In closing a major part of the Sermon on the Mount on the eastern continent, the Savior said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48.) To the Nephites, the Savior makes a significant addition: "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." (3 Nephi 12:48.) When the Savior delivered this sermon on the eastern continent, he was just beginning his ministry; he had not yet brought about the atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane nor had he been resurrected from the dead. Thus, at that time he was not perfect in every sense. However, when he appeared to the Nephites as a glorified, resurrected God of glory, then he could rightfully counsel them to be perfect "even as I."