KnoWhy #356 | August 21, 2019

How Can Trials of Faith Lead to Spiritual Growth?

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Scripture Central

“I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” Ether 12:6

Context and Content

In Ether 12, Moroni recorded that the prophet Ether warned the Jaredites to repent “lest they should be destroyed” (v. 3). Sadly, the people would not believe Ether’s “great and marvelous” prophecies “because they saw them not” (v. 5). Building on this point, Moroni declared, “I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (v. 6).1

The word trial in Joseph Smith’s day could mean (1) an “examination by a test,” (2) an “experiment,” (3) a testing “experience” (4) a legal “examination” or (5) a “temptation.”2 In earlier periods of English, a trial was also used to determine “a person's guilt or innocence, or the righteousness of his cause, by a combat between the accuser and accused.”3 This type of ritualized combat was also well known throughout the ancient world.4 In the New Testament, Peter referred to a “trial of your faith” as “being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire.”5 The Greek word translated as trial often refers to purifying precious metals.6

Several of these definitions are thematically present in various Book of Mormon accounts of trials. In Alma 1 those who followed Nehor began to persecute the believers, resulting in a “great trial [test or temptation] to those that did stand fast in the faith” (v. 25). Alma invited the poor among the Zoramites to “try the experiment” of planting the word of God in their hearts (Alma 32:36). Enos described his trial as a “wrestle [combat] which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins” (Enos 1:2).7 Alma similarly described this type of trial as “wrestling with God in mighty prayer” (Alma 8:10).

Several of Moroni’s examples of faith in Ether 12 relate to legal trials and imprisonment. He taught that “by faith was the law of Moses given” (v. 11). By faith, Alma and Amulek “caused the prison to tumble to the earth” after enduring an unjust legal trial at Ammonihah (v. 13).8 When Nephi and Lehi were unjustly cast into prison by an army of Lamanites, they “wrought [a] change upon the Lamanites” (v. 14).9 “Ammon and his brethren,” who faced servitude and imprisonment, similarly performed a “great a miracle among the Lamanites” (v. 15).10

Doctrinal Mastery Ether 12:6 Infographic by Book of Mormon Central

Doctrinal Mastery Ether 12:6 Infographic by Book of Mormon Central

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Moroni may have thematically referenced trials by fire by recounting stories dealing with literal or metaphorical burning. He mentioned Christ’s appearance to the Nephites (Ether 12:7), which immediately followed cities being burned (3 Nephi 9:3).11 He mentioned Alma and Amulek being cast into prison (Ether 12:13), which immediately followed the burning of the believers and their scriptures (Alma 14:14). He stated that the Lamanites were “baptized with fire” through the faith of Nephi and Lehi (Ether 12:14). And he even mentioned the three disciples (Ether 12:17), who were literally tried by fire when they were thrown into a furnace (4 Nephi 1:32). 

After relating so many examples of faith followed by miracles, Moroni delivered a farewell to his readers and then finished the sad tale of the Jaredites’ utter destruction.12 While those who acted in faith repeatedly witnessed a blessing or miracle after their trials, the Jaredites witnessed their own prophesied destruction (see Ether 13–15).

Doctrines and Principles

Moroni’s famous chapter on faith shows that both blessings and divine punishments are often delayed. Elder Spencer W. Kimball explained, “If pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good.”13 Through repeated and sometimes lengthy periods of trial and testing, we are given greater freedom to determine and then act out the truest desires of our hearts.

Moroni’s stories of faith also demonstrate the diversity of our trials and the consistency of God’s blessings. Sometimes we are the ones actively performing the test, just like the poor among the Zoramites who were invited to test or experiment upon the word of God. At other times, the circumstances of mortality, including others’ choices over which we have no control, test us. Moroni’s multiple references to legal trials and imprisonment offer powerful examples of patiently enduring others’ wicked actions. And all of us are invited to symbolically “wrestle” with the Lord Himself in mighty prayer, just like Enos and Alma.

Whatever their form, our mortal trials provide essential opportunities for spiritual growth.14 Elder Neil L. Andersen has taught, “Like the intense fire that transforms iron into steel, as we remain faithful during the fiery trial of our faith, we are spiritually refined and strengthened.”15 With this perspective in mind, we can more courageously echo the psalmist’s wise petition: “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart” (Psalm 26:2).

Further Reading
Footnotes
Adversity
Esther
Faith
Jaredites
Book of Mormon

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