2 Nephi 31:11-12

And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.

And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.

2 Nephi 31:11-12

Nephi has been quoting the words of Christ.  He turns to the words of the Father.  He said to us, “Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son” (2 Nephi 31:11). 

Nephi shifts again to the words of Christ.  “He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do” (2 Nephi 31:12). 

During His ministry, Christ taught:

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. [JST Matt. 16:26 And now for a man to take up his cross, is to deny himself all ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and keep my commandments.]

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matthew 16:24-26

Noel Reynolds emphasizes the importance of Christ’s words.

Nephi quotes Jesus, saying: "And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren [Nephi is now speaking to his family], can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?" (2 Nephi 31:10). Then he turns and quotes the Father. It would be interesting if we had a full account of that first vision that Nephi is reporting, because obviously a lot more happened and a lot more was said than is recorded back in 1 Nephi 11. That is a very brief account, but here we are getting extra detail from that vision. And the Father said: "Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son." So now the father echoes what has been said in the vision—i.e., repent and be baptized. Nephi continues: "And also, the voice of the Son came unto me [so in this vision, Nephi hears the voice of the Father and then he hears the voice of the Son], saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do" (2 Nephi 31:12).[1]

As with so much of our understanding of the gospel, the basic text on the Holy Ghost is to be found in Nephi's first exposition of the gospel message. Nephi quotes the voice of the Son saying that the Father will "give the Holy Ghost" (2 Nephi 31:12) to all who are baptized in the name of Jesus. For just as "the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove" (2 Nephi 31:8) after his baptism, so all who repent and are baptized in the name of Christ will then "receive the Holy Ghost" (2 Nephi 31:13). But in the same sentence, Nephi also calls this gift from God "the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost" (2 Nephi 31:13; also 31:14). The reference to fire indicates the miraculous cleansing power of this gift as it brings "a remission of . . . sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost" (2 Nephi 31:17), which "witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive" (2 Nephi 31:18).[2]

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[1] Nephi's Teachings (part 2), Noel Reynolds, Maxwell Institute, accessed January 22, 2014.

[2] The True Points of My Doctrine, Noel B. Reynolds, Maxwell Institute, accessed January 22, 2014.