On this occasion, Jesus gave the sacramental instructions and injunctions himself. Naturally, he spoke personally and in the first person. So, he told people they did this “in remembrance of my body,” and told them to “always remember me.” Of course, when we read in Moroni 4, the prayer on the blessing of the bread has been recast into the third person. It says, “remember him.” These words of blessing and sanctifying have been switched from the first and second person in 3 Nephi 18 to the third person in Moroni 4–5.
I presume that this change probably happened very early after Jesus’s visit. Jesus administered the sacrament immediately a second time on the next day (3 Nephi 20:3–5), and again on the third day (3 Nephi 26:13). Having seen this done regularly, the disciples soon would have standardized this formality as the elders and priests continued to administer “the flesh and blood of Christ unto the church, … according to the commandments of Christ,” and wherefore, they said, “we know the manner to be true” (Moroni 4:1). As they then did this, they would have retained the main words and expressions that Jesus himself had used. It would make sense that Nephi, as the chief disciple, decided which of Jesus’ words they were going to use, and how they were going to repeat what Jesus had done in administering the sacrament.
Indeed, most of the important words in our sacrament prayers are already to be found in the words of Jesus recorded in 3 Nephi 18:5–11. We can see how those sacred words have been adjusted grammatically to make clear sense when spoken, as an ordinance, by a representative of Christ in a congregational setting. After these prayers were formalized, they were then faithfully preserved, handed down, and included by Moroni among the treasured priesthood documents and along with three personal letters from his father that Moroni included at the end of the record, in Moroni 2–9, before sealing the plates and burying the record.
As you read the following words in 3 Nephi 18, take note of the bolded words in particular. They are the direct antecedents of our precious sacrament prayers:
5Behold there shall one be ordained among you, and to him will I give power that he shall break bread and bless it and give it unto the people of my church, unto all those who shall believe and be baptized in my name. 6And this shall ye always observe to do, even as I have done, even as I have broken bread and blessed it and given it unto you. 7And this shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony [witness] unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.
8And it came to pass that when he said these words, he commanded his disciples that they should take of the wine of the cup and drink of it, and that they should also give unto the multitude that they might drink of it. … 10And when the disciples had done this, Jesus said unto them: Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done, for this is fulfilling my commandments, and this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you. 11And this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.
Here is a chart that helps trace the words in the sacrament prayers precisely back into the words of Jesus at the ending of his first day among the people of Bountiful:
Moroni 4 | 3 Nephi 18 |
O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, | ask the Father in my name (3 Nephi 18:20) |
to bless and sanctify this bread | he took of the bread and break and blessedit (3 Nephi 18:3) |
to the souls of all those who partake of it; that | unto all those whoshall believe (3 Nephi 18:5) |
they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son | this shall ye do in remembrance of my bodywhich I have shown unto you (3 Nephi 18:7) |
and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father | it shall be a testimony unto the Father(3 Nephi 18:7) |
that they are willing to take upon them | that ye are willing todo (3 Nephi 18:10) |
the name of thy Son, and always remember him, | that ye do always remember me (3 Nephi 18:7) |
and keep his commandments which he hath given them, | that which I have commanded you (3 Nephi 18:10) |
that they may always have his Spirit to be with them, Amen. | ye shall have my Spirit to be with you (3 Nephi 18:7) |
Moroni 5 | 3 Nephi 18 |
O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, | ask the Father in my name (3 Nephi 18:20) |
to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of | take of the wine(3 Nephi 18:8) |
all those who | all those who (3 Nephi 18:5) |
drink of it, that they | they did drink (3 Nephi 18:9) |
may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, | do it in remembrance of my blood (3 Nephi 18:11) |
which was shed for them; | which I have shed for you (3 Nephi 18:11) |
that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, | that ye may witness unto the Father (3 Nephi 18:11) |
that they do always remember him, | thatye do always remember me (3 Nephi 18:11) |
that they do always remember him, | thatye do always remember me (3 Nephi 18:11) |
that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen | ye shall have my Spirit to be with you (3 Nephi 18:11). |
The next time you attend a sacrament service, I hope you will hear Jesus’s words in these prayers. As one holding the designated priesthood office pronounces these holy words in Jesus’s behalf, we get extraordinarily close to hearing, not only the ritual encasement of the traditionally received sayings of Jesus, but also what one might call the vox ipsa, the very voice and the very words as they originated with Jesus.
Welch, John W., “Our Nephite Sacrament Prayers,” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, ed. John W. Welch (Provo and Salt Lake City, UT: FARMS and Deseret Book, 1992), 286–289.
For a fascinating and more detailed study of the words which Jesus used in 3 Nephi 18 in blessing the emblems of the sacrament, comparing them with the words we use today in blessing the sacrament, which were revealed first in this dispensation with the translation of Moroni 4–5, see John W. Welch, “From Presence to Practice: Jesus, the Sacrament Prayers, the Priesthood, and Church Discipline in 3 Nephi 18 and Moroni 2-6,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5, no. 1 (1996): 119–139.