This passage is somewhat difficult to parse. One cannot be sure how “unto the remission of sins” fits in. Is the text saying that “baptism is unto repentance … unto the remission of sins”, or is it referring to “the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins”? Mark Williams (personal communication, 17 May 2004) points out that a later verse in the chapter supports the second, more difficult, interpretation here in verse 11:
In other words, there is a direct link between “fulfilling the commandments” and “remission of sins”. The critical text will show this connection in Moroni 8:11 by placing “fulfilling the commandments” and “remission of sins” on the same line of text and without any intervening punctuation:
There is another passage that can be interpreted as using a similar instance of “fulfilling X unto Y”:
Summary: In Moroni 8:11 the phrase “unto the remission of sins” should probably be interpreted as part of the gerundive phrase “to the fulfilling the commandments”; the passage in Moroni 8:25 provides semantic support for this connection.