The Sermon at the Temple, like the Sermon on the Mount, contains some of the most sacred words that Jesus had given. At the time of Mormon’s sermon, his people were living north of the narrow neck of land. They were in the land of Jashon, near Bountiful where Jesus had visited the Nephites and given his sermon. Those words of Jesus would likely have been vivid and poignant to the people who were present during Mormon’s address. This context is reminiscent of Samuel the Lamanite using King Benjamin’s words when he stood on the walls of Zarahemla—the place where Benjamin had given those words. These people would not have heard the Savior’s words from the Savior himself. At the time of Mormon’s speech, it was 320 years after that event, but Mormon knew what had happened there, and he drew on the Savior’s sacred sermon as a main source for his teaching.
Although Mormon frequently used or alluded to the Savior’s words, he explained further and even added new concepts to meet the local needs. For example, the following are some of the crucial words and phrases that unmistakably echo the resurrected Lord’s Sermon:
“By their works ye shall know them” (Moroni 7:5) has changed only one word from 3 Nephi 14:20, “fruits” to “works.”
“A man being evil cannot do that which is good” (Moroni 7:6) declaratively and deliberately answers the rhetorical question of 3 Nephi 14:6, “Do men gather grapes of thorns?”
“Neither will he give a good gift” (7:10) makes the clearest sense when understood against the background of 3 Nephi 14:11: “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children.”
“For with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged” (7:18) simply adds emphasis to the original words of the sermon: “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged” (3 Nephi 14:2).
Mormon’s promise, “Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be done unto you” (7:26), repeats, with two qualifications, the words of the sermon: “Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (14:7; see also 27:29).
Mormon’s emphasis on “meekness” (7:39, 43, 44)—a virtue that was sorely lacking among his people, who were losing their lands—is likely an elliptical reference to the statement “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (3 Nephi 12:5).
Of course, some of Mormon’s words and teachings can be found scattered elsewhere among the writings of earlier Nephites before the coming of Christ. But the density and proximity of these apparent allusions to the Savior’s preeminent teachings at the temple in Bountiful make it the most likely source, rhetorically as well as authoritatively, for Mormon’s urgent preaching on this occasion. It should also be remembered that Mormon saw himself first and foremost as “a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, … called to declare his word” (3 Nephi 5:13; emphasis added). The basic text behind our version of the words of Jesus in 3 Nephi must have been frequently used in Nephite religion and culture, and so Mormon would have known it well and would have had several reasons to use and develop those authoritative words as he implored his people to repent, to regroup, and to revive their faith and commitment to their Savior Jesus Christ.
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John W. Welch, “Echoes from the Sermon on the Mount,” in The Sermon on the Mount in Latter-day Scripture, ed. Gaye Strathearn, Thomas A. Wayment, and Daniel L. Belnap (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 314–315; reprinted as “Reusages of the Words of Christ,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies and Other Restoration Scripture, 22 no. 1 (2013): 63–71.