3 Nephi 16-19
LAST CLASS OF THE YEAR WILL BE APRIL 28
THE SERMON AT THE TEMPLE
“The prelude to the Sermon at the Temple reports (1) the brilliant appearance of the risen Christ,“the light and life of the world,” (2) the commencement of a new era, [the doctrine of Christ], (3) the fulfillment of the law of blood sacrifice, (4) evidence of Jesus’ atoning suffering and goodness, and (5) the ordination of disciples as servant-ministers.Thus, at the outset, the Sermon at the Temple states explicitly these and other similar background elements that only can be presumed to stand behind the Matthean text.”
“The Sermon at the Temple is a temple text. By ‘temple text’ I mean one that contains allusions to the most sacred teachings and ordinance of the plan of salvation, things that are not to be shared indiscriminately. In addition, temple texts are often presented in or near a temple.They ordain or otherwise convey divine powers through symbolic or ceremonial means, presented together with commandments that are or will be received by sacred oaths that allow the recipient to stand ritually in the presence of God.”
“The metaphorical explanation of how a person must build upon this rock, instead of upon a sandy foundation, brackets the words of the Sermon that appear in 3 Nephi 12-14.The rock is the doctrine repentance, baptism, and becoming God’s child by spiritual rebirth. So we see that obedience to the commandments given in 3 Nephi 12-14 is not merely advisory or ethically desirable. Obedience to these stipulations is to be understood in connection with the making of a covenant through being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and becoming a child of God fully blessed to inherit the Father’s kingdom.”
John W.Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temople and Sermon on the Mount
THE LAW FULFILLED
“It is vital to note that in the teaching of Jesus, the Law was not revoked nor repealed but fulfilled. Under the gospel of Christ, murder, adultery, and dishonesty are still prohibited, and the formal requirements of the Law are still essentially in place; but the demand of the Law of Moses has been expanded, has been filled to its fullest extent.Where there is no hatred or greed, there can be no murder; where there is no lust, there can be no adultery.With the coming of Christ, the ethical portion of the Law had not been abolished; it had been caught up by, included in, and expanded to a broader application its intention, its potential as an ethical standard, had been fulfilled.
The ceremonial portions of the Law, however, were fulfilled in a different way.These were not moral or ethical rules which could be transformed into broader principles, but were what Abinadi and Alma called “performances”—rituals that symbolically prefigured coming historical events. For example, animal sacrifice prefigured the future sacrifice of the Savior, the Lamb of God. But when the events prefigured actually occurred, they could no longer be anticipated; they could only be remembered.
After the atonement of Christ, the anticipation of the event found in the Law was replaced by the remembrance of the event which is part of the gospel.Thus those parts of the Law which anticipated the atonement of Christ were fulfilled in the events of the atonement and had an end, just as a prophecy is said to be fulfilled when the event prophesied takes place. In this way, neither the moral nor the ceremonial portions of the Law of Moses were undone or abolished. Both were fulfilled, the former by being included in the broader principles of the gospel which replaced them, and the latter by finding realization in the events which they had prefigured.”
Stephen E. Robinson, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1983/09/the-law-after-christ?lang=eng
MARRIAGE
“In the Old World, carnal and fallen men had begun to take advantage of the divorce laws in their culture.Though marriage had been established in the beginning as a religious institution, a rite intended to bind the participants forever, yet in the days of Moses divorce had been permitted ‘because of the hardness’ of the hearts of the people. By the time of Christ, the situation had degenerated markedly. [Historians note that what constituted grounds for divorce were split between a conservative view and a liberal view.The conservative view dictated the only grounds acceptable were a wife’s infidelity.The liberal view was anything goes—‘even if she burned his soup.’] Given his understanding of life among the Palestinian Jews in the meridian of time, one can appreciate why the Savior would desire the reform of a system that allowed men to slip capriciously in and out of marriage. His was a call to a higher righteousness, an invitation to consider carefully the sacred nature of marriage and the importance of fidelity and commitment between married partners.”
Doctrinal Commentary on The Book of Mormon, 74
NEPHITE WOMEN
“It also seems important that when Nephi reports on his vision of the last days, he worries explicitly that latter-day readers might not regard ‘male and female’ as ‘alike unto God.’ It may be that the Book of Mormon implicitly asks readers to reflect on how certain cultures might claim to model righteousness before God while embracing social practices that produce ‘sorrow’ and ‘mourning’ among their more vulnerable members. It seems that one of the reasons for the people’s fall concerns the failure on the part of their men to repent, while those among them who survive do so because they do not forget God’s equal regard for women and men.”
Joseph Spencer,“Women and Nephite Men, Lessons from the Book of Alma”
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