“Consecrated Priests and Teachers”
In our day we would say “ordained priests and teachers.” Literally, to consecrate is to “set apart,” or to “make holy.” We note that both the priests and the teachers were given the authority to baptize. As we have discussed earlier in this work, so far as we know there was no Aaronic Priesthood among the Nephites (because there were no Levites), at least until the coming of the resurrected Lord to them in the meridian of time. Thus priests and teachers among the Nephites held the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the words priests and teachers describe their ministerial duties, not the offices to which they were ordained. (See Commentary 1:31, 225.)
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