3 Nephi 27 – 4 Nephi Quotes and Notes

In these chapters Jesus discusses the name of his church and defines what the gospel is. These simple truths lead to the 28th chapter where Mormon informs his readers that 3 of the Nephite 12 experienced a “transfiguration” (3 Nephi 28.17), something we call translation today. The coming forth of the text of the Book of Mormon is the sign that the Lord is gathering us (3 Nephi 29), and Mormon shows us both the building up of Zion, and its dissolution in a period of a few hundred years in 4 Nephi 1.

3 Nephi 27

The third visit of Jesus begins (2) when he shows himself to them as they are united in mighty prayer.

The church’s name (3-9)

If it is his church, it will show forth the works (10)

But if not, their works will follow them and they will be “hewn down.” (11-12) This is prophetic considering how the Book of Mormon ends.

Jesus defines his gospel (13-21) τὸ εὐαγγέλιον = “The Gospel” From εὐάγγελος (euángelos, “bringing good news”), from εὐ- (eu-, “good”) +‎ ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger”)

It has that prefix eu-, which comes into English in a variety of words. We talk about euphonics or euphonious music, which refers to something that sounds good. We talk about a eulogy, which is a good word pronounced about someone at his funeral service. The prefix eu- refers to something good or pleasant. The word angelos or angelion is the word for “message.” Angels are messengers, and an angelos is one who delivers a message. (see Isaiah 52.7) The gospel is the news about what Jesus did, and what he will do in us and for us. But the gospel is not really about us, rather it is about Jesus and his victory over sin and death.

Note what Jesus teaches:

He was lifted up on the cross that we might be lifted up (14)

Men will be judged according to their works (15)

Repent and be baptized to be guiltless (16)

We need to endure (17)

We will have our garments washed in his blood (19)

We must receive the Holy Ghost to be found “and stand” spotless (20)

The Gospel is the good news that Jesus came down so that he can take us up to him. See Philippians 2.5-12 – He became man so that he might make us exalted as he is, that we might “shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2.15. See also D&C 138.24 where we read that the saints shone as the Lord’s radiance “rested” on them).

What manner of men ought ye to be? (27) Even as I am! (We are to be beings who are in the process of being, from אֶֽהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶֽהְיֶה (Exodus 3.14), ‘ehyé ‘asher ‘ehyé, literally, “I will be what I will be,” meaning, God is one who is in the process of being, active, dynamic. We are “to be” beings who act, beings being. We are to be even as Jesus is and was.

3 Nephi 28

The 3 Nephites are Translated, as they are told, “ye shall never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven” (3 Nephi 28.7).

They are as John (6)

Question: Why do you think Mormon included this in his record? Is it just for a “gee whiz” moment? What was his purpose?

Legends about John:

Ambrogio di Baldese, St. John Drinks the Poison Cup, ca. 1390-95
  1. John meets Cerinthus in the bath house and runs away, afraid it would fall down. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.4.)
  2. John hunts down the once Christian who became a criminal. He brings him back to the fold. From the text we read, “The latter, meanwhile, was waiting, armed as he was. But when he recognized John approaching, he turned in shame to flee. But John, forgetting his age, pursued him with all his might, crying out, ‘Why, my son, do you flee from me, your own father, unarmed, aged? Pity me, my son; fear not; you have still hope of life. I will give account to Christ for you. If need be, I will willingly endure your death as the Lord suffered death for us. For you will I give up my life. Stand, believe; Christ has sent me.’ And he, when he heard, first stopped and looked down; then he threw away his arms, and then trembled and wept bitterly. And when the old man approached, he embraced him, making confession with lamentations as he was able, baptizing himself a second time with tears, and concealing only his right hand. But John, pledging himself, and assuring him on oath that he would find forgiveness with the Saviour, besought him, fell upon his knees, kissed his right hand itself as if now purified by repentance, and led him back to the church. And making intercession for him with copious prayers, and struggling together with him in continual fastings, and subduing his mind by various utterances, he did not depart, as they say, until he had restored him to the church, furnishing a great example of true repentance and a great proof of regeneration, a trophy of a visible resurrection. (Eusebius, Church History 3.23.16–19.)
  3. According to Tertullian, John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in before the Porta Latina at Rome and miraculously suffering nothing from it. (see: The Prescription of Heretics ch. 36) It is said that all in the audience of the Colosseum were converted to Christ when they saw John survive the boiling oil. It may have been at Dometian’s hand that John was boiled in oil. Many accounts also stress that he was poisoned at this time, but received no harm. Some believe his tomb is located at Selçuk, a small town in the vicinity of Ephesus. Tertullian writes, “How happy is its church, on which apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood! Where Peter endures a passion like his Lord’s! Where Paul wins his crown in a death like John’s where the Apostle John was first plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island-exile!”
  4. John revives two dead men (prisoners condemned to death) who drink poison. The pagan priest Aristodemus tells a crowd that he will convert if John drinks the poison and survives. John survives the drinking of the poison and then, in the name of Jesus, revives the two dead men. See Ambrogio di Baldese, St. John drinks the poison cup, 1390. See the poisoned cup of St. John here and here.
  5. A secondary ending in the Greek manuscript of The Acts of John, an apocryphal text, mention that John was translated. It says, “We brought a linen cloth and spread it upon him, and went into the city. And on the day following we went forth and found not his body, for it was translated by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto whom be glory, &c.”1

There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within. And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, Do you know me? I do know you, the first-born of Satan. Such was the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth. [Against Heresies 3.3.4]

John being translated really changes our understanding of Matthew 16.28 “there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (see also Mark 9.1 and Luke 9.27) With John not tasting of death, this passage makes more sense. Many critics of Jesus and his gospels call Jesus a failed apocalyptic prophet due to verses like these. Our reading of this text as well as John 21.21-24 help us to see these stories differently. See also D&C 7.

They receive a change in their mortal bodies (15)

They cannot be held in prison (19), the earth (20), furnaces (21), or dens of wild beasts (22)

They are as the angels (30)

They will one day receive a greater change (40)

List of translated being powers

  1. They never “taste of death” (3 Ne. 28.7).
  2. They escape “the pains of death” (3 Ne. 28.9).
  3. They will have “no sorrow” except for sorrow for the sins of the world (3 Ne. 28.9).
  4. Evil men cannot harm them – not prisons, not the pits of the earth, nor wild beasts, nor flames can do them hurt (3 Ne. 28.19-22).
  5. They can teach the gospel with power and authority to the end that people are converted (3 Ne. 28.23).
  6. They are as angels (3 Ne. 28.27-30).
  7. Satan cannot tempt or try them (3 Ne. 28.39).
  8. They are “sanctified in the flesh,” being holy. (3 Ne. 28.39).
  9. No power of the earth could have hold on their bodies (3 Ne. 28.39).
  10. They will remain in this state until they receive a greater change when the judgment comes (3 Ne. 28.40).

These powers, in part, seem to be one way that the Lord has maintained his influence through legal administrators while the gospel has not been on earth in its fulness.2

Lessons learned from this chapter

People often wonder whether there are people being translated today, and if not, why? This same question may have come to the mind of Joseph Smith as he translated the Book of Mormon. Even more likely, the question could have come as he worked on the inspired revision of the book of Genesis in late 1830 and early 1831. As he read of Enoch and his people being caught up into heaven and later of others who developed the faith of Enoch who were taken up into Zion even down to the days of Melchizedek, the question must have come (see Moses 7:21, 27; JST Gen 14:32–35). We have no record of any response by the Prophet as to why people are not translated today, and his silence on the question may be answer enough. However, on this issue Elder McConkie has written:

[After the days of Melchizedek] except in a few isolated instances—those of Moses, Elijah, Alma the son of Alma, John the Beloved, and the Three Nephites are the only ones of which we know—except in these cases, each involving a special purpose, the Lord ceased translating faithful people. Rather, they were permitted to die and go into the spirit world, there to perform the ever-increasing work needed in that sphere. (Millennial Messiah 285; emphasis added)

There is much yet which we do not know, but for that which we do understand we should be most grateful. What personal lesson can we learn from the lives the Nephite Disciples? Of the many ideas that could be given, I list only two. First, it should be our desire and design to strive to bind Satan in our lives, for “when Satan is bound in a single home—when Satan is bound in a single life—the Millennium has already begun in that home, in that life” (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 172). Second, we can and must do all that we can to help bring souls unto Christ. This is the work of the translated Nephites, and it is our work too.3

3 Nephi 29

The sign – when “these sayings” come to the Gentiles, the lands of inheritance will begin to be restored (1)

Several “woes” (5-7)

3 Nephi 30

Repent and turn – shoov שׁוּב (H7725)

4 Nephi

Everyone is one, unified in love (1-19)

Nephi transfers the records to Amos עָמוֹס (“burdened”)

A small part revolts (20) in the 84 years he keeps it…

Amos gives the record to his son Amos (21) in 194 AD

Amos gives the records to Ammaron [Ammaron’s name could come from the Hebrew root amar אָמַר (H559) – “to speak, to give a word.” It could also be related to the idea of working with words. It could also be a combination of 2 words: am + arown = people of the ark. אָרוֹן=arown = ark (H727) and עַם = people (H5971)

The building up of a Zion civilization:

  1. They received the Holy Ghost (1)
  2. They did not contend with each other (2, 13, 15)
  3. They dealt justly (2)
  4. They had all things in common, meaning that they lived a consecrated life (3)
  5. They were “partakers of the heavenly gift” (3)
  6. They witnessed miracles (5)
  7. They built cities (7) and families (11)
  8. They fasted and met together as a people (12)
  9. They were happy, indeed, the happiest of all people (16)
  10. They ceased social divisions and class distinctions (17)

The ending of their civilization:

  1. Small revolt (20)
  2. Distinctions (24), classes, costly apparel, pearls
  3. End of consecration (25)
  4. Classes (26)
  5. Building up of churches “unto themselves” (26)
  6. Lax on holiness (27)
  7. Satan has power over their hearts (28)
  8. In 260 AD the righteous start to decline (41-43)
  9. The rise of the Gadiantons (42)
  10. There were “none that were righteous, save the disciples of Jesus” (46)

Notes

  1. Prior to this ending in the Greek text The Acts of John concluded with these verses: 114 And as I come unto thee, let the fire go backward, let the darkness be overcome, let the gulf be without strength, let the furnace die out, let Gehenna be quenched. Let angels follow, let devils fear, let rulers be broken, let powers fall; let the places of the right hand stand fast, let them of the left hand not remain. Let the devil be muzzled, let Satan be derided, let his wrath be burned out, let his madness be stilled, let his vengeance be ashamed, let his assault be in pain, let his children be smitten and all his roots plucked up. And grant me to accomplish the journey unto thee without suffering insolence or provocation, and to receive that which thou hast promised unto them that live purely and have loved thee only. 115 And having sealed himself in every part, he stood and said: Thou art with me, O Lord Jesu Christ: and laid himself down in the trench where he had strown his garments: and having said unto us: Peace be with you, brethren, he gave up his spirit rejoicing.
  2. Joseph Fielding Smith discussed this idea when he stated, “Moreover, the Lord, of necessity, has kept authorized servants on the earth bearing the priesthood from the days of Adam to the present time; in fact, there has never been a moment from the beginning that there were not men on the earth holding the Holy Priesthood. Even in the days of apostasy, and apostasy has occurred several times, the Lord never surrendered this earth and permitted Satan to have complete control. Even when the great apostasy occurred following the death of the Savior’s apostles, our Father in heaven held control and had duly authorized servants on the earth to direct his work and to check, to some extent at least, the ravages and corruption of the evil powers. These servants were not permitted to organize the Church nor to officiate in the ordinances of the gospel, but they did check the advances of evil as far as the Lord deemed it necessary.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:45). President Smith also said, “I believe there has never been a moment of time since the creation but what there has been someone holding the priesthood on the earth to hold Satan in check.” (Joseph Fielding Smith; Harold B. Lee, CES address, The Place of the Living Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, July 8, 1964). J. Reuben Clark stated, “It is my faith that the gospel plan has always been here, that his priesthood has always been on the earth, and that it will continue to be so until the end comes.” (J. Reuben Clark; Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye in Holy Places, pg. 161-162).
  3. Clyde Williams, The Three Nephites and the Doctrine of Translation, as found in The Book of Mormon: 3 Nephi 9–30, This Is My Gospel, Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr., Editors, The Eighth Annual Book of Mormon Symposium at BYU, 1993.
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