The Book of Mormon

Mosiah 5:15

Back to chapter
~124 BC

1830 Edition

Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to Heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of Him, who created all things, in Heaven and in Earth, who is God above all. Amen.

Influences

1 Corinthians 15:58 (KJV)
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58 (KJV)
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Luke 2:11 (KJV)
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Revelation 19:6 (KJV)
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
John 6:40 (KJV)
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
1 John 5:20 (KJV)
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

Changes

Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to Hheaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of Hhim, who created all things, in Hheaven and in Eearth, who is God above all. Amen.

Simple English

'So I want you to be strong and never give up. Always do good works. Then Christ, the Lord God who has all power, will make you his own. You will be brought to heaven. You will be saved forever and have eternal life. This comes through the wisdom, power, justice, and mercy of him who created all things in heaven and on earth. He is God above all. Amen.'

Paraphrase

'So stay steady. Don’t waver. Always overflow with good works, so that Christ the Lord God Almighty can seal you as his own. Then you’ll be brought to heaven—to everlasting salvation and eternal life—through the wisdom, power, justice, and mercy of the one who created everything in heaven and on earth. He is God above all. Amen.'

Notes

5:15

"When one begins to read the Book of Mormon, if he is well-acquainted with the Bible, he will at once be impressed with the large scale use of biblical materials in the book. Not only is there an unskilled mimicking of the style of the King James Version, but there is an artificial clarity added to that portion of the Book of Mormon that claims to date from the Old testament period. The contrived clarity is the result of writing back into that Old Testament period New Testament words, phrases and quotations, as well as the introduction of New Testament concepts and teachings into that time-frame... The frequency with which the Book of Mormon introduces this chronologically misplaced material into its text would required that God supernaturally provided this American colony with virtually the entire New testament text, as well as those portions of the Old Testament which postdated their departure for America... passages from the New Testament... are sprinkled generously into the speeches and sermons of Book of Mormon characters in the same manner as one might find them in the sermons of a Methodist or Baptist preacher of Joseph Smith's day....New testament concepts, interpretations and theology are all worked into the text itself." -Wesley P. Walters, The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Mormon, (Master's thesis, Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis Missouri, 1981), p. 7, 10-13.

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