The Fifth Principle of the Gospel

In 2 Nephi 31:3-21, Nephi provides a nineteen-verse expansion of 1 Nephi 11:2-7 in which he had given a brief description of the baptism of Jesus as he had seen it in vision. In this expanded version we learn that Nephi had saved perhaps the most spectacular part of that early vision to use as a conclusion to his doctrinal writings. We now learn that in this segment of the early vision, Nephi (and presumably Lehi before him) was taught the basic principles of the gospel or doctrine of Christ by the Father and the Son directly. He quotes each of them three times. Perhaps because of the way Nephi has separated this detailed account from his earlier account of the vision, most readers seem to miss the significance of Nephi’s experience as reported in 2 Nephi 31.