Sunday, January 25, 2015

Shall In Nowise Lose Their Reward


For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. 
And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. (D&C 58:28)
That bit “they shall in nowise lose their reward” at the end caught me for some reason.  It is peculiar phrasing to say that we will “in nowise lose our reward” instead of “we shall be rewarded.”

But I think there is a reassuring quality in the language that implies that it may seem like we are not rewarded in the short term, but in the long term the reward is there waiting for us and can’t be taken away.  That is reassuring.  If we were told “you shall be rewarded,” we would be looking for it to come more immediately, yes?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

That is beautiful wording! I had never thought about it that way before. Thanks for sharing!

Sarah

Michaela Stephens said...

Yes, and it is usually when we think about alternative ways it could have been worded and how changing it would change the implications that we can realize how deliberate the wording is.