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From the time of his baptism as a teenager until his death in 2016, L. A. Mott, Jr. was a devoted student of the Scriptures. Through classes, sermons, books, and articles, he shared the fruit of his study among churches throughout the U.S. and abroad for over 50 years.
Two principles from 2nd Timothy 3:16–17 undergirded all his efforts: the sufficiency of Scripture and the value of all Scripture.
What L. A. Mott Believed
The church was intended to be unified.
L. A. Mott was nondenominational before nondenominational was cool. He was a lifelong member of the “church of Christ.” In using that phrase, he would not be referring to a particular denomination, but rather simply to the fact that he was a part of the church founded by Jesus in the first century (hence, the lower case “church”). He was not just nondenominational; he was anti-denominational. He believed that the very idea of dividing into different sub-groups of Christians would have been antithetical to the Jesus who prayed to the Father that his disciples “may be one … so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21). (For more on the Church of Christ, christianity.com has a fair overview of their core doctrines.)
“Every scripture is God-breathed” and the Word of God is all we need.
His most fundamental belief can be summarized in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 — “Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” (This quotation uses his favored translation, the now obscure American Standard Version [ASV]; what it loses in easy comprehensibility it makes up for in literalness.) L. A. interpreted this scripture to mean that every sentence in the Bible should be trusted as much as if it was penned by God’s own hand, and that no other writing carries the same authority. He believed that the Holy Spirit oversaw the assembly of the canon and the transmission of the original texts so that the final product we have today can be trusted as scripture "inspired of God." (There are nuances to these beliefs, but this is the gist.)
Salvation is by faith, but “not by faith alone.”
Following the teaching of James, he believed that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20) and he believed that repentance is a condition of salvation, as is baptism (as expressed by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:38).
Humans have free will and everyone has a chance to be saved.
This is against the notion that God has predestined who will be saved and who will be lost and that humans have no choice in the matter.
Christians can fall away and be lost.
The prevailing belief in the protestant world is that if you are truly converted you can never be lost. This belief goes hand in hand with the one about free will. If, before the foundation of the world, God composed the list of everyone who would be saved, you are either on it or you are not. If you are on it, it doesn’t matter how bad you mess up, God will bring you back. (And if you mess up and never come back, that is proof that you were never on the list to start with.) L. A. read passages like Hebrews 6:4–6 and interpreted them to mean that someone could “taste the goodness of the word of God,” yet “fall away [never to be] brought back to repentance.”
When Christ returns, it is over.
L. A. did not believe that Jesus would return again to reign for 1,000 years, while Christian believers would be taken up into the sky in the rapture. He believed that, “at the last trumpet … the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed” (1 Cor. 15:52). Everybody at once. The “elements will be destroyed” (2 Peter 3:10) and earthly life will be ended.
He believed a lot more than this. If you have questions, feel free to write (service@thinkingthrough.org) or call (707 - SUNESIS).
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