Moroni brings up the subject of charity. Later, he will include a letter of his father on the topic of charity. It would appear that his father’s letter made a great impression on Moroni, for he not only adds it to his record, it is probably the source of Moroni’s interest in charity at this point.
Even though his father is the source of Moroni’s concern with the concept of charity, we should understand that some of the particulars of the presentation are related to Joseph Smith’s understanding of the King James text and language.
Translation: The explanation that love equals charity occurs both here and in his father’s letter (Moroni 7:47) is required because of the use of charity in the King James Version as the translation of the Greek agape.
Reynolds and Sjodahl note:
“Special attention is called to the brief but important explanatory note: “Charity is Love…” The word translated “charity” in I Cor. 13 is “agape,” which also means “love” It is so rendered in Luke 11:42 and Rom. 5:5, 8. Why the authorized version has “charity” instead of “love” is not clear, unless the translators were anxious to avoid a word which, in their judgment, might be misunderstood by some readers. The version revised by the Anglo-American Bible Commission translates “love,” as required by the original. (George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, edited and arranged by Philip C. Reynolds, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1955-1961], 1: .)
Certainly the Greek meaning for agape includes the type of love of fellowman intended for charity. However, the connecting links between the Greek agape-love and the English charity-giving most likely hinges on the early Christian feast that was called the agape. Again, from Reynolds and Sjodahl:
“In the earliest days of the primitive church, a so-called love-feast, agape, was held in connection with the celebration of the sacrament, analogous to the passover. To these meals all the members were invited, and the poor were provided for by those who had means. At these gatherings contributions of money were also made and placed in the hands of the presiding elder, or bishop, for the maintenance of widows and orphans, for the care of the sick, and for such aid of prisoners and strangers as might be required and could be rendered. Money was also freely spent on the purchase of the freedom of slaves. Tertullian says of these love-feasts:
“However much it may cost us, it is real gain to incur such expense in the cause of piety; for we aid the poor by this refreshment; we do not sit down to it till we have first tasted of prayer to God; we eat to satisfy our hunger; we drink no more than befits the temperate; we feast as those who recollect that they are to spend the night in devotion; we converse as those who know that the Lord is an ear-witness. After water for washing hands, and lights have been brought in, every one is required to sing something to the praise of God, either from the Scriptures or from his own thoughts: by this means, if any one has indulged in excess, he is detected. The feast is closed with prayer.” (George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, edited and arranged by Philip C. Reynolds, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1955-1961], 4: 373.)
This was an occasion of open sharing, where all the Christian community might come to share in the feast. In a world without other means of social support, these agape-feasts were a great Christian innovation for social welfare. The giving of food from those who could provide to those who could not would be an excellent model for the type of charity that is to be understood in the use of the Christian term charity.
Thus there is a relationship between charity and agape, but it is a relationship that is diluted through time and distance from the source. It is also a peculiarity of the King James version that the word charity appears where perhaps the better translation is love. Clearly, the meaning to be communicated in Moroni’s writing is love. The influence of the KJV, however, inserts the familiar charity into its familiar phrases.
That confluence of the more modern term with the textually required meaning forces Joseph Smith to include the “translation” that indicates that charity is love. That “translation” is only required by the influence of the KJV, not the presence of this particular set of terms on the plates. Whatever Reformed Egyptian was, it is quite unlikely that it contained the same set of circumstances that led to the selection of charity as a proper word for the intent of the love of God, but then underwent a similar separation of meaning such that the explanation that we are given would be required.