This chapter is also the same as it was in the 1830 edition. What is interesting is that it is clearly a companion to 2 Nephi 31. It picks up on the themes Nephi talked about and expands them. It certainly should be read together with chapter 31. The reason for the chapter break is the testificatory amen at the end of chapter 31. Both Nephi and Mormon felt that such a testimony required the end of a chapter. This isn’t the presence of the word, but rather the function. If the amen is part of the description of a prayer, it didn’t create a chapter ending. When the amen functioned as a testimony, that function triggered the end of a chapter, even if the topic had not ended. That is the situation in this chapter. The material had not ended, but the testimony to the previous chapter created the division.
As Nephi continues the theme, he spoke of entering the narrow path. Nephi notes that his people wonder what “ye should do after ye have entered in by the way.” This is another emphasis on doing. See comments on 2 Nephi 25:23, Part A and B for more information on the relationship of grace and the idea of what we must do.
For Nephi, salvation requires change. That is the implication of repentance, which is not simply sorrow, but a turning from the divergent way to return to the correct way. What Nephi declares here is that the Holy Spirit is the means by which we can understand how to keep our actions moving on the correct path. The Spirit testifies of the words of the Messiah. Since Nephi understood the Messiah to be Jehovah in a mortal ministry, the words of the Messiah are the same as Jehovah’s words—and those are the scriptures. Thus, the scriptures will tell us all we need to do to keep moving along the path to eternal life.