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This page allows you to see all the commentary pages together for this Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine lesson. Click on the heading to go to a specific page. Click the edit links below to edit text on any pages.


3 Ne 12:1-5

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 12:6-10

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 12:11-15

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 12:16-20

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 12:21-25

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 12:26-30

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 12:31-35

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 12:36-40

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 12:41-45

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 12:46-48

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 13:1-5

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 13:6-10

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 13:11-15

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 13:16-20

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 13:21-25

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 13:26-30

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 13:31-34

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 14:1-5

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 14:6-10

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 14:11-15

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 14:16-20

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 14:21-27

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Chapters 12-14
Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Scope of page. Third Nephi 12-14 contains the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) to the Nephites. This wiki page is not intended, however, to address the content of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. This page is intended only to address differences in the Lord's delivery of the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites and the use of the Sermon on the Mount in Third Nephi. Readers may want to consult the wiki pages that address Matthew 5-7 before reading the portion of this wiki page that addresses Third Nephi 12-14. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that discussion of a passage should be concentrated in a single place, and that the best place for a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount (at least as it is recorded in Matthew) is on the wiki pages that directly address Matthew.

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Chapters 12-14 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapters 12-14 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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:48. The end of Third Nephi 12 reads, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in heaven is perfect." There is slightly different wording in Matthew 5, where the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." One way to make sense of this difference is to assume that at some point after the Lord left this earth and returned again, He was made perfect just like His Father.
  • 3 Ne 13:11-15. The Lord here provides an outline for prayer. However, LDS understanding is that this is merely an outline or guideline for praying, not a rote prayer to be repeated as a "vain repetition".
  • 3 Ne 13:22. The eye can be symbolic of where we are looking spiritually. If we are looking to God and have an eye single to the glory of God, then other people will see this as we let our light shine before them being examples by doing Christ's work.
  • 3 Ne 13:24. Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. To truly serve God we must serve him only. Other scriptures give us the same message with different words. Throughout the Book of Mormon we see the phrase full purpose of heart (see the Related Links section for references). The footnote refers us to Hosea 10:2 where Israel is criticized for having a divided heart.
  • 3 Ne 13:34. In the NT, the "evil" spoken of in vs. 34 (see Matt 6:34) is the Greek "kakia." The word "kakia" has two senses, "trouble," "difficulty," or "burden" on the one hand, and "wickedness," on the other. If we assume that Jesus meant the first sense of "kakia" (see the lexical notes), then the verse says something like this: "Do not take thought for the morrow because, compared to the thought that has the Kingdom of God (the Second Coming, in the future) as its goal, the thought for the things of this world ("the morrow") is a burden. However, if it means "wickedness," then it refers to willful disobedience, or malice. In that case, the Lord seems to be indicating that we have enough to do to repent of our own willfull disobedience--not doing all the things we know we should--that we shouldn't have enough time to worry about the "morrow".
  • 3 Ne 14:1-7. After teaching that we should repent daily of our wilfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34), the Lord teaches that we should focus on our own sins and not those of others (vs. 2-5). He also teaches that we should cast out the bad (vs. 2-5) and be careful not to unwittingly cast out the good (vs. 6). Versus 1-6 could be seen as teaching how to give, shifting in vs. 7 to emphasize how we receive.
  • 3 Ne 14:16-20. The fruits of a prophet might be the same as those listed as the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Alternatively it may be that the fruits of a prophet are prophecies. In that case knowing a prophet by their fruits might mean seeing whether their prophecies come to pass. In support of this second interpretation see Deut 18:21-22. Against it see Deut 13:1-3.
  • 3 Ne 14:21. Christ is telling us that it is not enough to testify that he is our Lord and Savior. We must also submit to the will of God and do his work to be saved.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →


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. →

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. →

  • 3 Ne 12:3: What exactly does it mean when a person is "poor in spirit"?
  • 3 Ne 12:18: What does Christ mean when he says that the law "hath all been fulfilled"? A: Christ is talking about the Law of Moses when he says the law is fulfilled. Now that he has come and set an example for us, we must live a higher law and not just the Law of Moses.
  • 3 Ne 12:20: How should we interpret the "kingdom of heaven" here? Does it refer to any degree of glory? Just to the Celestial kingdom?
  • 3 Ne 12:25: What does Christ mean when he tells the people to "agree with thine adversary?"
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: What does Christ mean when he says not to resist evil (verses 39)?
  • 3 Ne 12:38-42: How are we to understand these verses? If we follow these verses, won't that allow others to take advantage of us?
  • 3 Ne 12:41-45: Does the reference to the Roman law about "going a mile" (carrying a pack for a Roman solider) have relevance to the Nephites?
  • 3 Ne 12:48: How does the injunction to be perfect tie in with the teachings earlier in the chapter, and with the following teachings in ch. 13-14?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: Why does the Lord start a long discussion of giving gifts right after his injunction to be perfect in 3 Ne 12:48?
  • 3 Ne 13:1-5: How can we balance the dual commands to let our light shine (see 3 Ne 12:16) and to not do our alms before men? Is it all about intentions? Or are there really some times when, regardless of our motives, we are supposed to do things in secret and other things when we are supposedly to do things publicly?
  • 3 Ne 13:5-6: The Lord tells us not to pray in order to be seen of men. Instead, he tells us to pray in secret.
  • 3 Ne 13:6-10: In the New Testament when Christ gives this prayer he also says "thy kingdom come" (see Matt 6:10 and Luke 11:2). Why does Christ leave out this phrase here?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-5: How do the teachings in verses 1-5 relate to the Lord's immediately prior teaching about the need for daily repentence (3 Ne 13:34)?
  • 3 Ne 14:5-6: How does the word "cast" link verses 5 and 6?
  • 3 Ne 14:4-5: Verse 4 and 5 tell us that we are hypocrites if we do not repent of our own large sins but are concerned about the sins of others. Note that this comes immediately after telling us that we shouldn't worry about the "morrow" because we have enough wilfull disobedience to repent of each day (3 Ne 13:34). The Lord seems to be telling us to focus on overcoming our own sins right now.
  • 3 Ne 14:6: What does vs. 6 tell us about the theme of giving good gifts that seems to be linking many of the Lord's teachings in chapters 11-15? How does vs. 6 contrast with vs. 5 and how are these two versus linked by the word "cast"?
  • 3 Ne 14:1-13: Structurally, what shift occurs between vs. 1-6 and vs. 7-13?
  • 3 Ne 14:11-14: How do the teachings about how God gives gifts relate to the overall theme of Christ's teachings to the Nephites about becoming perfect through giving good gifts (ch. 11-14)?
  • 3 Ne 14:16: In verse 16 Jesus tells us that we can know if a prophet is true or false from their fruits. What are the fruits of a prophet? Moro 10:5 says we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost. Is judging a prophet by their fruits an alternative way of knowing whether or not they are true?
  • 3 Ne 14:26: How does Christ's teachings in vs. 26 relate to his earlier warning about daily repenting of our "kakia"--willfull disobedience (3 Ne 13:34)?

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 13:21-25. Click here for a list of scriptures with the phrase "full purpose of heart."

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-15a                      Next page: Verses 15:1-5

3 Ne 15:1-5

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Verses 15:1-5
Previous page: Chapters 12-14                      Next page: Verses 15:6-10


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Verses 15:1-5 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 15:1-5 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. →

  • 3 Ne 15:2-3. According to Webster's 1828 dictionary, one meaning of marvel is "that which arrests the attention and causes a person to stand or gaze, or to pause". This meaning seems to fit the context better than the connotation of admire or to be amazed.
The Sermon on the Mount, repeated in the New World, does not seem to have made sense in itself to the gathered Nephites and Lamanites. Though Jesus never mentions the name Moses in the course of the sermon, His references to the fulfilled Law could only have been understood as references to the Law of Moses, because of the announcement of 3 Ne 9:17, where Jesus' voice announces in the destructive darkness, even before His visit: "for behold, by me redemption cometh, and in me is the law of Moses fulfilled." The commandment to cease blood sacrifice in 3 Ne 9:18 was hardly a conclusive word on how the Nephites were to treat the Mosaic Law (which goes far beyond mere blood sacrifice). As the text grounds their questions concerning praxis (the day-to-day handling of the Law) in their not quite understanding a particular saying by Jesus, it is that saying specifically that must be understood most clearly: "old things had passed away, and... all things had become new."
The saying, of course, comes from 3 Ne 12:47, immediately before the famous injunction to "be perfect" and immediately following the string of reinterpretations of the Law: "Old things are done away, and all things have become new." Interestingly, while this phrase appears in the New World version of the Sermon on the Mount, it is not in the Matthean text. In fact, the only new-old discussion in the gospels generally is the discussion of wine bottles and patched garments. If any New Testament text should be cited, it would be 2 Cor 5:17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." If one might point out the difference between Paul's "passed" and Jesus' "done," the present verse appears to cancel the difference: "old things had passed away." In the end, Paul's saying here might well be milked for an understanding of what is meant by "old" and "new."
A key word in Paul's saying is "creature": in the process of becoming "new," one does not cease to be a creature, though one becomes an entirely new or different creature. In other words, becoming "new" seems to be a re-creation, a creating a-new: one is worked up (created) into something entirely different, though remains, at the same time, the same being (implied by the continuity between "any man" and "he"). Becoming "new": a rearrangement of one's being, apparently accomplished by God. This same curious logic carries from the first part of 2 Cor 5:17 to the second: old things pass away, and yet these things remain, because all things are become new. That is, things at once cease to be and yet continue: things remain and yet are changed by the divine influence, a kind of re-creation or creating all over again what was already before created. The theme is prevalent throughout the writings of Paul: the whole of "time" can be divided into two great stretches, the old creation and the new creation, the latter beginning with the resurrection of Christ. The old creation in itself tended to corruption (to passing away), but the new creation overcomes all corruption (it is raised in incorruption), essentially undoes the old creation (or "laws of nature") by introducing a new order (perhaps even new laws).
In the end, it is not entirely clear that this is what Jesus has in mind. He speaks these words to the Nephites long before Paul has even been converted to Christianity. But the closeness of the language suggests some connection. If Paul's old/new creation theology is taken as the backdrop to Jesus' saying, then it might play a fruitful role in enriching what Jesus is telling the Nephites and Lamanites in the next two verses.
  • 3 Ne 15:4. Against the backdrop of the (presumably) Pauline theology, Jesus offers His own explanation of the saying. What is profoundly beautiful about Jesus' way of explaining things, however, is that what is in Paul inevitably a two-fold theology (the "old" versus the "new") is for Jesus a single event: "the law... fulfilled." The confusion experienced by the gathered Nephites and Lamanites might well be a direct consequence, in fact, of the two-fold manner in which Jesus announces the law's fulfillment 3 Ne 12:47: the Nephites had, from the earliest times, understood the Law and the Atonement to be inextricably intertwined (Lehi taught the point to Jacob as early as 2 Ne 2:7-12, and it is emphasized at a number of different points in Nephite history). When Jesus describes the fulfillment of the Law as a two-fold theology of the old/new creations, He seems to have called on categories that were foreign to Nephite and Lamanite thinking. In order to bring them to understand this two-fold theology better, He returns to what was, for them, a far more familiar way of discussing the same point: the fulfillment of the Law.
To make the best sense possible of the fulfillment of the Law, however, it would be well to pay very careful attention to the word "fulfill." The word means, ostensibly, "to accomplish," "to perform." One can only read the fulfillment of the Law here as its abrogation if one remains within the two-fold theological categories of verses 2-3, where the old disappears in the creation of the new. But because Jesus essentially abandons this two-fold theology to explain the event of the Law's fulfillment, it seems best to read His words not as an announcement of the disruption of the Law of Moses, but as its accomplishment, its performance. The implications of this latter term are rich: the drama has been staged before the whole world. Just as the Nephites had for centuries been performing the Law of Moses as a sort of dramatic representation of the Christic events, now He comes and announces that He has at last answered the anticipations in the antitypical Atonement. Antitypical: Jesus had, in His birth, life, death, and resurrection, full-filled--filled to the full--every type, every shadow, every hint and allegation with the overflowing abundance of the Atonement Event.
In short, it seems best not to read "fulfilled" to suggest the cancellation of the Law, but rather to suggest the reorientation of the Law, the re-creation of the Law, the saturation of the Law (which must to some degree amount to a disruption of the Law, but not to accomplish its destruction so much as its resurrection). In other words, just as Lehi explained to Jacob, the Atonement answers the ends of the Law, while the Law answers the ends of the Atonement: the Law functions as a sort of body for the Atonement, while the Atonement animates (gives breath and spirit to) the Law. And here it becomes clear that Paul's two-fold theology is perhaps best read, in the end, not as a two-fold theology at all, but as an exploration of the intertwining roles of the Law and the Atonement: old things pass away precisely in that they stick around as things become new. This is the single event of the Atonement, bodied forth in the Law. In the end, it is probably in light of all of this that one ought to read Jesus' "Marvel not" in verse 3. He is trying to explain to the Nephites and Lamanites that His two-fold theological language is not two-fold at all, but rather the singular incarnational Law/Atonement teaching that they have known all along.
  • 3 Ne 15:5. The present verse is most commonly read as an announcement of the authority of Christ, but perhaps in an unfortunately limiting manner. That is, the verse is usually read as announcing Jesus' authoritative ability to change or repeal laws or practices (it is customary to move quickly from such a summary treatment of the verse to a list of changes of Church administrative practices over the past two centuries, or to a discussion of continuing revelation). However, the wording and structure of the verse itself, while undeniably tied to an announcement of authority, does not suggest that Jesus is citing this authority as justification in any way for the "end" of the Law of Moses. Something rather different from this ultimately appears to be in question here, and the manner in which it re-approaches the question of fulfillment makes it a vital passage to understanding the place of Jesus Christ in the broader history of Israel.
If "I am he that gave the law" underlines Jesus' authority, this underlining is only doubled by the emphatic, if not halting "Behold" that precedes it. But what, in the end, does "authority" amount to here? The word itself is instructive: author-ity. Jesus essentially announces Himself as the author--as the writer--of the Law (as He certainly was: He wrote the Law with His own finger). What is so curious about His writing of the Law, in this verse, is that (by virtue of the "therefore" at the verse's center) it seems to have inscribed Him within a sort of debt: He was (or chose to be) bound to the task of fulfillment, purposefully indebted to the written Law by the very act of writing it in the first place. In the end, such a reading is perhaps inescapable: Jesus' author-ity, rather than making Him transcendent to the Law, inscribed Him within it.
In a sense, this makes the Law sound like a sort of promise that Jesus authors: He gives the Law as a promise, and He comes to fulfill--to make good, to confirm--that Law/promise. This way of putting things implies a sort of temporal logic: like the giving of a promise opens a sort of history--or the possibility of a history--of the promise, which ends with the fulfillment of the promise, so the gift of the Law opens a sort of history--or the possibility of a history--of the Law, which ends with the Law's fulfillment. If the Law is subsumed under the figure of the gift ("I am he that gave the law"), it is nonetheless a gift that defers its own giving or its own fulfillment. The gift of the Law: a gift that is no gift, or at least not yet. The gift of the Law: the semblance of a gift because this gift (which is no gift) gives only the possibility of the gift, only a shadow of the gift, only a sign of the gift. But what all of this amounts to is this: the Law itself is a type, a hint, a shadow of what was to come--which is, of course, exactly how the Nephites understood the Law, as a type and a shadow. And hence the gift of the Law: a promise that introduces the very possibility of atonement (under the figure of the Law's Day of Atonement, etc.), without which the Nephites, the Lamanites, the Israelites, would be without hope (without promise). (In the end, every law is precisely a promise of a gift: the promise of order, of peace, of justice. The Law of Moses is no exception.)
But to return more directly to the thrust of the present passage, the point seems not to be so much that Jesus, as God, had authority to revise or to repeal the Law. Rather, the point seems to be that He has made good the promise, has come at last as the antitype, as the Antitype, and not only (any longer) to give mere (mere, though necessary) shadows, hints, promises, or types. The "end" at the close of the verse announces, far more than it announces the cessation of particular ritual practices, the end of history, the end of the Law's history, in fact the leap from time into eternity with the infinitude of the atonement of Christ. This leaves at least two more points to be made. First, one notices that the temporality of the Law (as a gift) is very close to what is usually thought to be the temporality of the Prophets. That is, the Prophets of the Old Testament are usually understood to announce the possibility of justice (contrary, perhaps, to the Law), and to promise that it will come through the universal power, as much as through the universal grace/love, of the Lord. The point here is not so much to deny such a role to the Prophets, but to suggest that their message is temporally structured very like the promise of the Law of Moses itself, promising the same eventual justice. Second, and this ultimately confirms the first point, Jesus couples His making a gift of the Law with His making a covenant with Israel. That is, the Law itself is bound up, it would appear, with the covenant: ostensibly a coupling of the Lord with the people under the Law, but also a promise with a temporal structure (namely, the opening of the history of the covenant, the opening of the history of Israel). But if the covenant is coupled with the Law, and if the Law implies a temporal structure very much like that of the Prophets, the following five verses will probe these couplings and implications deeply enough to call them into question, to call, that is, for a sort of revision of them.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

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. →

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. →

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

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.



Previous page: Chapters 12-14                      Next page: Verses 15:6-10

3 Ne 15:6-10

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapters 12-15a > Verses 15:6-10
Previous page: Verses 15:1-5                      Next page: Chapter 15b-16


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 12-15. The relationship of Verses 15:6-10 to the rest of Chapters 12-15 is discussed at Chapters 12-15a.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 15:6-10 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. →

  • 3 Ne 15:6. The present verse must be read in light of the preceding five. In them, Jesus offers what is perhaps a unique understanding of the "fulfillment of the Law of Moses," focused primarily on the implicit connection between the author-ity implied in giving the Law in the first place and the duty--perhaps the debt--of the author therefore to fulfill the same. Given the long-standing tradition of a spiritual Law among the Nephites (of a Law that pointed towards the Messiah's actual advent), Jesus' comments concerning the Law's fulfillment seem ultimately to be a divine articulation of what the Nephites already understood. Indeed, Jesus appears only to have spoken the content of those verses in order to explain how an Old World parsing of the Christic event matches up with the already-centuries-old New World tradition. If over the course of verses 1-5 Jesus has essentially covered the basics of the Nephite/Lamanite understanding of the Law, He now turns to deal with the Prophets.
If the weight of Jesus' explanation of the Law's fulfillment is to be felt in the distance between the Old World and New World understandings of the Christic event (a distance implicit in the repeated Sermon on the Mount), the same distance grounds the discussion of the role of the Prophets in verses 6-10 as well. That Jesus touches on the "fulfillment" of "the Prophets" immediately after His discussion of the Law's fulfillment is suggestive textually: it becomes quite clear that here, as well as in the preceding verses, He is basing His discussion of fulfillment on the "saying" (from the Sermon on the Mount as it appears in both the Old and New Worlds) recorded at 3 Ne 12:17 (and Matt 5:17). This point clarifies what is at work in verses 2-5: Jesus, in an attempt to clarify the "saying" found at 3 Ne 12:47, reinterprets it through the "saying" found at 3 Ne 12:17. In a broader sense, one might call this a clarification of Paul through Matthew (see the commentary at 3 Ne 15:2), but the implications here are somewhat narrower: the uniquely New World "saying" of the Sermon on the Mount (3 Ne 12:47, which appears only in 3 Nephi, not in Matthew) is best read through the unchanged Old World "saying" of the same Sermon (3 Ne 12:17 or Matt 5:17). In other words, the confusion experienced by the Nephites and Lamanites is dispelled by an appeal to the Matthean text of the Sermon on the Mount.
But here it is important to note a sort of tension between the tenor of the present verse (verse 6) and the Sermon's "saying" as it appears in Matthew. Whether or not one believes that Matthew 5-7 records the precise words spoken by Jesus at a certain place and at a certain time, it is clear that the text of the Sermon on the Mount intertwines itself with the broader textual concerns of the Book of Matthew. (There might be, by the way, two different interpretations of this fact: on the one hand, one might assume that Matthew doctored or even created the Sermon's content so that it worked well with his broader textual scheme; on the other hand, one might assume that Matthew worked out the textual themes of his entire book according to the unquestioned text of the Sermon on the Mount, that the Sermon itself--as it now reads--provided him with the basic theology that defines his gospel.) However this might be read, it seems important to recognize that the concept of "the law" and "the prophets" (taken together or side-by-side) should be read through the broader Matthean use of the terms. If Matthew offers an understanding of the Law's fulfillment that is akin to the explanation Jesus offers in the five verses that open the present chapter, he also seems to have understood the Prophets to have been fulfilled the same way and at the same time: twelve times in the Gospel of Matthew (stretching from Matt 1:22 to Matt 27:35) one finds an announcement of the fulfillment of the prophets ("thus were the prophets fulfilled"). In short, in Matt 5:17 (and hence in 3 Ne 12:17?) one can only understand the Law and the Prophets to be a unified thing, and thus to be fulfilled completely together in the Christic event. Hence the tension: if 3 Ne 12:17, which seems to form the basis for Jesus' discussion in the present chapter thus far, suggests that the Prophets were completely fulfilled along with the Law in the Christic event, then how can Jesus here state that there is at least something in "the prophets" that has "not been fulfilled in me"?
It seems clear enough that there is only one way to read verse 6: the prophets have been partially fulfilled, but have not been completely fulfilled ("as many as have not been fulfilled in me") because they are yet to be fulfilled ("shall all be fulfilled"). If Matthew's text works on the undeniable assumption that Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection fulfill (completely) the Prophets just as they fulfill the Law, then one must ask how to read the present verse, where Jesus states explicitly that though He has fulfilled (completely) the Law, there remains over something in the Prophets to be fulfilled. In the end, the key to making sense of this tension is to read quite carefully the word "prophets."
It is quite clear from the historical record that "the prophets" had an almost technical meaning in the Old World during the time of Jesus's mortal ministry (and it is only on this ground that the phrase can be capitalized throughout the above discussion: the Prophets). This is especially clear in Matthew. The Jews very early on divided up the books of the Old Testament into three categories or sections: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings (sometimes called the Histories). Even today, the Jewish Bible is called the tnk: t for torah, the Law; n for nebiyim, the Prophets; and k for ketuvim, the Writings (or Histories). What this means for the Matthean Sermon on the Mount is that when Jesus said that He had come to fulfill "the law and the prophets" (in Matt 5:17), the audience would doubtless have understood His phrasing to be technical: He had come to fulfill the scriptures, that is, what is now called the Old Testament. Since Matthew seems to have understood "fulfill" in roughly the same way Jesus discusses it in verses 2-5 here, Jesus' "saying" in the Old World Sermon on the Mount can only have been understood to suggest that Jesus had come to take up and make good the promise implied in the original giving of scripture (again, author-ity implies obligation). In short, what any Jewish listener would have heard who was present at the original Sermon on the Mount was that Jesus had not come to do away with the scriptures, but to make them good, to fulfill the promise that their very written-ness implied.
It is not at all clear that the Nephites had the same sort of technical usage of the pair "the law and the prophets." For Jesus to have told them that He came to fulfill "the law and the prophets" might not have been understood at all to mean that he came to fulfill "the whole of the scriptures thus far." That six hundred years of history separated the Nephites from the Jews by this point (and that scholars are increasingly convinced that little of the Old Testament as it was known by Jesus' time was written or compiled by 600 B.C.) seems to suggest that the Nephites would have had a very different understanding of the phrase. However, a complete divorce between the Nephite and Jewish understandings of the scriptures would probably be going too far. When Nephi retrieved the plates of brass, he summarized them in a manner strikingly similar to the three-fold division the Jews had imposed on the Old Testament by the time of Jesus: he mentions "the five books of Moses" (the Law), "a record of the Jews from the beginning" (the Writings/Histories), and "the prophecies of the holy prophets, from the beginning" (the Prophets). While the Nephites would not likely have understood "the law and the prophets" to mean the whole of the "Old Testament canon," their own plates of brass certainly were divided up according to similar categories, and it does require too much a stretch of the imagination to think that the Nephites would have understood the "saying" to suggest that the writings of the prophets were themselves fulfilled in the very way that the Law was fulfilled.
In short, while the Jews would certainly have understood the fulfillment of "the law and the prophets" to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament generally speaking, the Nephites apparently understood the phrase to point to two separate fulfillments, but parallel and equal fulfillments nonetheless. The tension between the present verse and 3 Ne 12:17 remains, ultimately, intact: how is it that the fulfillment of the prophets can be only partially accomplished in Jesus when the Law is completed in full? This question opens onto a careful consideration of the following four verses.
  • 3 Ne 15:7. After so much intervening explanation, Jesus returns at last to the question raised in verse 2: what of this "saying" that old things are passed away, and all things are become new? But Jesus' treatment in this verse seems, in the end, to be rather simple: that "saying" does not in any way undo in the present what in the past was said about the future. The temporality implicit here must, as it was in the last verse, be brought out because it differs, in an important manner, from the temporality of the Law's fulfillment, or from the temporality of the Law plain and simple. If the Law, author-ed by Christ, points inexorably (as a promise) to its own fulfillment, thus opening a sort of parenthetical history of the Law, the words of the prophets have done something similar: the prophets' words point, again, inexorably, to their own fulfillment. However, the prophets' words have two intended fulfillments, at the very least. That is, as the last verse makes quite clear, some of the words of the prophets are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, while others are apparently not so fulfilled. The promise implicit, then, in the words of the prophets is to be fulfilled in at least two events (two comings?). In effect, this alternate temporality implicit in the prophets revises the temporality of the Law's fulfillment: if the Law opens its history between two poles (promise and fulfillment), the prophets open a prophetic history shared among three poles, the second of which is the second pole of the Law. In effect, this sets up a sort of history according to the Law and the prophets that stretches over four poles: (1) the giving of the Law, (2) the announcement of the prophets, (3) the Christic event, and (4) the final fulfillment of the prophets. (Might this fourfold pattern be related to a similar fourfold pattern that appears here and there throughout the Book of Mormon: creation, fall, atonement, veil? If the gift of the Law functions as a sort of opening or creation of the covenantal history, then the prophets come as a marker of the fall of that covenant, but they hail the coming of the Christic event that returns to the Law and opens the possibility of the eventual fulfillment of all words. There may be reason to follow out this parallel.)
This fourfold pattern is rich in implications. In the end, it appears to tell a sort of covenantal history, one that has some important nuances that may not be obvious at first. As is implied in verse 5, the Law opens a sort of history because it comes as a gift (with a built-in deferral that might be called quite simply a "promise") that points to the Christic event. This rather simple history is characterized by the tension of its being stretched between the promise and the fulfillment of the promise. But, for whatever reason, at some point along the way of that history, the nature and integrity of the Law is questioned--by the voice of the prophets (it should probably be noted that this is a rather common understanding among scholars of the role of the prophets: they come almost, as it were, against the Law in order to summon Israel back to the covenant itself; Isaiah, the Book of Mormon favorite, is perhaps the prophet most commonly interpreted in this manner). When this third pole is introduced into the legal history, it disrupts the tension violently. If the prophets came announcing quite simply the fulfillment of the Law, they would have been understood as supporters of the legal history, as a speaking confirmation of the eventual fulfillment of the promise. However, the prophets came--as Jesus Himself here suggests--to announce at once that the Law would be fulfilled, but that it would not be enough for the Law to be fulfilled. In other words, the announcement of the prophets amounted to the claim that the Law's fulfillment would not issue in the perfect justice that Israel expected from it. The prophets thereby pointed to a fourth event, a sort of second Christic event, those Jesus here says have not yet occurred. This setting up of a pole beyond the simpler tension between Law and fulfillment disrupts that tension by the introduction of another tension (a tension stretched between the prophets and the eventual fulfillment of all their words). The two tensions, overlapping, set up a rather complex fourfold tension that complicates the entire picture. But as if all of this were not complex enough, the following verse makes things still more difficult.
  • 3 Ne 15:8. If the preceding two verses introduce a complex fourfold tension between the Law, the prophets, the Christic event, and the eventual fulfillment of all promises, this verse adds a fifth element, something tied to the prophets and the eventual fulfillment: "the covenant." However this might be read, it seems quite clear that Jesus understands the prophets to be dealing with something other than the Law, namely the covenant (which is, most likely, the Abrahamic Covenant). If the prophetic announcement amounts to a disruption of the legal history, the disruption is apparently accomplished in the name of the earlier and more fundamental covenant. In other words, the role of the prophet appears here precisely to be that of tethering the Law over and over again to the covenant that founds the Law. In a sense, the role of the prophets is to relativize the Law, to cancel its absolution by pointing to its grounding in the actual covenant with Abraham. It is this covenant that is not "all fulfilled" in the Christic event, and the prophets announce the further fulfillment precisely in that they announce the fulfillment of the covenant. Put more succinctly, the prophets discuss the fulfillment of the Law, but precisely because through that fulfillment is opened up the possibility of the fulfillment of the covenant: the Law's role is a major theme of the prophets, but they discuss its fulfillment as a moment in a still larger history of the covenant.
In the end, all of this is stated more clearly in this verse than anywhere else in this whole ten-verse passage: "the covenant... is not all fulfilled" on the one hand, "but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me" on the other hand. In short, the covenant outstrips the Law. It is curious, in this regard, that as Jesus goes on for chapters and chapters to discuss the fulfillment of the covenant, He constantly attributes the fulfillment of the covenant to the Father. If there are two things to be fulfilled here, the Law and the covenant, it seems quite clear that it is the work of the Son to fulfill the former and the work of the Father to fulfill the latter. However all of this is to be interpreted, a kind of outline of the covenantal history begins to emerge here, at least preliminarily. First, the covenant opens the history with an implicit promise (whatever it is, it will only be fulfilled by the very last event). At some point along the way, the simple covenantal history is interrupted by the gift of the Law, for whatever reason. This gift of the Law opens up a history, as it were, within a history, because the Law itself points to the Christic event, but not to the very last event to which the covenant points. The relation between the Law and the covenant seems to have been somewhat confused, and so the third moment of the covenantal history occurs: the prophets come. Their shocking announcement essentially relativizes the Law by rooting it in the covenant: they sort out--and in the name of God--the relation between the Law and the covenant. According to their words and according to the promise of the Law, Christ comes and fulfills the Law. Eventually, again according to the prophets but now according to the promise of the covenant, the winding up scene occurs and the covenant itself is fulfilled.
Perhaps what is most surprising about this picture is the implicit "trinitarian" themes that run through it. If the covenant has something to do with the fathers and apparently something to do with the Father, it is vital that the Law is introduced by the Son and points the way to the Christic event in which all can become sons. That is, the whole covenantal history, disrupted by the history within the history--that is, the history of the Law--articulates or perhaps even embodies the relation between the Father and the Son. How one is to begin to think about these questions is not at all clear yet, but there is obviously good reason to begin thinking about them.
  • 3 Ne 15:9. While to this point in the discourse Jesus has announced Himself as the giver of the Law, now He announces Himself rather as the Law itself! Whatever this means, it is clear that it revises or remolds everything that has been said in this chapter to this point. How are these two apparently irreconcilable statements to be made sense of (and in such close proximity)? Or perhaps the difficulty might be read as one-sided, rather than as a question of two irreconcilables in conflict. That is, scriptural statements like "I am the law" (Jesus elsewhere says "I am the way," "I am the truth," "I am the light," "I am the life," etc.) are ultimately logically frustrating: such statements appear either to work according to some kind of paradoxical logic, or they appear to undo logical thinking entirely. The difficulty might be summed up: when Jesus equates Himself to the Law (to the way, the truth, the light, the life, etc.), He seems to cancel--rather than to utilize or even to enrich--the possibility of meaning. That is, if meaning is a function of a relation between two separable terms (meaning obtains in the space between two "things" as they are engaged), the collapse of two terms into one seems to cancel the very possibility of meaning: what on earth is the Law, if Jesus is it, and what on earth is Jesus if He can be reduced to the Law?
It seems to be in this collapse of meaning that the tension between "in me is the law fulfilled" and "I am the law" obtains: when Jesus announces Himself the Giver/Fulfiller of the Law, it is clear that there is a space or a distance between Jesus and the Law, and one can begin to think about the meanings of the Law and of Jesus Himself in the relation that obtains between them; while when Jesus announces Himself rather to be the Law, the relation is cancelled and the possibility of thinking about the Law in relation to Jesus or about Jesus in relation to the Law is frustrated. However, in the end, this way of understanding the tension between the two statements is overly simplistic in at least two ways. On the one hand, the verb to be in the statement "I am the law" need not be read as a statement of equation, but of relation; that is, the Law remains the Law, and Jesus, of course, remains Jesus, but being offers a way of thinking about the relation between these two "terms." And on the other hand, regardless of how one reads the relation or non-relation between the Law and Jesus, there is obviously a tension--and hence the very possibility of the richest meaning--between the two statements Jesus here offers: that, on the one hand, He is the Giver of the Law, and that, on the other hand, He is the Law. In short, the relation between Jesus and the Law that is named "being" in the present verse ("I am the law") is one to be thought over and against the earlier named relation of giving: this verse, taken over against verse 5, opens the possibility of thinking about the relation between being and giving.
Perhaps, then, all of the above difficulty might be read another way: the apparent tension between verse 5 and the present verse is a tension between what in verse 5 appears to be something dynamic (the giving of a gift, in fact, of a promise, which implies at least two parties, an actual gift, and the deferred fulfillment of the promise) and what in this verse appears to be something static (simple being, which implies only the one party--Jesus--and in which it is ultimately rather difficult to read anything like a promise or a deferral). Another way to put the same tension: in verse 5, the deferral of fulfillment implies a sort of temporality, the opening of a history, while in verse 9, the absolute statement of Jesus' being implies no such temporality or history, but rather makes an appeal to something like non-historicality, non-temporality. If verses 5 and 9 together open the possibility of thinking about the relation between being and giving, they open the possibility also of thinking about the relation between time and eternity, or between the dynamic and the static, between the conditional and the absolute. And it is in light of this relation--and Jesus will go on in a moment to call Himself the light as well--that the whole of this ten-verse passage must be thought.
If the two statements in tension--that Jesus is the Giver of the Law on the one hand and that He is the Law itself on the other--are taken together, one might well read them as suggesting that Jesus, as Giver of the Law and as Law, essentially gives Himself in the gift of the Law. In other words: if verse 5 presents Jesus as giving the Law and verse 9 presents Jesus as the Law itself, then verses 5 and 9 together present Jesus as giving Himself as the Law, or giving the Law as Himself (it is not yet clear whether these two ways of putting it amount to the same thing). The gift, then: Jesus as the Law, or the Law as Jesus. If this--perhaps odd--reading is taken in terms of the paragraphs above: Jesus opens a history by giving a non-historical gift (Himself as the Law, or the Law as Himself). Perhaps the point can be related to the explicit argument that underlies the Book of Hebrews: in offering Himself (as a gift, as the Gift) in an infinite or eternal (and precisely therefore non-historical) atonement, Jesus opens the possibility of the historical or the temporal as such by making an end (of the Law) and--therefore--a beginning (ultimately, the importance of the Law is only truly underscored in its fulfillment, as Hebrews argues). The point, it appears in the end, of the statement "I am the law" is this: the historical as such (and therefore the possibility of the history of the covenant) is grounded precisely in the non-historical rupture of the historical (the "end" of--the particular--history). Put another way: the typical only becomes the typical through the antitype. In the end, then, the combination of verses 5 and 9 ground a call to rethink the nature of typology, and along peculiarly Nephite (and perhaps Lamanite) lines: in its very fulfillment of anticipatory types, the antitype at once gives the types and gives itself in those types. Put another way, one might say that the antitype--as the non-historical or as the spiritual and hence non-temporal, the end--grounds the very possibility of a historical beginning, the beginning of a typical history: the rhythm of the history of the Law (or of any type in which an antitype gives itself) is the very rhythm of the non-historical or non-temporal antitype gathering up so many historical or temporal typical moments into itself. In short, the history of the Law is the history of facing the non-historical, is the history of facing the face that outstrips every temporality in the most spiritual relation of the face-to-face encounter: the history of the Law is the series of moments that are gathered together in the face of the Giver of the Law.
It is probably in light of all this that one should read Jesus' subsequent self-naming as "the light." The light is, at least as it functions in the sky, the non-temporal that temporalizes, the non-historical that historicizes: the sun, precisely in that its course is always completely unchanging, precisely in that it continues simply one eternal round, sets up the very structure (day and night, the years) of human temporality, of human history. The light opens the possibility of engagement ("under the sun"), the possibility of history. The remainder of the verse, then, makes a peculiar point: the Nephites are to look to the Law, to the Light, directly. In looking to the non-historical, history proceeds, and it is possible for them to "endure to the end" (of history). This ground the curious final phrase of the verse: "for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life." A life that is non-temporal, that outstrips the historical, is given only to those who can regard the non-historical in such a way that the historical continues to its very end (and the end, of course, has already been declared to be Christ, in Christ). Eternity opens beyond time, and according to the non-historical antitype that is Christ: the Giver and the Gift.
  • 3 Ne 15:10. The vast complexities of the preceding verse make this this verse rather simple to deal with. If the intertwining of history and non-history amounts to a sort of history of worshipping the non-historical Christ, then the practical answer to the question the Nephites have in verse 2 is quite simple: they have "the commandments; therefore keep my commandments." If the Law has an end, it has delivered those bound under the Law, at last, to a face-to-face encounter with the Law in body, and that grounds the whole of the "future." The first part of this verse, then, should be understood to be bound up specifically with the appearance of the End of the Law, as a person (better: as a God). This is perhaps more obvious still if one recognizes an allusion in Christ's words here to 2 Ne 32:6: "And when he [Christ] shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you shall ye observe to do." If the Law aims at binding those under the Law to the Giver/Gift of the Law, then it is accomplished in the moment of direct encounter (in the moment of direct command). The verse ends, perhaps, just as simply, then: this very point "is the law and the prophets, for they truly testified of me." The Law, as well as the prophets, together pointed specifically to this moment of direct encounter and direct command. If all of this is taken in terms of the commentary on verse 8: the Law pointed inevitably to this moment of its fulfillment, which amounts to the direct Christic encounter, and the prophets pointed to the same moment, but precisely because they saw in this moment a historical moment in the broader history of the covenant. If the history of Law comes to its end in the direct encounter with the unveiled Christ, then the history of the covenant reopens in the moment of that direct encounter, from which it proceeds to its own eventual end: another direct encounter, but now with unveiled Father Himself. In the end, while "the law and the prophets" both "truly testified" of Christ, they did so in different ways: the Law pointed to its end in Christ, while the prophets pointed to the end of the Law in Christ as the reopening of the beginning that leads to the covenant's end in the Father.

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3 Ne 15:11-15

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Summary[edit]

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Relationship to Chapter 15b-16. The relationship of Verses 15:11-16:3 to the rest of Chapter 15b-16 is discussed at Chapter 15b-16.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 15:11-16:3 include:

Discussion[edit]

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  • 3 Ne 15:12: Remnant of Joseph. Christ addressing the Nephites here as a remnant is significant, alluding to a covenantal promise first occurring in Deut 28:54. The very nature of the word remnant suggests an act of destruction. Although the destruction referred to in Deut 28 and most other Old Testament passages occurs in relation to an enemy nation or army (e.g. Deut 28:48ff), here the most recent destruction has been occassioned by the forces of nature. However, the fact that Christ says "remnant of Jacob" suggests that he is reminding them of the larger covenantal relationship he has with them.
  • 3 Ne 15:22. The misunderstanding of those at Jerusalem on this point is interesting for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most fascinating one of all is the fact that the misunderstanding becomes here, for Christ, a sort of segue to discussing the intertwining roles of Israel and the Gentiles in the restoration of the Jews (under the Davidic covenant?). The misunderstanding is, in other words, of so radical a character that the Lord Himself sees it as deserving some sustained attention and explanation (not only during this discourse of the first day of visitation, but in another discourse of greater length the next day as well). There is the hint here that the misunderstanding itself is of importance, and some interpretive attention might therefore be paid to it.
The misunderstanding is attributed in this text to "your [the Nephites'] brethren at Jerusalem" in verse 14. The phrase sounds felicitous, and, as an almost unconscious result, one tends to assume, while reading the content in 3 Nephi, that the "other fold" discourse was given to the Old World disciples. However, the hints in John's gospel suggest otherwise. The group he mentions immediately before Jesus delivers the discourse is one "of the Pharisees" (John 9:40), and the group he mentions immediately after the discourse--and more directly in connection with the discourse itself--is "the Jews" (a rather derogatory term throughout the gospel of John): "There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings" (John 10:19). However, in short, "your brethren at Jerusalem" might be read, it seems clear from these references that the best interpretation would be to understand "brethren" less as tying the Nephites/Lamanites to those at Jerusalem through the brotherly bonds of discipleship than as pointing explicitly to a perhaps unfortunately literal brotherhood of blood.
However, all of this seems to clash with verse 22. Here "they" (apparently the same "brethren at Jerusalem") who "understood not" are also those who will do the "preaching." The suggestion is, then, that the disciples are in question. There are two (broadly speaking) ways to handle these apparently disparate texts. One might, on the one hand, argue that the two are manifestly different, that there is little or no reason to try to reconcile them (and this position might have two variations: the biblical text might arguably have been corrupted, or Christ might be taking some liberties in teaching the Nephites, since they are not acquainted with the Johannine text at all). On the other hand, one might argue that the texts can quite easily be reconciled, and only thus can they be understood (and this position might also have at least two variations: one might argue that since the Johannine text does not explicitly state to whom the discourse was delivered, it must have been given to the disciples, or one might argue--and this seems to be, not only the most fruitful, but the least apologetic explanation--that, just as "the Gentiles" seems to be of rather broad referential value, the same might be said of "your brethren"). In the end, the most appealing of these possibilities is the second variation of the attempt to reconcile the texts: Christ's words ("your brethren at Jerusalem") are not meant to pick out a specific group (whether of apostate Jews or whether of loyal disciples), but are meant to point to Jews in the broadest sense (as Nephi's phrase, "those who are at Jerusalem," often does).
In other words, though the discourse might at first be understood to be discussing just a specific group of Gentiles and an even more specific group of Jews, in the end, it is clear that what Jesus is teaching about here is a very broad theme of Jews and Gentiles, the interplay between two whole classes of people rather than between two small groups extracted from larger classes. And, after all, one should probably expect this broadening of the theme: the words to follow in the present discourse seem to work on that more global scale.
  • 3 Ne 15:23-24. Given the incredibly broad classes in question, discovered through exegesis of the previous verse, verse 23 might be read as further exploring the roles these classes play in the larger scope of the unfolding history of the Abrahamic covenant. On the one hand, the Jews are those who have the opportunity to "hear my [Christ's] voice." On the other hand, the Gentiles "should not at any time hear my [again, Christ's] voice," receiving the manifestation of the Savior rather "by the Holy Ghost." When this distinction is further clarified in verse 24, there is almost an exclusion at work: while the Jews have heard and seen, called the sheep, and numbered among those chosen (?), the absolute non-reference to the Gentiles in the verse appears rather ominous. The classification at work in these two verses, then, seems to suggest that the Gentiles are only to receive the presence of God (or at least of the Son) through a sort of derivative means: they are not to hear His voice, nor to see Him, but are to receive the ministration of the Holy Ghost. Whether or not this is disparaging--and whether or not this classification might fall apart someday--can only be seen as the discourse of the following chapter unfolds.
However, the issue is not so simple. Christ is not referring again to the Jews of the Old World in verse 24, but is speaking directly to the Nephites and Lamanites (etc.) who have gathered to hear his word in Bountiful. In other words, beyond Jews and Gentiles, Christ offers a preliminary classification of a third broad group: the Israelites (elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, the Nephites/Lamanites are offered as a sort of summary or token for the whole of Israel; cf. 1 Ne 22:7). In short, in these two verses together, the Savior opens up the following chapter's words by presenting three groups of vital importance in the unfolding history of the Abrahamic covenant: the Jews, the Gentiles, and Israel. The fact remains that the Gentiles appear to be, to some extent, excluded, relegated only to the experience of the Holy Ghost. The Jews, for the moment, only hear the voice of the Christ. But Israel, if verse 24 is representative over against verse 23, hears, sees, becomes, and is numbered. The Jews are not, in the end, the privileged, but Israel (whatever that classification means for now).
  • 3 Ne 16:1. The chapter break is somewhat unfortunate here, since the discourse is clearly continued without a moment's pause from chapter 15 (hence, see the commentary at the endof that chapter for context). Read in light of the last two verses of the last chapter, in fact, it is clear that this first verse is an extension of the categorization at work concerning Israel (as over and against the Jews and the Gentiles). While the Nephites and Lamanites have been, to some extent at least, privileged as a sort of representative token of Israel, the Lord offers other Israelite groups that make up the remainder of this broader, classified group. Tying this verse quite explicitly to the last verse of chapter 15 is the word "sheep," marking these others as bound up with the Lamanites and Nephites as those to whom the Lord Himself not only speaks but appears. But even as Christ binds them together, He separates them, since He has not "been to minister" to these. In other words, by binding the Nephites and Lamanites to these other "lost" groups of Israel, the lack of visitation (or manifestation) He mentions is, effectively, already overcome, decidedly to be undone: Christ binds Himself to visit the other "lost" groups precisely by binding the Nephites and Lamanites to these others as "sheep."
v 1-2 Most members of the church are confused about the other sheep and the 10 tribes even after years of studying and mentioning them in Gospel Doctrine and seminary classes. How could Joseph have possibly understood all this at such a young age and made-up such a bold statement and attribute it to the mouth of Jesus?
  • 3 Ne 16:2-3. The implications of verse 1 are drawn out explicitly in verses 2-3: since Christ has neither offered His voice nor His visible appearance to these other groups, He has "a commandment of the Father" to go to them and number them His sheep as well. All sheep will thereby be gathered into "one fold," even as there is "one shepherd." These statements of action finish off the classification of three major groups, a classification that began with 3 Ne 15:23: Israel (who apparently hears and sees), the Jews (who apparently at least hear), and the Gentiles (who neither hear nor see, but receive the ministration of the Holy Ghost). Christ has obviously spent--due to the audience--the most time explaining the classification of Israel.

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  • 3 Ne 15:23: In verse 23 when Christ referred to the Gentiles that are not to hear his voice was He referring to specific group of Gentiles or to all Gentiles?

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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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3 Ne 15:16-20

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapter 15b-16 > Verses 15:11-16:3
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This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This heading should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapter 15b-16. The relationship of Verses 15:11-16:3 to the rest of Chapter 15b-16 is discussed at Chapter 15b-16.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 15:11-16:3 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. →

  • 3 Ne 15:12: Remnant of Joseph. Christ addressing the Nephites here as a remnant is significant, alluding to a covenantal promise first occurring in Deut 28:54. The very nature of the word remnant suggests an act of destruction. Although the destruction referred to in Deut 28 and most other Old Testament passages occurs in relation to an enemy nation or army (e.g. Deut 28:48ff), here the most recent destruction has been occassioned by the forces of nature. However, the fact that Christ says "remnant of Jacob" suggests that he is reminding them of the larger covenantal relationship he has with them.
  • 3 Ne 15:22. The misunderstanding of those at Jerusalem on this point is interesting for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most fascinating one of all is the fact that the misunderstanding becomes here, for Christ, a sort of segue to discussing the intertwining roles of Israel and the Gentiles in the restoration of the Jews (under the Davidic covenant?). The misunderstanding is, in other words, of so radical a character that the Lord Himself sees it as deserving some sustained attention and explanation (not only during this discourse of the first day of visitation, but in another discourse of greater length the next day as well). There is the hint here that the misunderstanding itself is of importance, and some interpretive attention might therefore be paid to it.
The misunderstanding is attributed in this text to "your [the Nephites'] brethren at Jerusalem" in verse 14. The phrase sounds felicitous, and, as an almost unconscious result, one tends to assume, while reading the content in 3 Nephi, that the "other fold" discourse was given to the Old World disciples. However, the hints in John's gospel suggest otherwise. The group he mentions immediately before Jesus delivers the discourse is one "of the Pharisees" (John 9:40), and the group he mentions immediately after the discourse--and more directly in connection with the discourse itself--is "the Jews" (a rather derogatory term throughout the gospel of John): "There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings" (John 10:19). However, in short, "your brethren at Jerusalem" might be read, it seems clear from these references that the best interpretation would be to understand "brethren" less as tying the Nephites/Lamanites to those at Jerusalem through the brotherly bonds of discipleship than as pointing explicitly to a perhaps unfortunately literal brotherhood of blood.
However, all of this seems to clash with verse 22. Here "they" (apparently the same "brethren at Jerusalem") who "understood not" are also those who will do the "preaching." The suggestion is, then, that the disciples are in question. There are two (broadly speaking) ways to handle these apparently disparate texts. One might, on the one hand, argue that the two are manifestly different, that there is little or no reason to try to reconcile them (and this position might have two variations: the biblical text might arguably have been corrupted, or Christ might be taking some liberties in teaching the Nephites, since they are not acquainted with the Johannine text at all). On the other hand, one might argue that the texts can quite easily be reconciled, and only thus can they be understood (and this position might also have at least two variations: one might argue that since the Johannine text does not explicitly state to whom the discourse was delivered, it must have been given to the disciples, or one might argue--and this seems to be, not only the most fruitful, but the least apologetic explanation--that, just as "the Gentiles" seems to be of rather broad referential value, the same might be said of "your brethren"). In the end, the most appealing of these possibilities is the second variation of the attempt to reconcile the texts: Christ's words ("your brethren at Jerusalem") are not meant to pick out a specific group (whether of apostate Jews or whether of loyal disciples), but are meant to point to Jews in the broadest sense (as Nephi's phrase, "those who are at Jerusalem," often does).
In other words, though the discourse might at first be understood to be discussing just a specific group of Gentiles and an even more specific group of Jews, in the end, it is clear that what Jesus is teaching about here is a very broad theme of Jews and Gentiles, the interplay between two whole classes of people rather than between two small groups extracted from larger classes. And, after all, one should probably expect this broadening of the theme: the words to follow in the present discourse seem to work on that more global scale.
  • 3 Ne 15:23-24. Given the incredibly broad classes in question, discovered through exegesis of the previous verse, verse 23 might be read as further exploring the roles these classes play in the larger scope of the unfolding history of the Abrahamic covenant. On the one hand, the Jews are those who have the opportunity to "hear my [Christ's] voice." On the other hand, the Gentiles "should not at any time hear my [again, Christ's] voice," receiving the manifestation of the Savior rather "by the Holy Ghost." When this distinction is further clarified in verse 24, there is almost an exclusion at work: while the Jews have heard and seen, called the sheep, and numbered among those chosen (?), the absolute non-reference to the Gentiles in the verse appears rather ominous. The classification at work in these two verses, then, seems to suggest that the Gentiles are only to receive the presence of God (or at least of the Son) through a sort of derivative means: they are not to hear His voice, nor to see Him, but are to receive the ministration of the Holy Ghost. Whether or not this is disparaging--and whether or not this classification might fall apart someday--can only be seen as the discourse of the following chapter unfolds.
However, the issue is not so simple. Christ is not referring again to the Jews of the Old World in verse 24, but is speaking directly to the Nephites and Lamanites (etc.) who have gathered to hear his word in Bountiful. In other words, beyond Jews and Gentiles, Christ offers a preliminary classification of a third broad group: the Israelites (elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, the Nephites/Lamanites are offered as a sort of summary or token for the whole of Israel; cf. 1 Ne 22:7). In short, in these two verses together, the Savior opens up the following chapter's words by presenting three groups of vital importance in the unfolding history of the Abrahamic covenant: the Jews, the Gentiles, and Israel. The fact remains that the Gentiles appear to be, to some extent, excluded, relegated only to the experience of the Holy Ghost. The Jews, for the moment, only hear the voice of the Christ. But Israel, if verse 24 is representative over against verse 23, hears, sees, becomes, and is numbered. The Jews are not, in the end, the privileged, but Israel (whatever that classification means for now).
  • 3 Ne 16:1. The chapter break is somewhat unfortunate here, since the discourse is clearly continued without a moment's pause from chapter 15 (hence, see the commentary at the endof that chapter for context). Read in light of the last two verses of the last chapter, in fact, it is clear that this first verse is an extension of the categorization at work concerning Israel (as over and against the Jews and the Gentiles). While the Nephites and Lamanites have been, to some extent at least, privileged as a sort of representative token of Israel, the Lord offers other Israelite groups that make up the remainder of this broader, classified group. Tying this verse quite explicitly to the last verse of chapter 15 is the word "sheep," marking these others as bound up with the Lamanites and Nephites as those to whom the Lord Himself not only speaks but appears. But even as Christ binds them together, He separates them, since He has not "been to minister" to these. In other words, by binding the Nephites and Lamanites to these other "lost" groups of Israel, the lack of visitation (or manifestation) He mentions is, effectively, already overcome, decidedly to be undone: Christ binds Himself to visit the other "lost" groups precisely by binding the Nephites and Lamanites to these others as "sheep."
v 1-2 Most members of the church are confused about the other sheep and the 10 tribes even after years of studying and mentioning them in Gospel Doctrine and seminary classes. How could Joseph have possibly understood all this at such a young age and made-up such a bold statement and attribute it to the mouth of Jesus?
  • 3 Ne 16:2-3. The implications of verse 1 are drawn out explicitly in verses 2-3: since Christ has neither offered His voice nor His visible appearance to these other groups, He has "a commandment of the Father" to go to them and number them His sheep as well. All sheep will thereby be gathered into "one fold," even as there is "one shepherd." These statements of action finish off the classification of three major groups, a classification that began with 3 Ne 15:23: Israel (who apparently hears and sees), the Jews (who apparently at least hear), and the Gentiles (who neither hear nor see, but receive the ministration of the Holy Ghost). Christ has obviously spent--due to the audience--the most time explaining the classification of Israel.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 15:23: In verse 23 when Christ referred to the Gentiles that are not to hear his voice was He referring to specific group of Gentiles or to all Gentiles?

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. →

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. →

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

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.



Previous page: Chapter 15b-16                      Next page: Verses 16:4-20

3 Ne 15:21-24

Home > The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapter 15b-16 > Verses 15:11-16:3
Previous page: Chapter 15b-16                      Next page: Verses 16:4-20


This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.


Summary[edit]

This heading should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapter 15b-16. The relationship of Verses 15:11-16:3 to the rest of Chapter 15b-16 is discussed at Chapter 15b-16.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 15:11-16:3 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. →

  • 3 Ne 15:12: Remnant of Joseph. Christ addressing the Nephites here as a remnant is significant, alluding to a covenantal promise first occurring in Deut 28:54. The very nature of the word remnant suggests an act of destruction. Although the destruction referred to in Deut 28 and most other Old Testament passages occurs in relation to an enemy nation or army (e.g. Deut 28:48ff), here the most recent destruction has been occassioned by the forces of nature. However, the fact that Christ says "remnant of Jacob" suggests that he is reminding them of the larger covenantal relationship he has with them.
  • 3 Ne 15:22. The misunderstanding of those at Jerusalem on this point is interesting for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most fascinating one of all is the fact that the misunderstanding becomes here, for Christ, a sort of segue to discussing the intertwining roles of Israel and the Gentiles in the restoration of the Jews (under the Davidic covenant?). The misunderstanding is, in other words, of so radical a character that the Lord Himself sees it as deserving some sustained attention and explanation (not only during this discourse of the first day of visitation, but in another discourse of greater length the next day as well). There is the hint here that the misunderstanding itself is of importance, and some interpretive attention might therefore be paid to it.
The misunderstanding is attributed in this text to "your [the Nephites'] brethren at Jerusalem" in verse 14. The phrase sounds felicitous, and, as an almost unconscious result, one tends to assume, while reading the content in 3 Nephi, that the "other fold" discourse was given to the Old World disciples. However, the hints in John's gospel suggest otherwise. The group he mentions immediately before Jesus delivers the discourse is one "of the Pharisees" (John 9:40), and the group he mentions immediately after the discourse--and more directly in connection with the discourse itself--is "the Jews" (a rather derogatory term throughout the gospel of John): "There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings" (John 10:19). However, in short, "your brethren at Jerusalem" might be read, it seems clear from these references that the best interpretation would be to understand "brethren" less as tying the Nephites/Lamanites to those at Jerusalem through the brotherly bonds of discipleship than as pointing explicitly to a perhaps unfortunately literal brotherhood of blood.
However, all of this seems to clash with verse 22. Here "they" (apparently the same "brethren at Jerusalem") who "understood not" are also those who will do the "preaching." The suggestion is, then, that the disciples are in question. There are two (broadly speaking) ways to handle these apparently disparate texts. One might, on the one hand, argue that the two are manifestly different, that there is little or no reason to try to reconcile them (and this position might have two variations: the biblical text might arguably have been corrupted, or Christ might be taking some liberties in teaching the Nephites, since they are not acquainted with the Johannine text at all). On the other hand, one might argue that the texts can quite easily be reconciled, and only thus can they be understood (and this position might also have at least two variations: one might argue that since the Johannine text does not explicitly state to whom the discourse was delivered, it must have been given to the disciples, or one might argue--and this seems to be, not only the most fruitful, but the least apologetic explanation--that, just as "the Gentiles" seems to be of rather broad referential value, the same might be said of "your brethren"). In the end, the most appealing of these possibilities is the second variation of the attempt to reconcile the texts: Christ's words ("your brethren at Jerusalem") are not meant to pick out a specific group (whether of apostate Jews or whether of loyal disciples), but are meant to point to Jews in the broadest sense (as Nephi's phrase, "those who are at Jerusalem," often does).
In other words, though the discourse might at first be understood to be discussing just a specific group of Gentiles and an even more specific group of Jews, in the end, it is clear that what Jesus is teaching about here is a very broad theme of Jews and Gentiles, the interplay between two whole classes of people rather than between two small groups extracted from larger classes. And, after all, one should probably expect this broadening of the theme: the words to follow in the present discourse seem to work on that more global scale.
  • 3 Ne 15:23-24. Given the incredibly broad classes in question, discovered through exegesis of the previous verse, verse 23 might be read as further exploring the roles these classes play in the larger scope of the unfolding history of the Abrahamic covenant. On the one hand, the Jews are those who have the opportunity to "hear my [Christ's] voice." On the other hand, the Gentiles "should not at any time hear my [again, Christ's] voice," receiving the manifestation of the Savior rather "by the Holy Ghost." When this distinction is further clarified in verse 24, there is almost an exclusion at work: while the Jews have heard and seen, called the sheep, and numbered among those chosen (?), the absolute non-reference to the Gentiles in the verse appears rather ominous. The classification at work in these two verses, then, seems to suggest that the Gentiles are only to receive the presence of God (or at least of the Son) through a sort of derivative means: they are not to hear His voice, nor to see Him, but are to receive the ministration of the Holy Ghost. Whether or not this is disparaging--and whether or not this classification might fall apart someday--can only be seen as the discourse of the following chapter unfolds.
However, the issue is not so simple. Christ is not referring again to the Jews of the Old World in verse 24, but is speaking directly to the Nephites and Lamanites (etc.) who have gathered to hear his word in Bountiful. In other words, beyond Jews and Gentiles, Christ offers a preliminary classification of a third broad group: the Israelites (elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, the Nephites/Lamanites are offered as a sort of summary or token for the whole of Israel; cf. 1 Ne 22:7). In short, in these two verses together, the Savior opens up the following chapter's words by presenting three groups of vital importance in the unfolding history of the Abrahamic covenant: the Jews, the Gentiles, and Israel. The fact remains that the Gentiles appear to be, to some extent, excluded, relegated only to the experience of the Holy Ghost. The Jews, for the moment, only hear the voice of the Christ. But Israel, if verse 24 is representative over against verse 23, hears, sees, becomes, and is numbered. The Jews are not, in the end, the privileged, but Israel (whatever that classification means for now).
  • 3 Ne 16:1. The chapter break is somewhat unfortunate here, since the discourse is clearly continued without a moment's pause from chapter 15 (hence, see the commentary at the endof that chapter for context). Read in light of the last two verses of the last chapter, in fact, it is clear that this first verse is an extension of the categorization at work concerning Israel (as over and against the Jews and the Gentiles). While the Nephites and Lamanites have been, to some extent at least, privileged as a sort of representative token of Israel, the Lord offers other Israelite groups that make up the remainder of this broader, classified group. Tying this verse quite explicitly to the last verse of chapter 15 is the word "sheep," marking these others as bound up with the Lamanites and Nephites as those to whom the Lord Himself not only speaks but appears. But even as Christ binds them together, He separates them, since He has not "been to minister" to these. In other words, by binding the Nephites and Lamanites to these other "lost" groups of Israel, the lack of visitation (or manifestation) He mentions is, effectively, already overcome, decidedly to be undone: Christ binds Himself to visit the other "lost" groups precisely by binding the Nephites and Lamanites to these others as "sheep."
v 1-2 Most members of the church are confused about the other sheep and the 10 tribes even after years of studying and mentioning them in Gospel Doctrine and seminary classes. How could Joseph have possibly understood all this at such a young age and made-up such a bold statement and attribute it to the mouth of Jesus?
  • 3 Ne 16:2-3. The implications of verse 1 are drawn out explicitly in verses 2-3: since Christ has neither offered His voice nor His visible appearance to these other groups, He has "a commandment of the Father" to go to them and number them His sheep as well. All sheep will thereby be gathered into "one fold," even as there is "one shepherd." These statements of action finish off the classification of three major groups, a classification that began with 3 Ne 15:23: Israel (who apparently hears and sees), the Jews (who apparently at least hear), and the Gentiles (who neither hear nor see, but receive the ministration of the Holy Ghost). Christ has obviously spent--due to the audience--the most time explaining the classification of Israel.

Unanswered questions[edit]

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

  • 3 Ne 15:23: In verse 23 when Christ referred to the Gentiles that are not to hear his voice was He referring to specific group of Gentiles or to all Gentiles?

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. →

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. →

Resources[edit]

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

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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