 25:23. You must deny yourself of all ungodliness and love God with all your strength, and “then is his grace sufficient” for you to become perfect in Christ, resulting in “the remission of your sins.” Grace is indispensable and the actual cause of a person’s salvation, but grace only saves through a person’s persistent effort.

The Meaning of Ephesians 2:8

Let us clarify the issue here by first noting what the problem is not. 

• The problem is not merely that 2 Nephi 25:23 has a clause (“after all that we can do”) not found in Ephesians 2:8.
• The problem is not that 2 Nephi 25:23 means that grace comes only after all our good works. As explained previously, this is likely not what 2 Nephi 25:23 means.
• Nor are we suggesting that the Book of Mormon denies the necessity of grace. It clearly affirms that grace is absolutely necessary to salvation.
• Nor are we suggesting that the Book of Mormon denies the necessity of faith. It clearly affirms that faith is necessary to receive salvation.
• Finally, nor are we suggesting that Paul denies the importance of Christians doing good works. Paul clearly teaches that Christians should do good works.

The problem is that what 2 Nephi 25:23 says contradicts what Ephesians 2:8 says in its context. Here is a fuller quotation from Ephesians:

For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:8–10 KJV)

According to Ephesians 2:8–10, we are not saved “of works” but rather are saved “unto good works.” That is, good works are the result—the “fruit,” to use a biblical metaphor—of salvation. They are not a precondition or qualification of salvation. In Paul, good works come after or as a result of salvation (see also Romans 11:6; Titus 3:5–6). In the Book of Mormon, salvation (not necessarily grace, as discussed earlier) comes after and in dependence on good works along with grace. The Book of Mormon thus clearly contradicts the Bible here.

As explained above, the issue becomes even clearer when 2 Nephi 25:23 is read in the context of the rest of the Book of Mormon, which clearly contradicts the idea of salvation by grace alone apart from works. In the Book of Mormon, as in LDS theology today, salvation requires and is produced by grace, but it is produced by grace only for those who make a diligent, persistent effort to do the good works that are commanded.