The Remedy for the Gentiles' Weakness
Book of Mormon Notes - Wednesday, July 3, 2024, Moroni 7
Moroni 7 is one of the greatest chapters in all of scripture, and there is no way to do it justice in one blog post or even in a series of blog posts. It is one of my favorite chapters in all of scripture.
Instead of covering this chapter verse by verse as I have done with many chapters, I would simply like to share a few insights that may help students of the Book of Mormon to explore this chapter more deeply and to read it more carefully. My goal all along in my Book of Mormon Notes has been to invite others to join me in a quest to study the Book of Mormon more regularly and intently in order to love the Lord and abide by His precepts more fully. I love the Book of Mormon because everything in it invites us to repent, come unto Christ, and develop greater faith in Him.
Why did Moroni choose to include a couple of his father’s sermons as part of his final writings? How do Mormon’s sermons connect with the first part of Moroni’s final book?
I don’t think that Moroni was merely honoring his father by including a couple of his great sermons at the end of his book. Recall that in Ether 12, the Lord declared to Moroni:
Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness. (Ether 12:28)
The Book of Mormon was painstakingly prepared by multiple generations of prophets during the rise and fall of two great civilizations that preceded our own upon the American continent, and it was prepared to come forth first unto the Gentiles. During this study of the Book of Mormon one theme that stands out to me that many of the latter-day Gentiles are too much like the Jews of ancient Israel or the Jews during the time of Christ. Although some Gentiles gladly receive and disseminate the truths of the Book of Mormon, it appears that Mormon, Moroni, and the Lord Himself declared that, to put it mildly, the latter-day Gentiles would have problems.
My recent reading of Moroni 7 indicates to me that too many of the latter-day Gentiles will consider themselves so great and powerful, and even invincible - perhaps not unlike the ancient Nephites or the even more ancient Jaredites - that they will neglect weightier matters and be worthy of our Lord’s rebuke:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? (Matthew 23:23-33)
Moroni 7 focuses on what the Lord calls the weightier matters of the law, namely judgment, mercy, and faith, or in this case, faith, hope, and charity. Moroni 7 fulfills the Lord’s promise to show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and to show unto them that faith, hope and charity lead to Him, the fountain of all righteousness. Too many of the Gentiles reject the Book of Mormon and the weightier matters for the same reason that the Jews, as well as the Nephites and the Jaredites, rejected Christ. But our merciful Lord invites us all to repent and to come unto Him. As we repent and come unto Him, He shows unto us our weakness in order that we may be humble and receive His grace and His strength.
The Lord promised Moroni that He will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and that He will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto Him—the fountain of all righteousness. It may have been during this same time period that the Lord inspired Moroni’s father Mormon to preach on faith, hope, and charity in the Nephite synagogue.
By the way, have you ever noticed that the Nephites built synagogues? Even near the end of the Nephite civilization, Moroni preached this sermon inside a synagogue. This is a very Jewish term. What is a synagogue?
Synagogue
See also Jews
A meetingplace used for religious purposes. In New Testament times, the furniture generally was simple, consisting of an ark containing the rolls of the law and other sacred writings, a reading desk, and seats for the worshipers.
A local council of elders managed each synagogue. They decided who should be admitted and who should be excluded (John 9:22; 12:42). The most important official was the ruler of the synagogue (Mark 5:22; Luke 13:14). He generally was a scribe, had care of the building, and supervised the services. An attendant performed clerical duties (Luke 4:20).
There was a synagogue in every town where Jews were living, both in Palestine and elsewhere. This was a great help in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ because early missionaries of the Church usually could speak in the synagogues (Acts 13:5, 14; 14:1; 17:1, 10; 18:4). This same practice existed among missionaries in the Book of Mormon (Alma 16:13; 21:4–5; 32:1) as well as among early missionaries in this dispensation (D&C 66:7; 68:1).
Do you remember Mormon’s descriptions of Nephite synagogues?
And Alma and Amulek went forth preaching repentance to the people in their temples, and in their sanctuaries, and also in their synagogues, which were built after the manner of the Jews. (Alma 16:13)
This is a great reminder that Lehi and Nephi came out of Jerusalem. They were Jews, or at least their culture and heritage were Jewish. Mormon and Moroni were, like their forefathers Lehi and Nephi, also Jews.
It seems to me that the Gentiles’ weakness of which Moroni wrote is the same thing as the stumbling block of which Nephi wrote:
And it shall come to pass, that if the Gentiles shall hearken unto the Lamb of God in that day that he shall manifest himself unto them in word, and also in power, in very deed, unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks— (1 Nephi 14:1)
The Lord will remove the stumbling blocks for the Gentiles who hearken unto the Lamb of God, and He will make the weakness of the Gentiles strong if we repent and come unto Him. Throughout the Book of Mormon, the Lord invites us all to repent and come unto Him, but in the concluding chapters of Moroni’s final book, the Lord shows unto the Gentiles our weakness, and reveals that faith, hope and charity lead us to Him, the fountain of all righteousness.
Jesus Christ is the fountain of all righteousness. Moroni 7 contains several allusions to the symbol of a fountain. These symbols may also remind us of the tree of life of which Nephi wrote. It may be that one reason Moroni included his father’s sermon on faith, hope, and charity is because these are the essential attributes and principles that the Gentiles most lack, just as many of the Jews in ancient Israel and during the time of Christ omitted the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith. Thus Moroni, through his father’s sermon, brings into greater focus the very things that will most lead us to Jesus Christ and salvation.
It is somewhat surprising to me that Moroni’s father, Mormon gave this sermon to a group of Nephites who had gathered in their synagogue. There must have been at least a small group of Nephites who were still true disciples of Christ. As Moroni shows at the beginning of his final book, the Lamanites hunted down and killed all of these true disciples of Christ, including Mormon. To my knowledge, only Moroni and the three beloved Nephite disciples escaped.
But Mormon’s sermon to the Nephite disciples was also meant for the latter-day Gentiles who would repent and receive the Book of Mormon. In other words, as Moroni learned that the weakness of the Gentiles would include their utter lack of faith, hope, and charity, it makes sense that he would insert his father’s great sermon on the same topic in order to benefit any latter-day Gentiles who would repent and receive his message.
Mormon addresses his beloved brethren, the peaceable followers of Christ, and Moroni therefore addresses the peaceable followers of Christ who have read the Book of Mormon all the way through to the end with real intent to live by its precepts. This great spiritual treasure has been reserved for the Gentiles who repent and come unto Christ with real intent to follow Him. Mormon reveals the ways in which the great trio of theological virtues are intertwined and interact to lead us to Christ.
Mormon addresses good people who walk peaceably with others, inviting us to enter into the rest of the Lord. He shows us how to become true disciples of Jesus Christ. He shows us the way to judge:
Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.
But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.
Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ. (Moroni 7:12-19)
Then Mormon asks a wonderful question:
And now, my brethren, how is it possible that ye can lay hold upon every good thing? (Moroni 7:20)
I love this question! How can we lay hold upon every good thing? I love Mormon’s answer to his rhetorical question as well. It is the perfect segue to his lesson on faith, hope, and charity.
In this timeless and legendary sermon, Mormon addresses another weakness of the latter-day Gentiles. In addition to their utter lack of charity, too many of the latter-day Gentiles foolishly suppose that there are no more miracles. Nephi lamented this same problem. Disbelief in miracles is a direct result of lack of faith in Jesus Christ. Mormon, like Nephi before Him, demonstrates that God is a God of miracles, and that God works miracles according to faith. Mormon also shows how God works through the ministry of angels, preparing the way for His children to have faith in Christ.
Mormon’s teachings point directly to a few direct quotations of the Lord:
And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you. (Moroni 7:26)
And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me. (Moroni 7:33)
And he hath said: Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved. (Moroni 7:34)
This chapter is inexhaustibly rich and positively teems with spiritual treasures.