Moro 1:1-6:9

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Home > The Book of Mormon > Moroni > Chapters 1-6
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This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

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Relationship to Moroni. The relationship of Chapters 2-6 to the rest of Moroni is addressed at Moroni.

Story.

  • Chapter 1: Moroni's circumstances Chapters 1 consists of a short update on Moroni's circumstances after completing the book of Ether.
  • Chapters 2-6: Church practices. Chapters 2-6 consists of six sections in three pairs that cover a series of closely related church administrative practices with great spiritual significance.
  • Chapters 2-3: Conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost (2:1-3) and ordaining to the priesthood (3:1-4).
  • Chapters 4-5: Prayers to bless the sacrament bread (4:1-3) and sacrament wine (5:1-2).
  • Chapter 6a-6b: Baptism (6:1-4) and church shepherding (6:5-9).

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapter 2-6 include:

Discussion[edit]

This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Moro 1: Moroni's circumstances[edit]

  • Moro 1: Moroni's circumstances. Chapter 1 introduces the book of Moroni. Chapter 1 is distinct from the instruction regarding church practices in Chapters 2-6, but but there is not sufficient content on this wiki about Chapter 1 to justify a separate wiki page.

Moro 2-6: Moroni's priesthood manual[edit]

  • Moro 2-6: Priesthood Manual. Moroni's specification in chapters 2-6 of priesthood ordinance and church administrative practices is sometimes called "Moroni's Priesthood Manual" or "Moroni's Handbook of Instruction."
  • Moro 2-6: Influence of teachings from Christ's ministry. Much of Moroni's language here in chapters 2-6 is borrowed from the account of Christ's teaching in Third Nephi. For example:
This evidences the great influence that Christ's teachings during his ministry to the Nephites continued to have on the Nephite church 400 years alter. This concept is developed in Welch, John W. "Worthy of Another Look: Reusages of the Words of Christ," p. 69-70.
Both the account of Christ's teaching in Third Nephi and the teachings here in Chapters 2-6 figured prominently in the development of D&C 20, the "Articles and Covenants" or "Constitution" of the Church. This concept is developed in Elieson, Kurt. Historical Context of the Doctrine & Covenants, Vol. 1, p. 370-73.

Moro 2-3: Ordination and gift of the Holy Ghost[edit]

Moro 4-5: Sacrament prayers[edit]

  • Moro 4-5: Difference in the wording of the two sacrament prayers. The change in wording from the prayer on the bread to the prayer on the water communicates a profound message about the atonement: it is the Savior who empowers us to do the good we would, but can’t. The prayer on the bread says that we “are willing” to always remember the Savior. The prayer on the water says that we “do” always remember him. Why this change from “willing” to “do”? What does it signify?
One answer is that the change in the sacrament prayers signifies a critically important transition from acting alone to acting in Christ, with the corresponding increase in our capacity for righteousness. Before we bond ourselves to the Savior through broken-hearted contrition, we may have the will but do not have the self -discipline and strength of character to do what we should. After we symbolically make Christ part of us by partaking of the bread, his flesh, “the enabling power of the Atonement” (Bednar) becomes active in our lives, and we have the power to do that which we were willing but unable to do on our own--“always remember him, and keep his commandments which he has given [us]” (Moroni 4:3). Thus, the key difference between the prayer on the bread and the prayer on the water is that Christ is not part of us during the first prayer but is during the second because we have now partaken of his flesh.
So the prayer on the bread is about willing, the prayer on the water about doing. And yet, the prayer on the water says only, we “do always remember him,” not that we “do keep his commandments which he has given [us].” Why is there no statement about keeping the commandments in the second prayer? The answer is that such a statement would be redundant. Those who fully and continually remember Christ are born again. They “have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mos. 5:2). It follows that they "do keep his commandments which he has given them.” Of course, ability to always remember him is itself a gift of grace, as the prayers indicate. We bring to Christ a willing heart. He produces in us a broken-hearted and contrite remembrance of his sacrifice on our behalf, a remembrance that empowers us to keep his commandments and, thus, sanctifies us.
Partaking of the sacrament is a symbolic, not a magical act. So there is no suggestion in this analysis that there is an actual transition from will to act that occurs after one eats the bread but before one drinks the water. The suggestion is that the sacrament prayers and the partaking of the bread and water quite precisely and beautifully signify the process by which the atonement sanctifies a willing soul.
  • See User: Joe Spencer/Lordly for a poetic exploration of the act of kneeling with the whole Church in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

Moro 6: Baptism and shepherding[edit]

  • Moro 6:4: Finisher of our faith. This term also appears in Heb 12:2. The term translated in the NT as finisher is the Greek noun teleiotes ("perfector") which comes from the Greek verb teleioo (to make perfect or complete, to accomplish or carry through completely, to add what is lacking to make something full).

Unanswered questions[edit]

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Prompts for life application[edit]

This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • Who should administer the Sacrament?
  • What is the covenant made by taking the Sacrament?
  • What does the Bread represent?
  • What does the Wine represent?

Prompts for further study[edit]

This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • Moro 1:4. Why was Moroni unsure whether his words would be of worth to the Lamanites?
  • Moro 2:2. We learn here that when Christ calls his disciples by the laying on of hands, he tells them that before they give Holy Ghost to others they should "call on the Father in [his] name, in might prayer." Why is this step such an important prerequisite that it merits Christ saying this to each of the twelve individually? Does this same prerequisite exist today before a Melchizedek priesthood calls on someone to receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands?
  • Moro 3:2. What is the role of prayer in preparing to officiate in an ordinance involving the priesthood?
  • Moro 6:3. Is serving the Lord to the end different from enduring to the end?
  • Moro 6:3. In practice what does it mean to require those getting baptized to have a determination to serve the Lord to the end? Is this still a precondition of baptism? If so, how does the Church today judge whether this condition has been met?
  • Moro 6:4. What does it mean to be "wrought upon" by the power of the Holy Ghost?
  • Moro 6:4. How is Christ the "finisher" of our faith?
  • Moro 6:5. At church we seem to talk a lot about concepts and programs, how much do we really talk about the "welfare" of our souls?

Resources[edit]

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  • Moro 2-6: Influence of teachings from Christ's ministry. Welch, John W. "Worthy of Another Look: Reusages of the Words of Christ." In Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture, 22/1 (2013): p. 70. Provo, Utah: BYU University: Neil A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. This article discusses Christ's reuse of portions of the Sermon on the Mount, quoted in 3 Nephi 12-14, including here Moroni 2-6.

Notes[edit]

Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes.



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