Baptism the Ordinance

Volume One—Chapter Eighteen

#BAPTISM, THE ORDINANCE THAT BRINGS

#SPIRITUAL GROWTH

#Introduction

Every man and woman on earth enjoys the capacity and privilege of being able to grow spiritually. Spiritual growth is the receiving of gifts of the Spirit or increments of divine attributes by personal revelation. This revelation is the Lord’s response to a person’s willing and diligent obedience to his commandments.1

In the Church we are particularly blessed. We have a special right to grow spiritually by priesthood ordinance. This ordinance offers us the capacity to grow faster and further than those without the Church. This ordinance is baptism.

In order to become eligible for exaltation, it is necessary for one to experience the complete ordinance of baptism. A misconception in the Church today is that the ordinance of baptism is a one-time event. We may carelessly lapse into regarding it as an ordinance performed once at age eight years or when one joins the Church. Baptism is not a single event. Rather, it is a vital, ongoing ordinance whereby a member of the Lord’s kingdom is encouraged, inspired, and prompted by heavenly influences to grow spiritually. Indeed, it is the very process by which we in the Church grow spiritually.

The complete ordinance of baptism is best understood when we separate it into three different parts: the baptism of water, the baptism of the Spirit, and the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost.

#The Baptism of Water

We are baptized by immersion in water by an individual holding the proper authority. We thereby enter into a solemn and sacred covenant. We promise to enter the Lord’s earthly kingdom or Church, to take upon ourselves the name of Christ—to be called by his name, to stand as a witness for him, to earnestly repent, to keep his commandments, to bear one another’s burdens, and manifest a determination to serve him to the end. The Lord, as his part of the covenant, agrees to pour out his Spirit upon us, redeem us from our sins, raise us up in the first resurrection, and give us eternal life (Mosiah 18:7-10; D&C 20:37). The ordinance of baptism of water is the physical token of this important covenant.

An individual baptized by an individual with the proper Aaronic Priesthood authority becomes a candidate for the process that will eventuate in his spiritual rebirth and in his entrance into the celestial kingdom of heaven. He is authorized to participate in the complete ordinance of baptism. The complete ordinance of baptism, with all three of its parts, is not just the mechanism for setting foot on the path leading to godhood. It is also the mechanism by which we progress along that path.

Though actual submersion in water may occur only once, the baptismal covenant is renewed by the weekly partaking of the sacrament. The informed, worthy individual knows he is renewing his baptismal covenant each time he participates in the ordinance of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. A discussion of the relationship between the ordinance of the sacrament and the process of spiritual growth follows below.

The physical symbolism of the baptism of water represents the death and burial of the old person, the natural self within each of us, and the birth—actually the “rebirth”—of the new spiritual creature. Paul likened baptism to the death and resurrection of the Savior: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:5). We often assume the individual who is baptized is reborn by his initial water baptism—that he comes forth out of the water a new creature. While it is hoped he comes forth with a firm determination to change, his actual transformation is not an event. Rather, it is a process. We will discuss further the phenomenon of rebirth below.

#The Baptism of the Spirit

The “baptism of the Spirit” is the receiving of the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by one with the proper Melchizedek Priesthood authority. In the Church, we usually speak comfortably of the gift of the Holy Ghost. We assume everyone knows well the exact definition of this supernal gift. Do we? What exactly is the gift of the Holy Ghost? It may be better understood if we divide it into two parts:

1. The worthy person who receives the baptism of the Spirit is given a greater access to the various influences of the Holy Ghost. Officially, it is the divine right or privilege, to enjoy the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. The “constancy” of this privilege is, of course, dependent upon the ongoing worthiness and receptiveness of the individual.

One of the major roles of the Spirit is to assist the worthy individual to stay connected with heaven. For the individual enjoying the ministrations of the Holy Ghost, the veil between heaven and earth is figuratively thinned by those ministrations. The individual may be blessed to receive information and promptings from the celestial realm. Through this personal revelation, the individual may be warned, counseled, comforted, admonished, and affirmed.2

Spiritual growth may occur more readily. The individual with the gift of the Holy Ghost may be more readily prompted to know those areas in which he needs to repent. With adequate obedience, the gifts of the Spirit may be revealed in greater abundance. The gift of the Holy Ghost is the blessed and sacred privilege of potentially being more firmly connected to the heavenly realm.

2. The recipient of the gift of the Holy Ghost is also authorized and qualified to participate in the third part of the ordinance of baptism, the ordinance referred to as the “baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost.”

#The Baptism of Fire and of the Holy Ghost

This third component of the ordinance of baptism involves the justifying and sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost (see 2 Nephi 31:13-14).3 It is the very “ordinance,” indeed the divine privilege, by which a member of the Lord’s earthly kingdom may progress spiritually.

Here is how the process works. In his role as the Holy Spirit of Promise, the Holy Ghost monitors the obedience and the heartfelt desires and motivations of an individual who has inclinations to obey the Lord’s commands. When the Holy Ghost finds the individual wanting in his efforts to obey, he will wait patiently until the individual’s efforts at repentance and obedience rise to an acceptable level. When they do, the Holy Ghost certifies the individual worthy of a heavenly blessing, and he bestows three separate and specific blessings upon the individual. First, he forgives the sins of the individual in the very area in which he is struggling to obey. Second, the Spirit burns the specific “evil”—the natural-man tendency that resisted the accomplished obedience—from the individual’s heart “as if by fire.” That specific increment of the natural self is purged from his soul. Third, the Holy Ghost bestows upon the individual, by personal revelation, an increment of an attribute of Christ, or gift of the Spirit. This is an increment of a specific divine attribute the individual has just “earned” through his diligent efforts to obey. He thus becomes a “new creature” of the Holy Ghost.

The first step of this process (the forgiveness, or removing the penalty, of sin) is justification or reconciliation. The second and third steps (the purging and the bestowal of the gift) are called sanctification. The individual is thus justified and sanctified, and he becomes a little more like God.

When the Holy Ghost justifies and sanctifies someone in this manner, it is said he is “applying the atoning blood of Christ.” He has “cleansed their garments by the atoning blood of Christ.” The individual who is justified is said to be “reconciled to God.” Justification and sanctification always occur concomitantly. At the time of justification, there naturally and immediately follow the purging and the granting of the incremental attributes of God.

This ongoing process continues over a lifetime, on hundreds and even thousands of occasions. The processes of justification and sanctification involve consistent weekly, even daily, repentance. We must each strive regularly and diligently to become more obedient—more nearly perfect. We will never achieve absolute perfection in this life. Indeed it is not expected that we will. It is vital, though, that we always be striving toward perfection. It is a consistent striving and lack of complacence that results in our spiritual growth. When a man is repeatedly judged by the Spirit of God to be adequately obedient, he is repeatedly justified and sanctified. Over time and through the influence of the Spirit of God, the iniquity, carnality, sensuality, and every other evil thing relative to sin, is purged from him or “burned out” of his repentant soul as if it were by fire.

One of the perquisite gifts associated with spiritual growth is a lessening of the pulls of the natural-man self. When an individual receives a gift of the Spirit, the pull of the natural self in that particular area is mitigated. This is part of the sanctification process. This principle enabled those listening to King Benjamin’s speech to joyfully cry out: “Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2).

This “perk” of spiritual growth is due to the fact that when the Spirit sanctifies, he purges a specific part of the natural self out of the man. The man is thus fundamentally changed and has no desire or inclination to disobey that particular commandment.

#The Role of the Sacrament

The special process by which we are blessed to grow spiritually in the Church centers on the ordinance of the sacrament. Each time we partake of the sacrament, we should do more than covenant to generally obey all the Lord’s commandments. Though this is common practice in the Church, such a wide-ranging commitment is usually unfocused, unwieldy, and less effective. Instead, we should consider committing ourselves to a specific goal of obedience for the coming week. We should prayerfully search our soul and ferret out a specific area in which we are in need of repentance. Then, as we partake of the emblems of the sacrament, we should covenant with the Lord and commit ourselves to change our behavior in that specific area.

If we live up to our commitment, the Spirit will honor us. He will justify or forgive us of those specific sins we are trying to overcome, purge from our soul that evil, natural tendency that heretofore had prevented our obedience in that specific area, and grant us that increment of spiritual growth pertinent to the commandment we are striving to obey. We will be granted a fresh start in the specific area in which we are striving to obey. Once we have mastered one goal, we can proceed on to another. Persisting in the process is vital. Humility and the willingness to strive to become more and more obedient result in our inevitable spiritual progress.

#Spiritual Rebirth—Born Again

The process of spiritual growth may be called the process of conversion (change) or spiritual rebirth. As one grows, one is “born again.” There are instances in the scripture where this conversion or rebirth occurs in a short period of time—especially in connection with some miraculous experience. Examples are the conversion of the younger Alma and the four sons of Mosiah (Mosiah 27) or the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-99; 22:1-13; 26:12-18). Usually, however, spiritual rebirth is a gradual process that takes place step by step, line upon line, as we grow from “grace to grace” over a lifetime.

How does a man know if he has been “born again”? Once sanctified by the Holy Spirit, a man’s heart and attitudes are profoundly changed. He enjoys the “fruits of the Spirit” which are, according to the Apostle Paul, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). He comes to possess a “broken heart and a contrite spirit.” His sole desire is to submit to the will of Jesus Christ. He transforms from a state of carnality to being “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him” (Mosiah 3:19). He then cannot look upon sin “save it were with abhorrence” (Alma 13:12). He is said to possess the “divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). His “natural” nature ebbs away. His perspective is not confined to this earthly sojourn. It is, rather, an eternal one. He comes to know that this earth life is not the real life.

In recounting his own conversion experience to his son Helaman, Alma reported being tortured by the memory of his many sins. In his agony he recalled his father’s having prophesied of the coming of Jesus Christ. In desperation, he cried out to Jesus for mercy, and all at once:

I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! . . . [and] there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy” (Alma 36:19-21).

Those who heard and were converted by king Benjamin’s great sermon said they were “filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience” (Mosiah 4:3). They also, as already mentioned, had “no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2).

Ultimately, the individual succeeding in his obedience will be endowed with the most transcendent fruit of the Spirit—charity. He will find himself loving as Christ loves.

Only when thus transformed does a man realize how totally dependent he is upon the Lord. This realization may be called humility. True humility comes only as revealed divine knowledge, a gift of the Spirit, to the sanctified individual. The worldly proud, on the other hand, are never humble. They are ignorant of man’s dependence upon the Lord. They are unaware of their own spiritual ignorance. Pride is the very father of their ignorance.

It is clear that mere baptism by water alone does not produce a spiritual rebirth. If it were possible to stand ten “typical” baptized members of the Church side by side and accurately analyze the depth of their conversion, would we find all of them equally converted and equally committed? It seems likely that we might find as many different levels of conversion as there are people. It is appropriate for each member of the

Church to assess the depth of his or her conversion. It is vital that each commits to the ongoing “process” of baptism. The physical ordinance is only a beginning. Then one must righteously partake of the sacrament, search one’s soul, discern the areas where repentance is needed, repent repeatedly, and consistently strive to obey.

An important measure of one’s level of conversion is to examine the private longings of one’s heart. Before being born of the Spirit, an individual hungers and thirsts after things of the world while dutifully performing the things of God. After the baptism of fire, the situation is reversed. He hungers and thirsts after the things of the Spirit, while dutifully performing necessary worldly things. His very soul is consecrated to the building of the kingdom of God on earth and to the advancement of others in that kingdom.

This process of being “born again” through experiencing “the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost” is, in a real sense, an ordinance or sacrament of the gospel. A person who achieves this state enters into an increasingly solemn covenant. Though this is an extension of the baptismal covenant, it is logically more binding than the covenant made at the time of baptism by water. At that time, we promised to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, to stand as a witness of God at all times, to repent and keep his commandments, and to bear one another’s burdens. In return God promised us a remission of our sins, cleansing by the Holy Ghost, and redemption from the fall. Each aspect of this initial covenant takes on new meaning and new depth and richness as we repeatedly experience “the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost.”

#The Role of Ordinances in Our Quest for Exaltation

We have learned that the ordinance of baptism, in all its three parts, is a useful and practical tool for us. It authorizes us and teaches us how we might grow spiritually within the Lord’s earthly kingdom. So, is that the purpose of baptism? Is it ultimately a means to an end? Did the Lord give us baptism only so that we might use it as a tool for helping us to return home?

We are reminded of Nicodemus’s coming to the Savior by night. Nicodemus was a wealthy, influential member of the ruling Jewish Sanhedrin. He had either witnessed or otherwise been made aware of Jesus’s miracles, and he was more than curious. He needed and yearned to know more. I do not doubt that the conversation between Christ and Nicodemus is only incompletely recorded in John’s account. It seems likely Nicodemus said to Jesus something like, “Let us assume you are come from God. Then what would you have me do?” Jesus answered him: “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 3:5). Jesus seems to imply that the ordinance of baptism is more than just a means to an end. Through Nicodemus, he seems to command all men to be baptized. The ordinance of baptism is an end in itself. We are commanded to be baptized, and be baptized we will. I readily confess a personal tendency in myself to find joy and satisfaction in the practical functionality of the ordinances. I admit to sensing a hint of arbitrariness in the Lord commanding Nicodemus and each of us to be baptized for baptism’s sake—just because he commanded it. Yet, the evidence is strong that we must do the Lord’s will even when we do not understand all the reasons. Elder Boyd K. Packer, speaking in general conference, said: “Good conduct without the ordinances of the gospel will neither redeem nor exalt mankind; covenants and the ordinances are essential” (CR, October 1984, 105).

Consider, additionally, today’s massive effort, ongoing under the Lord’s direction, to identify the names of our dead ancestors and have their ordinance work vicariously done for them in the temples. This surely suggests that without these ordinances, no man will be exalted, regardless of his good intentions and good works.

So, how might we most appropriately regard the Lord’s commands for us to participate in the “saving” ordinances including baptism, priesthood ordinations, temple endowment, and the eternal marriage covenant? Are they practical “helps” for us along the way to our exaltation? Or, are they something in addition to that? Are they independent, stand-alone, commandments that must be obeyed—without which a man cannot be exalted?

It would seem the most correct answer is both. Let me ask you a question. Do you think the Lord ever demands of us blind obedience? It would seem that at times he does.

The Lord seems to want to teach us that we must obey him at all times even on those unusual occasions when we’re not sure exactly why. He does not resent our studying his doctrine and trying to gain insight into his ways and reasons, but we must never forget that his ways are higher than our ways. In mortality, we will never come to fully understand him and his purposes. There must ever remain an element of blind trust and obedience in our relationship with him.

One is reminded of the incident wherein Adam was asked by the angel why he was offering sacrifices to the Lord. Adam replied, “I know not, save the Lord commanded me” (Moses 5:6). The angel then blessed Adam for his determination to obey, even though he did not completely understand the significance of the Lord’s command. The angel then taught him: “This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth” (Moses 5:7).

This concept is perhaps particularly applicable to those individuals who have long studied the doctrines of the gospel and may have come to think of themselves as having special insight into God’s ways. They, especially, need to be reminded that we do not and cannot understand all of God’s purposes and must, at times, submit to his counsel, even when we don’t understand all the reasons. All we have to do to receive the Lord’s blessings is to “go and do”—to just obey his commands. We don’t have to completely understand the intricate workings of his commands in order to benefit from them. Simple deliberate faith and simple obedience—these are the watchwords. In a future volume we will discuss a closely related topic: Why does the Lord involve us in ritual?4

1 For a more complete discussion of spiritual growth, see chapters 7 and 8, Spiritual Growth—Gifts of the Spirit and The Blessings of Spiritual Gifts.

In a future volume, the several vital aspects of the ministry of the Holy Ghost will be discussed—see volume 2, chapter 5, The Holy Ghost.

For a more thorough discussion of justification and sanctification, see chapter 17. 4 See volume 4, The Lord’s Use of Ritual.