There is a thought that is almost lost in the Book of Mormon that leapt off the page to me as I read Covenant of Christ. That rather profound thought is that “wisdom must be learned.” It is acquired through hard experience, and therefore learned.
Here is how the Book of Mormon originally includes the principle: “I say unto you, it is well that ye are cast out of your synagogues, that ye may be humble and that ye may learn wisdom; for it is necessary that ye should learn wisdom. For it is because that ye are cast out — that ye are despised of your brethren because of your exceeding poverty — that ye are brought to a lowliness of heart; for ye are necessarily brought to be humble.” Alma 16:24
Here is how the same thing is stated in Covenant of Christ: “I tell you: It benefits you to have been kicked out of your synagogues, to humble you so you can learn wisdom; because wisdom must be learned. It’s because you’re rejected and despised by others in your community, due to your great poverty, that you’re humble of heart. You’ve been forced to be humble.”
Compare “for it is necessary that ye should learn wisdom” with “because wisdom must be learned.” In the original the statement can be read as limited, by pointing only to the audience being addressed at that moment by Alma. A reader may well think that the principle does not apply to them. But in the modern English rendering, it is clear that the restatement includes the reader, and the necessity of learning wisdom is universal.
The rest of that passage is likewise stated more simply, clearly and in fewer words. As a young lawyer I was asked by the corporate president I worked for to write up a joint-venture agreement between his and his brother’s corporations. I put together what I considered an ironclad agreement, covering every contingency, resulting in a contract of some 34 pages. When I proudly presented it to the president, he didn’t even read it before telling me to redo it in two pages. I thought he was asking me to do something so ill-advised that I wrote a memo protesting, before reworking it into two pages.
What I didn’t understand as a young lawyer, that I would later learn through years of litigating contract disputes, is that the more language in a contract that can be disputed, the more disputes will result. The clearest agreements are more often short, using few words, leaving very little for clever lawyers to parse apart and quibble over meanings. I have observed that the longer the agreement, the more likely it is that an ambiguity or contradiction can be found for the parties to fight over.
Reading the same lessons stated in fewer words sharpens and improves the message in Covenant of Christ. It is more understandable. Understanding that book is critical for our salvation, because it is intended to save us from our sins by teaching us repentance and faith on Jesus Christ, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost.
The Covenant of Christ rendering, provided to us through the mercy and grace of Christ, clarifies what He intended as His message for us today. It is a personal message from our Lord to us today.