As a Child

In the past, the words “as a child” in the phase in Mosiah 3:19 bothered me.


“and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”

I thought why should I have to be like a little child. Being older than 50, I am obviously beyond the childhood stage. It is much like my youngest 10 year old daughter when I call her my baby. She corrects me and asks me not to call her baby. She is NOT a baby. Like her, I am no longer a child.

Then I reread King Benjamin’s sermon, I noticed a pattern relative to “child” or “children”. There are six instances prior to Mosiah 3:19, where Benjamin quoting an angel described man as the “children of men”. These versus are 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 17. With this pattern, Benjamin is using this description to establish that the “children of men” is equivalent to “natural man” as stated in Mosiah 3:19. When I reflect my offense of having to be “as a child”, I was behaving like a “natural man”.

As I continued rereading King Benjamin’s sermon in Mosiah 5, I noticed a break in the pattern relative to “child” or “children”. After the Nephites were converted after King Benjamin’s sermon and made a righteous covenant, he called them “children of Christ”. Essentially, the children of men were born again to be children of Christ! (see quote of Mosiah 5:6-7 below)

"6 And now, these are the words which king Benjamin desired of them; and therefore he said unto them: Ye have spoken the words that I desired; and the covenant which ye have made is a righteous covenant.
7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters."

After reflecting upon my conversion and becoming born again as a child of Christ, the phrase in Mosiah 3:19 "as a child" is incorrect for me. If I personalize this scripture, it would be "as a baby".