Baptism and Repentance in the Pearl of Great Price

The more I think about the stories and messages of the Pearl of Great Price, the more themes that I see that cross the different chapters and books therein.  Continuing from yesterday’s thoughts, another important topic that spans the book is that of baptism.  We see the importance of baptism from Adam the first man to Joseph and Oliver in this last dispensation.  God spoke to Adam saying, “If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto 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” (Moses 6:52).  The Lord taught Adam why men were to be baptized and then “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” (Moses 6:64).  Enoch also taught the people the importance of baptism, saying, “He gave unto me a commandment that I should baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, which is full of grace and truth, and of the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of the Father and the Son” (Moses 7:11).  Similarly Noah taught the people their need for baptism: “Believe and repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, even as our fathers, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost” (Moses 8:24).  And then in our dispensation, the Pearl of Great Price tells how Joseph and Oliver also learned of baptism and were baptized.  Joseph told how John the Baptist appeared to them, granting “the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.”  After receiving the Aaronic Priesthood they “went and were baptized” (JSH 1:69, 71).  Clearly the Pearl of Great Price witnesses that in whatever time period one has lived, baptism is essential and is indeed one of the “first principles and ordinances of the gospel” (A of F 4). 

                 A similar theme is that of repentance, another of the “first principles” of the gospel.  The angel told Adam, “Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.”  The Lord then commanded all of the people in Adam’s day “that they should repent” and personally warned Cain that he would be cursed if he didn’t repent (Moses 5:8, 14, 25).  Adam “called upon his son to repent,” and other “preachers of righteousness… called upon all men, everywhere, to repent.”  Enoch taught the people that “God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent” (Moses 6:1, 23, 50).  The Lord told him, “Go to this people, and say unto them—Repent, lest I come out and smite them with a curse, and they die,” and the record tells us that “Enoch continued to call upon all the people, save it were the people of Canaan, to repent” (Moses 7:10, 12).  Noah similarly “called upon the children of men that they should repent” and told them, “Believe and repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Moses 8:20, 24).  In the book of Abraham we read of how Abraham’s father “repented of the evil which he had determined against [him], to take away [his] life,” showing that repentance is possible even for the worst of sinners (Abraham 1:30).  In the Joseph Smith History, the prophet was given the Aaronic Priesthood which holds the keys to the “gospel of repentance,” and he would later teach that repentance is the second principle of the gospel after faith (JSH 1:69, A of F 4).  The consistent call of the Pearl of Great Price is that we must repent: “Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” (Moses 6:57).