Mosiah 3:5-8

Brant Gardner

For modern readers, it is important to recognize the significance of Benjamin’s declaration that “the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay.” Jehovah was the Nephite God, and Jehovah himself would condescend to leave behind the heavens to become mortal, to “dwell in a tabernacle of clay.” Modern questions about the distinctions between Christ and God the Father are not Nephite questions. There is no apparent understanding of any distinction between the coming Messiah and God until the time Christ makes an appearance at Bountiful. While in his mortal state He will speak of his Father, and that will probably begin the Nephite understanding of a separation between God the Father and Jehovah. That has not happened yet.

This part of the discourse is about the amazing revelation, or confirmation, that God himself would become mortal. While He would do divine things, such as cast out devils, He would also be subject to temptations. He would be human, with human frailties in body.

Verse 8 not only provides a name for Jehovah on earth, but also for His mother. The name is given as Jesus Christ, which is a bit of a translation conflation of the name, Jesus, and the title, Christ (from the Greek rather than the Hebrew for the anointed one).

The title “father of heaven and earth” is interesting. Matthew 11:25 describes Christ as the “Lord of heaven and earth,” but not explicitly as the father. That title occurs here, in 2 Nephi 25:12, Mosiah 15: 4, Alma 11:39, and Helaman 14:12 and 16:18. The fatherhood of the Messiah is emphasized in the Book of Mormon, but not in the New Testament. In the New Testament, it is Christ who speaks of His Father in heaven, not of His being the Father in Heaven.

Book of Mormon Minute

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