In several passages in the Sermon at the Temple, subtle changes bring the divine influence more explicitly to the surface. When one is "filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 12:6) in the Sermon at the Temple, the beatitude is not left unspecified, as in the Sermon on the Mount which just says "filled." [John W. Welch, The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount, F.A.R.M.S., p. 102]
“For They Shall Be Filled with the Holy Ghost”
John Welch makes the following comment:
I, for one, began my work on the Book of Mormon at a time when hardly anything positive had been written--from a scholarly point of view--about its antiquity. I believed the balance needed to be tipped back by looking for, finding, and saying things in favor of the book.
Still today, I feel no need to get too excited when I see things that might be used as evidence against the book's antiquity. Instead, I take note and begin researching the subject. Usually, as I learn more, I come to see other options and find that what I originally thought was a problem is not. Indeed, sometimes what I thought was a problematic detail turns out to be a strength. For example, Krister Stendahl once claimed that the Book of Mormon is wrong to say "they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 12:6). Stendahl made this claim because he said, the Greek word behind this beatitude in Matthew 5, namely chortazo, cannot mean to be filled "with the Holy Ghost" but means to "fill the stomach." Hutchinson (p. 14, where the Greek is misspelled) and others have used this as a prime exhibit of an alleged Book of Mormon mistake. For over ten years, I figured that the best that one could say on behalf of the Book of Mormon in this instance was that it was simply expressing the image of the Holy Ghost more literally than the Protestant Stendahl would allow. That explanation was sufficient for me, but I remained aware of Stendahl's linguistic criticism. Then, I found in the Septuagint an ancient text that used chortazo to mean being filled with the spirit, being satiated with the likeness of God (Psalm 17:15). This is a text that Stendahl had apparently missed. I published this finding in 1990, . . . Now, as a result of this excursion, I see the Book of Mormon translation in 3 Nephi 12:6 as stronger than ever, for it is consistent with an ancient usage of chortazo that even one of the learned men of the world had overlooked. Moreover, it is consonant with a unique point of Mormon doctrine that spirit is matter, meaning that one can indeed be physically filled with the spirit's substance. [John W. Welch, "Approaching New Approaches," in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 6/1 1994, pp. 150-151]
“Filled with the Holy Ghost”
John Tvedtnes notes that in explaining the emblems of the sacrament to the Nephites, Jesus said, "He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled" (3 Nephi 20:8) But "when the multitude had all eaten and drunk, behold, they were filled with the Spirit," not with bread and wine (3 Nephi 20:9). This seems appropriate, since the promise to those who worthily partake of the sacrament is that they will "have his Spirit to be with them" (Moroni 4:3; 5:2).
On the first occasion when Jesus had blessed bread for the Nephites in the land of Bountiful, we read that "when the multitude had eaten and were filled, he said unto the disciples: Behold there shall one be ordained among you, and to him will I give power that he shall break bread and bless it and give it unto the people of my church, unto all those who shall believe and be baptized in my name" (3 Nephi 18:5).j He then specified that those who partook "shall have my Spirit" (3 Nephi 18:7). He blessed the wine "and [the disciples] did drink of it and were filled; and they gave unto the multitude, and they did drink, and they were filled" (3 Nephi 18:9). Jesus again stressed that the emblem of his blood was reserved for "those who repent and are baptized in my name," who, by partaking, shall have my Spirit" (3 Nephi 18:11).
From this, we can see not only that the people were "filled" when partaking of the sacrament, but that Christ promised them his Spirit. The fact that he specified that the sacrament was to be administered to those who had been baptized stresses the fact that the ordinance is a renewal of the baptismal covenant by which we also have access to the Spirit (3 Nephi 19:13; 26:17). Alma the elder explained this in terms very reminiscent of the sacramental prayers when he asked his people,
Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you? (Mosiah 18:10)
Jesus told his Nephite disciples "that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled" (3 Nephi 27:16). He later specified what he meant by the word "filled": "come unto me, be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 30:2).
From this we can see that there is a high degree of consistency in the Book of Mormon accounts of baptism and partaking of the sacrament. Hungering after righteousness, one must repent and participate in the covenantal rite, whereupon one can be "filled with the Holy Ghost." [John A. Tvedtnes, "Hungering and Thirsting after Righteousness," in The Most Correct Book, pp. 283-284]