The Sermon at the Temple

The discourse the risen Christ delivers to the multitude at the temple in the land Bountiful (3 Nephi 12–14), closed by its own exposition on the fulfilled law (3 Nephi 15:1–10). Along most of its length it runs word-for-word, or nearly so, with the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5–7 — the corpus’s single largest parallel to a New-Testament text. On the text’s own account this is one speaker on two occasions: the risen Lord delivers at Bountiful a discourse he had already taught before his ascension (15:1). This page pins the places where the two texts diverge, quotes both sides at every divergence, reports each difference as a textual fact — and now that Matthew is a hosted corpus book, registers the notable spans and every substantive variant as ordinary connections. What the pattern of differences means — and it reads as a pattern — is offered as a reading to weigh, not asserted.

On the King James correspondence. This page reports verbal correspondence with the King James text as textual fact, including where the correspondence follows the KJV’s English translation. What that correspondence implies about the origin of the Book of Mormon text — in any direction — is an external question outside this wiki’s scope.

What this page is, and the class it belongs to

The sermon at the temple is not a text the Nephite record quotes from a source it names. It is a discourse the risen Lord delivers — and the record preserves it in near-identical wording to the Sermon on the Mount that, on the text’s own account, the same speaker had already taught “before I ascended to my Father” (15:1) — the discourse Matthew 5–7 records. Under the wiki’s standing editorial position on Book-of-Mormon ↔ KJV overlap, this is the same-speaker parallel class (position paper §2b): the wiki reports the framing as the text’s own, reports the verbal correspondence and every variant as textual facts, and does not adjudicate what the correspondence implies about how the English text came to match the KJV’s English.

Three things follow for how this page works:

• Matthew is an ordinary corpus text and a legal connection endpoint. With the New Testament frozen as a hosted corpus, Matthew 5–7 is quoted here from the frozen text at Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and the notable verbatim spans and substantive divergences below are registered as textual connections (3 Nephi on the near end, Matthew on the far end). The corpus nowhere names Matthew as its source for this discourse, so these records are entered on the wiki’s own account (asserted_by: wiki), not as the text’s self-citation.
• A variant difference is a textual fact; what it means is a separate, interpretive question. Each divergence below is stated with both references and both quotes. A divergence is reported, never scored as an improvement, an error, or a restoration. Any reading of why the divergences fall the way they do is set off in a hedged ⚖️ Interpretation callout.
• The in-corpus chains that pass through this sermon (treasures in heaven, the hewn-down tree, the house on the rock, jot-and-tittle, the broken heart, look-and-live) are registered on other pages against their in-corpus endpoints and cross-linked below — this page’s records are the Matthew-side pairings, distinct verse-pairs from those in-corpus records.

The baseline to keep in view: for long stretches the two texts are word-for-word identical. The pearls-before-swine verse (14:6 = Matthew 7:6), the ask-seek-knock triplet (14:7–8 ≈ Matthew 7:7–8), the two builders (14:24–27 ≈ Matthew 7:24–27), the treasures passage (13:19–21 ≈ Matthew 6:19–21), the closing petition of the Lord’s Prayer (13:13 ≈ Matthew 6:13b) all run verbatim or within a word. Against that baseline of identity, the deviations stand out — and they are not random.

The covenant preamble (3 Nephi 12:1–2)

Where Matthew opens the sermon with a two-verse stage direction — “seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain … And he opened his mouth, and taught them” (Matthew 5:1–2) — the 3 Nephi sermon opens with two verses that have no counterpart in Matthew at all. They are a covenant preamble that binds the coming beatitudes to the baptismal doctrine the Lord had just finished giving in chapter 11:

[Textual] — an opening with no Matthew parallel.

• 3 Nephi 12:1: “…unto them I have given power that they may baptize you with water; and after that ye are baptized with water, behold, I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost; therefore blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized…”
• 3 Nephi 12:2: “…more blessed are they who shall believe in your words … and be baptized, for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.”
• Matthew 5:1–2: “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain … And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,”

The “fire and … the Holy Ghost” language is the same doctrine of Christ just declared at 11:35 (“he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost”). The preamble is what makes the beatitudes, in this delivery, the front end of a covenant sequence — believe, be baptized with water, be visited with fire — rather than a free-standing set of blessings. (The doctrine itself is on The Doctrine of Christ; the visitation narrative is on The Visitation at Bountiful.)

The pattern of variants: an interpretation to weigh

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. The divergences between the temple sermon and the Matthew form are not scattered noise; they appear to fall into a small number of recurring kinds. The grouping below is a reading offered for weighing — the classification is interpretive. Each individual difference it points to is a textual fact, verified with both quotes in the tables that follow.

1. Covenantal additions — clauses that attach the teaching to coming-unto-Christ and to the baptismal covenant: “who come unto me” (12:3); the come-unto-me reconciliation (12:23–24); “come unto me and be ye saved” (12:20); the broken-heart clause (12:19); and the whole preamble (12:1–2).
2. Clauses naming the Holy Ghost — where the Holy Ghost stands in the temple form and Matthew’s wording does not name it: “shall be filled with the Holy Ghost” (12:6); the fire-and-Holy-Ghost baptism of the preamble (12:1–2).
3. The speaker’s self-inclusion — places where the risen Christ stands within a saying that Matthew leaves impersonal: “for my name’s sake” for “for righteousness sake” (12:10; Matthew 5:10); “I give unto you to be” the salt / the light, for “Ye are” (12:13–14); “perfect even as I, or your Father” for “even as your Father” (Matthew 5:48) (12:48).
4. Law-transition differences — the largest group: where Matthew’s form states the law’s fulfilment as future, the temple form states it as accomplished, and the temple-and-sacrifice machinery of the Mosaic law is absent. The fulfilment stands as done rather than future (12:18, 12:46–47); the altar-and-gift stands as come-unto-me (12:23–24); the whole discourse is then capped by an exposition, absent from Matthew, on why “the law is fulfilled” (15:1–10).

The reading these four kinds together suggest — that the temple delivery is a post-resurrection, covenant-framed delivery of the same discourse, addressed to a people for whom the law of Moses has just ended — is the natural inference, and the epilogue at 15:1–10 states as much in the text’s own voice. But that a given change belongs to one kind rather than another, and that the kinds form a single deliberate design, is the reader’s synthesis, not a claim the text spells out phrase by phrase. Offered to weigh.

The tables below are organized by the sermon’s own sequence, not by kind. Each lists only the substantive divergences (both quotes given); the verses not listed track the Matthew form verbatim or within a word.

The beatitudes and their frame (3 Nephi 12:3–12 ↔ Matthew 5:3–12)

Minor, consistent across the block: 3 Nephi carries “all” in several beatitudes (“blessed are all they that mourn,” 12:4; “blessed are all the pure in heart,” 12:8), and reads 12:12’s “ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad” for Matthew’s “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad” (Matthew 5:12). The remaining beatitudes (12:5, 7 ≈ 5:5, 7) are verbatim but for a leading “And”.

Salt, light, and the law (3 Nephi 12:13–20 ↔ Matthew 5:13–20)

The jot-and-tittle verse (12:18) carries a second load: its “one jot nor one tittle” is the payoff of a corpus chain reaching back to Alma 34:13, where Amulek foretold that the law would be fulfilled “every jot and tittle”. That in-corpus chain is registered on Amulek, keyed to a different clause of 12:18 than the fulfilment-tense variant treated here; the record below is the distinct Matthew-side pairing. Matthew 5:19 (the “least commandments” saying) has no 3 Nephi parallel.

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. At 12:14 the disciples are made “the light of this people”, where Matthew has “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Earlier in the same visitation the risen Lord had claimed that exact title for himself — “I am the light and the life of the world” (3 Nephi 11:11; also 9:18). The reading offered for weighing is that the temple form reserves “the light … of the world” for Christ and gives his disciples the smaller, local commission — “the light of this people” — a distinction Matthew’s wording does not draw. The two facts (12:14’s “this people”; 11:11’s self-title) are textual; that the one is a deliberate deference to the other is the inference. Weigh it.

The antitheses (3 Nephi 12:21–48 ↔ Matthew 5:21–48)

This is the stretch where the law-transition differences are densest — the “ye have heard … but I say unto you” antitheses, with the Mosaic-temple machinery repeatedly absent.

The remaining antitheses run close to Matthew: the adultery and divorce sayings (12:27–28, 31–32 ≈ 5:27–28, 31–32), the oath and turn-the-cheek and love-your-enemies material (12:33–34, 36–44 ≈ 5:33–34, 36–44) are verbatim or within a word — 12:37 swaps subject and predicate (“for whatsoever cometh of more than these is evil” against Matthew 5:37’s “for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil”), and 12:36’s “black or white” reverses Matthew 5:36’s “white or black”, and the hath-been-said formula is repeatedly recast as “it is written” (12:27, 31, 33, 38, 43; at 12:27 the “by them of old time” phrase itself is retained, with only said→written changing), while 12:21 retains “it hath been said by them of old time” and adds “and it is also written before you”; on the Matthew side, 5:31, 5:38, and 5:43 carry no “them of old time” to begin with.

Alms, prayer, and fasting (3 Nephi 13:1–18 ↔ Matthew 6:1–18)

This block tracks Matthew 6 very closely. The one place it diverges materially is the Lord’s Prayer — and there it diverges twice.

So the temple form of the prayer omits two of Matthew’s petitions, not one. The opening (“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”, 13:9 ≈ 6:9) and the closing doxology (“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen”, 13:13 ≈ 6:13b) are otherwise intact. The alms, prayer-in-secret, and fasting instructions around it (13:1–8, 14–18) run verbatim or within a word of Matthew 6:1–8, 14–18 — the temple form shifts the alms-saying to the plural (13:2 “when ye shall do your alms” against 6:2’s “when thou doest thine alms,” with “as will hypocrites do” for “as the hypocrites do”) and reads “do as the hypocrites” (13:5) for “be as the hypocrites are” (6:5) — apart from an added opening in 13:1 (“Verily, verily, I say that I would that ye should do alms unto the poor”).

Treasures, sight, mammon, and “take no thought” (3 Nephi 13:19–34 ↔ Matthew 6:19–34)

The treasures passage (13:19–21) tracks Matthew 6:19–21 almost word for word (“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt … For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”). Its in-corpus connection is registered on Riches & Pride: the same treasures-in-heaven image stands earlier in the corpus at Helaman 5:8 and 8:25 (“laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where nothing doth corrupt”). That is a legal in-corpus endpoint; the Matthew-side pairing is registered separately below.

The single-eye and two-masters sayings (13:22–24 ≈ 6:22–24) are verbatim. The material break in this block is a change of audience:

The rest of the “take no thought” material — the fowls, the lilies, Solomon, seek-ye-first-the-kingdom (13:26–31, 33–34) — is verbatim with Matthew 6:26–31, 33–34, but for 13:34’s word-order inversion (“Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof” against 6:34’s “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof”) and for 13:30’s “if ye are not of little faith” against Matthew’s “O ye of little faith” — 13:30 also reads “even so will he clothe you” for Matthew 6:30’s “shall he not much more clothe you”.

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. In Matthew the “take no thought for your life” counsel flows to the whole crowd. Here the sermon stops: at 13:25 the Lord “looked upon the twelve whom he had chosen,” and it is to them — “ye are they whom I have chosen to minister unto this people” — that “take no thought” is spoken; then at 14:1 he “turned again to the multitude”. The bracket is a textual fact. The reading offered for weighing is that the temple sermon thereby aims the do-not-provide counsel specifically at its full-time ministers (whose provision is the community’s charge), rather than laying it on every hearer — a distinction Matthew’s undivided address does not make. Weigh it.

Judge not, ask, the gate, the fruits, the house (3 Nephi 14:1–27 ↔ Matthew 7:1–27)

Chapter 14 is the closest of the three to its Matthew counterpart — most of it is verbatim. The one narrative addition is at the head, and it is the other half of the audience-bracket noted above:

[Textual] — an added narrative frame.

• 3 Nephi 14:1: “when Jesus had spoken these words he turned again to the multitude, and did open his mouth unto them again, saying: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
• Matthew 7:1: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”

The “turned again to the multitude” (14:1) closes the aside-to-the-twelve opened at 13:25. The shared saying, “Judge not, that ye be not judged”, is word-for-word.

Two of this chapter’s sayings are the near ends of in-corpus chains registered elsewhere:

• The hewn-down tree (14:19): “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” — word-for-word with Matthew 7:19, and the resolution of a saying Alma the Younger had attributed to “the Spirit” two generations earlier (Alma 5:52). The in-corpus leg is registered on Alma the Younger; the Matthew-side pairing (14:19 ↔ Matthew 7:19) is registered separately below.
• The house on the rock (14:24–27): the wise and foolish builders, ≈ Matthew 7:24–27. The corpus’s rock/sure-foundation image runs to Helaman 5:12 and Jacob 4:16–17; the sermon also opens (11:39–40) with “buildeth upon my rock … buildeth upon a sandy foundation”. The in-corpus leg is registered on Jacob; the Matthew-side pairing is registered below.

Everything between — judge-not and the mote and the beam (14:2–5), pearls before swine (14:6), ask-seek-knock and the good gifts (14:7–11), the golden rule (14:12), the strait gate (14:13–14), false prophets and their fruits (14:15–18, 20), the “Lord, Lord” warning (14:21–23) — runs verbatim or within a word of Matthew 7:2–23. One structural fact closes the chapter: Matthew’s ending, the crowd “astonished at his doctrine … he taught them as one having authority” (Matthew 7:28–29), has no parallel in 3 Nephi 14. In its place the discourse continues straight into the exposition of chapter 15.

The epilogue with no Matthew: the law fulfilled (3 Nephi 15:1–10)

Where Matthew ends the sermon with the crowd’s astonishment, the temple sermon ends with the speaker turning to explain the very differences the reader has just seen. This closing exposition is the discourse’s own key to its variants, which is why it belongs on this page. It has no Matthew counterpart.

The multitude “marveled, and wondered what he would concerning the law of Moses; for they understood not the saying that old things had passed away” (15:2) — the saying being 12:47’s “Old things are done away, and all things have become new.” The answer is direct:

[Textual] — the law declared fulfilled, in the text’s own voice.

• 3 Nephi 15:4: “Behold, I say unto you that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses.”
• 3 Nephi 15:5: “Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end.”
• 3 Nephi 15:8: “the covenant which I have made with my people is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me.”

The exposition draws the line the variants had been drawing implicitly: the law of Moses has ended (“hath an end in me”, 15:8), while the covenant and the unfulfilled prophets remain (“as many as have not been fulfilled in me … shall all be fulfilled”, 15:6). It closes on the look-and-live formula: “I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live” (15:9) — the brazen-serpent type stated in the first person, registered on Messiah. The “other sheep … one fold, and one shepherd” discourse that follows (15:17–24) belongs to the gathering material on The Covenant, Scattering, and Gathering of Israel.

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. The discourse appears to be framed, head to foot, as a single fulfilment declaration. It opens with “I am not come to destroy but to fulfil” (12:17) and closes with “I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end” (15:5) — the same come-to-fulfil claim as a bracket, with the tense standing as accomplishment rather than Matthew’s future in between (12:18, 12:46, 15:4). The verses are textual facts; reading them as a deliberate inclusio that governs the whole sermon — and explains why the altar, the temple-gift, and the future-tense fulfilment are all absent — is a structural inference, offered to weigh, not a claim the text labels as its design. (No register record is entered for this bracket: the overlap between the two verses is a shared idea and a shared “come … to fulfil”, not the kind of distinctive verbatim string the register grounds textual connections on.)

The in-corpus chains that pass through this sermon

These are registered on the pages named against their in-corpus endpoints; this page cross-links them and does not re-register those in-corpus pairs. (The Matthew-side pairings for the sayings below are the distinct records proposed on this page.)

Key references / appearances

Related

• The Visitation at Bountiful — the narrative frame around this discourse (chapters 11–28); the calling of the twelve and the descent that precede it
• The Doctrine of Christ — the baptism-and-fire doctrine of chapter 11 that the preamble (12:1–2) attaches the sermon to
• Messiah — hosts the look-and-live record (15:9) and the “light … of the world” self-title
• Riches & Pride — hosts the treasures-in-heaven record (13:19–21)
• Amulek — hosts the jot-and-tittle record (12:18 ↔ Alma 34:13)
• Alma the Younger — hosts the hewn-down-tree record (14:19 ↔ Alma 5:52)
• Jacob — hosts the house-on-the-rock / sure-foundation record (14:24–27)
• The Covenant, Scattering, and Gathering of Israel — hosts the other-sheep / one-fold record (15:17–24)

Sources

The Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 11–15); Matthew 5–7 (King James Version, public domain), now part of the wiki’s hosted corpus and a legal connection endpoint. The verbal correspondence between the two is reported as textual fact under the wiki’s standing editorial position on Book-of-Mormon ↔ KJV overlap; the origin of that correspondence — in any direction — is outside this wiki’s scope.

Every 3 Nephi quote on this page is taken verbatim from the source text (3 Nephi 11 through 15); every Matthew quote from the frozen corpus text of Matthew 5, 6, or 7. On the text’s own account (3 Nephi 15:1) this is one speaker delivering, after his resurrection, a discourse he had already given before his ascension — the position paper’s same-speaker class (§2b); the corpus nowhere names Matthew as its source here, so the records below are entered on the wiki’s own account. The notable verbatim spans and every substantive variant are registered as textual connections (3 Nephi near end, Matthew far end); a variant is reported as a textual fact, never scored, and the classification of the variants is marked interpretive. The in-corpus chains passing through the sermon (treasures, hewn-down tree, house on the rock, jot-and-tittle, broken heart, look-and-live, other sheep) are registered on the pages named above against their in-corpus endpoints and are not duplicated here — this page’s records are the distinct Matthew-side pairings.