I am always interested in seeing how ideas grow, develop, and take shape of the years.\u00a0 I suppose that is part of why I find the study of theology so interesting.\u00a0 As I was studying the \u201cCome, Follow Me\u201d curriculum this last week, it struck me how the sacrament prayers seem to have developed and formulated alongside the Doctrine of Christ in the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n
Early in the Book of Mormon, the prophetic triumvirate of Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob propose a controversial change to the traditional Hebrew religion, a change based on their revelations and their understanding of Isaiah that they called the Doctrine of Christ.\u00a0 Towards the end of his record, Nephi summarizes this doctrine as follows:<\/p>\n
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father? \u2026 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall\u00a0follow\u00a0the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no\u00a0hypocrisy\u00a0and no deception before God, but with real\u00a0intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are\u00a0willing\u00a0to take upon you the\u00a0name\u00a0of Christ, by\u00a0baptism\u2014yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the\u00a0baptism of fire\u00a0and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the\u00a0tongue\u00a0of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There is the nucleus of the future sacrament prayers in Nephi\u2019s summary\u2014the requirements to \u201ckeep the commandments of the Father\u201d and \u201cfollow\u00a0the Son, with full purpose of heart\u201d as well as to witness that \u201cye are\u00a0willing\u00a0to take upon you the\u00a0name\u00a0of Christ\u201d with the promise that in return, \u201cye receive the Holy Ghost.\u201d\u00a0 Thus, while John W. Welch traces the development sacrament prayers back to the time of King Benjamin, they may ultimately be rooted in Nephi\u2019s explanation of the Doctrine of Christ.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n
That is not to say that King Benjamin\u2019s contributions to the development of the sacrament prayers should be overlooked.\u00a0 After the main section of Benjamin\u2019s sermon, the response of Benjamin\u2019s people invoked the language of covenant: \u201cWe are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days\u201d (Mosiah 5:5).\u00a0 Given that \u201cthey all cried with one voice\u201d and that \u201cthese are the words which king Benjamin desired of them\u201d (Mosiah 5:2,6), their words may have been a pre-scripted or ritual response.\u00a0 Benjamin expounds on this covenant by stating that: \u201cI would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives\u201d and that \u201cI would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your hearts\u201d (Mosiah 5:8, 12).\u00a0 Here we find the further development of ideas included in the sacrament prayers\u2014covenants made with God to be obedient to commandments, take on the name of Christ, and remember to retain the name of Christ in their hearts.<\/p>\n
We also see the promised blessings of the Holy Spirit and some covenants like those King Benjamin and his people made with God come together in the Nephite baptism ritual carried out by Alma the Elder.\u00a0 Although Nephi discusses baptism as a requirement of the Doctrine of Christ, our first time seeing baptisms performed in the Book of Mormon comes at the Waters of Mormon.\u00a0 In Alma\u2019s words, baptism is performed \u201cin the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour his Spirit more abundantly upon you\u201d (Mosiah 18:10).\u00a0 Alma\u2019s baptismal covenant falls in line with the previous understanding of the Doctrine of Christ presented by Nephi and parallels the covenants presented by Benjamin, though it is interesting that Alma’s words lacks the commitment to take on the name of Christ.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n
These three texts or events exerted an influence on Nephites for generations to come.\u00a0 For example, Alma seems to have had access to the small plates of Nephi, quoting Lehi\u2019s words in 1 Nephi 1:8 in Alma 36:22.\u00a0 It seems likely that he and other Nephite religious leaders were aware of Nephi\u2019s section about the Doctrine of Christ towards the end of 2 Nephi as well. \u00a0As for King Benjamin, John Welch pointed out that: \u201cBenjamin\u2019s words were influential among the Nephites down to the time of Christ.\u00a0 Thus it is impressively consistent that Benjamin\u2019s three main covenantal phrases should reappear in Moroni 4 in ways that show continuity with the old covenant pattern as well as sensitivity to the newer revelation at the time of Christ\u2019s appearance.\u201d[4]<\/a> \u00a0It\u2019s not clear if Alma was following a pre-prescribed pattern for baptism or introducing a new one.\u00a0 Regardless, given that Alma would go on to organize the church of God and his descendants continued to lead that Church for the next several generations, it seems likely that Alma\u2019s understanding of baptism became standard among the Nephites.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Thus, Nephi, Alma, and Benjamin would have likely been seen as respected Church Fathers in the Nephite religion at the time Christ came.<\/p>\n
Given all of this, it isn\u2019t surprising that the resurrected Christ drew upon the words and covenants articulated by earlier leaders of the Nephite religion when he instituted the Sacrament among the descendants of Lehi, fusing those words together with his own words at the Last Supper.\u00a0 First, he broke bread and then explained that: \u201cThis shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you.\u00a0 And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me.\u00a0 And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you\u201d (3 Nephi 18:7).\u00a0 After distributing wine, he explained that baptized and repentant individuals who partake of the wine do so to \u201cwitness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you\u201d and \u201cthat ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me.\u00a0 And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you\u201d (3 Nephi 18:10-11). \u00a0I suspect that his wording was chosen (or at least recorded) the way that it was in order to use language that was familiar to the Lehites while transforming it to serve a new purpose in blessing the sacrament.<\/p>\n
The Nephite sacrament prayers preserved by Moroni seem to have been adapted from the words that the Christ spoke when instituting the Sacrament of the Lord\u2019s Supper among the Nephites.\u00a0 The prayer on the bread includes the hope that participants \u201cmay eat in remembrance of the body\u201d of Christ and as a \u201cwitness unto thee, O the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them\u201d (Moroni 4:3).\u00a0 We find the language of remembering the body of the Lord and witnessing or testifying to the Father that those partaking of the bread remember the Christ with the promise to have the Holy Spirit with them as a result, just as the Lord said in 3 Nephi 18.\u00a0 Similar comparisons can be made between the prayer for the wine and the Lord\u2019s words.\u00a0 The major addition to the sacrament prayers not found in the Christ\u2019s explanation of the sacrament (though found in the covenants of King Benjamin) is the expression of willingness to \u201ctake upon them the name of [the] Son.\u201d\u00a0 That being the major exception, the sacrament prayers seem to be based on the Christ’s words in 3 Nephi 18.<\/p>\n
Thus, the sacrament prayers we use in the Church today seem to be steeped in the sacred history of the Lehite peoples.\u00a0 Their nucleus came from Nephi\u2019s summary of the Doctrine of Christ, with added layers coming from the sermon of King Benjamin and the baptism ritual practiced by Alma.\u00a0 Those words were woven into the introduction of Sacrament of the Lord\u2019s Supper by the Lord Jesus Christ when he visited the Nephites after his resurrection. \u00a0His words, in turn, were used as the basis of the sacrament prayers used in the church in Moroni\u2019s days.\u00a0 It would be interesting to see if the prayers had developed differently in a different context.\u00a0 A possible example are the prayers for early Christians recorded in the Didache, <\/em>which focus much more on gratitude for the figure of Christ rather than covenants: \u201cWe give thanks to thee, our Father, for the Holy Vine of David thy child, which, thou didst make known to us through Jesus thy Child; to thee be glory for ever.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Regardless, our sacrament prayers were preserved in the Book of Mormon and adopted by the Church in the modern day, being included in the Articles and Covenants (D&C 20) to designate them as the official prayers we use as we worship in our sacrament meetings.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n
[1]<\/a> 2 Nephi 31:11-13.\u00a0 Note that there are some parallels in this formula to a part of Joseph Smith\u2019s summary of our religious beliefs in the Wentworth Letter (now Articles of Faith 3 and 4, see \u201cChurch History,\u201d 1 March 1842,” p. 709, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed March 6, 2020, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/church-history-1-march-1842\/4), which itself has parallels among other 19th<\/sup> century Protestant summaries of the requirements of the Gospel.<\/p>\n
[2]<\/a> John W. Welch, \u201cOur Nephite Sacrament Prayers,\u201d in Reexploring the Book of Mormon<\/em> (Provo, UT and Salt Lake City, Utah: FARMS\/Deseret Book, 1992), 286-289. https:\/\/archive.bookofmormoncentral.org\/node\/231<\/a><\/p>\n
[3]<\/a> Note that Zeniff\u2019s colony left from Zarahemla prior to King Benjamin\u2019s speech and Alma likely did not have access to a record of King Benjamin’s words.<\/p>\n
[4]<\/a> Welch, \u201cNephite Sacrament,\u201d 287.\u00a0 He points to Helaman 5:9; 14:12 and Mosiah 3:8 as examples of Benjamin\u2019s influence on later Nephites.<\/p>\n
[5]<\/a> See Mosiah 25:18-24.<\/p>\n
[6]<\/a> The Didache 9:2-4. http:\/\/www.thedidache.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am always interested in seeing how ideas grow, develop, and take shape of the years.\u00a0 I suppose that is part of why I find the study of theology so interesting.\u00a0 As I was studying the \u201cCome, Follow Me\u201d curriculum this last week, it struck me how the sacrament prayers seem to have developed and formulated alongside the Doctrine of Christ in the Book of Mormon. Early in the Book of Mormon, the prophetic triumvirate of Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob propose a controversial change to the traditional Hebrew religion, a change based on their revelations and their understanding of Isaiah that they called the Doctrine of Christ.\u00a0 Towards the end of his record, Nephi summarizes this doctrine as follows: Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father? \u2026 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall\u00a0follow\u00a0the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no\u00a0hypocrisy\u00a0and no deception before God, but with real\u00a0intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are\u00a0willing\u00a0to take upon you the\u00a0name\u00a0of Christ, by\u00a0baptism\u2014yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2895,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-of-mormon","category-come-follow-me-currculum","category-general-doctrine"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39923,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39922\/revisions\/39923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}