In the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, water baptism ranks as the third principle and the first essential ordinance of the Gospel. Baptism is the gateway leading into the fold of Christ; the portal to the Church; the established rite if naturalization in the kingdom of God. The candidate for admission into the Church, having obtained and professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and having sincerely repented of his sins, is required to give evidence of this spiritual sanctification by some outward ordinance prescribed by authority as the sign or symbol of his new profession. The initiatory ordinance is baptism by water, to be followed by the higher baptism of the Holy Spirit; and, as a result of this act of obedience, remission of sins is granted.
The establishment of baptism dates from the time of the earliest history of the human race. Shortly after the fall in the Garden of Eden, the Lord put in motion the plan to effect the redemption of Adam and Eve and their posterity. He promised the patriarch: "If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken to my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you. And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden. ...And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water. And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and becamed quickened in the inner man. And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever" (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 6: 52-53, 64-66).
Thus through faith, repentance, baptism by immersion and confirmation, the father of the human family received a spiritual rebirth and was initiated into the kingdom of God; and the eternal decree was given to the human family that only by following the example set by Adam can any mortal become a son or daughter of Jesus Christ and a member of the kingdom of God.
What gift could be offered the human race greater than a sure means of obtaining forgiveness of transgression? Justice forbids the granting of universal and unconditional pardon for sins except through obedience to ordained law; but means simple and effective are provided whereby the penitent sinner may enter into a covenant with God, sealing that covenant with the sign that commands recognition in heaven, that he will submit himself to the laws of God; thus he places himself within the reach of mercy, under whose protecting influence he may win eternal life.
Biblical proofs that baptism is designed as a means of securing to man a remission of his sins are abundant. John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus, was the special preacher of this doctrine, and the authorized administrator of the ordinance, in the days immediately preceding the Savior's ministry in the flesh; and the voice of this priest of the desert stirred Jerusalem and reverberated through all Judea, proclaiming remission of sins as the fruits of acceptable baptism (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3).
Saul of Tarsus received a special manifestation of the power of God and was converted with signs and wonders. He was directed to go to Damascus to learn more of the Lord's will concerning him. Gladly he received Ananias, who ministered unto him, and was taught baptism the means of obtaining the Kingdom of Heaven. He was taught of spiritual regeneration through baptism.
The multitude that had assembled before Peter on the day of Pentecost asked the apostle, "What shall we do?" The answer came with incisive clearness from the servant of the Lord: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:37-38).
Revelation from the Lord in latter days concerning baptism shows that the same importance is ascribed by the Lord to the ordinance today as in earlier times. The elders of the Church are commissioned to preach the remission of sins as obtainable through the means of authorized baptism. Indeed, the resurrected John the Baptist conferred the authority for baptizing which he held in the former dispensation to this dispensation when he gave the Priesthood of Aaron to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in 1829 (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 13).
So much for the history of baptism. The mode and symbolism of baptism are now considered.
The Lord revealed to Father Adam (quoted above) the plan of salvation. He declared (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 6:50-52 and 57) that all men in the world must repent, have faith in Jesus Christ, be baptized, and be confirmed to inherit the kingdom of God. If they obeyed the principles and ordinances of the Gospel, they were promised the Holy Ghost, which is a gift from God that provides means by which "a man may place himself in touch with the whole universe and draw knowledge from it, including the beings of superior intelligence that it contains" (Widtsoe, John A., Rational Theology, pp. 38-42). Verse 61 of the sixth chapter of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price gives an excellent description of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Verse 54 points out that the Son of God would atone for the fall in the Garden of Eden and give to all mortals resurrection and immortality; also, that men will be punished for their own doings, and not for Adam's transgression.
No better explanation of the symbolism in baptism, confirmation, and the atoning blood of Jesus Christ is found in any of the scriptures than the one given in verses 59 and 60 of the sixth chapter of Moses. The symbolism is a perfect comparison of birth into mortality and into the kingdom of God. "That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so become of dust a living soul, even so we must be born again into the kingdom of as heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory. For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified."
Immersion in water is the only mode of batism that could fit this symbolism. Also, these verses point out the important phases of the atonement, namely: the contribution made by Jesus Christ--represented by the blood--and the contribution that each man makes by repenting of all sins and actually being born again and then by making the life conform to the gospel plan thereafter. By these things only can mortals ever return to the presence of God.
The word "baptize" comes from the Greek word "baptiso", meaning to submerge, sink, immerse, or cover with liquid. Polybius, a historian of the second century, described an engagement between the Carthaginian and Roman fleets in which he states that the battle caused many of the ships to be baptized. To the ancients the word baptism conveyed a definite meaning of actual submergence. Mosheim, the learned historian of the eighteenth century, states, "The sacrament of baptism was administered...without public assemblies, in places appointed, and prepared for that purpose, and was performed by immersion of the whole body in [a] baptismal font" (Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History, p.36).
The Savior compared baptism to a birth, and declared such to be essential to the life that leads to the kingdom of God (John 3:3-5). Baptism has also been vividly compared to a burial, followed by a resurrection. The apostle Paul, in the Epistle to the Romans, chapter 6 verses 3 through 5, says: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." And again, the same apostle writes: "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead" (Col. 2:12). The symbolism of the rite is preserved in no form other than by immersion. Among all the varied forms of baptism practised by man, immersion alone typified a birth marking the beginning of a new career, or the sleep of the grave with subsequent victory over death.
The scriptures justify no other form of baptism. The baptism of Christ was by immersion (Matt. 3:16-17). The manifestation immediately following the baptism affirms the acceptance of the Father.
The form or mode of baptism underwent a radical change during the first half of the third century--a change whereby its essential symbolism was destroyed. Immersion, typifying death followed by resurrection, was no longer deemed an essential feature, and sprinkling with water was allowed in the place of immersion. The changes thus initiated are not justified by the scriptures or by the baptism of the apostolic times. Latter-day revelation establishes the validity of baptism by immersion (D&C., section 13).
The universality of the law of baptism has been shown already. Compliance with this ordinance has been shown to be essential to salvation, and the application extends to all mankind. Nowhere in scripture is a distinction made in this regard between the living and the dead. All are the children of the same Father, all to be judged and rewarded by justice and interposition of divine power. Christ's atoning sacrifice was offered not for the few who wre upon the earth at the time of his mortal ministry, but for all the inhabitants of the earth, past, present, and future. He is Lord of living and dead, for all live unto Him (Luke 20:36-38). The universality of the ordinance of baptism extends to those who have passed through the mortal change of death. Vicarious ordinances for the dead will be the subject of discussion in one of the articles to appear at a later date in the Millennial Star.
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