Annotated Book of Mormon
Evaluated According To My Current Knowledge

Chapter 3

1 The manner which the disciples, who were called the elders of the church, ordained priests and teachers—

2 After they had prayed unto the Father in the name of Christ, they laid their hands upon them, and said:

Moroni 3:2-3

Thoughts below are from piotrkaplanstwo at exMormon Reddit

Notice how, at this time, there is NO mention of the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood. Compare this “right way to ordain a teacher/priest” to that of Handbook 2, used today to do the same thing:

 

To perform a priesthood ordination, one or more authorized priesthood holders place their hands lightly on the person’s head. Then the priesthood holder who performs the ordination:

1. Calls the person by his full name.
2. States the authority by which the ordination is performed (Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood).
3. Confers the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood, unless it has already been conferred.
4. Ordains the person to an office in the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood and bestows the rights, powers, and authority of that office. (Priesthood keys are not bestowed in conferring the priesthood or ordaining to one of these offices.)
5. Gives words of blessing as the Spirit directs.
6. Closes in the name of Jesus Christ.

Remember, up to this point the priesthood was only mentioned in the Book of Mormon in Alma as “The High Priesthood of the holy order of God”. It wasn’t until 1831 that Sidney Rigdon influenced the church to have the “high priesthood”, later called the Melchizedek Priesthood (in about 1835).

 

Why didn’t Jesus bestow the Melchizedek priesthood on them? Why didn’t he give them the Aaronic priesthood by name? Also, no mention of Deacons? Isn’t one big belief of the modern church the one that the church of God has always been the same?

 

And, if you have not heard about it, Joseph Smith talked a bit about the “Patriarchal priesthood” before his death, calling it a third order of priesthood, passed from father to son. There’s a whole rabbit hole there as well.

3 In the name of Jesus Christ I ordain you to be a priest (or if he be a teacher, I ordain you to be a teacher) to preach repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ, by the endurance of faith on his name to the end. Amen.

Annotation for Moroni 3:2-3 above

4 And after this manner did they ordain priests and teachers, according to the gifts and callings of God unto men; and they ordained them by the power of the Holy Ghost, which was in them.