Fullness of the Gospel

The Fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

The fourth Article of Faith of the Mormon Church says:

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This represents the basic foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Mormon Church. These steps are what a person must do to enter a covenant with Christ and enter the path that leads to Eternal Life. The word Gospel is a contraction of “Good” and “Spell” and means literally the good story or good news. The Good News of Jesus Christ is that He suffered for our sins, died, and was resurrected from the dead. This constitutes the Atonement of Jesus Christ through which all mankind can be saved in the Kingdom of Heaven through faith, repentance, baptism, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endurance to the end. The Book of Mormon usually refers to this as the Doctrine of Christ.

Mormons teach that the fullness of the Gospel, or the complete teachings about the Gospel as well as the authority to perform baptism and the covenants God makes with man were lost from the earth in the centuries following Christ’s death and resurrection and that these teachings and this authority were restored through modern day prophets beginning with Joseph Smith. Part of that restoration was the Book of Mormon, which the Lord gave to help us understand more fully this essential doctrine. In a revelation given to Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ said, “the elders, priests and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fullness of the gospel” (Doctrine