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“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” Revelation 1:8

Overview

The scriptures use a literary device known as a “merism”. Its most fundamental function is to convey a sense of wholeness, totality, or completeness by explicitly mentioning only some of its parts. The scriptures are replete with examples. For instance, Genesis opens with God creating the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). “The heavens and the earth” refers to everything or all of creation or the whole cosmos. “From Dan to Beer-sheba” (Jeremiah 4:15, 1 Kings 4:25, Judges 20:1, etc.) refers to the entire land of Israel, from its northernmost to southernmost cities, including all the unmentioned tribes and assigned lands between them. “From the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:34) signifies that God will forgive the iniquity of all mankind, regardless of status. “Great and small” (Job 3:19, Genesis 19:11, Psalm 115:13, Revelation 11:18, etc.) refers to everyone, regardless of social status, or everything in between. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represents all that can be known. 

Failing to understand merisms can cause major issues in interpreting the scriptures. Let me give a classic example. Most missionaries have heard the objection that we just need to believe and then we are saved (Acts 16:31). This concept is also in the Book of Mormon. “They that believe in him, shall be saved” (2 Nephi 2:9). From these scriptures, modern readers could conclude that all that is necessary for salvation is belief. 

However, this is a two-element merism that implicitly invokes the full six-part gospel formula of the doctrine of Christ, the six-element gospel discipline: Faith, Repentance, Water Baptism, Holy Ghost, Enduring to the End, Salvation/Eternal Life. The Book of Mormon gospel elements, consisting of these six parts, is almost never fully articulated in one place. By mentioning two or more of these parts, often including “salvation or eternal life,” a writer can immediately invoke all six components in the reader’s mind.

Scripture writers use merisms to express a whole using few words. They function as a type of ellipsis, a shorter way of expressing a whole, subtly implying the greater thing without listing everything. For instance, ” Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2) where two contrasting parts represent the whole, indicating that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of our faith.

Do you read the Scriptures, my brethren and sisters, as though you were writing them a thousand, two thousand, or five thousand years ago? Do you read them as though you stood in the place of the men who wrote them? If you do not feel thus, it is your privilege to do so.

Brigham Young

Word Origin

The term “merism” originates from the Greek word merismos, meaning “dividing” or “partition,” and ultimately from meros, meaning “part”. It also passed through Latin as merismus. While its etymological roots are ancient Greek, its formal identification and study as a rhetorical or literary device, particularly in biblical contexts, is more recent in scholarly history:

• E. W. Bullinger identified “merismos” as a biblical figure of speech in 1898. His understanding followed the model of Greek rhetoric, and he saw it principally as an enumeration of the parts of a whole.
• This understanding was later extended considerably by subsequent Bible scholars, with the classic treatment recognized today having been published by A. M. Honeyman in 1952. Wilfred G. E. Watson’s 1984 guide to classical Hebrew poetry also acknowledged Honeyman’s analysis as fundamental.
• The terms “merism” and “polar expression” have seen a rise in Near Eastern and biblical studies. For example, see Nahum Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, 272.
• Latter-day Saint scholar, Noel B. Reynolds, has extensively studied and written about biblical merismus, particularly its pervasive use in the Book of Mormon to define and describe the gospel. Reynolds argues that the Book of Mormon writers used merisms in teaching the doctrine of Christ. He also proposed interpreting “come unto me” as a merism for “enduring to the end”. John W. Welch has also added to our understanding of merisms. Matthew L. Bowen has examined the use of merisms in the covenantal context of faith and faithfulness in Nephite writings.

Come unto Christ as a Merism

Missionaries recite their missionary purpose not realizing that it is a perfect illustration of a merism. The first part is the merism “Invite other to come unto Christ”. The second part of the purpose statement unpacks the merism by defining what it is to “come unto Christ”: “faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end”.

Let’s take a deeper dive with the phrase “come unto Christ”. It functions as a merism by representing the complete six-part gospel plan, known as the doctrine of Christ, even when only a subset of those elements is explicitly mentioned. This usage is particularly prominent in the Book of Mormon, where “come unto Christ” is frequently employed as an abbreviated way to invoke the full doctrine of Jesus Christ in the reader’s mind.

Here’s how “come unto Christ” acts as a merism: There is a six-part Gospel plan: As mentioned above, the Book of Mormon consistently presents a six-element gospel or doctrine of Jesus Christ, which includes: 1) Faith in Jesus Christ 2) Repentance 3) Baptism of water 4) Baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost 5) Enduring to the end 6) Salvation or eternal life.

Synonym for “Enduring to the End”: More specifically, “come unto Christ” often serves as an alternative phrasing for the fifth principle of the gospel, “enduring to the end”. This insight helps tie the invitation “to come unto Christ” to the six-element gospel, as it typically takes the place of “enduring to the end” in longer merisms that explicitly mention most other gospel elements. In this context, “coming unto Christ” is characterized as a lifelong process of keeping commandments, pressing forward in faith, hope, and charity, and striving to become more like the Father and the Son to receive eternal life.

Implying the All Elements: A very brief gospel merisms, “come unto Christ” can invoke all the other missing gospel elements, conveying the general conception of the gospel as the way back to the presence of God. The understanding is that the writer expects the reader, familiar with the full gospel plan, to implicitly understand the entire set of requirements when “come unto Chris” is mentioned.

Book of Mormon Examples of “Come unto Me” or “Come unto Him” as Merism

• Nephi reports that “all men must come unto him or they cannot be saved” (1 Nephi 13:40), implying all gospel elements for salvation.
• In 1 Nephi 10:18, it’s a three-element merism: “the way [to salvation] is prepared for all men… if they will repent and come unto him”.
• “If they will repent and come unto me, he will be merciful to them” (2 Nephi 28:32) – This is a three-element merism (repentance, coming unto Christ/enduring to the end, and mercy/salvation).
• “Come unto him, and offer your whole souls… and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved” (Omni 1:26)
• Alma characterizes “coming unto” the Lord as an invitation to be received by Him, to “partake of the fruit of the tree of life,” “eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely,” and “bring forth works of righteousness,” all consistent with enduring to the end.
• Mormon quotes Jesus addressing “all the ends of the earth: ‘Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name and have faith in me, that ye may be saved'” (Moroni 7:34).
• In 3 Nephi 9:22, Jesus says, “whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive…Therefore repent and come unto me, ye ends of the earth, and be saved,” where “come unto me” acts as a merism for other gospel elements

Other Scriptural Examples of Merisms

• “The heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) refers to everything or all of creation or the whole cosmos.
• “Alpha and Omega,” “the beginning and the ending,” or “the first and the last” (Revelation 1:8, 21:6a, 22:13, Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:12) represents the Lord God encompassing all time (from the beginning of creation to the conclusion of End Times prophecy), or everything in between.
• “From Dan to Beer-sheba” (Jeremiah 4:15, 1 Kings 4:25, Judges 20:1, etc.) refers to the entire land of Israel, from its northernmost to southernmost cities, including all the unmentioned tribes and assigned lands between them.
• “From the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:34) signifies that God will forgive the iniquity of all mankind, regardless of status.
• “The strength of the hills” combined with “The sea is his, and he made it: And his hands formed the dry land” (Psalm 95:4-5) together give the full image of God’s reign over everything on earth.
• “Good and evil” (as in the Tree of Knowledge in Genesis 3:5) represents omniscience or all that can be known.
• “Night and day” (Psalm 91:5-6, Genesis 8:22) represents a full 24-hour cycle, all time.
• “My sitting down and my uprising up” (Psalm 139) means God knows all the psalmist’s actions or all a man’s thoughts and actions.
• Paul’s use of merisms in Romans 8:38-39 to emphasize that nothing can separate believers from Christ: “Death-life” represents all of human existence and experience. “Angels-demonic powers” represents all of the supernatural. “Present-future” represents all time. “Height-depth” represents the whole cosmos.
• “Male and female” (Genesis 1:27) can constitute the whole of humanity.
• “The quick and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5) refers to all people.
• “As far as the east is to the west” refers to all the distance.
• “Going out and coming in” (Solomon, also Deuteronomy 31:2, Psalm 121:8, etc.) signifies all of one’s activity or all daily doings (e.g., transacting state business, soldiering).
• “Far off and near” (Isaiah 57:19, also in reference to Jesus preaching peace) means all people get to hear peace or peace to everybody.
• Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 lists fourteen pairs (e.g., “A time to be born, and a time to die”) to provide an overview of major events of virtually every life.
• “Every slave and every free man” (Revelation 6:15) refers to all people.
• “Great and small” (Job 3:19, Genesis 19:11, Psalm 115:13, Revelation 11:18, etc.) refers to everyone, regardless of social status, or everything in between.
• “Sun and moon” (Job 31:26, Psalm 74:16) can refer to all heavenly bodies or all celestial bodies.
• “Old and new” (Song of Songs 7:13, Matthew 13:52) refers to everything or every kind.
• “To sin and to be righteous” (Job 35:6-7) expresses that human conduct of any kind cannot sway God.
• “To open and to close” (Isaiah 22:22, Revelation 3:7, Matthew 16:19, Job 38:31) expresses totality of authority or power.
• “The watered (country) and the thirsty (country)” (Deuteronomy 29:18) means all (herbage), or everything will be brought to ruin.
• “To lay down and to get up” (Genesis 19:33, 35) asserts that all the time Lot did not know what happened.
• “Beginning and end” (Ecclesiastes 10:13) expresses that the words of a fool are always foolishness.
• “Kings of Tarshish and the islands” and “kings of Sheba and Seba” (Psalm 72:10) refers to a global context.
• “Man and beast” (Exodus 18:1a) means all living creatures.
• “Young lads and old men” (Genesis 19:4) implies all the adult males, without exception.
• “Young and old” (Jeremiah 16:6, Lamentations 2:21a, Job 29:8, Psalm 148:12, Isaiah 20:4, Ezekiel 9:6) refers to everybody or the entire population.
• “Flesh and soul” (Isaiah 10:18, Psalm 84:2) for the whole person.
• “Goodness and mercy” (1 Nephi 1:14, Psalm 25:8, 10) in Old Testament hymns of praise based on the covenant.
• “Hesed and ’emeth (truth)” or “’emunah (faithfulness)” can represent the entire span of qualities associated with God and his righteous people in covenant Israel, including truth, mercy, righteousness, power, loyalty, justice, goodness, honesty, kindness, and love of humankind, and salvation.
• “The blind and the deaf” (referring to those healed by Christ) refers to all who are afflicted in any way.
• “Gold and silver” (3 Nephi 24:3, Malachi 3:3) for wealth.
• “Judah and Jerusalem” (3 Nephi 24:4, Isaiah 1:1) for the covenant people.
• “Root nor branch” (3 Nephi 25:1, Malachi 4:1) for eternal family ties.
• “Nations and tongues” (3 Nephi 26:4, Isaiah 66:18) for everyone.
• “Prayer and fasting” (3 Nephi 27:1, Daniel 9:3) for communication with God.
• “Your joy and your faith” (3 Nephi 1:6) points to the fruits of the Spirit or Christlike character as a whole.
• “Faith and righteousness” (3 Nephi 1:30) can be read as a merism for good character as a whole.
• “Bread and wine” (3 Nephi 18:1–3, Genesis 14:18, etc.) signifies all agricultural products and alimentation, or totality of sustenance and nourishment (Christ as sustainer of mortal life and source of eternal life).
• “From the soles of his feet to the top of his head” (Job 2:7) implies that no part of his body escaped the disease.
• Psalm 148:7–12, which lists various elements “from the earth” (hills, fruit trees, wild animals, kings, young men and women) to praise the Lord, is a partial list suggestive of a full list of creation.
• “Summer and winter” (Psalm 74:12-17) means all the seasons.
• “Neighbor” and “stranger” (Proverbs 6:1) refers to everyone.
• “Bitterness” and “joy” (Proverbs 14:10) indicates the poles of the emotional spectrum, referring to all the emotions.
• “The strong (arm) + the broken (arm)” (Ezekiel 30:22).
• “The heat by day + the frost by night” (Jeremiah 36:30).
•  “Whether in life or in death” (D&C 61:39) This merism indicates all possible outcomes or all circumstances, whether living or dying. It suggests that not all of the Lord’s faithful disciples will be spared physical suffering in the last days.
• “Great and marvelous” (D&C 6:1, 11; 11:1; 12:1; 14:1; 76:114; 109:23; 110:13; Joseph Smith—History 1:73) It is greatly marvelous.
• “Great and dreadful” (D&C 112:24–26; also in reference to “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” in Joel 2:31 and Malachi 4:5, and in 3 Nephi 25:5). This merism describes the nature of the “day” for different groups of people. Similar phrases in the D&C include “a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation” (D&C 112:24–26).
• “All those parts of my gospel” (D&C 10:46) or “the fulness of the (everlasting) gospel” (D&C 20:9, 27:5, 42:12, and 135:3) These phrases refer to the complete six-part gospel plan (faith, repentance, water baptism, Holy Ghost, enduring to the end, and salvation/eternal life). D&C 10:50, 67, 69 provides examples of how the full gospel is conveyed meristically: “Whosoever should (1) believe in this gospel . . . might have (6) eternal life”. “Whosoever (2) repenteth and cometh unto me (3 and 4) [baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost], the same is my church”. “Whosoever is of my church and (5) endureth . . . to the end, will I (6 again) establish”. These passages, though abbreviated, implicitly invoke the entire gospel as necessary for salvation.

Summary

In essence, understanding merisms is not merely an academic exercise; it is important for accurately interpreting the comprehensive, nuanced, and profound messages embedded in scriptural texts. They help in preventing misinterpretations, appreciating literary artistry, and gaining deeper insights into ancient thought and doctrine.