Robert Matthews notes that the prophet Mormon, addressing the Lamanites of the latter days, said:
[You must] lay hold upon the gospel of Christ, which shall be set before you, not only in this record [the Book of Mormon] but also in the record which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews [the Bible], which record shall come from the Gentiles unto you. For behold, this [the Book of Mormon] is written for the intent that ye may believe that [the Bible]; and if ye believe that [the Bible] ye will believe this also. (Mormon 7:8-9)
The Book of Mormon repeatedly makes reference to biblical things, both incidentally and deliberately. It boldly announces that one of its own purposes is to establish the truth of the Bible. This it accomplishes in at least four major ways:
(1) First, by speaking of the historical verity of specific biblical events and persons. There are literally hundreds of such instances. Listed below (see illustration) are 106 specific points in which the Book of Mormon offers confirmation of the biblical record, and many of these are supported by more than one reference. Anyone who examines the list cannot fail to see that the Book of Mormon is a witness for the Bible.
(2) Second, by quoting extensively from the biblical text, such as from Isaiah or Malachi. There are in the Book of Mormon numerous and sometimes lengthy quotations from the plates of brass. Since the plates of brass are a different manuscript source than is used by any of the versions of the Old Testament available today, they serve as a corroborating witness of the Bible. The Book of Mormon makes direct mention of things recorded in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, John, and the book of Revelation.
(3) Third, by affirming that spiritual things are real and that there is a God in heaven who is the father of the human family. We find that on almost every page and in nearly every chapter of the Book of Mormon there is repeated reference to such things as God, angels, visions, revelation, miracles, prayer, baptism, Holy Spirit, blessings, divine intervention, cursings, punishments, and numerous items of a similar nature of that which is found in the Bible.
(4) And fourth, by giving us a history of the biblical text and also making known and restoring some of the things that have been taken out of the Bible. The most extensive statement in all of the scriptures about the history of the Bible is found in 1 Nephi 13. Today we are able to ascertain by historical search most of the things of Nephi's prophecy, but not all. That there was tampering with the Bible text in the second and third centuries A.D. is evident to many biblical scholars. Marcion and others are known to have done this. But modern textual critics do not realize how extensive the changes really were. The earliest known manuscripts of the New Testament are dated two centuries or more after the time of the Apostles, except for very small fragments. The persecutions against Christianity in the first and second centuries seem to have helped destroy the manuscripts of that time. It seems that the earliest complete New Testament text available today--among which are the Vaticanus, the Alexandrinus, and Sinaiticus (all fourth century A.D.)--are of such a date that they represent the text in its reduced and altered form, not in its original state. When Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Empire at about A.D. 313, he ordered Eusebius to prepare fifty copies of the New Testament. The great uncials--Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, etc.--are possibly survivors of this order.
Nephi beheld that Gentiles would carry a book with them when they came to the Americas (1 Nephi 13:13-20). We note that the early settlers of America, including the Puritans or Pilgrims, and also early Catholic settlers, brought with them the Bible--the record of the Jews. Those on the Mayflower brought a Geneva Bible, and there is today in the Harvard University library a copy of a Geneva Bible which made its way to America on the Mayflower. This was the same translation that was used by Shakespeare and came before the King James Version was in wide circulation. These were Protestant Bibles. Many of the Catholic immigrants to America brought the English version of the Vulgate, known as the Rheims-Douai version, which was translated into English in 1582, a few years before the King James Version and at about the same time as the other Protestant Bibles were coming into being. [Robert J. Matthews, "Establishing the Truth of the Bible," in The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation, pp. 194-206] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 3:3; 1 Nephi 13:26; 1 Nephi 20-21 ("Borrowed Passages"); 2 Nephi 3:11; see also Appendix C]
Mormon 7:9 [The Book of Mormon] is Written for the intent that ye may believe [the Bible] ([Illustration]) The Book of Mormon Cites Specific Biblical Events and Persons. [Robert J. Matthews, "Establishing the Truth of the Bible," in The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation, pp. 195-200]