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Book of Mormon Commentary
Mosiah Chapter 3
gray, there is no middle ground. Since the only name through which salvation comes is Christ, if
one will not be called by that name, there is no other which may save him. Thus one is called for
Christ and may sit on the right hand of God, or is called by some other name – a name which has
no power to save, and therefore will be on the left hand of God.
Vocabulary: The left and right hand symbolism is ancient and widespread. With the statistical
predominance of right handed people, the right hand become associated with truth, good – with
"right"! The left hand is symbolically the opposite, with our word sinister coming from the Latin
for the left hand. Thus sitting on the right hand of God is very good, while being on the left hand
of God is equivalent to being excluded from his presence entirely – the opposite of the condition
on the "right" hand.
Mos 3:16 I say unto you, I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your
hearts, that ye are not found on the left hand of God, but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye
shall be called, and also, the name by which he shall call you:
3:16 Only by their own transgressions would the name they had taken lose its significance or "be.
..blotted out" (15), therefore his exhortation was for them to live righteous lives. He ends his plea
with this appeal, "I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good
works" (21).
This sounds much like the plea Paul made to the saints at Corinth (1 Cor. 15:58). Critics of the
Book of Mormon see this as a plagiarism. However, this carries an assumption that Paul, rather
than the Holy Spirit, was the source of these words. Paul conveys the idea that he was guided by a
power from heaven in that which he wrote: "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of his" (Rom. 8:9). "The things of God knoweth no man, except he has the Spirit of God" (1
Cor. 2:11).
Paul was so sure that those who received his epistles would accept them as being inspired that he
took the occasion to tell his readers at one point, "And I think also that I have the Spirit of God" (1
Cor. 7:40).
It is man's faith in the inspiration of the words of the canonized books which causes him to accept
them as scripture. Would not the Holy Spirit when speaking to King Benjamin give similar
utterance to ideas and words as when speaking to other prophets? Why should men be so quick to
accuse Joseph Smith of plagiarism, especially when the expressions are good and repetition is a
virtue?