Question: Did Joseph Smith contradict Jesus’ commandment in the Book of Mormon to not add to nor take away from Jesus' Gospel?

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Question: Did Joseph Smith contradict Jesus’ commandment in the Book of Mormon to not add to nor take away from Jesus' Gospel?

Introduction to Question

Upon his arrival to the Americas in 3 Nephi 11, Jesus begins to instruct the local masses of Nephites in his Gospel.

Near the close of 3 Nephi 11, the Savior says the following in verses 35–41:

35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are bone.

37 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.

38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.

40 And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.

41 Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth.

The phrase “And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock” has puzzled interpreters.

Some critics contend that since Joseph Smith “added” to Jesus’ gospel by providing additional commandments and covenants through revelation in, for example, the Doctrine and Covenants, that Joseph Smith disobeyed the Savior’s command in the Book of Mormon and that the Gospel Joseph claimed to be restoring was a complete fabrication. Some critics go further than this and claim that this throws the Book of Mormon’s ancient authenticity into question since Joseph Smith was “clearly” just making up commandments and revelations to suit his religiously exploitative motives.

This article examines this criticism and provides and easy counterargument to it.

Response to Question

The Context of Jesus’ Words are “Disputations” Among the Nephites

The first point that we can easily establish is that the context of Jesus’ words are “disputations” among the Nephites (3 Nephi 11:22, 28). Thus, it is likely that what the Savior is saying is not that there will be no other prophets after him that will deliver commandments given from the Savior through the prophet, but that there is no other thing that a prophet can add to these specific points of doctrine delivered about the role of the Holy Ghost and Father in creating testimony, repentance, baptism, and becoming a little child. He means to both allay the disputations of these points of doctrine (and especially vis-a-vis baptism as pointed out by verses 22 and 28) and say that there will be no one that will dispute these points as he has laid them out in the future, whether a prophet or not.

Jesus Contradicts Himself

Further evidence of this is that Jesus gives further commandments beyond the ones delivered in 3 Nephi 11 after 3 Nephi 11, contradicting his own alleged injunction to not add to nor take away from the Gospel/commandments delivered in 3 Nephi 11. The Savior delivers a sermon almost identical to the Sermon on the Mount in 3 Nephi 12, 13, and 14.

Jesus contradicts himself more starkly in 3 Nephi 18 when he institutes the sacrament among the Nephites. There, he gives instruction to eat of his body and drink of his blood symbolically through the ordinance. In 3 Nephi 18:12 he says:

12 And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock.

In verse 13 he says:

13 But whoso among you shall do more or less than these are not built upon my rock, but are built upon a sandy foundation; and when the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon them, they shall fall, and the gates of hell are ready open to receive them.

Thus Jesus gives his followers a commandment to partake of the sacrament and remember him. He says, in the minds of our critics perhaps, that anyone who does more or less than these commandments is not built upon his rock. But then look at what he says in verses 27–28 of the same chapter:

27 Behold verily, verily I say unto you, I give unto you another commandment, and then I must go unto my Father that I may fulfill other commandments which he hath given me.

Thus now Jesus is going to introduce another commandment after he just told us that the commandments we should be following are no more nor less than partaking of the sacrament and remembering his blood and body! What is the commandment that Jesus delivers?

28 And now behold, this is the commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall not suffer any one knowingly to partake of my flesh and blood unworthily, when ye shall minister it.

Jesus is a real clutz, huh? Must have just been tripping over himself so much that day. He had way too many things on his mind and kept forgetting all of the commandments that he was supposed to deliver before declaring that his disciples shouldn’t obey any additional commandments. Maybe he was too preoccupied thinking about how many peoples he had to visit besides the Nephites and deliver similar instructions.

We can think that or we can take the other possible and arguably more sensible interpretation that Jesus means that we should keep the commandments that he delivers exactly and not let those specific commandments be added to nor taken away by critics, whether inside or outside the Church, or future prophets.

Conclusion

This argument and the obvious failure that it is should remind us that the scriptures need to be read both contextually and holistically when attempting to extract their messages and commandments to us. FAIR has produced an article that one can read to get a primer on how to do that.

Hopefully this counterargument will motivate our critics to be similarly careful in the future.

Notes