Many people are taught that grace is a gift with no strings attached. Accept Christ and it's done. Cooper Johnson spent 15 years studying what the word grace meant to the people who first heard it, and he found that in the ancient world, grace was the start of a relationship that asks something of you in return.
In this episode of Temple Bound, host Will Humphreys and Cooper talk about his return to the Church after 10 years away, the questions that pushed him to study the Atonement, and how the original Greek and Hebrew words for grace, faith, belief, and knowing changed the way he reads scripture. Cooper now teaches temple prep in a young single adult ward. He shares how he frames worthiness, symbolism, and covenants for people preparing to enter the temple for the first time.
What you'll learn:
What the Greek word charis meant to Paul's first century audience, and why grace was always relational
How pistis, the word translated as faith, carries the meaning of loyalty and faithfulness
Why "believe" in John 3:16 means to trust and rely on Christ, not just agree that He exists
What ginosko teaches about knowing God through experience in John 17:3
How hesed describes God's covenant love
Why covenants are connections, not contracts
How to see worthiness as readiness instead of perfection
Why God teaches through symbolism, and why symbols lose meaning when they're overexplained
What "endowed" means: to be clothed with power
Why staying with a scripture, talk, or temple experience until it opens up to you matters
Resources mentioned:
Elder David A. Bednar, "In the Strength of the Lord" (2001)
John Barclay's work on grace and Paul
Brent Schmidt, Relational Grace and Relational Faith
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