Book of Mormon
Charity, Discernment, and the Promise
Mormon's sermon, and Moroni's farewell
Moroni 7; 1045 min4 sections
A sermon preserved by a son who watched his civilisation die, and a closing promise offered to a reader the writer would never meet. Between them: a workable test for distinguishing good from evil, and the definition of charity that surpasses 1 Corinthians 13.
- Author
- Moroni, quoting a sermon of his father Mormon
- Date
- The sermon before AD 385; Moroni writing c. AD 400–421
- Place
- Somewhere in hiding; Moroni is the last of his people
- Audience
- "The peaceable followers of Christ" in Mormon's day, and explicitly the future reader in Moroni's
- Genre
- Sermon, and epistolary farewell
By the end you should be able to
- Apply Mormon's test for judging good from evil, and say why he calls the knowledge "perfect."
- Explain what Moroni 7:47–48 adds to 1 Corinthians 13.
- State the four conditions of Moroni's promise, and what "real intent" excludes.
- Read Moroni 10:32–33 as a statement about grace, and place it beside 2 Nephi 25:23.
A test anyone can run
15For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
17But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil...
Mormon claims something bold: that the criterion is available to everyone, not to the initiated few, and that applying it yields "a perfect knowledge." The test is a direction of travel. Does this invite to do good and persuade to believe in Christ? Then it is of God, whatever its source, whoever said it, however unfamiliar its packaging.
That formulation is generous in a way readers sometimes miss. It does not restrict good to the Church, or to religion. Article of Faith 13 makes the same move — "if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things" — and the light of Christ doctrine (verse 16; John 1:9; D&C 93:2) is the reason a Latter-day Saint can expect to find truth outside the covenant as well as inside it.
King James renders it “"the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9)”
John's prologue and Moroni 7:16 make the same claim in different vocabularies: an illumination given to every person, prior to and independent of formal religion. D&C 88:6–13 extends it further still, describing the light of Christ as the power by which the sun was made and "the law by which all things are governed."
Full lexicon entry →
Charity: the pure love of Christ
45And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
46Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
47But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.
1 Corinthians 13
Describes charity entirely in verbs and negations.
Says it is the greatest, and that it never fails.
Does not say where it comes from.
Moroni 7:47–48
Names it: the pure love of Christ.
Says it is bestowed, not manufactured — a gift given to true followers.
Gives the means: pray with all the energy of heart to be filled with it.
This is the most consequential difference between the two chapters. Paul's list can be read as a standard to meet; Mormon's version tells you that meeting it is not something you do by trying harder. Charity is bestowed. The instruction is to ask for it, with everything you have.
King James renders it “"charity" throughout 1 Corinthians 13”
In 1611 English, charity carried the sense of costly self-giving love; four centuries of drift toward almsgiving and condescension have made it a misleading word now. Read love wherever the KJV prints charity — and note that Moroni's phrase "the pure love of Christ" is grammatically ambiguous in a useful way: it is both the love that Christ has and the love He gives.
Full lexicon entry →
The chapter's structure matters too. Mormon has spent verses 20–44 on faith and hope before arriving at charity, and he links them in a chain: faith produces hope, hope produces meekness, and only "a meek and lowly heart" can receive charity (7:39–44). Charity is the last thing in the sequence, not the first.
Points to ponder
- 01Moroni 7:48 says to pray "with all the energy of heart" to be filled with love. When did you last pray for a change in your affections rather than in your circumstances?
- 02If charity is bestowed rather than achieved, what is left for you to do?
Moroni's promise
Four conditions, one of which does most of the work.
3Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
| Condition | What it asks | What it excludes |
|---|---|---|
| Read | Actually read the book | Asking about something you have not examined |
| Remember and ponder | Recall God's mercy across all history; think it over | A snap request without reflection |
| Ask with a sincere heart | Genuinely want to know | Testing God, or asking to be seen asking |
| With real intent | Intend to act on the answer | Asking while having already decided not to change |
| Having faith in Christ | Approach through Him | Treating the question as detached from the Savior |
"Real intent" is the phrase that does the heavy lifting, and it is easy to misread as sincerity, which is covered separately by "a sincere heart." Intent is about what you plan to do with the answer. Moroni is asking whether the question is live — whether a yes would change anything.
Verse 5 then widens the promise past the Book of Mormon entirely: "by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." The method is not a special-purpose device for one book. It is how Latter-day Saints claim knowledge of anything spiritual, which is why the same chapter goes on to list the gifts of the Spirit (10:8–18).
The last words of the book
32Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.
Grace appears four times in two verses, and perfection is attributed to it every time — "by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ," not by your effort in addition to His grace. The commandment to deny ungodliness stands, but the perfecting is His work.
Set Moroni 10:32 beside 2 Nephi 25:23 — "it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" — and the two verses interpret each other. Nephi's "after" has often been read as "once you have exhausted yourself," which produces a punishing theology. Moroni's formulation, where grace does the perfecting, suggests the better reading: notwithstanding all we can do, His grace is sufficient.
What this lesson holds
Every person is given the light of Christ, sufficient to distinguish good from evil.
Charity is bestowed by God in answer to prayer, not achieved by effort.
Spiritual knowledge is promised to those who ask with real intent — meaning intent to act.
Perfection is accomplished by grace, in Christ.
Check your reading
5 questions01According to Moroni 7:16–17, how can a person tell whether something is of God?
02What does Moroni 7:47–48 add that 1 Corinthians 13 does not say?
03In Moroni 10:4, what does "real intent" mean?
04How far does the promise in Moroni 10:5 extend?
05In Moroni 10:32, what accomplishes the perfecting?
Where to go next
Sources
- Moroni 7; 10 — The primary text.
- Bible Dictionary, "Grace"
- Gospel Topics, "Charity"
- Book of Mormon Student Manual — Church Educational System, chapters on Moroni 7 and 10