During a trip from Missouri to Ohio, Joseph Smith and others experienced contention and bad feelings toward one another. In Doctrine and Covenants 64, Jesus Christ instructed them about their need to forgive. This lesson can help students follow Jesus Christ’s example and become more forgiving.
Possible Learning Activities
Reflecting on forgiveness
Invite students to share a story about forgiveness. Or you could share a story of forgiveness such as “Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light” (8:24), found at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Invite students to answer the following questions in their study journals.
Do you consider yourself to be a forgiving person? Why or why not?
Why do you think Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want you to forgive others?
Who is someone you need to forgive?
Invite students to seek personal revelation to know who they may need to forgive and what they can do to extend forgiveness.
In August 1831, after dedicating Zion in Missouri, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Isaac Morley, Ezra Booth, and others were returning home to Ohio. Extreme heat, dangerous traveling conditions, and disagreements with leadership led the group to criticize and quarrel with one another. After they arrived home, tension still lingered between them (see Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, vol. 1, The Standard of Truth, 1815–1846 [2018], 133–34, 136–37). In response to their experience, the Lord gave the revelation now known as Doctrine and Covenants 64.
Consider displaying an image of the Savior. Ask students to ponder the following questions. Afterward, invite students to share their thoughts with the class or a partner.
What attributes of Jesus Christ do you find in these verses?
Which of these attributes are you most grateful for? Why?
Doctrine and Covenants 64:9–11 is a doctrinal mastery passage. Consider inviting students to mark doctrinal mastery passages in a distinctive way so they can locate them easily.
What stands out to you about what the Savior taught Joseph and the others?
Help students identify the truth that Jesus Christ requires us to forgive all people. Consider writing this truth on the board. You can also invite students to write it in their scriptures.
Take sufficient time to help students understand verses 9–11. Some of the following questions can help.
Why do you think Jesus Christ requires us to forgive everyone?
Why do you think we have “the greater sin” (verse 9) when we choose not to forgive others?
How do you think saying in our hearts “let God judge between me and thee” (verse 11) can help us forgive others?
What Christlike attributes will forgiving others help you develop?
Learning how to forgive others
Consider giving students time to ask questions or share challenges related to forgiveness. Students could respond to the following questions on the board, via an anonymous polling feature, or on pieces of paper that can be shared with the class.
What questions might people have as they seek to forgive others?
What challenges might people face as they try to follow the Savior’s example to forgive?
Students may ask questions like “How can the Savior help me forgive others?” or “Does forgiving others mean I need to be hurt again?”
Invite students to select a question as a class or individually. Then have them search divinely appointed sources for answers.
Students could find answers by searching words like “Jesus,” “forgive,” “Savior,” and “mercy” in the Gospel Library app or the Guide to the Scriptures. You could also provide scriptures, such as Matthew 5:7; 18:21–35; and Mosiah 26:30–31, and the prophetic statements listed below.
Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught how Jesus Christ can help us forgive others:
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Elder Gerrit W. Gong
Sometimes our willingness to forgive someone else enables both them and us to believe we can repent and be forgiven. Sometimes a willingness to repent and an ability to forgive come at different times. Our Savior is our Mediator with God, but He also helps bring us to ourselves and each other as we come to Him. Especially when hurt and pain are deep, repairing our relationships and healing our hearts is hard, perhaps impossible for us on our own. But heaven can give us strength and wisdom beyond our own to know when to hold on and how to let go. (Gerrit W. Gong, “Happy and Forever,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 85)
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:
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Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
“Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” [Luke 6:37], Christ taught in New Testament times. And in our day: “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” [Doctrine and Covenants 64:10]. It is, however, important for some of you living in real anguish to note what He did not say. He did not say, “You are not allowed to feel true pain or real sorrow from the shattering experiences you have had at the hand of another.” Nor did He say, “In order to forgive fully, you have to reenter a toxic relationship or return to an abusive, destructive circumstance.” But notwithstanding even the most terrible offenses that might come to us, we can rise above our pain only when we put our feet onto the path of true healing. That path is the forgiving one walked by Jesus of Nazareth, who calls out to each of us, “Come, follow me” [Luke 18:22]. (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Ministry of Reconciliation,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2018, 78–79)
Consider inviting students to share answers they find or impressions they feel about forgiveness. They can also share examples of how they have been blessed by following the Savior’s example to forgive others. Remind students not to share any experiences or details that are too personal.
What specific actions can we take that will help us forgive others?
Potential answers students might share include the following:
Study accounts of the Savior and others extending forgiveness
Ponder how our lives would be different if we extended forgiveness
Offer a sincere prayer in which we give our burden to God and ask for His help to forgive others
Acknowledge that through Jesus Christ, our hearts can change over time so we can eventually forgive others
Personal application
Earlier in the lesson, students were invited to think of someone they need to forgive. Invite them to reflect on that situation and to seek inspiration as they answer the following questions.
Ponder the following questions and consider writing your thoughts or feelings in your study journal.
What can you do to rely on the Savior to forgive?
What efforts will you make to follow Jesus Christ’s example and become more forgiving?
Memorize
You may want to help students memorize the doctrinal mastery reference and key scripture phrase during this lesson and review them in future lessons. The key scripture phrase is “Of you it is required to forgive all men.” Ideas for memorization activities are in the appendix under “Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities.”