The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever

One of the unique teachings of Latter-day Saint scripture is that baptism has been an essential religious practice since the beginning of man. It didn’t begin with John the Baptist and the Savior. We read these words of the Lord to Adam in the Pearl of Great Price: “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, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you.” The Lord taught Adam the importance of being born again, and how he needed to teach these things to his children, and then he was baptized: “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 became quickened in the inner man” (Moses 6:52, 64-65). A few generations later Enoch told the people, “And [the Lord] 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). Noah similarly taught the people of his time, “Hearken, and give heed unto my words; 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 8:23-24). We see that the same first principles of the gospel that we follow today were taught from the beginning.

                The Old Testament as we have it today does not speak directly about baptism, but through the scriptures of the Restoration we learn that baptism was important even to the children of Israel. In a modern revelation, the Lord described the law given to Moses when the children of Israel hardened their hearts: “He took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also; And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel; Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, whom God raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb. For he was baptized while he was yet in his childhood, and was ordained by the angel of God at the time he was eight days old unto this power” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:25-28). This clarifies that the preparatory law given to the Israelites, full of specific sacrifices and rituals and festivals, included baptism. Isaiah wrote, “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.” The words of the Book of Mormon clarify that “the waters of Judah” are “the waters of baptism,” confirming that the Israelites anciently practiced baptism (Isaiah 48:1, 20:1). Paul wrote of how “our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1-2). This may have been symbolic language suggesting only that going through the water was a kind of baptism, but the Book of Mormon emphatically confirms that baptism for those of Israel, even under the law of Moses, was essential.

                The prophets of the Book of Mormon before the coming of the Savior repeatedly emphasized both the importance of keeping the law of Moses and being baptized. Nephi wrote, “We keep the law of Moses, and look forward with steadfastness unto Christ, until the law shall be fulfilled” (2 Nephi 25:24). He also saw in vision the future Son of God be baptized by John the Baptist and encouraged his people with these words, “And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!” (2 Nephi 31:5) His brother Jacob also affirmed, “And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 9:23). Jacob also taught the importance of keeping the law: “For this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness” (Jacob 4:5). Many other passages emphasize the importance of the law of Moses for the Nephites: the people of King Benjamin kept it (Mosiah 2:3), Abinadi taught it to the priests of Noah (see Mosiah 12), the converts of Ammon and his brethren kept it (Alma 25:15), and the people in the time of Alma the Younger kept it (Alma 30:3). Similarly, many passages highlight the need for baptism: Alma the Elder baptized at the waters of Mormon (Mosiah 18:10), the people of King Limhi were baptized, Alma the Younger taught it to the people of Gideon (Alma 7:15), and the Nephites who believed Samuel the Lamanite were baptized by Nephi (Helaman 16:1). Clearly the Nephites before the coming of the Savior were committed to both keeping the law of Moses and observing the gospel of Jesus Christ through baptism.

                One of the clearest indications from the Bible that the Jews practiced baptism before the coming of the Savior is found in the New Testament: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judæa, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judæa, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:1-7). John came baptizing, and “all the region round about” came to be baptized by him. This was before the Savior’s ministry and before the law was fulfilled, and even the “Pharisees and Sadducees [came] to his baptism,” suggesting that they had no problem with the practice itself. When Jesus asked them about “the baptism of John,” the chief priests and elders had nothing negative to say about it and knew that “all hold John as a prophet” (Matthew 21:25-26). This suggests that baptism was not only practiced but accepted by the Jews of this time who were whole-heartedly devoted to the law of Moses. The mikveh performed by Jews both anciently and today—“a bath used for ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity”—likely has its roots in what we call baptism now.

                While practices, rituals, and even commandments have changed in different dispensations, the scriptures of the Restoration affirm that God “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (1 Nephi 10:18). The first principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ including faith in Him, repentance, and baptism in His name, have always been and will always be the way to return back to our Heavenly Father. As Nephi put it, “This is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 31:21).