Where we are
This chapter does two great things: it settles, with the Lord's own voice, the question of the law of Moses that had divided the Nephites for a generation; and it opens one of the most beautiful visions in all of scripture — the vision of the one flock, the scattered sheep of Israel in every land, gathered at last under one shepherd. The two are connected, because both are about Christ's universality: he is the One who gave the law and now fulfills it, and he is the One Shepherd whose voice will gather sheep the Jews at Jerusalem never knew existed. The chapter is the resolution of the old covenant into Christ and the opening of the new vision of a gathered, worldwide Israel — and it turns, at its center, on the stunning revelation that these Nephites, on the far side of the world, are themselves the "other sheep" Jesus had spoken of in Jerusalem.
Start with the law, because the multitude is confused about it. Jesus had said old things are done away, and all things have become new (3 Ne. 12:47), and some marveled, and wondered what he would concerning the law of Moses (v. 2). Was the law abolished? Discarded? Jesus clarifies with precision, and his answer is one of the clearest statements of the relationship between the law and Christ anywhere in scripture. I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end (v. 5). Note who is speaking: I am he that gave the law. The Christ standing before them is the very God who gave the law of Moses at Sinai — the law was his all along, given by him, pointing to him. And so its fulfillment in him is not its destruction but its completion: a thing reaches its end not by being thrown away but by arriving at its purpose. The law had a purpose — to point to Christ — and now that Christ has come and fulfilled it, the law hath an end, the way a road ends when it reaches its destination. But — and this is crucial — the prophets are not all fulfilled, and the covenant is not all accomplished: the covenant which I have made with my people is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me (v. 8). The ceremonial law ends; the covenant promises continue, reaching toward the great gathering yet to come.
And then the magnificent self-declaration: Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life (v. 9). The law was never finally a set of rules; it was a person, and now that person stands before them and says I am the law. Everything the law pointed to — every sacrifice, every commandment, every type — was pointing to him, and so he can say I am the law and I am the light. And the new commandment that replaces the old code is not a code at all but a relationship: Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live. This echoes the brazen serpent (look and live) and gathers the whole law into the single act of looking to Christ and enduring. The old law had hundreds of commandments; the new law has one direction — look unto me — and one duration — endure to the end. The law has become the Lawgiver; the code has become the Christ.
Then the chapter turns to its second great theme, and it is one of the loveliest in the Book of Mormon. Jesus reveals to the twelve a mystery that the Jews at Jerusalem had never understood. When he was in Jerusalem, he had said, other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd (v. 17, quoting John 10:16). The Jews supposed it had been the Gentiles (v. 22), but they were wrong. The "other sheep" were these very Nephites — ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold (v. 21). The Christ who appeared in Jerusalem had been speaking, that whole time, of a people on the other side of the world that the Jerusalem disciples had no idea existed. And there are yet other tribes the Father has led away (vv. 15, 20) that even the Nephites do not know of. The word study below opens up the one of one fold, one shepherd; but feel the breadth of the vision. Christ's flock is not the Jews only, nor the Jews and Nephites only, but sheep scattered across the whole earth, in folds none of the others know about, all of whom hear his voice — and all of whom will be gathered, at the last, into one fold under one shepherd. The Good Shepherd has sheep everywhere, and he will leave none of them lost.
The chapter has two movements.
- The law fulfilled in Christ (vv. 1–10). Jesus clarifies the multitude's confusion: the law of Moses is fulfilled and ended in him, its giver; the prophets and the covenant are not yet all fulfilled; I am the law, and the light — look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live.
- The other sheep and the one fold (vv. 11–24). To the twelve: the Nephites are a remnant of Joseph in their land of inheritance; the Jews supposed the "other sheep" were the Gentiles, but the Nephites are those other sheep, separated for Jewish iniquity, with yet other tribes led away — all to be gathered into one fold under one shepherd.
The verses to carry are these. Verse 9 names the new law — I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live. Verse 17 names the vision — other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring... and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. And verse 24 names the assurance — ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me. The chapter exists to resolve the law of Moses into Christ — its giver, fulfillment, end, and light — and to open the vision of the one worldwide flock gathered under one Shepherd.
The law fulfilled in Christ (verses 1–10)
Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end. — 3 Nephi 15:5
The multitude is confused about the law of Moses — Jesus had said old things had passed away, and some among them... marveled... for they understood not the saying (v. 2). Was the law, the center of their religious life for fifteen centuries, simply gone? Jesus answers with one of the clearest explanations of the law's relationship to Christ in all of scripture, and the key is who he is. Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel (v. 5). The Christ standing before them is the very God of Sinai, the One who gave Moses the law and made the covenant with Israel. The law was never something separate from Christ, opposed to Christ, or in competition with Christ; it was his, given by him, designed by him to point to him. And so when he says the law in me is fulfilled... therefore it hath an end, he does not mean the law has been discarded but that it has reached its purpose. A road comes to an end when it arrives at its destination; a prophecy comes to an end when it is fulfilled; a type comes to an end when its substance appears. The law was a road to Christ, a prophecy of Christ, a type of Christ — and now that Christ has come, the road has reached its end, the prophecy is fulfilled, the type has met its substance. It hath an end in me (v. 8) — not abolished, but completed, arrived, fulfilled.
But Jesus is careful to distinguish what ends from what continues. I do not destroy the prophets, for as many as have not been fulfilled in me... shall all be fulfilled (v. 6); the covenant which I have made with my people is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me (v. 8). The ceremonial law — the sacrifices, the ordinances of the old covenant — ends, because it pointed to his death, which has now occurred. But the prophecies and the covenant promises — the great oaths to Abraham and the house of Israel about the gathering, the redemption, the eternal blessing — are not finished; they reach forward to events still to come (the very gathering this chapter is about to describe). So the law of Moses ends; the covenant of Abraham continues. The shadow is fulfilled; the promise is still unfolding. This is a careful and important distinction that resolves the Nephites' confusion: they need not keep the law of Moses (it is fulfilled), but neither are they to think God's covenant dealings are over (they are still in progress, with the greatest gathering yet ahead).
And then the self-declaration that gathers it all up: Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live (v. 9). This is the resolution of the whole question. The law was never finally a code; it was a Christ-in-figure, and now the figure has become flesh and stands before them, so he can say, simply, I am the law. Everything the law commanded, every righteousness it required, every life it pointed toward — all of it is summed up and embodied in him. And the new commandment is correspondingly simple: not a code of hundreds of rules but a single relationship — look unto me, and endure to the end. Look unto me — the same call as the brazen serpent, the gaze of faith fixed on Christ; endure to the end — the perseverance that holds that gaze through a lifetime. And the promise: ye shall live... unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life (v. 9). The whole law of Moses, with its endless particulars, has become this: look to Christ, hold on to the end, and live. This is the law and the prophets, for they truly testified of me (v. 10) — the entire weight of the old scriptures was always testimony of him, and now the One they testified of has come to receive the gaze they directed toward him.
The other sheep and the one fold (verses 11–24)
And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. — 3 Nephi 15:21
Now Jesus turns to the twelve and reveals a mystery that opens the vision of the whole chapter — and indeed of the whole Book of Mormon. He first names who these Nephites are: ye are a light unto this people, who are a remnant of the house of Joseph (v. 12), in the land of your inheritance (v. 13). They are the remnant of Joseph, the surviving seed, exactly as Mormon declared in chapter 5 and chapter 10. And then Jesus tells them something astonishing about his ministry in Jerusalem. When he was there, he had spoken of other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd (v. 17, quoting his own words from John 10:16) — but because of stiffneckedness and unbelief they understood not my word (v. 18). The Jews supposed it had been the Gentiles (v. 22) — they assumed the "other sheep" must be the nations outside Israel. They were wrong. Ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold (v. 21). The "other sheep" were these Nephites — a whole branch of Israel, on the far side of the world, that the Jerusalem disciples never imagined existed.
Sit with the wonder of this. While Jesus walked in Galilee and spoke of "other sheep," he was speaking, the whole time, of a people thousands of miles away that no one in Jerusalem knew about. The Good Shepherd's flock was always larger than anyone in Jerusalem could see. And it is larger still than even the Nephites can see: the other tribes hath the Father separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of them (v. 20) — there are yet other lost tribes of Israel, led away by the Father to places unknown even to the Nephites. The flock of Christ is scattered across the whole earth, in folds that do not know of one another, each hearing the Shepherd's voice. And the great promise is the gathering of them all: there shall be one fold, and one shepherd (vv. 17, 21). The word study below opens up that one; but feel the scope of the vision. The scattered sheep of Israel — the Jews at Jerusalem, the Nephites in this land, the lost tribes in places unknown, and (chapter 16 will add) sheep yet to be reached — will all, at the last, be gathered into one flock under one Shepherd. The divisions of geography and history and ignorance, the scattering that sin and exile and the Father's hidden purposes produced, will all be overcome, and the Good Shepherd will have one flock at last, every sheep that ever heard his voice gathered home.
And there is deep comfort in why the Nephites were separated, and in their security. Ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity — the Jews' iniquity, not the Nephites' — therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you (v. 19). The Nephites' existence was hidden from the Jews because of Jewish unbelief; the scattering was, in part, a protection, preserving a faithful branch away from a faithless center. And to these other sheep, the Shepherd gives the assurance the Jerusalem disciples could not yet receive: ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me (v. 24). The Nephites have done what the Jerusalem disciples did — heard his voice — and more: they have seen him. They are his sheep, numbered among the Father's gift to the Son, secure in the flock. The chapter that began by resolving the law into the Lawgiver ends by gathering the scattered sheep into the Shepherd — and the same Christ who is the law and the light is the one Shepherd who will leave no sheep, in any fold, anywhere on earth, finally lost.
How the chapter is built
3 Nephi 15 is built as a two-part resolution and revelation, and Mormon structures it so that both parts turn on the universality of Christ. The first part resolves the law (vv. 1–10): the law of Moses is fulfilled and ended in Christ, its giver and its substance, because Christ is the law and the light to whom the whole law pointed. The second part reveals the flock (vv. 11–24): the scattered sheep of Israel, in folds the Jews never knew, are all Christ's, to be gathered into one fold under one shepherd. The architecture connects the two through Christ's identity: he is the one who gave the law and fulfills it, and he is the one Shepherd whose voice gathers every fold. The law-question (which had divided the Nephites since chapter 1) and the flock-vision (which opens the gathering theme of the whole book) are both answered by the same truth — that Christ is the center and the unifier of all things, the Lawgiver who is the Law, the Shepherd who is the One. By placing the law's fulfillment and the flock's gathering in a single chapter, Mormon shows that the end of the old covenant and the opening of the new gathering are two faces of one event: the coming of the Christ who fulfills the law and gathers the sheep.
And the chapter is built as the hinge that turns the sermon outward — from the Nephites in front of him to the whole scattered house of Israel and, in the next chapter, to the Gentiles and the latter days. Up to this point, Christ's ministry has been to the gathered multitude at the temple; here, he lifts their eyes to a vastly larger horizon — the lost tribes, the other folds, the one worldwide flock — and the next chapter will extend it further still, to the Gentiles and to us, the latter-day readers. Mormon structures the chapter as the widening of the lens: the law fulfilled for this people opens into the gathering of all the scattered sheep, and the revelation that the Nephites were themselves the unknown "other sheep" of Jerusalem prepares the reader to learn, in chapter 16, that there are sheep yet unknown to the Nephites — including, ultimately, the Gentile reader holding this record. The chapter is built to make the reader feel the scope of Christ's flock and the certainty of its gathering: that the Good Shepherd, who is one, has sheep in every land and fold, hidden from one another by sin and scattering and the Father's purposes, all of whom hear his voice, and all of whom — every one, in every fold, across all the earth — he will bring, until there is one fold, and one shepherd. The law has found its end in the Lawgiver; the flock will find its unity in the Shepherd; and the gathering of Israel, which the rest of 3 Nephi will unfold, begins here, in the vision of the one flock that no scattering can finally divide.