The Sermon on the Mount

This message is taken from the Book of Mormon Student Manual, Religion 121 & 122, beginning on page 402.

How does the Book of Mormon add clarity and meaning to the Sermon on the Mount?

Some enemies of the Church have said that Joseph Smith just copied the Sermon on the Mount; Matthew 5-7, into the Book of Mormon with no changes whatever.  That attacks the character and honesty of Joseph Smith the Prophet which is offensive and untrue.

It is perhaps safe to say that the Sermon on the Mount is the most quoted and the least understood of all the teachings of Jesus.  The translation of Matthew’s account of this sermon in our present New Testament has caused many people to raise questions concerning the authenticity of the sermon.  They ask such questions as the following: 

Why did the Savior teach that people were better off being poor in spirit than not poor in spirit or that they were more blessed mourning than not mourning?  When he said, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, with what are they to be filled: hunger, thirst or righteousness?

Examples:

Matthew 5:3-4 (From the New Testament):

3 ^aBlessed are the ^bpoor in spirit: for theirs is the ^ckingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that ^amourn: for they shall be ^bcomforted.

 3^rd Nephi 12:3-4 (From the Book of Mormon

3 Yea, blessed are the ^apoor in spirit who ^bcome unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 And again, (by saying ‘again’ he is referring to the statement above, who come unto me), blessed are all they that ^amourn, for they shall be ^bcomforted.

Also, why did He counsel the people to ‘take no thought for your life, or for the morrow, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on?  What if all people literally followed this admonition?  Who would earn the money, plant and harvest the crops, feed the children, manufacture the clothes and so forth.

For example 3^rd Nephi 13:34…

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. ^aSufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.

The Book of Mormon clarifies this point by saying that after Jesus delivered the charge to his Twelve; he then turned and began to speak to the multitude again. In other words, the instruction in verse 34 above was for the Twelve Apostles, who would be watched over by God.  He was not talking to you and me or the general population, but only to the 12 Apostles.

Further, in reading 3^rd Nephi 14:1 it says,

And now it come to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words he turned again to the multitude and did open his mouth unto them again saying: etc.

This more complete version of the sermon changes the entire emphasis of the Beatitudes.

Here the Savior is not saying you are more blessed if you mourn than if you do not mourn, but He is saying, ‘If you are called upon to mourn, then you are blessed if you come unto me, are baptized, receive the Holy Ghost and so forth.’  Thus if you do truly hunger and thirst after righteousness, you shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.  (3^rd Nephi 12:6)

The Bible says, ‘Ye are the salt of the earth.’ The Book of Mormon account indicates that to be the salt of the earth is a goal for which Latter-day Saints should be striving.  In a similar sense, Saints should be tokens or symbols of the Christlike life. 

The New Testament account of the Savior’s teachings is that ‘Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment.’ (Matthew 5:22)

In the Book of Mormon, the phrase, ‘without a cause,’ is deleted, because it makes no sense.  Do you ever get angry without a cause?  And yet we are to control that anger, for many sins result when we speak or act in anger. 

The Book of Mormon account completely drops the biblical commands, ‘If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out,…if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off. (Matthew  5:29).  These verses in the New Testament, which are obviously symbolical admonitions, and not to be taken literally, have created many questions among Bible readers and were deleted in the Book of Mormon account.

In the Book of Mormon (3^rd Nephi 12:39) it says ‘ye shall not resist evil.’  The Savior’s intended meaning of this statement has been further clarified in the Book of Mormon, where examples of how a true saint accepts persecution, therefore we are to accept suffering and persecution patiently and humbly.

In 3^rd Nephi 12:48 it says: ‘I would that ye would be perfect.’  That is a goal for all of us, not to be achieved in this life.   Elder Joseph Fielding Smith commented on how one may eventually achieve this perfection:  “Those who receive exaltation in the celestial kingdom are promised the fulness thereof.

‘All things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come.’ (D&C 76:59)  Our Father in heaven is infinite; he is perfect; he possesses all knowledge and wisdom.

However, He is not jealous of His wisdom and perfection, but glories in the fact that it is possible for his children who obey Him in all things and endure to the end to become like Him.  Man has within him the power, which the Father has bestowed upon him, to develop in truth, faith, wisdom and all the virtues that eventually he shall become like the Father and the Son.  These come a little at a time, bit by bit.  This virtue, wisdom and knowledge on the part of the faithful do not rob the Father and the Son, but adds to their glory and dominion.

Thus it is destined that those who are worthy to become his sons and joint-heirs with our Redeemer, would-be heirs of the Father’s kingdom, possessing the same attributes in their perfection, as the Father and the Son now possess.”  (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:35)

Note that Matthew 5:48 suggests that only the Father is perfect, but 3^rd Nephi 12:48 adds the perfection of Christ to that of the Father.

When Jesus walked among the people in the old world, he was completely perfect in his character and attributes.  He had not yet, however, received an immortal, perfected, glorified body.  When he appeared to the people of the American continent, he was resurrected and glorified, like unto the Father.

3^rd Nephi 13:7 speaks of ‘vain repetitions.’  The dictionary defines ‘vain’ as empty, hollow, deceiving and lacking in genuineness.  Vain repetitions in prayer can refer to words or phrases that are used without real thought, feeling, or meaning.  It can also refer to set prayers that are repeated over and over.  An example is the Zoramites rote prayer from the tower Rameumpton, which was thoughtlessly repeated each week.  (Alma 31:14-22).  But for a critical insight into what constitutes vain prayers see Alma 34:28.

The Lord’s Prayer is found in 3^rd Nephi 13:9-13.  The prayer Jesus offers here drops the phrase, ‘Thy kingdom come.’  The reason is obvious, Jesus established his Church and therefore the kingdom had already come.

Finally, so much for the accusation that the Sermon on the Mount was directly copied from the Bible by Joseph Smith.