Verse one contains a shift in the nature of the address. Jesus is with the assembled multitude, but his first instructions are given to the chosen twelve. At this point Jesus shifts his attention from the twelve to the entire assembled body of people. This change comes when he visually signals the shift by motioning with his hand, and then saying; “blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve…”
The emphasis also moves from the twelve to the many as Jesus recognizes their belief. The twelve may be presumed to believe, as indicated by their very selection. The rest of the people are now explicitly recognized. However, it is also recognized that they are in need of the baptism by water and fire, indicating the gift of the Holy Ghost. Some of the people may have been baptized previously. Some may not have been previously baptized. The need of baptism into this new covenant was before all of them equally.
Literary: The transition comes in the form of a shift in the instruction to the twelve and the blessing statements to the people. The twelve and their charge to preach repentance and baptism become the foundation of Jesus’ gospel, and the people are blessed if they believe. This leads directly into the charge to accept the ministry of the twelve: first by believing, and then by doing.
The process of creating the transition from the first set of instructions to this next sermon hinges on the blessing phrases. Those blessing phrases are the beginning of the Sermon and the Mount, and they are the opening here. The Matthean Sermon on the Mount contains beatitudes that follow a specific formula. The exhortation of blessing begins the statement, followed by a relative clause. This gives us the “blessed are…. for” structure, although the “for” clause is optional. The idea of the relative clause, however, is to provide some description of the individual possessed of the quality noted in the “blessed” clause. (Robert Guelich. A Foundation for Understanding the Sermon on the Mount. Word Publishing, Dallas, 1982, pp. 63-4).
The blessing statements that serve as the link between the two narrative scenes in 3 Nephi begin with the “Blessed are…” half of the formula, but only one phrase completes the formula with the “…for” clause. The first two have “Blessed are… if” constructions, which alters the nature of the exhortation. The “if” creates a conditional, not a firm description. In the Matthean beatitudes, the people have a certain quality, and they are blessed for it. In these “blessing” in 3 Nephi, they are conditional covenants. There will be blessings, if the conditions are met.
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”
Blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized, after that ye have seen me and know that I am.
More blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know that I am.
Blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.
These additional blessing statements imitate the form, but do not completely replicate the form as found in the Old World. This suggests that when the Savior began his sermon to the people, the blessing statements were part of the sermon, but the particular literary form was not part of the cultural world of the Nephites. Therefore, when Nephi is writing his text, the transitional statements imitate the blessing form, but without an understanding of the complete form, only part of it was imitated.
Of course this should not be taken as supposing that Jesus did not speak in such a way to the people. It is simply a recognition that Nephi wrote this after the fact, and would have had no way to record a word for word sermon as it was given. All sermons in ancient texts must have an element of authorial construction in them simply because there were no recording tools that could accurately record continuous speech.