Doctrinal Mastery: Mosiah 3:19

“[Put] Off the Natural Man and [Become] a Saint through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”

In your study of Mosiah 3:19, you learned how to overcome the natural man through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This lesson can help you memorize the doctrinal mastery reference and key scripture phrase for Mosiah 3:19. It can also help you explain the doctrine taught in this passage and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in real-life situations.

Encouraging spiritual learning through effort. Gospel learning that fosters conversion and helps the gospel sink deep into the hearts of students requires more than a diligent effort on the part of the teacher. Spiritual learning requires consistent effort on the part of the learner. Help your students see their role in the teaching and learning process.

Student preparation: Invite students to begin trying to memorize Mosiah 3:19. Explain that you will provide time in class to memorize the key scripture phrase, but it can also benefit them to practice memorizing the entire verse.

Possible Learning Activities

You should teach this doctrinal mastery lesson after the lesson “Mosiah 3:19,” which is the contextual lesson for the doctrinal mastery passage Mosiah 3:19. If you need to move this doctrinal mastery passage lesson to a different week, be sure to teach the corresponding contextual lesson during that week as well.

Memorize and explain

During the previous lesson, you learned the following truth from Mosiah 3:19: By yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, we can overcome the natural man and become saints through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The key scripture phrase for Mosiah 3:19 is “[Put] off the natural man and [become] a saint through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”

Provide students with a way to practice memorizing this reference and key scripture phrase. The following activity is one way you could do this.

Draw a triangle like the following in your study journal. Divide the reference and key scripture phrase for Mosiah 3:19 into four parts. Write the four parts in your triangle. For example, you could write “Mosiah 3:19” in the top portion of your drawing, “[Put] off the natural man” in the second portion, and so on. Practice memorizing the entire phrase moving from top to bottom of your drawing until you feel comfortable reciting it without looking.

Have students practice explaining the doctrine in their own words. You could use the following idea or a different one to help students practice.

Imagine you are teaching a lesson about Mosiah 3:19 to a primary class in your ward or branch. How might you explain the message of this doctrinal mastery passage to a group of young children? Write a brief paragraph in your own words that explains the doctrine of Mosiah 3:19.

Consider dividing students into pairs to complete their explanations. You could invite willing students to read their explanations to the entire class.

Practice application

Have students review the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. One way to do this is to invite several students to draw symbols or simple pictures on the board that represent each of the three principles. Try to structure the activity so it takes only a few minutes of class time.

Provide students with a scenario similar to the following to help them practice using all three principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge.

Toviyah has struggled with controlling his temper for many years. He often gets angry at his siblings and parents and raises his voice. He also struggles to get along with others at school. One day, while talking to his parents about his short temper, he exclaims: “I wish I could be a more patient person, but I don’t feel like I can. This is just the way I am!”

You can adapt this scenario to better meet the needs of your students. You could change the behavior of being short-tempered in the scenario to another challenge such as laziness, disrespectful language, or unkindness. Another option is to invite students to make a list on the board of behaviors common to the natural man. Then students could choose one of the behaviors and adapt the scenario to include it instead.

• How would you use the teachings of Mosiah 3:19 and the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to help in this situation?

Let students discuss how each of the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge and the doctrine taught in Mosiah 3:19 could help with this situation. Students could do this together as a class or in small groups.

If students need more guidance, the following are examples of the types of questions you might share with them as part of this discussion.

Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources

• How do you think the teachings of Mosiah 3:19 could help with this situation?

• What are some other scriptures or statements from Church leaders that you think could be helpful?

Consider reminding the students of the cross-references they studied in the previous lesson as they discuss the following question. Or you could share some or all of the statements found in “Commentary and Background Information” from the previous lesson.

Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective

• What are some ways you could view this concern with an eternal perspective?

• How can remembering the Lord’s purposes for allowing us to live in a fallen world be helpful?

• What do you know about Jesus Christ and His Atonement that could make a difference in this situation?

Act in faith

• What are some ways someone in this situation could act in faith?

Doctrinal mastery review

Consider using the following review activity in a lesson taught soon after this one. Draw a triangle on the board like the one from the lesson. Starting at the top, invite students to complete each level of the triangle with the key scripture phrase for Mosiah 3:19: “[Put] off the natural man and [become] a saint through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” Repeat this process a few times until students can recite it from memory.