The Book of Mormon

2 Nephi 31:13

Back to chapter
~559–545 BC

1830 Edition

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism; yea, by following your Lord and Saviour down into the water, according to his word; behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of Angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.

Influences

Acts 11:23 (KJV)
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.
1 Peter 4:14 (KJV)
If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
Acts 8:19 (KJV)
Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 3:11 (KJV)
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
1 Corinthians 13:1 (KJV)
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1 Corinthians 13:1 (KJV)
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

Changes

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism; —yea, by following your Lord and your Saviour down into the water, according to his word;, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of Aangels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.

Simple English

My dear brothers, I know that if you follow the Son with all your heart, acting with no lies before God, but with real purpose, and if you turn back from your sins and show the Father you are willing to take Christ’s name by being baptized—by following your Lord and Savior into the water as he said to do—then you will get the Holy Spirit. Then comes baptism of fire and of the Holy Spirit. Then you can speak like angels do. You can shout praise to the Holy One of Israel.

Paraphrase

So if you follow the Son with your whole heart—no fakery, no games with God, but with true intent—repenting of your sins, showing the Father you’re willing to take Christ’s name on you through baptism, following your Lord and Savior down into the water just as he commanded, then you’ll receive the Holy Spirit. You’ll receive the baptism of fire and of the Holy Spirit. Then you’ll speak with the language of angels and praise the Holy One of Israel.

Notes

31:12-13

"The Book of Mormon presents a very unusual picture of religious life between 600 B.C. and the coming of Christ. It claims that the ancient Nephites actually worshipped Jesus Christ and established Christian churches during this long period before Christ died and the New Testament was written. Bible scholars find it very hard to accept this claim, and they are even more puzzled when they learn that the Book of Mormon claims that the ancient Nephites also kept the Law of Moses at the same time. Between 559 and 545 B.C." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 206.

Contrast 2 Nephi 31:12-13; 2 Nephi 31:18; and 2 Nephi 25:24, 29-30; with 1 Peter 1:10-12; 1 Corinthians 2:7-8; John 7:39; and Colossians 1:26.

Wesley P. Walters writes in his Master's thesis: "The transplantation of New Testament material into the Old disrupts the dispensations that God has established in the unfolding of redemption, and confuses the Old and New Covenants and their respective ordinances. The Book of Mormon is careful to point out that the American Hebrew colony 'kept the law of Moses'... Yet Christian baptism was said to be taught among the Nephites five hundred years before Christ... Furthermore by 147 B.C. a Christian Church is depicted as flourishing, of which people become members through baptism... to introduce the New Testament practice of baptism in the name of Christ into the Old Testament period is to confuse the Old and New Covenants and the ordinances connected with each. The Book of Hebrews is very specific that while the Old Testament was in force, the New clearly was not... To introduce the features of the New Covenant into the time-period when the Old Covenant was in force is to confuse the two covenants to the extent of rendering them both meaningless... The Book of Mormon, by injecting the New Testament material into the Old Testament period, completely disrupts the biblical pattern so carefully set forth in the Old Testament itself and so faithfully guarded by the New." -Wesley P. Walters, "The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Mormon," (Master's thesis, St. Louis: Covenant Theological Seminary, April 1981), pp. 15-17.

LDS author Grant Hardy writes, "In 1831, Alexander Campbell, one of the book's first critics (and certainly the first one to read it carefully), famously observed that it seemed to weigh in on all the popular religious questions of the day, including 'infant baptism, ordination, the trinity, regeneration, repentance, justification, the fall of man, the atonement, transubstantiation, fasting, penance, church government, religious experience, the call to the ministry , the general resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize, and even the question of freemasonry, republican government, and the right of the man.' This is a fair list, and references to these topics-or their analogous counterparts-can be found throughout the Book of Mormon." -Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon, p. 184