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Baptism
By Joseph Smith, Jr.
Times and
Seasons 3:903–905
September 1, 1842
Upon looking over the sacred pages of the Bible,
searching into the prophets and sayings of the apostles, we find
no subject so nearly connected with salvation as that of baptism.
In the first place, however, let us understand that the word baptize
is derived from the Greek verb baptizo,
and means to immerse or overwhelm; and that sprinkle
is from the Greek verb rantizo, and
means to scatter on by particles. Then we can treat the subject
as one inseparably connected with our eternal welfare, and always
bear in mind that it is one of the only methods by which we can
obtain a remission of sins in this world, and be prepared to enter
into the joys of our Lord in the world to come.
As it is well known that various opinions govern
a large portion of the sectarian world as to this important ordinance
of the gospel, it may not be amiss to introduce the commissions
and commands of Jesus Himself on the subject. He said to the twelve,
or rather eleven at the time: “Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
Thus it is recorded by Matthew (28:18–19).
In Mark 16:14–15 we have these important
words: “Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized,
shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned.”
And to show how the believers are to be known from the unbelievers,
He continues and says: “And these signs shall follow them
that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall
speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they
drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay
hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:16–19).
And in Luke 24:45–47 we find the finishing
clause like this—that it was necessary that Christ should
die and rise the third day—that “remission of sins
should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these
things.”
We will now examine the witnesses. As it will
be recollected, they were to wait at Jerusalem till they were
endowed with power from on high, and then go and teach all nations
whatsoever the Lord had commanded them. As Peter held the keys
of the Kingdom, we will examine him first.
Now on the day of Pentecost, when there was a
marvelous display of the gifts, according to the promise in Mark,
many were pricked in the heart and said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren what shall we do?”
Peter said unto them: “Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”
(Acts 2:38). Here one of the witnesses says in so many words,
repent and be baptized. And we are
of the opinion that Peter, having been taught by the Lord, and
commissioned by the Lord, and endowed by the Lord, would be about
as correct a counselor, or ambassador as we or they could inquire
of to know the right way to enter
into the Kingdom.
Again, Luke in his record of the Acts of the
Apostles, says: And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at
Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus;
and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received
the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have
not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said
unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto
John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with
the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should
believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ
Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the
Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied”
(Acts 19:1–6).
From the above witnesses we are informed that
baptism was the essential point on
which they could receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It seems
from the reasoning above that some sectarian Jew
had been baptizing like John, but
had forgotten to inform them that there was one to follow by the
name of Jesus Christ, to baptize with fire and the Holy Ghost—which
showed these converts that their first baptism
was illegal. When they heard this they were gladly baptized, and
after hands were laid on them, they received the gifts according
to promise and spake with tongues and prophesied.
We do not calculate in this short dissertation
to bring in the immense reasoning and quotations that might be
adduced to show that the ancients, who were actually the fathers
of the Church in the different ages (when the Church flourished
on the earth according to the pattern of having apostles and prophets,
and for the work of the ministry and the perfecting of the saints)
were initiated into the Kingdom by baptism, for it is self-evident
in the Scripture—God changes not.
The Apostle [Paul] says the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation unto them that believe; and also informs
us that “life and immortality” were brought “to
light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:8–10); that
the scripture, as Paul said to the Galatians 3:8, “Foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In
thee shall all nations be blessed.”
Now taking it for granted that the Scriptures
say what they mean and mean what they say, we have sufficient
grounds to go on and prove from the Bible that the gospel has
always been the same; the ordinances to fulfill its requirements
the same; and the officers to officiate, the same; and the signs
and fruits resulting from the promises,
the same. Therefore, as Noah was a preacher
of righteousness, he must have been baptized
and ordained to the priesthood by the laying on of hands. For
“No man taketh this honor upon himself, but he that is called
of God, as was Aaron” (Hebrews 5:4). Aaron was baptized
in the cloud and in the sea, together with all Israel, as is related
by the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 10:2. This position or fact is
witnessed in this manner: the covenant of circumcision made with
Abraham and practiced steadily up to the departing of Israel out
of Egypt, was abandoned in the wilderness, forty years—and
renewed by Joshua after he passed over Jordan and encamped at
Gilgal, where he made sharp knives and circumcised the whole male
portion of the Church.
Circumcision was merely a sign of the priesthood,
given to Abraham, according to the words of Jesus to Nicodemus,
a ruler of the Jews. The same “came to Jesus by night, and
said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from
God; for no man can do these miracles which thou doest, except
God be with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born
when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s
womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God” (John 3:2–5).
This strong and positive answer of Jesus as to
water baptism, settles the question. If God is the “same
yesterday, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), it is no wonder
He is so positive in the great declaration: “He that believeth
and is baptized, shall be saved;
but he that believeth not, shall be damned” (Mark 16:15).
There was no other name given under heaven, nor no other ordinance
admitted, whereby men could be saved (Acts 4:12). No wonder the
apostle said, being “buried with him
by baptism,” ye shall rise from the dead (Romans
6:4)! No wonder Paul had to arise and be baptized and wash away
his sins. No wonder the angel told good old Cornelius that he
must send for Peter to learn how to be saved (Acts 10:1–6).
Peter could baptize and angels could not, so long as there were
legal officers in the flesh holding the keys of the Kingdom, or
the authority of the priesthood.
There is one evidence still further on this point,
and that is that Jesus Himself when He appeared to Paul on his
way to Damascus, did not inform him how he could be saved (Acts
22:10). He had set in the Church firstly apostles and secondly
prophets, for the work of the ministry, [and for the] perfecting
of the saints, as the grand rule of heaven was that nothing should
ever be done on earth without revealing the secret to His servants
the prophets, agreeable to Amos 3:7. So Paul could not learn so
much from the Lord relative to his duty in the common salvation
of man, as he could from one of Christ’s ambassadors called
with the same heavenly calling of the Lord, and endowed with the
same power from on high—so that what they loosed on earth
should be loosed in heaven, and what they bound on earth should
be bound in heaven (Matthew 18:18). He, the Lord, being a priest
forever, after the order of Melchisedec, and the anointed Son
of God from “before the foundation of the world” (Genesis
5:43–45), and they the begotten sons of Jesus through the
gospel, to “teach all nations. . .and,
lo, I am with you always, unto the end of the world “(Matthew
28:18–19)—that is—by the Other Comforter which
the world cannot receive—for ye are the witnesses—having
testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy.
From what has already been introduced as testimony
to prove that no man can be saved without baptism, it will be
seen and acknowledged that if there was sin among men, repentance
was as necessary at one time or age of the world as another—and
that other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which
is Jesus Christ. If then Abel were a righteous man, he had to
become so by keeping the commandments. If Enoch were righteous
enough to come into the presence of God and walk with Him, he
must have become so by keeping His commandments. And so of every
righteous person, whether it was Noah, a preacher of righteousness;
Abraham, the father of the faithful; Jacob, the prevailer with
God; Moses, the man who wrote of Christ and brought forth the
law by commandment, as a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ;
or whether it was Jesus Christ Himself, who had no need of repentance,
having done no sin; according to His solemn declaration to John—now
let me be baptized—for no man can enter the Kingdom
without obeying this ordinance. “For thus it becometh us
to fulfill all righteousness”
(Matthew 3:43). Surely then, if it became
John and Jesus Christ the Savior, to fulfill all righteousness
to be baptized—so surely, then, it will become every
other person who seeks the Kingdom of heaven to go and do likewise.
For He is the door, and if any person climbs up any “other
way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1)!
In the former ages of the world, before the Savior
came in the flesh, “the saints” were baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ to come, because there never was any other
name whereby men could be saved; And after He came in the flesh
and was crucified, then the saints
were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen from
the dead, and ascended into heaven—that they might be buried
in baptism like Him, and be raised in glory like Him, that as
there was but “One Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:5–6), even so
there was but one door to the mansions
of bliss. Amen.
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