These verses at the end of 3 Nephi 26 caught my attention
17 And it came to pass that the disciples whom Jesus had chosen began from that time forth to baptize and to teach as many as did come unto them; and as many as were baptized in the name of Jesus were filled with the Holy Ghost.
18 And many of them saw and heard unspeakable things, which are not lawful to be written.
19 And they taught, and did minister one to another; and they had all things common among them, every man dealing justly, one with another.
20 And it came to pass that they did do all things even as Jesus had commanded them.
21 And they who were baptized in the name of Jesus were called the church of Christ.
I marked some key phrases that will show up later and gives us a clue about what is going on here. It seems that Mormon is basically on his way into 4 Nephi at this point, describing the time after Jesus had visited the Nephites. Compare with 4 Nephi 1-3:
And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost.
2 And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.
3 And they had all things common among them
Do you see that the beginning of 4 Nephi and the last verses of 3 Nephi 26 contain 4 identical phrases? In addition, there is "were filled with the Holy Ghost" and "did receive the holy Ghost". This cannot be a coincidence. Rather, this is a marker creating an
inclusio. This means, Mormon is bracketing 3 Nephi 27-30 for some reason. Here is my very speculative view on what I think might have happened: Perhaps Mormon didn't originally plan on creating an inclusio. He writes his abridgment but mentions two things more or less in passing
- The church was called the church of Christ
- There were many who saw and heard unspeakable things, that were not allowed to be written
Doing so, Mormon gets a little bit ahead of himself and realizes that these two items need some more background or elaboration and decides to include them in his abridgment. First the background for the yellow part, which he gives in Chapter 27.
8 And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel.
Then the background for the red part which he gives in Chapter 28. Notice the textual connections in the example below:
13 And behold, the heavens were opened, and they were caught up into heaven, and saw and heard unspeakable things.
14 And it was forbidden them that they should utter
So two things that he wrote at the end of 3 Nephi 26 reminded him that he couldn't go straight to the description of the righteous Nephite society after Christ had "ascended unto the Father" (3 Nephi 26:15). He first needed to write Chapters 27 and 28 to provide some background for the statements marked with yellow and red. While he was at it, Mormon also addressed his future readers in Chapter 29 and 30 before returning to where he left off at the end of 3 Nephi 26. This is done in the beginning of 4 Nephi. But he repeats some of the phrases as an inclusio to bracket everything in between and take the reader back to where he left off.
