2 Nephi 25:24-25

As we have seen, Nephi understand Christ and His role in our salvation.  He knew that it was through the atonement of Christ we will be saved and not the Mosaic Law.  Even with this knowledge, they kept “the law of Moses, and [looked] forward with steadfastness unto Christ, until the law shall be fulfilled” (2 Nephi 25:24). 

Jacob tells us this knowledge of Christ was not unique.

Behold, [all the holy prophets which were before us] believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name.  And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son.

Jacob 4:5

There is no doubt the Nephites understood the Law of Moses.  Having the brass plates would have given them the entire Law.  David Seely explains:

The Book of Mormon specifically claims that Lehi and his descendants understood the whole of the law of Moses as pointing toward Christ. Jacob taught: "Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him" (2 Nephi 11:4; cf. 2 Nephi 25:24–25, 27, 30; Alma 25:15; 30:3). King Benjamin further taught, "Yet the Lord God saw that his people were a stiffnecked people, and he appointed unto them a law, even the law of Moses. And many signs, and wonders, and types, and shadows showed he unto them, concerning his coming; and also holy prophets spake unto them concerning his coming" (Mosiah 3:14–15).[1]

The Law of Moses was a preparatory law.  It was preparing the Jews for the coming of the Messiah and the plan of salvation.  Nephi is clear when he says  “the law hath become dead unto us, and we are made alive in Christ because of our faith; yet we keep the law because of the commandments” (2 Nephi 25:25). 

Paul was very clear about the Law of Moses.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

For when we were in the flesh, the motions [GR sufferings, afflictions] of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

But now we are delivered [GR released, freed from] from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. (See also JST Rom. 7:5–27)

Romans 7:4-6

After reading 1 Corinthians 7:14 (For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified [GR cleansed]  by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy), Joseph Smith went to the Lord for further clarification of the verse.  As a part of the revelation, the Lord clarified the role of the  Law of Moses and the atonement.

Now, in the days of the apostles the law of circumcision was had among all the Jews who believed not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And it came to pass that there arose a great contention among the people concerning the law of circumcision, for the unbelieving husband was desirous that his children should be circumcised and become subject to the law of Moses, which law was fulfilled.

And it came to pass that the children, being brought up in subjection to the law of Moses, gave heed to the traditions of their fathers and believed not the gospel of Christ, wherein they became unholy.

Wherefore, for this cause the apostle wrote unto the church, giving unto them a commandment, not of the Lord, but of himself, that a believer should not be united to an unbeliever; except the ^claw of Moses should be done away among them,

That their children might remain without circumcision; and that the tradition might be done away, which saith that little children are unholy; for it was had among the Jews;

D&C 74:2-6

Hugh Nibley sums up.

 "And by the law," says Lehi, "no flesh is justified" (2 Nephi 2:5); merely keeping the law will not save you. If you cling to it and make it your whole concern, you will find the temporal law cut off, and even "the spiritual law" will leave you to perish, not because it fails of its purpose but because that purpose is limited to getting you to where you are going: "For, for this end was the law given; wherefore the law hath become dead unto us, and we are made alive in Christ because of our faith; yet we keep the law because of the commandments" (2 Nephi 25:25). The law leads us back home; the at-one-ment takes place when we get there. In other words, the law is all preparation. Everything we do here is to prepare for the Atonement: "Therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state . . . which is after the resurrection of the dead" (Alma 12:24). The early Christians taught that as this life is a preparation for the next, so in the preexistence we had to prepare for this one.⁶⁴ To reach a stage where the test would be meaningful—the plan itself being "prepared from the foundation of the world," well ahead of time and well understood by those who accepted it here—angels were sent to remind men of that preparation (Alma 12:30; 13:2-5).[2]

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[1] Sacred History, Covenants, and the Messiah: The Religious Background of the World of Lehi, David Rolph Seely, Maxwell Institute, accessed October 28, 2013.

[2] The Meaning of the Atonement, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed October 28, 2013.