The Know

During His visit to the peoples of the Book of Mormon at their temple in Bountiful, the Lord Jesus Christ presented teachings that closely resemble what He had taught in the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (compare Matthew 5–7 and 3 Nephi 12–14). What has come to be known as the Sermon at the Temple is clearly one of the most influential sermons in the Book of Mormon, and several traces of its sacred teachings can be found throughout the remainder of the book.1 One of the most significant features of the Sermon at the Temple, however, is that it adds material to the Sermon on the Mount not only in how the sermon itself reads in some instances but also in the added context surrounding its powerful deliverance by the resurrected Jesus.2

The Book of Mormon gives important details regarding the setting and place of the sermon. Specifically, Jesus appeared to the surviving Nephites and Lamanites as a large group gathered at the temple in Bountiful (see 3 Nephi 11:1). As John W. Welch observed, “His appearance at the temple invites the idea that his words have something important to do with teachings and ordinances found within the temple.”3 Indeed, it is especially significant in a temple context that some of Jesus’s first instructions given to the Nephites had to do with making and keeping covenants.

The teachings derived from the Sermon on the Mount, after all, “appear immediately following Jesus’ explanations of baptism, of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and of the rock upon which one should build, namely, the covenantal relationship formed by repentance, baptism, and becoming as a little child (see 3 Nephi 11:38–39).”4 Furthermore, this holy day concluded with the people making a sacramental covenant, followed the next day by the baptism of the twelve disciples whom Jesus had chosen, leading the way for them “to baptize and to teach many as did come unto them.”5 All those who were baptized entered into a covenant to keep the commandments Jesus had delivered to them.

This covenantal context is especially apparent within the Sermon at the Temple. At the beginning of this sermon, Jesus added two beatitudes not found in the New Testament version: (1) “Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen from among you to minister unto you, and to be your servants; and unto them I have given power that they may baptize you with water,” and (2) “Blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized, after that ye have seen me and know that I am.”6 Those to whom these things are promised will be baptized “with fire and with the Holy Ghost . . . and shall receive a remission of their sins” (3 Nephi 12:1–2). These words stress that the text is specifically intended for covenant makers, who will receive these covenantal promises for their faithfulness.

Other beatitudes similar to those found in the New Testament are given significant clarifications and additions that also highlight the sermon’s covenantal nature. For example, 3 Nephi 12:3 reads, “Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me” (emphasis added). This added phrase marks the necessity of coming to Jesus in a covenantal relationship in order to receive the promised blessings.7 Similarly, verse 6 reads, “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” The spiritual aspects of this blessing are made explicit; as people repent, are humble, and seek to do God’s will, they will be blessed to feel the Holy Ghost more abundantly in their lives.8

Another significant addition to the sermon is found in 3 Nephi 12:19–20. Here Jesus specifically states the commandments of the Father—namely, “that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit” as a sacrifice for the Lord. These verses, as well as verses 23–24, teach that the sacrifice to be offered now is “a broken heart and a contrite heart,” as the voice of Jesus had declared from heaven during the three days of darkness after His death.9 Jesus also expressly teaches that the invitation to “come unto me and be ye saved,” which is found in several forms throughout this sermon, is linked to keeping the commandments, emphasizing that if the people do not keep His commandments, “ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (verse 20).

Context is also added to the Sermon at the Temple in other instances as Jesus addresses both the multitude and the twelve disciples. While the instructions begin, “[Jesus] stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them,” not all of the recorded sermon was directed at the multitude (3 Nephi 12:1). Third Nephi 13:25, for instance, records that a significant portion of the sermon was intended for a more limited audience of the Twelve Disciples, stating that “when Jesus had spoken these words he looked upon the twelve whom he had chosen” and began to address them. These instructions last until Jesus “turned again to the multitude, and did open his mouth unto them again” in 3 Nephi 14:1. This additional information about the intended audience helps readers better understand to whom those instructions pertained.10

These are only a few of the significant points that are found in the Sermon at the Temple.11 Other differences between the Sermon at the Temple and Sermon on the Mount can be understood as reflecting the post-Resurrection setting of 3 Nephi and adapting some of Jesus’s message for His New World audience. This includes dropping several mentions of penalties as well as certain elements that would have been familiar to an Old World audience but not to a New World audience.12

Furthermore, the Sermon at the Temple stands in a significant place within the book of 3 Nephi. Rather than being given only once, the sermon’s message is continually referred to throughout the rest of Jesus’s teachings in 3 Nephi 15–28. John W. Welch has identified these callbacks to the Sermon at the Temple as insightful and powerful uses of a complex text that would not be present had the sermon just been copied over by a “weary, unimaginative writer or translator, as some detractors have suggested.”13  

For example, in two instances Jesus refers to the teachings of the sermon by utilizing Seidel’s law, an ancient practice related to chiasmus. This is employed when elements in one text were repeated in reverse order as a way of demonstrating that the author was quoting from something else.14 Material from the sermon is thus quoted between 3 Nephi 15:6–16:15, utilizing in the opposite order materials from 3 Nephi 12:13–18. A similar phenomenon occurs again at 3 Nephi 18:13–34, this time utilizing 3 Nephi 11:28; 12:1, 16; and 14:7, 24, and 26 in the reverse order.

Welch observed regarding all of the uses of the Sermon at the Temple throughout the remainder of 3 Nephi, “These derivative uses of the Sermon on the Mount show that the words of Jesus were understood and utilized from the very outset as an authoritative body of instructions that were intended to be used not merely as ethical or moral encouragement but as guides to religious practices and in the making and keeping of sacred covenants.”15

The Why

In the New Testament and Book of Mormon, the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon at the Temple contain some of the most vital and powerful teachings of Jesus Christ. While the two sermons are similar, enough differences exist between the two that a close comparison can be rewarding for modern readers.

This is especially true given the additional blessings, teachings, and contextual information found throughout the Sermon at the Temple that all help illuminate the original meanings of the passages the Sermon on the Mount have in common with the Book of Mormon. As John W. Welch observed, “The text and context of the Sermon on the Mount in the Book of Mormon turn out, in my view, to be among its greatest strengths. Through the Sermon at the Temple, some of the things that have baffled New Testament scholars about the Sermon on the Mount become very plain and precious.”16

Most significant is the added context of covenant making found throughout the sermons as a whole. The need to enter into covenants with the Lord and to faithfully follow His example is expressed throughout the scriptures, but it is done so repeatedly and powerfully in these two sublime sermons. What’s more, because these texts have been carefully preserved for our day, modern readers can take the lessons in the sermons to heart. By living the commandments and being true to their covenants, all can enter the presence of the Lord once more and enjoy His presence, love, justice, and mercy.

• 1. See, for example, Scripture Central, “Why Is the Sermon at the Temple Echoed Throughout the Rest of 3 Nephi? (3 Nephi 16:6),” KnoWhy 208 (October 13, 2016); John​ W. Welch, “Echoes from the Sermon on the Mount,” in The Sermon on the Mount in Latter-day Scripture, ed. Gaye Strathearn, Thomas A. Wayment, and Daniel L. Belnap (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book, 2010), 312–340.
• 2. For a helpful comparison of differences between the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) and the Sermon at the Temple (3 Nephi 12–14), see John W. Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies [FARMS], 1999), 255–276. A similar comparison that includes the Joseph Smith Translation can be found in John W. Welch, The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount: A Latter-Day Saint Approach (FARMS, 1990),
• 3. Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple, 26. Welch also notes on pp. 27–28 that some scholars see the Sermon on the Mount as potentially referring to the “Mountain of the Lord,” or a temple, but this setting is made explicit in the Book of Mormon.
• 4. Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple, 29.
• 5. 3 Nephi 18:1–14; 19:11–12; 26:17.
• 6. A similar beatitude is found in verse 2, referring to those who would believe on the words of the Nephite audience and follow their example in being baptized.
• 7. See Krister Stendahl, “The Sermon on the Mount and Third Nephi,” in Reflections on Mormonism: Judaeo-Christian Parallels, ed. Truman G. Madsen (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1978), 1342, for a discussion on this addition.
• 8. See Mosiah 18:10; 3 Nephi 19:13; 26:17.
• 9. See 3 Nephi 8:20; see also Psalm 51:17; Dana M. Pike, “3 Nephi 9:19–20: The Offering of a Broken Heart,” in Third Nephi: An Incomparable Scripture, ed. Andrew C. Skinner and Gaye Strathearn (Deseret Book, 2012), 35–56.
• 10. The entire Sermon on the Mount was addressed to a group of disciples. Matthew 5:1. The Sermon at the Temple, however, was given to all 2,500 people gathered at the temple in Bountiful. Thus, the instruction given in 3 Nephi 13:25–34, which applied to the small audience in Matthew 5–7, needed to be bracketed at Bountiful as only applying to the leading disciples. Also, this specification of audience can explain why some elements of the Sermon on the Mount are missing from Luke’s version (often called the Sermon on the Plain) in Luke 6. Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple, 222.
• 11. For a discussion on the additions of the Sermon at the Temple to 3 Nephi 12:48 (Matthew 5:48), see Scripture Central, “What Does It Mean to Be Perfect? (3 Nephi 12:48),” KnoWhy 335 (July 5, 2017). Additions in the Sermon at the Temple include mentioning Himself as one who is perfect and offering the injunction to be perfect not as a command but as a desire and an invitation. Similar changes to the Lord’s Prayer in the Book of Mormon highlight the post-Resurrection context of the Sermon at the Temple. See Scripture Central, “Why Is the Lord’s Prayer Different in 3 Nephi? (3 Nephi 13:9; Matthew 6:9; cf. Luke 11:2),” KnoWhy 204 (October 7, 2016).
• 12. For a more thorough discussion on these differences, see Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple, 125–150; Scripture Central, “Why Did Jesus Deliver a Version of the Sermon on the Mount at the Temple in Bountiful? (3 Nephi 12:6),” KnoWhy 203 (October 6, 2016).
• 13. Welch, “Echoes from the Sermon on the Mount,” 315.
• 14. See M. Seidel, Studies in Scripture (Mosad Harav Kook, 1978). See also Donald W. Parry, Preserved in Translation: Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book), 89‒92; David E. Bokovoy, “Inverted Quotations in the Book of Mormon,” Insights: A Window on the Ancient World 20, no. 10 (2000): 2; David E. Bokovoy and John A. Tvedtnes, Testaments: Links Between the Book of Mormon and the Hebrew Bible (Heritage Press, 2003), 56–60.
• 15. Welch, “Echoes from the Sermon on the Mount,” 315. For more discussion on the use of the Sermon at the Temple in the rest of 3 Nephi, see Scripture Central, “Why Is the Sermon at the Temple Echoed.”
• 16. Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple, 126.