2 Ne 31:16-21
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The Book of Mormon > Second Nephi > Chapter 31
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Contents |
Questions
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Lexical notes
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Exegesis
Verses 19-20
It could well be suggested that these two verses are the foundation of all subsequent discussion of "faith, hope, and charity" throughout the Book of Mormon. In verse 19, Nephi mentions first the "faith" of those who are coming unto Christ. Then, in verse 20, he adds to that faith "hope" and--apparently--charity, what he calls "a love of God and of all men." That this very rough outlining of the three-fold theme of faith, hope, and charity is to be found at the very climax of Nephi's two-book record is suggestive of why it becomes such a consistently considered topic later in the Book of Mormon. However, there is a significant difference between Nephi's introduction of the theme here and the later considerations of the same.
Nephi's language explicitly draws a sort of line between faith and hope. Perhaps better: a doorway or passageway marks the movement from faith to hope (cf. "door of hope" in Hosea 2:15), thereby drawing faith and hope into a curious relation of both connection and disconnection at once. The threshold itself is precisely what is in question in the whole passage: the "beloved brethren" being addressed are, according to verse 18, those who have come to a "gate" to be found on the "path which leads to eternal life." At that gate, Nephi describes the path traveled to this threshold as one paved by "unshaken faith" and the path to be traveled beyond this threshold as one paved by "hope, and a love of God and of all men." The gate itself marks a difference and yet a relation between faith and hope. Or better still: the gate marks the relation between faith and hope as a relation of distance, as a relation of difference.
It is this relation of difference that seems to set this passage apart from later explorations of faith, hope, and charity. Alma (see Alma 32:21) and Mormon (see Moro 7:40-42) both consider a different relation between hope and faith. Alma, for example, characterizes faith itself as a kind of hope. Mormon claims at once that faith comes from hope and that hope comes from faith (see verses 40 and 42 especially). Only Moroni (see Ether 12:4) states explicitly that hope comes after (and only after) faith. This agreement with Nephi is, however, not too surprising: Moroni seems to have been the singlemost dedicated interpreter of the prophet Nephi in the history of the Nephites as it now exists. Though this should only be understood as preliminary statement, it might be said that it is only with a full millennium of thinking of these two verses that the Nephites come back to recognize what it says explicitly, and to recognize especially its full significance. (The question as to why there seems to be a relative lack of coherence with what Nephi is saying here for so long would be a fruitful one for further study. Does it have something to do with an ambiguity in the word "hope"?)
At least this much might be said for now: faith is understood in these two verses as being a preparatory pathway to the more vital pathway of hope and charity. Other details from these two verses bear out the relation of difference implied. For example, the pathway to the gate is characterized in verse 19 as a question of "relying wholly upon the merits of him [Christ] who is mighty to save," whereas the pathway beyond the gate is characterized in verse 20 as a question of "press[ing] forward with a steadfastness in Christ. Whereas the relation of one to Christ in faith is one of reliance, the relation of one to Christ in hope and charity is one of identification (two become one).
Related links
Verse 18
- Path. See Jacob's post on path and way as used in scriptures at the New Cool Thang blog.
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