This is the fifth in a series of KnoWhys looking at the question of “Why New Testament Words and Phrases Are in the Book of Mormon”

The Know

In the previous parts of this series, we discussed the idea that much of the New Testament-type material in the Book of Mormon may have been introduced by the resurrected Savior himself (Part 2) or through direct revelation to the Nephite prophets (Parts 3 and 4). Besides these, another source for phrases that seem to match parts of the New Testament is the plates of brass that Lehi’s family had in their possession. Far more often than readers usually realize, many New Testament passages are quoting or paraphrasing Old Testament texts that could have been available to the Nephites through the plates of brass. For example:

When Abinadi declared that “the grave should have no victory and that death should have no sting” (Mosiah 16:7–8), his words are very similar to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:54–56 (“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”). But it is likely that both Paul and Abinadi were borrowing from Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 25:8 (“He will swallow up death in victory”) and Hosea 13:14 (“I shall ransom them from the power of [the Grave]; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O [Grave], where is your sting?”).

Although the line used by Nephi’s brother, Jacob, “as in the provocation in the day of temptation … in the wilderness” (Jacob 1:7) matches Hebrews 3:8 (“as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness”), it is clear that the source of both passages is Psalm 95:8 (“as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness”).

Where post-exilic Old Testament texts (presumably unavailable to the Nephites) are the source of a phrase in the New Testament, it is often possible that those expressions could have been using pre-exilic phrases that existed in early Hebrew language and literature but did not survive in pre-exilic biblical records.

Readers may readily compare Lehi’s words in 1 Nephi 8:12 (“as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy”) to Matthew 2:10: “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” A possible Old Testament source for this expression is Nehemiah 12:43, where, when the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt, God made the people to “rejoice with great joy.” However, this is a post-exilic text that would not have been found on the plates of brass. But this expression was apparently used for many such occasions in pre-exilic times as well, especially involving the building, dedication, and use of Solomon’s Temple, as can be seen in 1 Chronicles 29:9, Psalm 43:4, and Psalm 68:3.

The allegory of the olive tree in the book of Jacob contains many parallels to a similar allegory in Romans 11. However, both possess similarities with passages in Ezekiel, where the prophet speaks of problems with the top of a tree, taking young, tender branches and planting them elsewhere (Ezekiel 17). Ezekiel’s writings were recorded after Lehi had left Jerusalem. However, there are also parallels to Ezekiel’s allegory in pre-exilic writings such as Hosea 14, Isaiah 5, and Jeremiah 11. Latter-day saint scholars have argued that Zenos’s allegory in Jacob 5 may predate and serve as inspiration for all of these.

The Why

Readers of the Bible are likely aware that the New Testament authors often quote or make reference to Old Testament passages. Conservative estimates list at least 295 direct citations of Old Testament passages, occupying some 352 verses of the New Testament, or more than four percent. This indicates that nearly one in 23 verses of the New Testament is a quotation of the Old Testament.

Although they often directly cite Old Testament passages, there are also many instances where New Testament authors can be seen to clearly allude to or paraphrase Scripture. Because these examples can be more difficult to detect, estimates of the total number of references to the Old Testament in the New vary greatly, ranging from around 600 by some counts to over 4000. It would not be an exaggeration to assert that over ten percent of the New Testament text is drawn from the Old Testament and it could be more than that.

One of the reasons that many of the Old Testament references are so hard to identify is that there is not always a citation formula such as “it is written” or “thus saith the prophet” to indicate that a scripture is being used. Furthermore, when New Testament authors echoed, alluded to, or paraphrased Old Testament passages, they often used the scriptural language freely and without attribution. As noted by biblical scholar Steve Moyise, “Allusions are less precise [than quotations], picking up on a few key words and usually woven into the new composition.”

Additionally, in many instances where the New Testament is quoting the Old, the quotation is difficult to recognize because the translators of the King James Version of the Bible did not attempt to be consistent in how they translated equivalent words and phrases from the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament into English. For example, for this reason even the names of famous prophets are spelled differently in the New Testament: Isaiah = Esaias, Noah = Noe, Elijah = Elias, and Joshua = Jesus. Due to these types of issues, Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 40:3, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God,” became, in Matthew 3:3, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight,” and in John 1:27, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”

With this in mind, readers may be unaware that sometimes what appears to be a New Testament phrase or passage in the Book of Mormon may originally be from the Old Testament. What initially seems to be an anachronistic use of later Christian scripture may actually be a quotation or paraphrase from something to which the Nephites had access on the plates of brass.

Although this is not the case for all New Testament material in the Book of Mormon, this perspective can be a helpful one for those who encounter New Testament language in their Book of Mormon reading and want to know why it is there. Readers can analyze the relevant New Testament passages (and perhaps consult biblical commentaries and other scholarly resources) to see if the New Testament author may have been utilizing a more ancient Old Testament text in his writing.

The appearance of Old Testament writings and prophecies in both the New Testament and the Book of Mormon can serve as a testimony to readers that the authors of these latter two books of Scripture considered the writings of the Old Testament to undoubtably be the word of God and felt that it was their duty and privilege to share these sacred texts for the eternal benefit of others.

This KnoWhy was made possible by the generous contributions of Bryson & Jan Garbett.

Further Reading