We believe that Jesus Christ is, that He lives, that He is our Savior and Redeemer. We have faith in His name which translated directly from Hebrew means among many things:
My Salvation (Jehoshua or Joshua the proto word for Iosus in Greek which became Jesus) through the Annointed One (Mesiach or Messiah). The Annointed One is the High Priest of our salvation.
But we do not have a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ like the apostles of old. They saw His works done in the Name of the Father: healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, restoring hearing to the deaf, mobility to the lame, casting out demons, raising 3 people from the dead back to life, and healing diseases and infirmities of every kind. They saw his suffering and death on the cross with their own mortal eyes. Then they were eyewitnesses to the greatest miracle of all time, His Resurrection from the dead. Alma taught:
“And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”[i]
And: “God is merciful unto all who believe on his name”[ii]
But faith is not perfect, nor is it certain knowledge about something, but it is sufficient for our salvation as a first step in the covenant path back to God. As Alma also said:
“Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.”[iii]
What should be the object of this imperfect knowledge, this mere belief, this sliver of hope, this seedling of faith? It cannot be anything that is made by imperfect man who falls short of the glory that is his or hers by inheritance as spirit sons and daughters of Our Heavenly Father. Our faith must be in something and/or someone that is perfect in every way, flawless and has power to save us.
Jesus Christ was examined for flaws by religious and political authorities. Pilate said “I find no fault in him at all.”[iv] The lambs that were examined by the High Priests in Israel for 3 days had to be found perfect in every way before they were used as the Passover sacrifice for sins in ancient Israel. Jesus Christ is that Lamb of God, perfect in every way, sinless though he was tempted on every point as we are.[v]
His atonement is so perfect that it saves the lives of not only every person in this world who ever lived, some 120 billion people, but every world created by Him in this vast universe of trillions of galaxies containing billions of stars with countless earths like this.[vi] We can have our fledgling faith in this perfect Creator, this perfect Son of God who lived like us, but was perfect in every way. We can have faith in His perfect payment for our failings, our falling short, our harms to others, our mistakes, our corrupt thinking and blaming others. His perfect atonement pays the price of sin so that God, the Father, can wipe us clean and cover our sins from His perfect eyes and remember our sins no more through all eternity. The word for atonement in Hebrew Kafar means to cover or hide and that is exactly what Christ did for us faltering imperfect humans who have a noble birthright but fall short (sin in Hebrew means to fall short as in aiming an arrow and it falls short of the target).[vii]
How can God love us when we are so flawed and imperfect? He paid the ultimate price for our sins, His own life. Each of our lives cost Him great suffering in bringing about our spiritual rebirth. Like a suffering mother during long awful pregnancy and painful delivery, the birth of her baby generates a perfect mother’s love born out of incredible suffering. This why God the Father and Jesus Christ desire to save every human being:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”[viii]
Only someone who is perfect can pay for the sins of another.
[i] Alma 32:21
[ii] Alma 32:22
[iii] Alma 32:18
[iv] John 18:38
[v] Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
[vi] D&C 76:24 “That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.”
[vii] Definition of Kafar or atonement: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1990/07/the-atonement-of-jesus-christ-part-1?lang=eng
Definition of sin: https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/4721/Falling-Short-of-Glory-God.htm
[viii] John 3:16-17