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Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon — Another Testament of Jesus Christ

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Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon — “Another Testament of Jesus Christ”

Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Book of Mormon 2024 — January 1–7
Official unit: Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon
Official quoted lesson title: “Another Testament of Jesus Christ”1

← Previous: Book of Mormon 2024 index | Next: 1 Nephi 1–5 — I Will Go and Do →

Why the Book Begins Before 1 Nephi

Before Nephi says, “I, Nephi,” the Book of Mormon has already told us how it wants to be read.

Its opening pages are an overture. Before an opera begins, the orchestra sounds the themes that will return through the whole work. In the same way, the title page announces three themes—God’s great acts, His unforgotten covenants, and Jesus Christ manifested to all nations. The modern introduction tells what kind of book this is and what it asks the reader to do. The Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses place names beneath claims about angelic and physical encounters. Joseph Smith’s testimony narrates how the record came into his hands. The brief explanation gives a map of the plates behind the printed book.

These pages therefore move through five questions:

  1. Purpose: Why does this record exist?
  2. Identity: Who is at the center of it?
  3. Covenant: For whom was it preserved?
  4. Witness: Who says the plates were real, and what exactly do they claim?
  5. Response: What will I do with the invitation to read, ponder, pray, and live its precepts?

The official manual’s opening is appropriately personal: this is “no ordinary book,” and studying it prayerfully can invite the Savior’s power into one’s life.1 The front matter is not a lobby to hurry through. It is the front porch where the book introduces itself.

What to Watch for While Reading

  • Mark every phrase that names Jesus Christ or describes His work.
  • Find the title page’s three stated purposes; do not collapse them into only one.
  • Notice every form of writing, preserving, sealing, translating, and witnessing.
  • Compare what the Three Witnesses say they saw and heard with what the Eight Witnesses say they saw and handled.
  • Distinguish the ancient title page from the modern introduction.
  • Ask why a record directed first to a remnant of Israel is also addressed to “Jew and Gentile.”
  • Notice that “if there are faults” is not permission to dismiss the book; it is an invitation to discern God’s work through mortal hands.
  • In Joseph Smith’s account, track the repeated pattern: revelation → waiting → preparation → stewardship → opposition → divine preservation.
  • Finish by writing your own sentence: “Because of the Book of Mormon, I have seen … and I know …”

The Opening Pages at a Glance

Opening documentVoice and statusMain contributionQuestion for the reader
Title PageAncient Book of Mormon text, translated by Joseph SmithAudience, provenance, preservation, and purposeWhat was this book made to do?
IntroductionModern editorial introductionOverview, keystone statement, and invitation to seek a witnessWhat kind of life should this book produce?
Testimony of Three WitnessesSigned 1829 testimonyAngel, plates, engravings, and voice of GodHow should revealed testimony be weighed?
Testimony of Eight WitnessesSigned 1829 testimonyPlates handled, leaves turned, engravings examinedWhat does tangible testimony add?
Testimony of the Prophet Joseph SmithJoseph Smith’s historical testimony, adapted from Joseph Smith—HistoryMoroni’s visits, recovery of the plates, translation stewardshipHow does God prepare a person to carry a sacred trust?
Brief ExplanationModern guide to the record’s source platesLarge plates, small plates, plates of Mormon, Ether, and sealed materialWhose voice am I hearing, and from which record?

Daniel H. Ludlow’s textual study begins with an embarrassed admission: after writing a chapter-by-chapter commentary, he discovered that he had skipped the title page entirely. He found that most other commentaries had done the same.2 That is the danger this week corrects. The first sacred words of the volume do not occur at 1 Nephi 1:1.

Historical and Literary Context

The title page is translated text

Joseph Smith said the title page was “a literal translation, taken from the very last leaf” of the plates, not a modern composition.2 The printer’s manuscript is largely unpunctuated; punctuation and paragraph divisions were supplied during publication. Ludlow shows that the June 1829 copyright application and Wayne Sentinel printing preserve early forms of the text, and that the 1830 edition established the familiar short introduction plus two-paragraph arrangement.2

This matters because paragraphing can guide interpretation without being part of the original wording. Ludlow proposes that the concluding purpose statements should be heard as the purpose of the whole Book of Mormon, not merely of the immediately preceding reference to Ether. He also explores the possibility that Mormon contributed the opening and Moroni completed the title page. That is a scholarly proposal, not an official ruling. The safe conclusion is narrower: the title page belongs to the translated record, and its final form reflects the labor of the record keepers who finished and sealed the plates.

A book composed of records within records

The phrase “an abridgment” is a reading instruction. Mormon is not usually giving a day-by-day transcript. He is selecting, arranging, quoting, and commenting. Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler turn that fact into a yearlong question: Why was this included for us? Their memorable image is Mormon choosing from a vast archive after seeing the latter days.3 The percentage they casually suggest for Mormon’s commentary should not be treated as a verified textual statistic, but the underlying observation is sound: the narrators repeatedly step into the story to interpret what they have selected.

The brief explanation helps keep the layers straight:

  • the large plates of Nephi carried the broad history;
  • the small plates of Nephi emphasized ministry and prophecy;
  • the plates of Mormon contained Mormon’s abridgment and Moroni’s additions;
  • the plates of Ether supplied the Jaredite record;
  • a sealed portion was not translated for publication.

This is less like opening a single diary and more like entering an archive curated by prophetic editors.

The coming forth occurred in the world of print, law, and testimony

The title page was not only scripture; it was also used to secure the 1829 copyright. The plates belonged to an ancient narrative, but the printed book entered a nineteenth-century world of printers, contracts, newspapers, legal protection, skepticism, and missionary distribution. The witnesses’ signed statements appeared at the end of the 1830 edition and later moved to the front. Their placement now makes their testimony part of the reader’s first encounter.

The front matter therefore joins two eras: ancient editors who write for a future audience and modern witnesses who say that future arrival actually happened.

The Three-Purpose Overture

The title page states that the record was preserved:

“to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—and also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations.”

Scott Woodward compares these purposes to a three-speaker sound system.4 If only the center speaker—“Jesus is the Christ”—is turned up, the melody is true but incomplete. The Christ-centered witness becomes fuller when heard with the covenant story on both sides.

PurposeWhat to listen for all yearCovenant application
Show the remnant what great things the Lord has donedeliverance, tender mercy, remembered ancestors, divine action in historyKeep a record of God’s “great things” in your own family story.
Teach the remnant the covenants, so they know they are not cast off foreverscattering and gathering, promised lands, preserved seed, adoption into IsraelRefuse the lie that distance, sin, exile, or grief makes restoration impossible.
Convince Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal Godpremortal Christ, Atonement, Resurrection, personal ministry, doctrine of ChristRead each narrative for what it reveals about the character and saving work of Jesus.

The order is important. The Book of Mormon’s witness of Christ is not detached from Israel’s story. Jesus is the Christ means He is the promised Messiah who remembers covenant people, gathers the scattered, forgives sinners, defeats death, and manifests Himself beyond one nation.

A book motivated by remembered love

Freeman and Butler notice that the first named audience is the Lamanites—the descendants of people among whom Mormon and Moroni suffered war, loss, and finally death. Yet the record is sent to their descendants in hope. They describe the book as “motivated by love.”3 That is a powerful way to read the title page: a dying civilization does not send a curse into the future. It sends a witness that descendants are not cast off forever.

“All nations” expands the map of Christ’s ministry

The phrase “manifesting himself unto all nations” refuses a small, tribal Christ. Casey Griffiths calls the Book of Mormon a globalization of the story of Jesus—not because the Americas replace Jerusalem, but because the resurrected Lord’s concern reaches every fold.4 The Book of Mormon claims that revelation is not exhausted by one people’s archive. Compare John 10:16 and 3 Nephi 15:16–21.

“Another Testament”: Witness, Covenant, and Invitation

The official title centers the subtitle added to modern editions: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Mark Holt offers a useful devotional interpretation, carefully distinguishable from an official historical explanation of why the subtitle was chosen. He hears testament in three senses:5

  1. Another scriptural witness of Jesus Christ;
  2. The record of God’s dealings with a covenant people;
  3. A covenant addressed to modern readers, because Doctrine and Covenants 84:54–58 calls the Book of Mormon “the new covenant” and commands the Saints not merely to say, but to do what is written.

That third sense changes reading from consumption to discipleship. A testament is not merely evidence placed on a shelf. It asks for a lived response.

The Book of Mormon does not compete with the Bible. Its title page assumes Israel’s covenants and invokes the biblical law that words are established “in the mouth of two or three witnesses” (2 Corinthians 13:1). Its repeated aim is to bring readers to Christ and confirm the saving truths found in the Bible.

Witnesses: Heaven and Hands

The Three Witnesses

Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris testify that:

  • an angel came down from heaven;
  • the plates and engravings were shown to them;
  • God’s voice declared that the record had been translated by His gift and power;
  • they were commanded to bear record.

Their testimony is overtly revelatory. They do not present themselves as detached laboratory observers. They claim that God disclosed, interpreted, and commissioned the experience.

The Eight Witnesses

Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr., John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith Sr., Hyrum Smith, and Samuel H. Smith testify that:

  • Joseph Smith showed them the plates;
  • they handled the plates with their hands;
  • they saw the engravings;
  • they turned the leaves;
  • the record had “the appearance of gold” and the workmanship appeared ancient.

Their wording is deliberately physical and restrained. They do not say that an angel interpreted the objects. They say what they saw and touched.

Two windows, not one proof machine

Jared Halverson frames the two groups as a “mind and heart” pairing: the Three Witnesses emphasize a revealed encounter, while the Eight emphasize tangible handling.6 followHIM similarly describes the groups as designed to work together.4 The analogy is helpful if it is not overpressed. The Three’s experience includes seeing and hearing; the Eight’s statement still belongs to a sacred project. The difference is emphasis, not an absolute separation of spirit from matter.

Imagine a courtroom with two windows. Through one window comes testimony about divine disclosure: angel, voice, command. Through the other comes testimony about material encounter: weight, leaves, engravings. Neither window forces a verdict. Together they make casual dismissal harder.

Scott Woodward states the limit well: the historical case does not by itself “prove” every divine claim, but it does show that the Book of Mormon deserves serious study rather than casual rejection.4 Faith need not fear evidence, and evidence need not pretend to replace revelation.

The historical record after 1829

Many witnesses later experienced conflict with Joseph Smith or separation from the Church. Their continued affirmation of the Book of Mormon is therefore significant. Yet good history should be precise: the strongest evidence is the witnesses’ own signed statements and direct later affirmations; some dramatic retellings are later or secondhand.

A BYU Studies article by Mitchell Schaefer publishes William E. McLellin’s circa-1871 recollection of asking Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer about their testimony while mob violence threatened their lives in 1833. McLellin remembered Cowdery saying they would die declaring the book’s truth, with Whitmer affirming him. He also recorded a report that Hiram Page refused to deny the book while being beaten.7 McLellin had left the Church, which gives his continued conviction particular interest. But his manuscript is still a later recollection. Schaefer responsibly notes competing historical readings of the witness record rather than erasing them.7

The best conclusion is not “the witnesses remove all choice.” It is: their testimony is durable evidence that must be heard in its own words and weighed honestly.

Becoming a witness without seeing plates

The manual moves from their witness to ours. A modern witness does not need to claim an angel or metal plates. We can testify to what the book teaches about Christ, what happens when its precepts are lived, and what the Holy Ghost makes known.

Freeman and Butler suggest the questions: What have you seen, and what do you know because the Book of Mormon is in your life?3 That preserves integrity. A testimony becomes specific rather than inflated.

The Coming Forth: A Miracle with a Process

Joseph Smith’s testimony begins not with triumph but with prayer. In Joseph Smith—History 1:29–35, a young Joseph acknowledges his weakness, seeks forgiveness, and receives light. Moroni’s repeated message announces both a record and a stewardship.

Four years of preparation

Joseph is shown the plates in 1823 but does not receive them until 1827. Each annual return turns revelation into formation. He must learn that sacred objects cannot be used for wealth, status, or curiosity. The delay is not empty. It is apprenticeship.

A useful teaching image is drawn bowstring. Halverson says these preliminary pages pull the string back so that 1 Nephi can “come out flying.”6 Joseph’s four years do the same thing personally. God prepares the messenger before releasing the message.

Gift and power, with mortal instruments

The title page twice attributes the interpretation to the gift or power of God. Joseph’s testimony adds interpreters, plates, a breastplate, repeated instruction, scribes, and protection. The process is miraculous without being immaterial. God works through objects, people, language, memory, print shops, and time.

The followHIM transcript summarizes scholarship estimating approximately sixty-five working days of dictation within a longer period in 1829.4 Speed and complexity are striking historical data, but they are not a mathematical proof of divine origin. The same source wisely ends at the proper place: the book deserves deep, careful examination, and its spiritual claims must be tested by reading and living them.

Emma Smith’s later recollection, quoted in followHIM, says Joseph dictated for long periods and resumed after interruptions without reviewing the manuscript.4 Her statement is historically valuable because she participated in the process, while still being a later reminiscence. Treating the translation as a miracle should invite investigation, not careless exaggeration.

Opposition and stewardship

Joseph’s account repeatedly says attempts were made to obtain the plates. The narrative’s spiritual point is not adventure for its own sake. Sacred stewardship attracts pressure, and obedience preserves what cleverness alone cannot.

Ask: What has God entrusted to me that requires preparation, restraint, and repeated obedience? Not every sacred trust is a gold record. A child, calling, covenant, testimony, or private confidence can demand the same virtues.

Keystone, Anchor, and a Living Dialogue

The introduction quotes Joseph Smith calling the Book of Mormon:

  • “the most correct of any book on earth,”
  • “the keystone of our religion,” and
  • the book by whose precepts a person would draw nearer to God.

“Most correct” does not mean every punctuation mark or mortal assumption is infallible. The title page itself admits possible human faults. The claim concerns the book’s saving direction and doctrinal work.

A keystone is not the only stone in an arch. It is the stone that receives and distributes weight. Halverson adds a rock-climbing image: the Book of Mormon can function as an anchor bolt. A climber may still slip while reaching into unfamiliar terrain, but a sound anchor prevents the fall from becoming final.6

He also improves on a common “domino” analogy. The introduction says that those who receive a divine witness of the Book of Mormon “will also come to know by the same power” that Jesus is the Savior, Joseph Smith is a prophet, and the restored Church is the Lord’s kingdom. That need not mean one feeling mechanically proves every later proposition. Halverson describes the Book of Mormon as the beginning of a dialogue with God: the reader learns how revelation works and continues asking God about Christ, prophets, Church, and personal duty.6

The book is therefore not a trophy certifying that all questions are over. It is a school of revelation in which questions become more honest and discipleship becomes more practiced.

Human Fingerprints and Divine Work

“And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God.”

This closing line of the title page is one of the book’s most mature invitations. It rejects two brittle approaches:

  • Cynicism: any mortal limitation disproves God’s involvement;
  • Defensiveness: admitting any mortal limitation betrays faith.

Moroni permits neither. He expects human fingerprints and divine work on the same page.

Woodward paraphrases the principle: prophetic fallibility does not negate God’s work; it magnifies what God can do through flawed people.4 Halverson applies the same image personally: if God can work through imperfect record keepers, He can work on and through imperfect readers.6

The final phrase turns judgment around. The reader stands in judgment over the book for a time, but eventually every reader stands “at the judgment seat of Christ.” The goal is not to win an argument about a book. It is to become spotless through the Christ to whom the book points.

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

These introductory documents do not all use verse numbers. The commentary therefore follows each complete phrase or literary unit, accounting for the whole assigned reading rather than inventing verse divisions.

Title Page, Unit 1: “An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon”

“An account written by the hand of Mormon upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi.”

The first line identifies the volume as mediated history. Mormon is an abridger using earlier records. “Taken from” signals selection, and selection implies purpose. Later, Mormon explicitly says he writes for a future audience (Mormon 8:35).

Restoration parallel: Doctrine and Covenants 3:19–20 says the record was preserved so descendants could know their fathers and the Savior’s promises.

Come, Follow Me connection: Read not only for what happened but for why an editor placed this event here.

Title Page, Unit 2: “Written to the Lamanites … and Also to Jew and Gentile”

The audience is both particular and universal. The remnant is named first because covenant repair is central. “Jew and Gentile” then opens the circle to the rest of the world. Universal invitation does not erase the record’s first audience.

The phrase challenges readers who unconsciously treat themselves as owners of the text. Gentile readers receive a record that they are meant to carry back to covenant descendants. Receiving scripture creates responsibility to serve, not superiority.

Come, Follow Me connection: Ask, “When I read this passage, am I listening only for myself, or also for what God is saying to the people for whom the record was preserved?”

Title Page, Unit 3: Commandment, Prophecy, Revelation

“Written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation.”

The record keepers did not present their project as private antiquarian interest. They wrote under commission. Halverson suggests a reciprocal reading: if it was written by commandment, prophecy, and revelation, read with willingness to obey, testimony of Christ, and openness to personal revelation.6

That is a devotional application, not a lexical rule, but it is fruitful. Scripture study reaches its proper end when knowledge becomes covenant action.

Title Page, Unit 4: Sealed, Hidden, and Brought Forth

The repeated passive movements—written, sealed, hidden, preserved, brought forth—make God the quiet governor of the narrative. Centuries pass, civilizations fall, languages change, and the record still arrives “in due time.”

The text’s survival becomes part of its message: God remembers across long absences. The physical preservation of the plates enacts the covenant promise that a people are not cast off forever.

Come, Follow Me connection: What promise currently feels buried? “In due time” is not abandonment.

Title Page, Unit 5: The Jaredite Record

The Book of Ether widens the timeline beyond Lehi. Its mention on the title page warns the reader that the Book of Mormon is not one family’s uninterrupted history. It is a collection of civilizations, migrations, rises, collapses, and prophetic warnings.

The tower reference links the Book of Mormon to Genesis 11. The Bible and Book of Mormon are introduced as intersecting witnesses from the first page.

Title Page, Unit 6: “What Great Things the Lord Hath Done”

This is the first stated purpose. Freeman and Butler recommend tracking “great things” and tender mercies throughout the year.3 It is a powerful antidote to reading scripture as merely a catalog of human failures.

A simple journal practice:

In the textIn my life
What great thing did the Lord do?Where did I see the same divine character this week?

Come, Follow Me connection: Do not merely admire ancient deliverance. Let remembered deliverance train the eye to see present grace.

Title Page, Unit 7: “They Are Not Cast Off Forever”

This is the emotional center of the title page. Covenant is God’s refusal to let exile have the last word. Scattering may be real; consequences may be severe; generations may pass. But “not … forever” places a limit on abandonment.

The phrase speaks to nations, families, and individuals. Application should not erase its first concern for the remnant of Israel, but the God revealed here is consistently a God of return.

Restoration parallel: 3 Nephi 21:1–7 makes the Book of Mormon’s coming forth itself a sign that gathering has begun.

Title Page, Unit 8: “Jesus Is the Christ, the Eternal God”

The capitalization in modern editions visually declares the climax. Jesus is not merely an inspiring teacher who enters the Nephite story late. He is the premortal Lord who guides Lehi, the Lamb seen by Nephi, the Redeemer preached by Benjamin and Abinadi, the risen Lord at Bountiful, and the Judge before whom Moroni expects the reader to stand.

2 Nephi 25:26 gives the editorial heartbeat: “we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ.”

Come, Follow Me connection: At the end of every weekly block, complete the sentence: “This passage shows that Jesus is …”

Title Page, Unit 9: Faults and Spotlessness

The title page moves from possible faults in the record to possible spotlessness in the reader. The contrast is deliberate. The book does not promise flawless messengers; it points flawed people toward a flawless Savior.

Notice the pastoral wisdom: charitable reading is not gullibility. It is the discipline of refusing rash judgment while still examining claims. Moroni asks us to distinguish “mistakes of men” from “things of God.” Discernment is required.

Introduction, Paragraphs 1–3: Scripture Comparable to the Bible

The introduction describes the Book of Mormon as “a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible” and a record of God’s dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas. Comparable means a companion witness, not a replacement.

The “crowning event” is the resurrected Christ’s personal ministry. Freeman and Butler invite readers to look for that personal ministry from page one—not only when Jesus physically descends in 3 Nephi, but whenever He teaches, corrects, empowers, or rescues a person.3

Come, Follow Me connection: Read the Book of Mormon as the story of Jesus acting among ordinary people, not merely as stories about Nephi, Alma, or Ammon.

Introduction, Paragraphs 4–6: Plates, Translation, and Keystone

The introduction compresses a long history: records delivered to Joseph Smith, translation by God’s gift and power, and publication in 1830. The compression should prompt study of the fuller account rather than becoming a substitute for it.

The keystone statement adds a crucial verb: a person draws nearer to God by abiding by the book’s precepts. Reading that never changes conduct has stopped short of the promise.

Try this three-step pattern:

  1. Identify the precept.
  2. Name the concrete behavior it regulates.
  3. Practice it for one week.

Introduction, Final Paragraphs: Read, Ponder, Ask—and Continue the Dialogue

The introduction points to Moroni 10:3–5: read, remember mercy, ponder, and ask with sincerity, real intent, and faith in Christ.

“Real intent” keeps prayer from becoming an experiment in which the reader refuses every possible obligation. It means willingness to follow truth if received.

The final paragraph says the same power can reveal truths about Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and the Restoration. “By the same power” supports a continuing revelatory relationship, not a chain of unexamined assumptions.6

Testimony of Three Witnesses: “We Have Seen … and We Know”

The Three distinguish sight, hearing, knowledge, and command. Their repeated “we” makes this a shared testimony, while the named signatures preserve individual accountability.

They end by invoking the judgment seat of Christ. Like the title page, their statement is eschatological: they expect to answer for whether they testified truthfully.

Restoration parallel: Doctrine and Covenants 17:1–6 promises the witnesses a view of the plates and other sacred objects and commands testimony.

Testimony of Eight Witnesses: “We Have Seen and Hefted”

The Eight’s statement emphasizes sensory verbs: showed, seen, handled, hefted, saw, turned. “Appearance of gold” and “appearance of ancient work” are careful descriptions rather than claims of metallurgical or linguistic expertise.

Their restraint is a strength. Honest testimony names what one knows and does not claim what one has not established.

Come, Follow Me connection: When bearing testimony, separate personal experience, historical inference, and revealed conviction. Precision makes witness more trustworthy.

Joseph Smith’s Testimony, Unit 1: Prayer and Light

Joseph begins by calling upon God. Light grows until the room is brighter than noon. Halverson’s application is to watch for increasing light over a year of study: not necessarily instant certainty on every question, but a real change in illumination.6

Come, Follow Me connection: Record your starting questions now. Revisit them at midyear and year-end.

Joseph Smith’s Testimony, Unit 2: Moroni Repeats the Message

Moroni returns repeatedly through the night and again the next day. Repetition is not wasted revelation. Each retelling engraves the stewardship and adds instruction.

A message from God may need to be heard more than once because the hearer is changing between hearings.

Joseph Smith’s Testimony, Unit 3: Annual Returns and Delayed Possession

Joseph sees the plates in 1823 and receives them in 1827. Sacred desire is not the same as readiness. The annual visits teach patience, motives, and accountability.

Come, Follow Me connection: Where has God answered “yes, but not yet”? What formation might the waiting be producing?

Joseph Smith’s Testimony, Unit 4: Translation and Return

Joseph receives the record under strict conditions, translates by divine help with mortal scribes, and returns the plates to Moroni. Stewardship has an end: the servant does not own the gift.

This arc—receive, preserve, use, return—applies to every calling and capacity. Gifts are entrusted for God’s purposes.

Brief Explanation: A Map for Hearing Multiple Voices

The brief explanation keeps readers from assuming every word comes directly from Nephi or Mormon. It distinguishes source plates and editorial layers. That awareness helps with later transitions such as Words of Mormon, Mormon’s comments inside Alma, and Moroni’s abridgment of Ether.

Come, Follow Me connection: When a narrator interrupts, mark it. Ask what the editor wants the latter-day reader to notice.

Assigned introductory pages

Important parallels

Teaching Illustrations

1. The Overture

Play the opening minute of a familiar film score. Ask listeners to identify themes that return later. Then read the title page and assign three colors: great things, covenants, and Christ. Use those colors throughout the year. The lesson’s opening becomes a listening guide for the whole volume.

2. The Three-Speaker System

Draw a left speaker, center soundbar, and right speaker. Label them:

  • Great things God has done;
  • Covenants—not cast off forever;
  • Jesus is the Christ.

Choose a later chapter and ask which speaker is loudest. Then ask what disappears if one speaker is unplugged. This preserves Woodward’s memorable illustration while keeping all three textual purposes visible.4

3. Heaven and Hands

Place two cards on a table: HEAVEN and HANDS. Under HEAVEN list the Three Witnesses’ angel, divine voice, and command. Under HANDS list the Eight Witnesses’ handling, hefting, leaves, and engravings. Discuss why a wise witness design might include both revealed and tangible testimony.

4. The Keystone and the Anchor Bolt

First build or draw an arch and identify the keystone as a load-bearing, distributing stone. Then show a climbing anchor. Ask:

  • What weight does the Book of Mormon help carry?
  • What is the difference between never slipping and being securely anchored?
  • Which Book of Mormon precept has held you when another part of faith felt uncertain?

5. The Sealed Time Capsule

Invite learners to imagine writing one page to descendants a thousand years in the future after their society has collapsed. What would they preserve? Moroni’s answer is not military strategy or cultural pride. It is covenant memory and witness of Christ.

A Seven-Day Study Pattern

DayReadingPractice
1Title page, first paragraphCircle every verb describing how the record was written, preserved, and brought forth.
2Title page, second paragraphMake three columns for great things, covenants, and Christ.
3IntroductionChoose one Book of Mormon precept you intend to abide by, not merely study.
4Three and Eight WitnessesList exactly what each group claims; do not add or subtract.
5Joseph Smith’s testimony, first halfWrite about a time revelation required waiting and preparation.
6Joseph Smith’s testimony, second half; Brief ExplanationDraw the chain from plates → editors → translator → witnesses → reader.
7Moroni 10:3–5; D&C 84:54–58Pray with real intent, then write one action your reading requires.

Questions for Study or Teaching

  1. If the title page is the book’s overture, which of its three themes have you heard most clearly in past readings? Which has been nearly silent?
  2. Why does the title page address the remnant of Israel before “Jew and Gentile”? How might that order correct a Gentile reader’s sense of ownership?
  3. What is the difference between being shown God’s “great things” and merely reading religious history?
  4. Where do you currently fear being “cast off forever”? What does covenant change about the word forever?
  5. What does “manifesting himself unto all nations” teach about the reach of the resurrected Christ?
  6. In what sense can the Book of Mormon be a witness, a covenant history, and a covenant invitation at once?
  7. Compare the verbs in the testimonies of the Three and Eight Witnesses. What does each group responsibly claim—and not claim?
  8. Why is continued witness after conflict with Joseph Smith historically significant? Why does it still not eliminate the need for personal revelation?
  9. Joseph waited four years to receive the plates. What sacred trust in your life requires more formation before possession or action?
  10. How can you acknowledge “mistakes of men” without either dismissing God’s work or pretending mortal instruments are flawless?
  11. Joseph Smith promised nearness to God through abiding by precepts. Which precept will become behavior this week?
  12. What have you personally seen because of the Book of Mormon? What do you know, and how do you know it?

Personal Application: Sign Only What You Can Honestly Say

The opening pages are full of signatures: ancient editors engrave names into a record; modern witnesses place names beneath testimonies; Joseph Smith gives his history. The reader is next—not to imitate claims that belong to others, but to add an honest witness.

Write three lines:

I have read: …

I have seen in my life: …

By study, lived experience, and the Holy Ghost, I know or hope: …

Then choose a precept to live. The Book of Mormon’s invitation is not merely, “Decide what you think about our testimony.” It is, “Come to Christ, enter His covenant, and become the kind of person whose life can bear truthful witness.”

Pulling It Together

The opening pages belong together because they form a chain of custody and a chain of invitation:

God acts → prophets write → editors abridge → Moroni seals → Joseph translates → witnesses testify → readers ask → disciples abide.

The chain ends only if the reader treats the book as an artifact. It continues when a reader recognizes God’s great things, remembers covenant, comes to Jesus Christ, and lives what the book teaches.

The title page’s last movement is the week’s deepest paradox: an imperfectly mediated book invites imperfect readers to become spotless before Christ. The answer to human weakness is not denial; it is the Eternal God manifesting Himself to all nations and working through mortal hands.

Internal Vault Connections

Annotated Source Guide

Official and scriptural sources

  • Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Book of Mormon 2024, January 1–7. Establishes the exact title and assigned front matter; emphasizes Christ, witness, the coming forth, keystone, and a yearlong reading plan.1
  • Book of Mormon introductory pages. The primary assigned text. Interpretive claims in this guide are subordinate to the actual title page, introduction, witness statements, Joseph Smith testimony, and brief explanation.
  • Church History Topics, “Witnesses of the Book of Mormon.” Useful official historical orientation to the witnesses and others who encountered the plates.8

Scholarly sources

  • BYU Studies Come, Follow Me index, lesson 1. Curates title-page studies and witness scholarship; especially useful because it surfaces textual history rather than only devotional commentary.9
  • Daniel H. Ludlow, “The Title Page.” Best contribution: manuscript, punctuation, paragraphing, and authorship questions. His Mormon/Moroni division is explicitly a scholarly proposal.2
  • Mitchell K. Schaefer, “‘The Testimony of Men.’” Best contribution: publication and context of McLellin’s later witness recollections, including the source’s limitations.7

2024 and local series sources

  • followHIM, Casey Griffiths and Scott Woodward. Best contributions: three-purpose “sound system,” natural/revelatory witness pairing, title page as actual text, translation overview, and the honest conclusion that evidence demands serious study without mechanically proving faith claims.4
  • Unshaken, Jared Halverson. Best contributions: Orson Spencer’s open investigation, title-page phrase-by-phrase reading, human/divine fingerprints, mind-and-heart witnesses, keystone as anchor, and revelation as dialogue rather than dominoes.6
  • Don’t Miss This, Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler. Best contributions: the “great things” tracking practice, Mormon’s loving first audience, Christ’s personal ministry, and writing one’s own honest witness.3
  • Gospel Talktrine, Mark Holt. Best contribution: a clearly labeled devotional reading of “testament” as scriptural witness, covenant history, and present covenant invitation through D&C 84.5

Local collection audit

Matching local material was found and used from all four Book of Mormon collections specified by the vault instructions: Unshaken, Don’t Miss This, Gospel Talktrine, and the 2024 followHIM show-notes/transcript PDF. No separate matching Scripture Central transcript was found in the local Sources/Series inventory during this run; the BYU Studies lesson index supplied the scholarly layer instead. This reports only this run’s search, not permanent unavailability.

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Footnotes

Footnotes

  1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “January 1–7: Another Testament of Jesus Christ—Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon,” Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Book of Mormon 2024 (2023), https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/come-follow-me-for-home-and-church-book-of-mormon-2024/01?lang=eng. Official Church curriculum. The page title and body establish the exact lesson title and assigned unit. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Daniel H. Ludlow, “The Title Page,” in The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1988), 19–34, https://rsc.byu.edu/book-mormon-first-nephi-doctrinal-foundation/title-page. Local source note: Sources/Website/The Title Page - Daniel H. Ludlow.md. Historical and literary scholarship, not an official doctrinal declaration. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler, “Come Follow Me Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon (Dec 30–Jan 5),” Don’t Miss This (2020 curriculum cycle), local transcript: Sources/Series/Don't Miss This/Book of Mormon/Come Follow Me Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon (Dec 30-Jan 5).md, source video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc3nLHeNWpE. Devotional teaching. Used for the “great things” practice, loving audience, Christ-centered lens, and personal-witness exercise; not treated as official history. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. Hank Smith and John Bytheway with Casey Griffiths and Scott Woodward, “Another Testament of Jesus Christ—Introductory Pages,” followHIM: A Come, Follow Me Podcast (2024). Local PDF: Sources/PDFs/followhim_book_of_mormon_2024/BM-01-Dr.-Casey-Griffiths-and-Dr.-Scott-Woodward-Introductory-Pages-followHIM-Podcast-SHOW-NOTES.pdf; extracted searchable transcript: Sources/PDFs/followhim_book_of_mormon_2024/BM-01-Dr.-Casey-Griffiths-and-Dr.-Scott-Woodward-Introductory-Pages-followHIM-Podcast-SHOW-NOTES.md. Faithful historical commentary and devotional interpretation. The transcript itself cautions that historical complexity does not mechanically prove the book’s divine claims but warrants serious study. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  5. Mark Holt, “Intro Pages to the Book of Mormon” (S03E01), Gospel Talktrine, local transcript: Sources/Series/Gospel Talktrine/Book of Mormon/S03E01 - Intro Pages to the Book of Mormon.md. Devotional interpretation. Holt explicitly labels parts of his subtitle discussion as his opinion; his threefold reading is used as a teaching lens, not as documented intent behind the 1982 subtitle. ↩ ↩2

  6. Jared Halverson, “Come Follow Me—Introduction to the Book of Mormon,” Unshaken (2024), local transcript: Sources/Series/Unshaken/Book of Mormon/Come Follow Me - Introduction to the Book of Mormon.md, source video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rECiIc5Ctak. Devotional and historical interpretation. Especially useful for Orson Spencer, the mind/heart witness comparison, keystone/anchor metaphors, and dialogue rather than dominoes. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  7. Mitchell K. Schaefer, “‘The Testimony of Men’: William E. McLellin and the Book of Mormon Witnesses,” BYU Studies 50, no. 1 (2011): 99–110, https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-testimony-of-men-william-e-mclellin-and-the-book-of-mormon-witnesses. Local source note: Sources/Website/The Testimony of Men - William E. McLellin and the Book of Mormon Witnesses.md. Historical scholarship. McLellin’s circa-1871 manuscript is later, secondhand corroboration and is identified as such. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Witnesses of the Book of Mormon,” Church History Topics, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/witnesses-of-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng. Official Church historical overview. ↩

  9. “Another Testament of Jesus Christ,” BYU Studies Come, Follow Me—Book of Mormon, lesson 1, https://byustudies.byu.edu/come-follow-me/book-of-mormon/1. Scholarly resource index. Its lesson-specific list includes Ludlow’s title-page study, Jay E. Jensen on the book’s purposes, Nathaniel Wadsworth on copyright, and witness studies by Schaefer and others. ↩

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