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I love the New Testament. It is a privilege to share with you thoughts and feelings about this miraculous book of scripture and its witness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have chosen to speak directly to those who are teaching the New Testament now and who will teach it in the coming year and in the years ahead. I have in mind parents who teach in the centers of gospel learning in their homes, those called to teach in the Church, and those who teach in seminary or in institute or in the Church’s universities.

The Prophecy of Joseph in Egypt

I begin with the prophecy the Lord gave to Joseph in Egypt recorded in 2 Nephi 3:6–21. The Lord promised that the Book of Mormon and the Old and New Testaments would have a significant impact in the latter days: “Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and [they] . . . shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.”[1]

I want to focus on the phrase “shall grow together” and apply it especially to the New Testament, and the Book of Mormon.[2] I believe one of the most important ways that growth occurs is through expanding our knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ. When the scriptures grow together in our minds and hearts—in us and those we teach—the love, light, and power of Jesus Christ will increase and be magnified in us.

We are the ones the Lord will bless to confound false doctrines, lay down contention, and establish peace. We are the ones to gather scattered Israel on both sides of the veil. If these scriptures grow together in us, the influence of the New Testament and the Book of Mormon in our lives and in the lives of the people we teach will increase, and these great scriptures will grow together in their reach all across the earth.

Like the Book of Mormon, the New Testament is, therefore, a book for our time. I felt that power of the New Testament in my first year as an undergraduate at Harvard. School was really difficult, but the Sabbath day was like an oasis. I often went to church very early and sat in the chapel to read. One Sabbath day I sat in the chapel and read these verses in the New Testament:

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.[3]

As I read, the words “digged deep” jumped off the page into my heart. Those words gave me a whole new perspective on coming unto Christ, hearing His words, and doing them. The man in the parable did not find a big rock and build his house on it. He had to find bedrock; he had to dig deep, and he had to anchor a strong foundation for his house—his life—on the rock of our Redeemer, as the Book of Mormon makes clear.[4]

I have learned over the course of my life what it means to dig deep. I believe the Savior’s invitation to hear Him and to dig deep is an invitation to deep learning in the doctrine of Christ through the ministry of the Holy Ghost. Deep learning involves our minds, our hearts, our actions, and our total being. The Savior’s invitation to learn His doctrine deeply is an invitation to experience four levels of learning:[5]

• to know the doctrine in our minds, to study it and feast on it,
• to understand and feel it in our hearts, so that we come to love the doctrine and the Savior, and our covenant promises to live it become our deepest desires,
• to take effective, righteous action to keep our covenants and live the doctrine, and
• to become more and more like the Savior and our Father in Heaven through the mercy, love, and redeeming power of Jesus Christ.

Deep learning in the doctrine of Christ is a lifelong quest of spiritual growth.

Building on the Rock of Our Redeemer

The Lord has prepared two remarkable blessings to help our students learn deeply in their study of the New Testament. First, through the power of the Holy Ghost they can hear His voice through His words and the words of His apostles.[6] The Holy Ghost will bear witness that His words are true. Second, they can know and feel the power of His doctrine from the experience of the New Testament saints. With the help of the Holy Ghost, they can apply what they learn to their own lives.

There are four truths about the Lord Jesus Christ taught in the New Testament that our students need to know are true. He is the Rock on which our students can build their lives.[7] They will need to dig deep, but if we are spiritually prepared to help them learn, they will gain a sure witness of these four truths through the power of the Holy Ghost.

This is the first truth: Jesus is the Christ, the Holy One of Israel, our Savior and Redeemer. The New Testament bears powerful witness of Jesus Christ. He Himself testified of His divinity and declared His identity as the promised Messiah: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: . . . For God, so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”[8]

Out of His great love for us, Jesus completed His infinite Atonement, suffered unimaginable agony and pain, died on the cross, and rose again the third day, the glorious, resurrected, living Christ. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, to the apostles, and to hundreds of other men and women, that they might all bear witness of Him.[9] I love Peter’s testimony of the Savior:

Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. . . .

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.[10]

Now, the second truth: the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. The New Testament is resplendent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It bears witness that we are children of God with a divine nature and destiny.[11] We all commit sin, and “come short of the glory of God,”[12], but the gospel is the good news that we can receive a remission of our sins by entering into sacred covenants with God through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.[13] Moreover, if we keep our covenants, we can become new creatures in Christ, more and more like Him, and eventually obtain eternal life through His mercy and grace.[14] Thus, the gospel is a way of life, a life of faith in Jesus Christ, keeping covenants that bind us to Him, loving God, and loving one another as Jesus loves us.

This beautiful gospel eventually was lost from the earth through apostasy, but as Peter prophesied, “the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began,”[15] are here. The Savior has restored the fullness of His gospel to the earth, and it is true!

Truth number 3: the Church of Jesus Christ is true. During His mortal ministry, Jesus Christ established His Church. It is His Church, and He is its head.[16] He gave Peter and the other apostles the Melchizedek Priesthood and the keys of the priesthood, including the sealing power.[17] The Lord guided His Church through living prophets and apostles. The Church and its members were blessed with the power and authority of His priesthood, spiritual gifts, sacred ordinances and covenants, revelations, prophecies, and miracles of great power.[18]

As Paul explained, the Lord established His Church “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”[19]

Like the gospel, the Church of Jesus Christ eventually was lost from the earth, but the Lord has restored His New Testament church in our day through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and all the prophets who have succeeded him. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s New Testament church and the kingdom of God on the earth. It is true!

Truth number 4: Jesus Christ will come again. The New Testament contains wonderful prophecies of the Second Coming of the Savior. Jesus and His apostles declared that His coming in glory and power will be like a flaming fire and cause great fear, mourning, and destruction of the wicked.[20]

In contrast, for the righteous the coming of the Lord in the glory of His Father will be a miraculous time of great joy.[21] Indeed, Jesus Christ will come with all His holy, mighty angels, and the dead in Christ shall rise, and the saints on the earth shall be caught up with them to meet the Savior in all His glory.[22] He will usher in the Millennium when He will rule and reign a thousand years as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.[23] The prophecies of the Lord’s Second Coming are true! He has commanded us to watch and be ready, so that no matter when He comes, we will be prepared to meet Him, even if it is tomorrow.[24]

The Power of the New Testament in the Latter Days

If our students learn these truths deeply, their lives increasingly will be built on the rock of their Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be prepared to realize the great prophecies and promises the Lord gave to Joseph in Egypt.

The Lord knew exactly what they and we would need in these tumultuous times. They are surrounded by false ideas, wickedness, contention, and anger, so much loneliness and anxiety and lack of direction and purpose, and “men’s hearts failing them for fear.”[25]

The Savior prepared the New Testament and the Book of Mormon to help them confound false doctrines, lay down contention, establish peace, and embrace their heritage as children of the covenant. Thus, the powerful teachings of the Savior and His apostles in the New Testament have direct application to each of them and, therefore, great power in these the latter days. Let’s begin with confounding false doctrines.

Confounding False Doctrines

The winds of false doctrine come to us in many forms. We might see them in the media, hear them from friends or family members, or confront them at work. They may be confusing and create questions, concerns, and even doubts. The adversary is a master of making what is false appear true by appealing to the natural man, cloaking falsehood with socially popular ideas, disguising what is false behind a principle we value, and justifying a false doctrine by twisting what is true with his lies.[26]

Those who promote false doctrines often speak with voices Paul called “unruly,”[27]“vain jangling,”[28] “r���������Բ�,”[29] “b�����������Բ���.”[30] Those voices sound loud in our minds and hearts because they are loud. Yet sometimes we amplify the volume on false doctrine because of our circumstances or our current feelings.

When our students are beset by questions or doubts, we need to teach them to confound false doctrines by turning down the volume so they can hear the Lord and know the truth.[31] Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”[32] With just a desire to hear the Lord and a particle of faith in Him, our students can turn down the volume by seeking truth in His way.

If the winds of false doctrine swirl around them, our students need to turn to the Lord with love and keep their covenants that bind them to Him.[33] That faith and obedience will open channels of revelation and the Holy Ghost will “teach [them] all things,”[34] “guide [them] into all truth,”[35] and bless them with the gift of discernment.

With the channel of revelation open, they will seek to know what is true and what the Lord wants them to do in prayer, in study of the scriptures and other trusted sources, and in the house of the Lord.[36] That very seeking with faith in Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Spirit will turn down the volume of false doctrine, and the Savior will fulfill His promise to them: “Ask of God; ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”[37] Our beloved students will hear the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will “know the truth, and the truth will make them free.”[38]

Laying Down Contention and Establishing Peace

Confounding false doctrine is an important part of laying down contention and establishing peace in the minds and hearts of our students, in their families and wards or branches. The peace they need is peace in Christ.

At the Last Supper, Jesus spoke of that peace: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”[39]

The Savior was clear: peace in Him comes as our students overcome the world through Him. That quest for peace begins with laying down any contention in their hearts.

Contention is an action of the natural man. As the Savior taught, “He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention.”[40] The spirit of contention is to strive or argue against others often.[41] It is a “corroding canker of the spirit.”[42] If contention is in the hearts of our students, the natural man governs their actions. Thus, contention is something they have to lay down, or put off, through the redeeming and strengthening power of Jesus Christ. If they repent and turn to Him, He will forgive them and bless them with greater self-control and increased capacity to love and forgive.

The New Testament bears witness that love—our love of the Lord, His love of us, and our capacity to love as He loves—is at the heart of the peace in Christ they—and we—seek. The apostles pleaded with the saints of the New Testament to love one another, forgive one another, and help one another, especially in keeping contention out of the Church and establishing the peace that is in Jesus Christ.[43]

Peter knew the saints were in “heaviness through manifold temptations,”[44] faced a “[fiery][45] trial of [their] faith,”[46] and were beset by “false teachers . . . [who] shall bring in damnable heresies.”[47] Thus, he pleaded with the saints of his day to love as the Savior loved, to seek unity, and to strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ:

“See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”[48]

“Laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies and envies, and all evil speakings.”[49]

“Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.”[50]

“Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”[51]

As with laying down contention, loving others as the Savior loves us comes through the redeeming power of Christ as a gift of grace to His true followers.[52] This is not a onetime change in our students (or in us). It is an ongoing process as they learn more and more deeply the doctrine of Christ. As they do, our students will experience what Paul called “the newness of life.”[53] As he implored the Ephesians, “Put off . . . the old man, . . . and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”[54]

The blessing of peace in Christ through a marvelous spiritual transformation is a quest our students must pursue in a very difficult world. Peter and Paul ministered to saints who faced a similar problem. Their messages are both inspiring and instructive. In particular, we see in their words the critical role of a living prophet in establishing peace in Christ. Peter and the other apostles warned the saints, admonished the saints, taught the saints true doctrine, and blessed them with the word of the Lord, that they might have peace in Christ.[55]

We have that blessing in our day. Jesus is the living Christ, and He leads His Church through revelation to His living prophet. Because of His great love for us and all God’s children, the Lord warns and guides us and the Church to address the issues, dangers, problems, and opportunities we face as individuals and as a people. In their quest for peace in Christ, we need to teach our students to hearken to the word of the Lord given to us by our living prophet.

We have been greatly blessed by the revelations President Russell M. Nelson has received. He has issued invitations, urged, pleaded, and counseled us about personal revelation, ministering, gospel learning in our homes, the strength of our spiritual foundations, and making time for the Lord every day. We have rejoiced as the prophet has announced new temples and encouraged us to spend more time in the temple. Moreover, the prophet has given us remarkable promises of increased personal revelation, spiritual protection, greater spiritual power, and growing faith in Jesus Christ that will move mountains in our lives.[56]

Yet some choose not to partake of these blessings, a pattern we see often in the New Testament. Of course, some ignore what the prophet says altogether. Others believe they do not have to listen to what the prophet says if they do not agree with him.

Those who ignore the prophet, or listen only to some of what he says, have decided to be their own prophet. They are on their way to becoming like dissenters in the Book of Mormon who would not “observe the performances of the church, to continue in prayer and supplication to God daily, that they might not enter into temptation. . . . Their hearts are swallowed up in their pride. . . . They are puffed up, even to greatness, with the vain things of the world.”[57]

We live in spiritually dangerous times, and it is going to get worse. Revelation from the Lord through His living prophet is a blessing! When the prophet speaks to the whole Church, when he speaks to us on behalf of the Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he shows us and our students the way to enduring joy and peace in Christ in this tumultuous, complex, and confusing time.

Embracing our Heritage as Children of the Covenant

Knowing of the times in which we now live, the Lord promised that the Book of Mormon and the New Testament would grow together and bless Joseph’s posterity and all the house of Israel unto “bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.”[58]

This grand purpose was on the minds of the Book of Mormon prophets, and it was clearly on the minds of the New Testament apostles. They sought diligently to teach the saints that by embracing Jesus Christ and His gospel, they would embrace a heritage as children of the Abrahamic covenant.

Peter taught that Jesus Christ had come as part of the Abrahamic covenant to bless the people of Israel and all the nations of the earth.[59] Paul declared that the promises of the Abrahamic covenant were open to all of God’s children who entered the waters of baptism and “put on Christ”:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.[60]

We are blessed to live in the days when the covenant promises are being fulfilled, as Nephi prophesied in the Book of Mormon.[61]

The messages of Peter, Paul, and Nephi are messages for us, in our day. It is our great privilege to teach the New Testament and open these promises and blessings to our students. They need to understand that blessing all the families of the earth is the work of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil.[62] It is the work of inviting all to come unto Christ, gathering all who choose Christ into the kingdom of God, and into holy temples where they can make sacred covenants that bind them to the Savior and receive the great blessings promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

They need to know and feel that this is the great work of salvation in the earth. Speaking to the youth of the Church, and to all of us, President Nelson said of this work, “These surely are the latter days, and the Lord is hastening His work to gather scattered Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty. And if you choose to, if you want to, you can be a big part of it.”[63]

Our students need to understand that the Lord has called them to this work. They are the seed of Abraham and the children of the covenant, and they have been prepared to do this work. They are living the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to Joseph in Egypt.

It is our great blessing to help them learn deeply of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fullness of His gospel in their study of the New Testament. If we have learned deeply the doctrine of Christ, if we have built our lives on the Rock of our Redeemer, we can testify with spiritual power that the witness of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon and the New Testament is true! We can help our students see that these scriptures are growing together in all the power and light of the Restoration.

If we do, our students will have the knowledge of their fathers, and their hearts will turn to them and to family history and to the sacred work in holy temples.

If we do, our students will have precious knowledge of the covenants of the Lord, and they will covenant to love God and their brothers and sisters and to share the gospel and invite all to come unto Christ, including their own children and grandchildren.

If we do, our students will know their true eternal identity and their eternal purpose as children of God and the seed of Abraham. They will have an eternal perspective, and they will be prepared to confound false doctrines, lay down contention, establish peace, and gather scattered Israel on both sides of the veil through the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. It is their promise, and it is ours.

Notes

[1] 2 Nephi 3:12. President Nelson has taught about this connection between the Book of Mormon and the Bible. “The Bible and the Book of Mormon are both witnesses of Jesus Christ. They teach that He is the Son of God, . . . the Savior of the world. Scriptural witnesses authenticate each other. . . . Each book refers to the other. Each book stands as evidence that God lives and speaks to His children by revelation to His prophets.” See Russell M. Nelson, “Scriptural Witnesses,” Ensign, November 2007, 43.

[2] The Lord’s prophecies and promises apply specifically to the seed of Joseph. But the increased power of the scriptures, and the principles at work in the Lord’s promises, are important for all of the house of Israel. For additional discussion of this phrase, see Boyd K. Packer, “Scriptures,” Ensign, November 1982, 73–79.

[3] Luke 6:46–49.

[4] Helaman taught this to his sons Lehi and Nephi (see Helaman 5:12).

[5] For additional explanation of deep learning, see Kim B. Clark, “Learning for the Whole Soul,” Ensign, August 2017, 26–30.

[6] See Russell M. Nelson, “Hear Him,” Ensign, May 2020. See also Doctrine and Covenants 18:34–36; 21:4–5.

[7] See Bruce R. McConkie, “Upon This Rock,” Ensign, May 1981, 75–77. The scriptures also teach that in order to build on the Rock of our Redeemer we must have faith in Him, make sacred covenants that bind us to Him, and keep His commandments (see 3 Nephi 11:39; 18:12; 1 Nephi 13:36).

[8] John 3:14, 16.

[9] John 20:14–17, 19–20; 1 Corinthians 15:3–8.

[10] Acts 4:10, 12.

[11] The divine nature is inherent in being the spiritual children of God. The divine destiny is to receive eternal life through faithfulness to ordinances and covenants and the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ (see Matthew 6:9; Acts 17:28–29; Hebrews 12:9; Galatians 4:7; Romans 8:16–17).

[12] Romans 3:23.

[13] Acts 2:37–38.

[14] 2 Corinthians 5:17.

[15] Acts 3:21.

[16] Ephesians 4:15.

[17] Matthew 16:18–19; Luke 6:13–16; Luke 9:1–6.

[18] Mark 16:17; Acts 3:1–8; 6:6; 8:14–17; 10:9–16, 19–20, 46–47; 28:8; 1 Corinthians 12:4–10; Hebrews 2:4; 8:6; 9:14–15; 2 Timothy 2:1–7.

[19] Ephesians 4:12–13.

[20] Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:36–37; 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10.

[21] Matthew 16:27.

[22] 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17; Peter bore testimony of the majesty and power of the Lord that will be manifest at His Second Coming (see 2 Peter 1:16–18; 3:12–13).

[23] Revelation 17:11–16; 20:1–4, 6.

[24] See Matthew 24:37–44.

[25] Luke 21:26.

[26] In the October 2021 general conference, President Russell M. Nelson warned against the “deceptive, seductive” voices of the world and the steady beat of Babylon’s band. See Russell M. Nelson, “Make Time for the Lord”, Liahona, November 2021, 120.

[27] Titus 1:10.

[28] 1 Timothy 1:6.

[29] 1 Timothy 6:4.

[30] 2 Timothy 2:16.

[31] For additional discussion of the importance of turning the volume down, see Henry B. Eyring, “To Draw Closer to God,” Ensign, May 1991, 65–67. In this context, confound means false ideas are cast down, brought to silence, or come to naught, so that false doctrines have no place in their minds and hearts. See the Oxford English Dictionary entry for confound.

[32] John 14:6.

[33] Sometimes, people who have the volume turned up on false doctrine feel they need an answer to their questions or to hear a good counterargument before they will keep their covenants. But that is not the Lord’s way.

[34] John 14:26.

[35] John 16:13.

[36] See Russell M. Nelson, “Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains,” Liahona, May 2021, 101–4, for a discussion of this pattern for seeking truth.

[37] Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 7:12.

[38] John 8:32.

[39] John 16:33.

[40] 3 Nephi 11:29.

[41] See Marvin J. Ashton, “No Time for Contention,” Ensign, May 1978, 7–9.

[42] See Russell M. Nelson, “The Canker of Contention,” Ensign, May 1989, 68–71.

[43] See, for example: Romans 2:6–9; 1 Corinthians 1:10–13; 12:25–27; Galatians 5:13–15; Philippians 2:1–11.

[44] 1 Peter 1:6.

[45] 1 Peter 4:12.

[46] 1 Peter 1:7.

[47] 2 Peter 2:1.

[48] 1 Peter 1:22.

[49] 1 Peter 2:1.

[50] 1 Peter 3:8.

[51] 1 Peter 3:15. This passage certainly applies to those not of our faith, but it surely applies to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who come seeking help with questions of testimony and faith. John offered a similar promise if the saints would walk in the light of the gospel they would enjoy a fellowship in Christ, so that “he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10).

[52] Moroni 7:48.

[53] Romans 6:4.

[54] Ephesians 4:22–24.

[55] There are many examples. See Romans 14:17–19; Ephesians 2:12–14, 19–20; Colossians 3:12–15.

[56] For a review of the invitations and promises, see Sydney Walker, “Invitations President Nelson Has Extended Since He Became the Prophet,” Church News, January 13, 2022; https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-01-13/president-nelson-invitations-prophet-gather-israel-hear-him-covenant-path-198003.

[57] Alma 31:10, 27.

[58] 2 Nephi 3:12.

[59] Acts 3:22–26.

[60] Galatians 3:28–29.

[61] 1 Nephi 15:18.

[62] The promises to Abraham of lands of inheritance, a posterity, priesthood power, and much else, now reach to people all across the earth. Whether by lineage or by adoption, the promises bless the children of the covenant wherever they are gathered into the kingdom of God and the temples of the Lord. That gathering is a crucial part of the preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

[63] Russell M. Nelson and Wendy W. Nelson, “Hope of Israel” (worldwide youth devotional, January 2018), https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/broadcasts/worldwide-devotional-for-young-adults/2018/06/hope-of-israel?lang=eng.