Mosiah 15:24-31

24  And these are those who have part in the first resurrection; and these are they that have died before Christ came, in their ignorance, not having salvation declared unto them.  And thus the Lord bringeth about the restoration of these; and they have a part in the first resurrection, or have eternal life, being redeemed by the Lord.
25  And little children also have eternal life.

Mosiah 15:24-25 (Emphasis mine)

Abinadi teaches two important concepts. 

• Those who die before Christ came will have a part in the first resurrection, have eternal life, and be redeemed.
• Little children have eternal life.

As we read Abinadi's words in v24, there appears to be a contradiction between what Abinadi is teaching and what is recorded in D&C 76.  Here are the relevant verses.

71  And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo, these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of the Firstborn who have received the fullness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun in the firmament.
72  Behold, these are they who died without law;
73  And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh;

Section 76:71-80 (Emphasis mine)

We also have this from D&C 138, the vision of President Joseph F. Smith  about Savior's visit to the spirits of the dead while his body was in the tomb. 

28  And I wondered at the words of Peter—wherein he said that the Son of God preached unto the spirits in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah—and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time ...
30  But behold, from among the righteous, [the Lord] organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to fall the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead ...
32  Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets..

D&C 138:28, 30, 32 (Emphasis mine)

These two sets of verses tell us that those who did without a knowledge of Christ would have the gospel preached to them.  It appears to contradict what Abinadi is teaching.  What is the answer?

Mack C. Sterling addressed this issue.  Let's look at what he has to say.

"I will now summarize these apparent contradictions as follows:

•"The Book of Mormon describes only two final outcomes for all mankind, while the Doctrine and Covenants describes four: celestial kingdom, terrestrial kingdom, telestial kingdom, and sons of perdition. (see D&C 131:1–2; 76:98).•"The Book of Mormon presents hell or the second death as the unending and final state of all the wicked. The Doctrine and Covenants also clearly refers to the wicked going into hell and suffering the second death (see D&C 19:15–20; 63:17–18). However, the Doctrine and Covenants informs us that many (most) of the wicked will eventually be redeemed from hell and captivity to the devil and inherit the telestial kingdom (see D&C 76:81–85, 103–6). The Book of Mormon neither suggests nor implies the possibility of redemption from hell after probation ends.
•"Abinadi's discourse before King Noah describes those who died in ignorance before Christ came as participating in the first resurrection and receiving eternal life. In contrast, the Doctrine and Covenants declares, as a general rule at least, that those who died without law will inherit the terrestrial kingdom and will not receive the 'crown over the kingdom of God'; therefore, they receive something less than eternal life (D&C 76:72–80).
•"The Book of Mormon makes the time of probation essentially equivalent to mortality. However, the unambiguous statement in Doctrine and Covenants 138:29–34 about the preaching of the gospel in the spirit world to those who either had no opportunity to hear it or rejected it in mortality necessarily implies that probation extends into the spirit world to some extent.

"... It is imperative to realize that the Book of Mormon model is not 'wrong.' The Book of Mormon [model] is simply less detailed or less complete on some issues compared with information in the Doctrine and Covenants. Thus the separation of the righteous, who participate in the first resurrection, into two groups, celestial and terrestrial (see D&C 76:50–80) can be seen as a modification by addition of detail to the Book of Mormon model ...

"Abinadi's depiction of those who died ignorant of Christ as receiving eternal life (see Mosiah 15:24) is better explained as a reflection of the Book of Mormon [model] than as a direct contradiction to Doctrine and Covenants 76:72, which portrays the same group as inheriting the terrestrial kingdom ... All the righteous, including those who sinned ignorantly and are covered by Christ's atonement, eventually receive eternal life in heaven in the presence of God; all the wicked receive everlasting death. From the perspective of the Book of Mormon model, those who die ignorant of Christ must inherit eternal life. From the perspective of modern revelation, Abinadi's statement (and even D&C 76:72) represents an oversimplification of reality ...  

"It should also not be overlooked that , that those who live in the midst of the gospel light and persist in serious wickedness in mortality may completely waste the days of their probation and lose the opportunity to repent, dooming themselves to the second death or hell upon leaving mortality. Mormon's description of the Nephites just prior to their final destruction is especially compelling in this regard: 'I saw that the day of grace had passed for them, both temporally and spiritually' (Mormon 2:15) ..." 

The Way of Life and the Way of Death in the Book of Mormon, Mack C. Sterling, Maxwell Institute, accessed July 8, 2011. (Emphasis mine)

So we have a situation where there appears to be contradictions, but there really aren't.  The D&C expounds upon the words of Abinadi.  We have a fuller truth with both the Book of Mormon and D&C.  

There is no question that little children receive eternal life.

26  But behold, and fear, and tremble before God, for ye ought to tremble; for the Lord redeemeth none such that rebel against him and die in their sins; yea, even all those that have perished in their sins ever since the world began, that have wilfully rebelled against God, that have known the commandments of God, and would not keep them; these are they that have no part in the first resurrection.
27  Therefore ought ye not to tremble?  For salvation cometh to none such; for the Lord hath redeemed none such; yea, neither can the Lord redeem such; for he cannot deny himself; for he cannot deny justice when it has its claim.
28  And now I say unto you that the time shall come that the salvation of the Lord shall be declared to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

Mosiah 15:26-28 (Emphasis mine)

Abinadi is very direct warning them that if they die in their sins, they will not obtain salvation.  The demands of justice must be met; when justice makes its claims on these people, they will have lost their chance.

12  Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13  They are of those that rebel against the blight; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

Job 24:12-13 (Emphasis mine)

8  Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.
9  For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
10  Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.
11  But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
12  For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

Psalms 5:8-12 (Emphasis mine)

25  ¶ Yet ye say, The away of the Lord is not equal.  Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal?  are not your ways unequal?
26  When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.
27  Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
28  Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Ezekiel 18:25-28 (Emphasis mine)

29  Yea, Lord, 

      thy watchmen shall lift up their voice;

           with the voice together shall they sing;   

      for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
30  Break forth into joy, 

           sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; 

      for the Lord hath comforted his people, 

           he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
31  The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; 

           and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Mosiah 15:29-31 (See also Isaiah 52:8-10; Mosiah 12-22-24)

(Note:  Poetic formatting from The Book of Mormon - A Reader's Edition, Grant Hardy, pg. 215

As Chapter 15 ends, Abinadi quotes Isaiah.  Here he is talking about the redemption of Israel, celebrating the day that happens.

About these verses, Hugh Nibley writes:

"The earth has been the scene of Zion before; Enoch's Zion was here. There have been Zions before. Well, he is going to bring it again ... We are all in it together, and we should enjoy it all the more being together and seeing eye to eye. Incidentally, we are all saved as individuals; we all make our own covenants with the Lord. But because we are all in it together and we all experience this together, we know what others are feeling, and we can feel with them. We have perfect empathy, so we see eye to eye in these things when the Lord brings Zion ...

"Verse 31: 'And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.' Now Abinadi is preaching these things to King Noah. They've heard the scriptures. These priests he is talking to are proud of their knowledge of the scriptures. Remember, they tried to stump him with passages from Isaiah—'how beautiful upon the mountains,' etc. They know what he's talking about, but he is explaining now what it means. Of course, this is completely beyond them. They don't get this at all because they have just been living it up and giving their own learned interpretations of things ..."

(Emphasis mine)

Lecture 35: Mosiah 15-16, Hugh W. Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed July 8, 2011.

1  THEN sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
2  The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

Exodus 15:1 - 2 (Emphasis mine)

1  THE LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalms 27:1 (Emphasis mine)

1  TRULY my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.
2  He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

Psalms 62:1 - 2 (Emphasis mine)

15  So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Romans 1:15-16 (Emphasis mine)

7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

1 Peter 1:7-10 (Emphasis mine)

 

Mosiah 15:19-23

19  For were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, I say unto you, were it not for this, all mankind must have perished.
20  But behold, the bands of death shall be broken, and the Son reigneth, and hath power over the dead; therefore, he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead.

Mosiah 15:19-20 (Emphasis mine)

We see Abinadi in transition again.  He reminds us that all would perish without the atonement.  This was so important, it was "prepared from the foundation of the world." (v19) The Son will bring the resurrection of the dead.  Death would finally be defeated.  It no longer would have its eternal hold on mankind.  Through the resurrection, we would live forever.

Todd Parker writes (concerning v20):

"Now, you have to ask yourself ... [h]ow does Abinadi do this? This is a masterful discourse. He didn't know what scripture they were going to bring up. They brought up this thing from Isaiah, and he carefully weaves Isaiah, the law, the fulfillment, the prophesy—all of his message—together, under the threat of death. He really has access to all the prophets, so who is he going to go to? Isaiah, the prophet of prophets. Isaiah is the prototype. Abinadi could have used Zenock, Zenos, or any of these prophets, but he goes to Isaiah, because Isaiah's the main prophet. Abinadi is obviously in a transfigured state to be able to do this ... This is the first time the word resurrection comes up. It gets more complex as the book goes on. It is barely mentioned in 1 Nephi (where it just says, 'Jesus arises from the dead'); in 2 Nephi, it teaches that we will all rise from the dead; but here in Mosiah 15 is the first time the word resurrection is mentioned." (Emphasis mine)

Abinadi: The Message and the Martyr, Todd B. Parker, Maxwell Institute, accessed July 6, 2011. 

21  And there cometh a resurrection, even a first resurrection; yea, even a resurrection of those that have been, and who are, and who shall be, even until the resurrection of Christ—for so shall he be called.
22  And now, the resurrection of all the prophets, and all those that have believed in their words, or all those that have kept the commandments of God, shall come forth in the first resurrection; therefore, they are the first resurrection.
23  They are raised to dwell with God who has redeemed them; thus they have eternal life through Christ, who has broken the bands of death.

Mosiah 15:21-23 (Emphasis mine)

Who will be a part of the first resurrection?  It will be those who lived before the actual resurrection.  Abinadi tells us that "... all the prophets, and all those that have believed in their words, or all those that have kept the commandments of God..." (v22) These are those who will participate in the first resurrection.  They will have eternal life because Christ broke the bands of death.

8  He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Isaiah 25:8 (Emphasis mine)

17  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 10:17-18 (Emphasis mine)

14  But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
15  And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

Acts 24:14-15 (Emphasis mine)

14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which asleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

1 Thessalonians 4:14-16 (Emphasis mine)

Verses 20-23 show a unique form of Hebrew writing called chiasmus.  Some information about chiasmus:

 

"Chiasmus consists of patterns of words, thoughts, or concepts that lead to a central point of emphasis and then repeat in reverse order ... BYU professor John Welch, who first discovered chiasmus in the Book of Mormon while serving a mission in Germany and who later became the first to publish on that topic, writes, 'Basically chiasmus is inverted parallelism.' He further explains, "The word "chiasmus" itself stems from the Greek word chiazein, meaning to mark with or in the shape of a cross.' David Noel Freedman concurs,  'The basic figure of chiasm simply involves the reverse of the order of words in balancing clauses or phrases.' " (Emphasis mine)

Forms of Parallelism, Hugh W. Pinnock, Maxwell Institute, accessed July 6, 2011

Let's look at verses 20-23, laid out as chiasmus.

Another chiasm in the book of Mosiah teaches about the resurrection:

A But behold, the bands of death
	B shall be broken,
		C and the Son reigneth,
			D and hath power over the dead;
				E therefore, he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead.
					F And there cometh a resurrection,
						G even a first resurrection;
							H yea, even a resurrection of those that have been, and who are, and who shall be,
								X even until the resurrection of Christ—for so shall he be called.
							H And now, the resurrection of all the prophets, and all those that have believed in their words, or all those that have kept the commandments of God,
						G shall come forth in the first resurrection;
					F therefore, they are the first resurrection.
				E They are raised to dwell with God who has redeemed them;
			D thus they have eternal life
		C through Christ,
	B who has broken
A the bands of death.
(Mosiah 15:20—23) (Emphasis in original)

Forms of Parallelism, Hugh W. Pinnock, Maxwell Institute, accessed July 6, 2011

As you read verses 20-23, you see A-H, then X.  Then we continue with the chiasmus in the H-A order.  The is where the reverse parallelism comes in.  Pinnock wrote:

"Because chiasms, like the letter x, contain a well-defined crossing structure, the reversal of words, concepts, or phrases found in the second half of a chiasm renders the form quickly identifiable"

 

Verses 20-23 follow the traditional style and order of chiasmus.  Again, quoting Pinnock: 

 

"Perhaps the most exciting and interesting of all Hebrew writing forms is chiasmus. ... Named after the letter x (chi), the twenty-second letter in the Greek alphabet, chiasmus is found extensively in certain ancient writings."  (Emphasis mine)

What does chiasmus mean to the Book of Mormon?  Jeff Lindsey discussed this topic.

"John Welch offers the following analysis in his classic 1969 BYU Studies paper (PDF file), p.75: 

 

'[T]here exists no chance that Joseph Smith could have learned of this style [chiasmus] through academic channels. No one in America, let alone in western New York, fully understood chiasmus in 1829. Joseph Smith had been dead ten full years before John Forbes' book was published in Scotland.'

 

"Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is evidence of an ancient origin, not conclusive proof. It is just one of several complex forms of literary parallelism that are common to other ancient Semitic writings. If these examples are real and nonrandom, then it becomes increasingly probable that the Book of Mormon is not a nineteenth century writing, but is a translation of an ancient text representing, at least in part, a highly developed literary tradition. Chiasmus is part of the intellectual evidence for accepting or believing in an ancient origin to the text. For some critics, it is so convincing that they must resort to arguing that Satan inspired the chiasmus in the text in order to deceive people...

 

"[Critic Loftes] Tryk argues that the only reasonable explanation is supernatural origin - but he ascribes that supernatural power to Satan. I find that a pretty wild argument, especially when much of the chiasmus - like the Book of Mormon itself - is designed to focus our attention on Christ as the Redeemer and Savior. Look at Alma 36, for example. What honest Christian can help but rejoice to see the forgiving power of Christ so beautifully taught and so majestically crafted into poetry? The Book of Mormon is a Christ-centered book, teaching us to look toward Christ - the Christ that we read of in the Bible, not "some other Christ" as critics often try argue - for salvation, for grace, for forgiveness, to be baptized in His name and follow Him. I don't think anyone can honestly read the Book of Mormon without realizing that it confirms the Bible and teaches of Christ."

Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, Mormon Answers, accessed July 6, 2011.

As Jeff Lindsay says, chiasmus is not proof of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.  This is just one of many evidences that point to the genuineness of the Book of Mormon. 

I'll continue looking at Abinadi's teachings about the resurrection in my next post.