Is the Book of Mormon another testament of Jesus Christ?
God has never stopped speaking. Just as he gave the Bible through prophets in the Old World, he gave the Book of Mormon through prophets in the Americas as another testament of Jesus Christ. Rejecting it because 'we already have a Bible' limits God. Galatians 1:8 condemns a different gospel, not more scripture, and the Book of Mormon teaches the same Christ.
— Latter-day Saint teaching; see 2 Nephi 29:3-10, Articles of Faith 1:8-9, and the Book of Mormon subtitle adopted in 1982
Christians agree that God can speak, and the question is not whether he may give revelation but whether this book is from him. Scripture tells us how to test any new message: does it agree with what God has already revealed? The apostles taught that the faith was delivered once for all and that God's final word is his Son. The Book of Mormon is tied to a wider restoration that teaches a different God and a different way of salvation, so it cannot be a further testament to the same gospel.
What Scripture says
6I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse! 9As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse!
Paul says even an angel preaching a gospel contrary to the apostolic one is to be accursed.
1On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. 2But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
God spoke in many ways through the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken by his Son.
3Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.
The faith was delivered to the saints once for all.
16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.
Scripture is God-breathed and equips the believer completely for every good work.
1If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, 2and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,” 3you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4You are to follow the LORD your God and fear Him. Keep His commandments and listen to His voice; serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.
Even a prophet who performs a sign is to be rejected if he leads people toward gods they have not known.
1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Believers must test the spirits, because many false prophets have gone out.
20To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
Every claimed message must be measured by God's law and testimony.
9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
The human heart is deceitful, which is why feelings cannot be the final test of truth.
The case
The Latter-day Saint view
Latter-day Saints hold the Bible as the word of God "as far as it is translated correctly" (Articles of Faith 1:8), and they hold the Book of Mormon to be the word of God as well. Since 1982 the book has carried the subtitle Another Testament of Jesus Christ, chosen to make its purpose clear. Its own pages anticipate the objection: in 2 Nephi 29 the Lord rebukes those who say "A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible," and argues that God speaks to many nations. The book also teaches that "plain and precious" parts were taken from the Bible (1 Nephi 13:26-29) and are restored through the Book of Mormon.
That is a fair and serious argument. Christians should not answer it by saying God cannot speak. The real question is how anyone can tell whether a new message is from God.
How the Bible tells us to test a message
Scripture gives a consistent answer: new revelation must agree with what God has already revealed about himself.
- Moses: Even a prophet whose sign comes true is to be rejected if he leads people after other gods (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Fulfilled signs and powerful experiences are not enough.
- Isaiah: Messages are to be tested "to the teaching and to the testimony" (Isaiah 8:20).
- The Bereans: They examined the Scriptures daily to see whether even Paul's message was true (Acts 17:11).
- Paul: If anyone, even "an angel from heaven," preaches a gospel contrary to the one the apostles preached, he is accursed (Galatians 1:8). The Book of Mormon came, by Joseph Smith's account, through an angel named Moroni. Paul's test applies directly.
Latter-day Saints point out, correctly, that Galatians 1:8 is about a different gospel, not about the number of books. Christians agree. So the test is content.
Applying the test
Read on its own, much of the Book of Mormon uses language about God and Christ that sounds close to traditional Christianity. But the book is not offered on its own. It is the keystone of a restoration that also teaches, through Joseph Smith's later revelations and sermons, that:
| Topic | Apostolic gospel | Restoration teaching |
|---|---|---|
| God | One eternal God who was never a man | God the Father an exalted man with a body of flesh and bones (D&C 130:22) |
| Human destiny | Glorified creatures who share God's life by grace | Exaltation to become gods (D&C 132:20) |
| The church | Never overcome (Matthew 16:18) | Lost authority for centuries, then restored |
| Scripture | The faith delivered once for all (Jude 3) | An open canon, with the Bible corrupted in places |
If these teachings are true, the gospel the apostles preached was incomplete. If the apostolic gospel is true, these teachings are a different message. Either way, they are not the same gospel with extra chapters.
God's final word
Hebrews opens by contrasting how God spoke "long ago, at many times and in many ways" through the prophets with how he has now spoken "by his Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2). The Son is not one more messenger in a series; he is the radiance of God's glory. The apostles were his chosen witnesses, and their testimony, written in the New Testament, is sufficient to make us "complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17). Christians are not closed to God; they are confident that in Jesus he has already said everything we need for salvation.
The Book of Mormon's claim that the Bible lost "plain and precious" truths also faces a historical problem. The New Testament is preserved in thousands of Greek manuscripts, some within a few generations of the originals. Their variations are real but mostly minor, and no lost body of doctrine has been found in them.
Why it matters
Many Latter-day Saints come to love Jesus through the Book of Mormon, and that love is real. The invitation is to follow that love to its source: the apostolic testimony of the New Testament. There we meet a Savior who is God from eternity, who finished the work of salvation on the cross, and who gives himself freely to all who believe. Nothing needs to be added to him.
Word study
greek · “accursed, devoted to destruction” · Galatians 1:8
In the Greek Old Testament the word renders the Hebrew herem, something devoted to God for destruction. Paul uses the strongest language available and applies it even to himself or 'an angel from heaven'. The point is that the content of the gospel is fixed by what the apostles preached; a messenger's glory, even an angel's, cannot authorize a different message.
“But what about…?”
Galatians 1:8 is about a different gospel, not more scripture. Isn't that right?
Yes, and that is the right question. Paul is not banning further writing; he himself was writing Scripture. The test is content. So the issue is whether the gospel of the Restoration (God as an exalted man, many gods, exaltation through temple ordinances) is the same gospel the apostles preached. Historic Christians conclude it is not.
Didn't the Bible itself grow over time? Why close it now?
It did grow, but it reached its climax in Jesus. Hebrews 1:1-2 contrasts the many times God spoke through prophets with his final word in his Son, and the apostles were Christ's appointed witnesses to that word. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians agree that no new public revelation is to be expected before Christ returns (see Vatican II, Dei Verbum 4).
What about praying about it, as Moroni 10:4 invites?
Prayer is good, and Christians should pray for wisdom. But Scripture never makes a feeling the test of whether a message is from God. It tells us to test messages against what God has already said (Deuteronomy 13:1-5; Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1). Sincere people of many faiths report a spiritual witness to contradictory claims.
Doesn't the Book of Mormon talk about Jesus a lot?
It does, and some passages describe him in very traditional terms. But 'another testament' depends on what kind of Jesus it testifies to within the full restoration Joseph Smith taught, including his later revelations about God and exaltation. Paul warned that a different Jesus can be preached in the same name (2 Corinthians 11:4).
Where Christians differ
Go deeper
- lecture · 1982Scriptures (General Conference address announcing the subtitle 'Another Testament of Jesus Christ')Boyd K. Packer
- book · 1988The Canon of ScriptureF. F. Bruce
- book · 2012Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament BooksMichael J. Kruger
- book · 1997How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in ConversationCraig L. Blomberg & Stephen E. Robinson
- book · 2007Claiming Christ: A Mormon-Evangelical DebateRobert L. Millet & Gerald R. McDermott
- article · 1965Second Vatican Council
Sources (7)
- Book of Mormon, title page and subtitle 'Another Testament of Jesus Christ' (added 1982; announced by Boyd K. Packer at the October 1982 general conference)
- 2 Nephi 29:3-10: the 'A Bible! A Bible!' passage defending further scripture
- 1 Nephi 13:26-29: plain and precious parts said to be removed from the Bible
- Articles of Faith 1:8: the Bible accepted 'as far as it is translated correctly'
- Moroni 10:4-5: the invitation to pray about the truth of the book
- Doctrine and Covenants 130:22; 132:20
- Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum 4 (1965); Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 66
Related questions
Is there historical and archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon?
The Book of Mormon presents itself as real history: large nations, cities, wars, metals, crops and animals in the ancient Americas over a thousand years. Christians are glad to have faith tested by history, as Luke and Paul invite. But after nearly two centuries of searching, no Book of Mormon city, person, inscription or language has been identified, and several items it describes are not found in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Bible's world, by contrast, is full of verified places, rulers and peoples.
Are Mormons Christians?
Many Latter-day Saints sincerely love Jesus and live admirable lives, and that should be honored. But the question is not about sincerity or morals. It is whether Latter-day Saint teaching about God and Christ is the same as the faith the apostles handed down. On central points, such as whether there is one eternal God, whether God was once a man, and whether the Son is eternally God, it differs, and the Church itself says it rejects the historic creeds. So the honest answer is that Latter-day Saints follow a different account of Jesus than historic Christianity confesses.
Was there a Great Apostasy that required the gospel to be restored?
Jesus promised that the gates of Hades would not prevail against his church and that he would be with his people to the end of the age. The New Testament warns of false teachers and a falling away, but never of a total loss of truth and authority. The writings of the earliest Christians after the apostles show the same gospel continuing: Jesus as Lord and God, his atoning death and resurrection, and baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus himself holds an unending priesthood, so it could not be lost.
This entry is a draft and has not yet been theologically reviewed.