Sunday, March 10, 2019

Moroni 3 and the Formula (Wording) of Ordination to Priesthood Offices

Moroni 3 is a record of the formula (wording) used by the the Nephites, while under the New Covenant, to ordain priests and teachers. In verse 3, we read of the formula they used:

In the name of Jesus Christ I ordain you to be a priest, (or, if he be a teacher) I ordain you to be a teacher, to preach repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ, by the endurance of faith on his name to the end. Amen.

This, of course, is different to the wording used in the modern Church. An outline of such an ordination is found on this page, for example.

Such is not the only difference between modern Latter-day Saint formulas for ordinances and those in ancient times (e.g., Book of Mormon; New Testament) and even in recent Latter-day Saint history. See, for e.g.:



What ultimately is important is that the formula used in an ordinance is univocal (that is, what the minister of the ordinance [priesthood holder] wishes to affect is clear from the wording used) and such a formula has ecclesiastical support (as the Church holds the keys of the kingdom and can bind and loose [cf. Matt 16:18-19; 18:18; D&C 128:2, 10]).

I hope to discuss such topics in greater detail in a forthcoming book on Latter-day Saint theology of baptism and the Eucharist. Until then, I would recommend the following excellent book:


Jonathan A. Stapley, The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology (Oxford University Press, 2018)