“What Could I Write More Than My Fathers Have Written for Have Not They Revealed the Plan of Salvation”

Alan C. Miner

In Jarom 1:2, Jarom declares: "For what could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of salvation? I say unto you, Yea; and this sufficeth me." Jarom seems to be humbled by the thoughts of following not only Nephi and Jacob, but his father Enos as caretaker of the small plates of Nephi. Jarom declares that they wrote on the plan of salvation. For a brief discussion on Enos' similar feelings of inadequacy and a brief discussion on this literary theme of the plan of salvation, see the commentary on Enos 1:27. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]

“The Plan of Salvation”

Joseph McConkie and Robert Millet write that among the "plain and precious" things taken from the Old and New Testament records (see 1 Nephi 13:26, 28) are references to a "plan" whereby men might obtain salvation. In his declaration that there is but "one Lord, one faith, [and] one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5) Paul alludes to the fact that there is and can be but one "plan of salvation." Yet the Bible can be searched in vain for a direct reference to a divine plan which the children of God might follow in their quest to scale Mount Zion and find a place in the heavenly abode. By contrast, the Book of Mormon is replete with such phrases as "the merciful plan of the great Creator" (2 Nephi 9:6), "the plan of our God, " (2 Nephi 9:13), "the great and eternal plan of deliverance" (2 Nephi 11:5), "the plan of redemption" (Alma 22:13), the "plan of happiness" (Alma 42:8, and "the plan of mercy" (Alma 42:15). [Joseph F. McConkie and Robert L. Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 2, p. 106] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 13:26; 2 Nephi 9:13]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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