When I was a missionary, it was customary to introduce the new investigator to the Book of Mormon by inviting them to read the appearance of the Savior to the Nephites in 3 Nephi 11. I remember being concerned whenever this invitation was given that the investigator would continue reading into 3 Nephi 12-14 and realize that the Savior teaches the Nephites essentially the Sermon on the Mount from the King James Version of Matthew 3-5. I knew that if the investigator started asking questions about this, I would not have a satisfactory answer. 
In the many years since my mission, I have read most of the apologetic literature dealing with this issue, and while I have learned a number of helpful things along the way, none of the arguments have satisfied me as to why the KJV Sermon on the Mount is in the Book of Mormon. As readers of the BOM are aware, the SOM comes at the beginning of Jesus’ teachings to the surviving Nephites, though his teachings continue for thirteen more chapters through 3 Nephi 27.
I was unable for a long time to come to grips with the fact that the presence of the KJV SOM in the BOM is an indisputable indicator of its modern production. I was so busy whistling past the graveyard and looking at other things (things that were more faith promoting), that I didn’t have to. But always in the back of my mind the issue lurked. And the natural result was a certain amount of cognitive dissonance.
Eventually I was able to admit the obvious—that there is simply no good reason consonant with total and complete BOM ancientness for entire chapters of New Testament KJV to appear in its pages. This admission on my part had a two-fold effect: (1) It allowed me to finally let go the hopeless effort to explain it away in a manner consistent with the BOM being completely ancient, and resolved the cognitive dissonance I had long been experiencing; and, (2) It liberated me to actually look at the KJV passages in the BOM.
This was huge for me. Before this, I had been so busy being afraid of the KJV passages that I had not allowed myself to read them closely and see what they had to say in the BOM. It allowed me the freedom to ask questions about the KJV passages, most important of which for me was, “Are the KJV passages just filler?” And, if not, “What does the BOM actually do with the KJV passages?”
Once I got to the place where I could allow myself to ask these questions, I began to see that not only were the KJV passages not filler, and that the BOM was in fact “doing something” with them, but that what the BOM was doing with the KJV passages was complex and remarkable.
Here I will begin the first of an expected three-part article examining what the Book of Mormon actually does with the Sermon on the Mount.
It is easy to see this three-chapter sermon as an undigested lump sitting there like a doctrinal island with no connection to the teachings that follow. A closer reading, however, shows that the Sermon on the Mount in 3 Nephi is far from filler. Instead, it serves as a foundation text for the rest of the Savior’s teachings, and we find threads of it woven into the warp and woof of what Jesus declares thereafter.
- The SOM’s teaching that salt that has lost its savor is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men (12:13) is applied to the fate of the Gentiles who reject the gospel: “I will suffer my people, O house of Israel, that they shall go through among them, and shall tread them down, and they shall be as salt that hath lost its savor, which is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of my people, O house of Israel.” (16:15)
- The SOM’s teaching that “I give unto you to be a light of this people” (12:14) is applied by Jesus later to his Nephite disciples: “Ye are my disciples; and ye are a light unto this people, who are a remnant of the house of Joseph.” (15:12)
- The SOM’s admonition to “let your light so shine before this people” (12:16) becomes Jesus’ Nephite teaching to “hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do.” (18:24)
- The SOM’s teaching that Jesus “is not come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil” (12:17) is echoed to the Nephites: “Behold, I do not destroy the prophets, for as many as have not been fulfilled in me, verily I say unto you, shall all be fulfilled.” (15:6)
- Similarly, the SOM’s teaching that “in me (the law) hath all been fulfilled” (12:18) is expanded upon when Jesus tells the Nephites he is the one who gave the law of Moses and that “the law in me is fulfilled.” (15:4-5)
- The SOM’s statement that “I have given you the law and the commandments” with the injunction that “ye shall believe in me” and “keep my commandments” to “enter into the kingdom of heaven” (12:19-20) is reiterated later as Christ identifies himself as “the law” with an injunction to “look unto me, and endure to the end” and “keep my commandments” in order to have “eternal life.” (15:9-10)
- The SOM’s declaration that “old things are done away, and all things have become new” (12:47) is picked up later when the Nephites do not understand this saying, and Jesus says, “Marvel not that I said unto you that old things had passed away, and that all things had become new.” (15:2-3)
- The SOM’s admonition that “I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your
Father who is in heaven is perfect” (12:48) is echoed at the end of Jesus’ ministry to the Nephite disciples, “Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.” (27:27b) - The SOM’s warning against using “vain repetitions” in prayer “as the heathen, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (13:7) finds application in the Nephite disciples’ prayer to God, “And they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire.” (19:24b)
- The SOM’s pattern of prayer set by Jesus—“After this manner therefore pray ye” (13:9a) finds application when Jesus tells his Nephite disciples, “And as I have prayed among you even so shall ye pray in my church.” (18:16a)
- The SOM’s instruction that “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him” (13:8b) is recalled later when Jesus says, “And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.” (18:20)
- The SOM’s axiom that “every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened” (14:8) is replicated in Jesus’ words to his Nephite disciples, “Therefore, ask, and ye shall received, knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.” (27:29)
- The SOM’s injunction to “enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in thereat; Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (14:13-14) finds renewed application to the Nephite disciples—“Enter ye in at the strait gate; for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it; but wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death, and many there be that travel therein, until the night cometh, wherein no man can work.” (27:33).
- The SOM’s teaching that “whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock” that when the rains fall, etc., “it fell not,” but the one who hears and does not do these sayings is likened to a man who built “upon the sand” and his house “fell, and great was the fall of it” (14:24-27) will be repeated and amplified to the Nephites—And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock. But whoso among you shall do more or less than these are not built upon my rock, but are built upon a sandy foundation; and when the rains descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon them, they shall fall, and the gates of hell are ready open to receive them.” (18:12b-13)
- This same teaching in the SOM (14:24-27) is found in the mouth of Jesus shortly before he gives the SOM (12-14) where he says, “And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.” (11:40).
- The SOM’s string of beatitudes (“blessed are ye”) statements (12:1-11) is bookended with a beatitude promised by Jesus to his disciples if they will follow his gospel—“Therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day.” (27:22)
Though not intended to be exhaustive, this list of 16-entries indicates that the SOM given in 3 Nephi 12-14 is not just filler, but literally (and literarily) permeates the balance of the Savior’s teachings to the Nephites.
Further, the SOM teachings are not simply reiterated, but are often amplified and clarified in subsequent Nephite exposition. For example, the SOM injunction to “let your light so shine” (12:16) is expanded upon to the effect that the “light” is Jesus himself. 
(18:24) The SOM’s teaching that in Jesus is the law “fulfilled” (12:18) is not just quoted later, but additional information given that Jesus is the one who gave the law to Moses in the first place. (15:4-5) The warning against “vain repetitions” in prayer (13:7) is amplified by showing that the Nephites avoided this because “it was given unto them what they should pray.” (19:24b)
Keeping track of the SOM threads during the balance of the Savior’s Nephite ministry, and using them in context and with additional elaboration, is no mean feat. It introduces an unexpected complexity and beauty into this section of the Book of Mormon.
But this isn’t all.
The next two articles will be devoted to showing additional layers of complexity in this narrative; a complexity that, like layer after layer of varnish, makes the resulting composition shine.
Corbin Volluz
Corbin Volluz lives in the beautiful foothills of the Cascade Mountains in western Washington state. He has been practicing law for 25-years with a focus on criminal defense and personal injury. Corbin joined the LDS Church in June of 1978, shortly after the lifting of the priesthood ban, and has been studying Mormonism ever since. He has been published in several venues, including the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies and BYU-Studies.
All posts by Corbin Volluz
Corbin’s article is a perfect example of why we should as President Uchtdorf stated, “Doubt our doubts before we doubt our Faith.” It is important that we put these “doubts” or questions in the back of our mind and patiently and prayerfully find answers, perspective and clarity as Corbin did. Sister Camilla Kimball said it this way, “I’ve always had an inquiring mind. I’m not satisfied just to accept things. I like to follow through and study things out. I learned early to put aside those gospel questions that I couldn’t answer. I had a shelf of things I didn’t understand, but as I’ve grown older and studied and prayed and thought about each problem, one by one I’ve been able to better understand them. I still have some questions on that shelf, but I’ve come to understand so many other things in my life that I’m willing to bide my time for the rest of the answers.”
I’m glad you like the article, Travis, and thank you for the kind words.
I do feel the need to clarify something you said, though.
The most common reason we have for putting doubts “in the back of our mind” is because they are inconsistent with our currently held world view. Frequently, such doubts should not be ignored, but used in order to modify our world view.
The greatest expansions of my understanding, including this article, have come not from doubting my doubts, but from embracing them.
Great article, it shows with enough patience, faith and TIME, God will answer all our questions.
Hi, Remy!
Thanks for reading and posting your thoughts.
I want to add that this article does not answer the question of how it is that the KJV Sermon on the Mount appears in the Book of Mormon, but indicates what vistas may open up if we do not put this doubt in the back of our mind.
It was the acceptance of this doubt (which still remains) that allowed me to be able to see the SOM tapestry woven throughout Jesus’ Nephite ministry.
I’m with you on the fact that setting aside fear allows us to see the text in more depth. I’ve been going through a similar process with 3 Ne myself over the last several weeks and it’s remarkable what I never saw because I was afraid to look.
One question for you though. When you face the presence of the KJV SOM and what it might mean for the BOM’s “ancientness”, how do you process that? How does it affect the way you see and appreciate the Book of Mormon? How do you see its degree of inspiration?
Thank you for your comments, Bob.
It is amazing what letting go of our preconceptions can often do to improve our vision.
In answer to your question, I set forth my current framework for Book of Mormon understanding relating to its “ancientness” in my first three articles.
In summary, I believe the evidence is overwhelming that the BOM is ancient. I also believe the evidence is overwhelming that the BOM is modern.
It is not an either/or proposition, but a both/and.
Joseph Smith seems to have brought into the world with the BOM something at once both old and new.
This is sort of a “zen” question, but what is the BoM to you? Is it the idea of physical plates that real people wrote on, is it the text that appeared to JS in the seerstone and through other means of inspiration, or is it some of both?
To me, much like the Bible I try to divorce the text and the words of scripture from their historical origin. Which isn’t to say historicity should be ignored, but not an obstacle to the truth we might find in the text we have in front of us.
Lord of the Rings has value to me as metaphor, regardless of whether it’s history or not. Likewise “The Shack”, and also a book I read recently called “Matterhorn”, which I think has some great gospel analogies in it.
The historical Jesus has value to me, but the literary Jesus we find in the Bible has value also in a very different way.
Hi, BobD!
Thanks for posting and for asking the question.
I think the BOM is based on a historical framework of real events with real people in real places that happened thousands of years ago.
On the other hand, I think it is clear that subsequent editors and redactors of the text (including Mormon, Moroni and Joseph Smith) added a great deal of material.
For example, I am taken with Grant Hardy’s suggestion that while editing the Book of Ether, Moroni wrote Jesus back into the text, effectively “Christianizing” the Jaredites. (See Hardy’s excellent “Understanding the Book of Mormon,” released a couple of years ago.)
My studies in literature have enhanced my appreciation for the Book of Mormon. My studies of the Bible have had a similar effect. I find the Book of Mormon to be an impressive literary achievement.
On the other hand, contextualizing the Book of Mormon in a historic and cultural fashion can add substantial insights, as well. For example, Brant Gardner’s exposition of the story of Ammon at the Waters of Sebus as viewed through the culture of the ancient Mayans brings the story to life, and helps explain elements of the account that are strange when viewed through the culture of a modern Western reader. In other words, the story makes more sense against a background of ancient Mayan culture than in modern Western culture.
Other readers of the BOM have brought their own fields of expertise to bear as critical tools and have found the BOM responsive; such tools as jurisprudence, geography, meteorology, etc.
This is one of the things I find so impressive about the Book of Mormon–the more people look at it with more such tools, the more the text opens up and yields additional, and often unexpected, insights.
I have come to conclude that the Book of Mormon will wear us out long before we wear it out.
Corbin, thanks for this wonderful post (and thanks in advance for those that follow)!
I returned to activity in the Mormon church last year and am now reading the New Testament again. I have been pondering the Sermon on the Mount, so your post is quite timely for me.
I have long maintained that the value of scripture (like the value of fiction or poetry) is almost entirely unrelated to its historicity. Historicity is a red herring, I think, that distracts us from the deeper symbolic or metaphorical imagery.
Again, thanks!
I read your second article of this 3-part series first and have now read this one and I just want to say that I remain impressed with your research. I look forward to reading the final part.
Thanks LDSA! I appreciate the kind words. I am working hard on part 3 and should have it available for publication by the end of the week.
good, it has been revealed to you at last! the more you dig deeper the closer you can get to the ore, friend
Did you know that the sermon of the Mount as it stands in the Bible is worthless, or like a empty cymbal? In other words, it is like a carcase without heart and blood or merely goodly words that amount to nothing but goodly words that have no power? The sermon of the Mount is one of the great and precious things that was mutilated from the record of the Jew by the great and abominable church of the Devil or those who translated it without proper authority. The heart of the Sermon of the Mount is missing altogether from it. Without it, no one can be one of those great things that the LORD speaks about. No one can be meek, humble, poor in spirit or hunger for righteousness and so forth. It is not for everybody, but only for the Members of the Church or the true saints. The original sermon of the Mount begun with words like this for it was not given to the general public but to the apostles. And the LORD said that those who believe in their words, and come to the depths of humility and repent and are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost THEN will be blessed such as all those beatitudes. without Therefore, without the first principles and ordinances of gospel engrained in us, which is faith, repentance and baptism and the lying on of hands we can never be meek, humble, thirsty or hungry enough to meet GOD.
If you go and check JST Mathew 5 the first five or so verses, you will see what I see and know what I know. There area about three verses missing right before the beatitudes begin. The reason why you love the Sermon as much as you do it now, is only because you already have received the attending ordinances. I will see if I can find it and post it for you: Then you compare with the regular Bible and you will see the great difference.
JST
MATTHEW CHAPTER 5: 1-22
The commencement of Christ’s teaching on the Mount.
1 And Jesus, seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain; and when he was set down, his disciples came unto him;
2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
3 Blessed are they who shall believe on me; and again, more blessed are they who shall believe on your words, when ye shall testify that ye have seen me and that I am.
4 Yea, blessed are they who shall believe on your words, and come down into the depth of humility, and be baptized in my name; for they shall be visited with fire and the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.
5 Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit, who come unto me; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
6 And again, blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.
7 And blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.
8 And blessed are all they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.
9 And blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.
10 And blessed are all the pure in heart; for they shall see God.
11 And blessed are all the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God.
12 Blessed are all they that are persecuted for my name’s sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
13 And blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
14 For ye shall have great joy, and be exceeding glad; for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
15 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted? the salt shall thenceforth be good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of the world; a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
17 Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light to all that are in the house.
18 Therefore, let your light so shine before this world, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
19 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
20 For verily I say unto you, heaven and earth must pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in now wise pass from the law, until all be fulfilled.
21 Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so to do, he shall in no wise be saved in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach these commandments of the law until it be fulfilled, the same shall be called great, and shall be saved in the kingdom of heaven.
22 For I say unto you, except your righteousness shall exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Comment by Miguel Angel Tinoco ROD-TREE-JESSE on February 4, 2015 8:24
My Name is Miguel, I am a Lamanite preacher. I am both a descendant of Mulek and of Lehi. I was born in the capital city of the country called the Bottomless Pit in the place where the city of Jacobugat was once located, which transliterated is Tegucigalpa. or The city of Jacob it is less than a hundred kilometers from the place called Lamoni and the Valley of Shule, which names are still the same as they was anciently. I know exactly where the hill Shim is where the records are hidden. It hill between two hills. I have been there in the spirit. Once you enter its cavity and touch the records, you begin to have visions.
For me the Book of Mormon is not just a historical book, it is applied religion. We speak like it, and we still carry some of the ancient customs. I have experienced many of the very same things that they experienced in the flesh and in the spirit. I know where Lehi Landed in this new world, well, is so obvious that is deceptible. The names barely change in word order but not pronunciation. There re is a place named Arc or Arica in the country namned LeChi or Lehi wich transliterated as ChiLe. can you see? Like wise Chicalp Uget or Chicab ugeT id TeguJacob or TeguChicab. I am a natural seer, so I see things that the natural eye cannot see. I can read and write, but I am not learned, so I write anythong that the LORD puts in my mind and heart in English and in Spanish by the gift of GOD when it is in me. And for this, I am rejected by people like you like Samuel the Lamanite and have suffered imprisonment. My first paper was so powerful that it shook the church, according to their Lawyers and landed me in a Crisis Unit. I was poisoned with deadly substances, but I sent the guy who was responsible and paid to silence me early to his grave. For the LORD said, that whomsoever tries to steady me with unclean hands, will fall, like a tree when it is smitten by the vivid shaft of Lightning. That is a literal and a figurative expression of sudden removal from this world or position of authority in the church even if they continue to officiate. That means also, that if you walk the talk you will go thru the same ordeals that my fathers went thru as recorded in the BOM. But if you are merely a scribe or a pharisee, like the white sepulchers that Christ and Samuel the Lamanite spoke about. You will be loved by many and be lifted up by the adulators. Those will be your greater enemies, for you will feed their carnal mind only. But me, they hate and reject mostly because, I shoot to kill and my words are binding. So, if you ever heard of a Lamanite teacher or prophet who was to come, one that is called mighty and strong. Seek no further. He is the one talking to you. And I am being bold because I am angry and tired of hiding in the shadows and that other unscrupulous apostates take my place. In other words I am the hatchet man. And the ax is laid at the base of every tree and each tree that does not bring fruit meet for repentance, will be hews down and cast into the fire from whence no traveler returns leaving them neither root nor brach. For the LORD instructed me to say:
Hearken and Lo, this is the voice as of one crying in the wilderness whose voice is unto all men and whose goings are to the ends of the earth saying. Repent, ye, repent ye and make the path of the LORD straight for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent ye, repent ye, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance.For the ax is already laid at the root of every tree and each tree that does not bring forth good fruits will be hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence no traveler returns. For nothin impure can dwell in the presence of GOD, for Man of Holiness is his name. And he commanded me to write since I was a youth, so that you are prepared to meet him. I bear witness of his inmaculate conception and divine birth, of his power of life unto salvation which is his everlasting Gospel.I testify of his atonement and sufferig in Golgotha for I was there with him to support him. I testify of his crucifixion for I was there in Golgotha when he fell at the feet of the Centurion and where he gave me the scepter of power. I testify of his resurrection for I have seen the hole of the nail in his left hand, which observation made me bow down to earth and howl of anguish and pain while me face melted by his glory. For as John the Baptist who ministered me as a Youth said, so I say. I can only preach repentance and baptize you with water, but he that comes behinds me is more powerful than I am, and whose dust of his feet I am unworthy to lick and in whose presence I am not worthy to stand erect.I have also heard the voice of the Father. Him I declare and of him I solemnly testify in the sacred name of his son, even our LORD Jesus Christ, amen.
Yours truly from an unworthy servant in the hands of Christ
Gazelem Ix-Miquili-Pan-TL
O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God. Why has he forsaken you?
Zion and Jerusalem, February 1, 2015’
http://voiceofwarning.blogspot.com/2015/02/o-repent-ye-repent-ye-why-will-ye-die.html