According to John Welch, the Nephites "were strict in observing the ordinances of God, according to the law of Moses; for they were taught to keep the law of Moses until it should be fulfilled" (Alma 30:3). This statement draws special attention to the fact that the Nephites kept not only the commandments (the general ethical portions of the law, such as the Ten Commandments), but that they also observed "the ordinances of God." Most likely those "ordinances" were the "outward performances" of the laws of Moses, for on several occasions the writers of the Book of Mormon coupled the words "performances and ordinances" (2 Nephi 25:30; Mosiah 13:30; Alma 30:23; 4 Nephi 1:12), and those authors used these two words together to mean the "outward performances" of the law of Moses (Alma 25:15). Those ordinances were evidently the sacrifices and offerings that looked forward to and were fulfilled by and in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for after the coming of Christ, the record states that the Nephites "did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the laws of Moses; but they did walk after the commandments" given by the Lord (4 Nephi 1:12). Thus, Welch concludes that the word "ordinances" in Alma 30:3 refers principally to the rules of blood sacrifices and burnt offerings that were expressly overruled by Jesus when he spoke from heaven in 3 Nephi 9:19. [John W. Welch, "The Temple in the Book of Mormon," in Temples of the Ancient World, pp. 304-305]