2 Nephi 31:8
1830 Edition
Influences
Changes
Simple English
So after he was baptized with water, the Holy Spirit came down on him. It looked like a dove.
Paraphrase
After he was baptized, the Holy Spirit came down on him in the form of a dove.
Notes
An example of writing about future events in the past tense is found in 2 Nephi 31:6-10.
Other examples can be found in Mosiah 15:12, 24; Mosiah 16:6.
Wesley P. Walters observes, "In expounding Isaiah 53, he [Smith] again lapsed into the past tense for nearly two pages of text. Consequently he has Abinadi say a century and a half before Christ, 'For these are they whose sins he HAS borne: these are they for whom he HAS died' (Mosiah 15:12). Again in verse 24 Abinadi speaks of Old Testament believers in the past tense: 'these are they that HAVE DIED before Christ CAME' (Mos. 15:24). Still again in the next chapter Abinadi drops into the past tense and declares in his sermon, 'And now if Christ HAD NOT COME into the world...' Suddenly Joseph became aware of the anachronous situation he had created and he quickly covered his blunder by having Abinadi add, 'speaking of things to come as though they already had come" (Mos. 16:6). -Wesley P. Walters, "Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Mormon," (Master's thesis, St. Louis: Covenant Theological Seminary, April, 1981), p. 79.
It is reasonable to view references to Christ’s coming expressed in the past tense as potential evidence suggesting a modern composition of the Book of Mormon.