Yeshua(Jesus) teaches the Doctrine of Sanctification, Part 1 – 3 Nephi 11-14

This week in the Book of Mormon we’ll review chapters 11 to 14 of 3 Nephi. Last week we saw that the basis for temporal salvation was connected to the law that God gave to Israel, which is also true with the covenant that America made with God. In fact, all examples of temporal salvation must be connected to some version of the law because it is eternal.   This week Yeshua expands our understanding of the law to include sanctification or the overcoming of personal sin.  We’ll begin with an overview of the process of transformation, sin and sanctification. Then we’ll look at the first stage of sanctification that Yeshua sets out in chapter 11.

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Introduction
The very first teaching that the resurrected Messiah, Yeshua, sets out in this account of his appearance in 3 Nephi is on the process of sanctification or the overcoming of personal sin. His teaching on overcoming personal sin is at the heart of being transformed into His full image. We can say that because overcoming Universal Sin or the sin of Adam and Eve simply requires a person to accept Yeshua as the Redeemer of all Humanity and to live His basic law; and, Inherited Sin is matter of overcoming dysfunctional behaviors. We can see how these concepts come together in our summary table.

​Process of Transformation into the Full Image of the Son

Redemption	Sanctification	Exaltation
Overcoming Universal Sin	Overcoming Personal Sin	Overcoming Inherited Sin

The Doctrine of Sanctification
The Doctrine of Sanctification is the process of overcoming Personal Sin. We can breakdown Sanctification to see how Yeshua’s teaching on overcoming personal sin comes together.  The Doctrine of Sanctification looks like this.

SANCTIFICATION (Overcoming Personal Sin)

Born of the Water	Born of the Spirit	Born of God
Doctrine of Messiah(Christ) Faith Repentance Baptism	Lives the Law to the Degree Possible. Obtains the Melchizedek Priesthood by an Oath/Covenant. ​Receives a Fullness of the Law/Covenant through the Spirit.	Baptism of Fire Baptism of Spirit ​Sealed by the Spirit

Doctrine of Messiah(Christ)
Yeshua introduces the Doctrine of Sanctification to us in chapter 11 with a discourse on the Doctrine of Christ, which includes Faith, Repentance and Baptism. The Doctrine of Christ can be linked to a more general concept of being Born of the Water. This triad of concepts is the gate through which Believers enter to overcome personal sin.  We also see the concept of becoming like a little child, which means to be pure and trusting.

BORN OF THE WATER (Gate)

Doctrine of Messiah(Christ) Faith Repentance ​Baptism

The Law/Commandments                                                                                        
The action elements we see in the Doctrine of Messiah(Christ) are Faith, Repentance and Baptism.  All three of these elements lead us to keeping the Law/Commandments, which is grouped under being Born of the Spirit. We demonstrate Faith by trusting God that He will bless us if we live His Law.  We repent by living the Laws of God. And Lastly, we come out of the waters of baptism beginning a new life living God’s Laws. 

Doctrine of Messiah(Christ) Faith Repentance Baptism

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The Law/Commandments

Yeshua covers this topic of the Law/Commandments in chapter 12, which we'll evaluate next week in Part 2.