Moroni 3

Moroni 3:1

1 The manner which the disciples, who were called the elders of the church, ordained priests and teachers—

As Moroni continues to describe practice, he also gives us hints about organization. Among the Nephites there was a priesthood organization that had at least two levels of hierarchy, and three of function. The terms disciples and apostles are used interchangeably in Mormon and Moroni’s writings. In the New Testament we see a similar conflation of terms, where at times the disciples are the apostles:

Matthew 10:1

1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

The reason for this conflation of terms in the New Testament is that the original meanings were not as rigidly fixed as we use them in current religious vocabulary. For us, the apostles are uniquely the twelve specifically called to a particular function. In the New Testament, the apostles were those who were sent, referring to their capacity as missionaries. The world apostle is not a technical term in Greek. It has become the technical term through usage, not because of its original application.

In the New World there is a similar combination of the disciples as a generic term for those who follow Christ, and the twelve disciples indicating the specifically designated quorum. It would appear that the existence of this set of twelve specifically chosen men had the same regularizing effect in the New World as the Old, and a term was created or adopted to distinguish them. The selection of the term apostles is obviously due to Joseph’s English understanding. We have no way of knowing what the Nephite terms were that might have functioned comparably.

All indications from the Book of Mormon are that this quorum of twelve were considered the leadership of the church. Moroni calls them the elders of the church. There is never any indication of any authority greater than the twelve. Of course this contrasts to the modern situation where there is a first presidency in addition to the twelve, but in an administrative capacity higher than the twelve. For the Book of Mormon, there is no indication of any higher authority.

The only other indication of religious functionaries is the set of priests and teachers. Moroni mentions them here, and we saw them very early in Nephite history:

2 Nephi 5:26

26 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did consecrate Jacob and Joseph, that they should be priests and teachers over the land of my people.

While we can certainly see a hierarchical relationship between the twelve and other religious positions, there is nothing that can tell us if a similar hierarchy of authority separated the priests and teachers. Neither are we able to discover any particular functions of the two positions other than those that may be surmised from the name. The priests would officiate over the sacrifices during the times of observance of the Mosaic Law, but we have no specific information on how they would have functioned during the time of the Christian law. Teachers, of course, would be most logical to have the function their title imputes to them. We might suppose that the ability to officiate was seen as a higher responsibility than that of teaching, but there is no particular evidence for this assumption. We so frequently find them mentioned together that the text seems to treat them as dual necessities for the proper functioning of public religion (2 Nephi 5:26; Jacob 1:18; Jarom 1:11; Mosiah 23:17; Mosiah 25:19; Mosiah 27:5; Alma 4:7; Alma 14:18; Alma 15:13; Alma 23:4; Alma 30:31; Alma 35:5; Alma 45:22-23; Helaman 3:25).

Moroni 3:2

2 After they had prayed unto the Father in the name of Christ, they laid their hands upon them, and said:

The beginning of the rite of ordination to the priesthood is exactly the same as that of conferring the Holy Ghost. The first step is to address the Father in prayer in the name of Christ. The second step requires the administration of the laying on of hands. In both cases, there is a combination of spiritual attitude and words, and the physical action. The physical action requires intimate physical contact between the bestower and the recipient. They must be in sufficiently close contact to have contact with the hands. Once again, while the location of the placement of the hands is not specified, modern practice dictates that they be placed on the head, and this modern practice does appear to have roots in antiquity.

Moroni 3:3

3 In the name of Jesus Christ I ordain you to be a priest, (or, if he be a teacher) I ordain you to be a teacher, to preach repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ, by the endurance of faith on his name to the end. Amen.

Moroni gives us the formula used to confer the priesthood. The basic formula remains the same today. The medium through which the power may be transmitted is declared to be Jesus Christ. His is the name that makes the ordinance effective. After declaring the authority by which the action is done, the administrator declares what is being done. The person is ordained to the specific calling that they will fulfill. At this point in the Nephite record we do not have any indication of a knowledge of the difference between the Aaronic and the Melchizedek priesthoods. They may have known of such a division, but there is no textual evidence to clearly indicate that division. In this case, the position is emphasized more than the priesthood. This would seem to indicate that in Nephite practice, as in earliest Christian practice, the priesthood was reserved for officiators. One received the calling to do something, and that calling was equipped with the authority (priesthood) to perform it.

After the person receives the specific calling, he is given an admonition concerning that calling. In modern practice, this is where the unique blessing is given to the individual for the performance of their calling. In Moroni, the calling is genericized into the formulaic statement: “to preach repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ, by the endurance of faith on his name to the end.” Given the definition of the gospel in the Book of Mormon (DC 39:6) this would simply be an admonition to preach the gospel. This should not be seen as a missionary call, but rather a call to be in a particular relationship to those in the church who have not the callings to be priest of teacher.

The conclusion of the verbal statement is the word Amen. The usage of this term is so well attested in the Bible that it was certainly part of Joseph’s understanding. That conclusion is absolutely appropriate, but it may or may not have been the specific closing statement of the Nephites (even though it harkened to their Hebrew past). We simply cannot know.

Moroni 3:4

4 And after this manner did they ordain priests and teachers, according to the gifts and callings of God unto men; and they ordained them by the power of the Holy Ghost, which was in them.

Redaction: Moroni is creating a literary formula for the presentation of the liturgical language and acts. He has an introduction, then a description of the act (including language). He concludes with a statement that recapitulates the meaning of the described action. In this case, he has told us that he would describe how they ordained the priests and teachers, and he restates that at the conclusion.

The one addition he makes here is to tell us that these ordinations were done under the power of the Holy Ghost.

Textual: This is the end of a chapter in the 1830 edition.