4 Wherefore, I would that ye should remember that I have
spoken unto you concerning that prophet which the Lord showed unto me, that
should baptize the Lamb of God, which should take away the sins of the world.
5 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!
6 And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren,
wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by
water?
7 Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he
being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he
humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he
would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments.
8 Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy
Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.
Nephi continues his Messianic writings. He reiterates what he wrote in his great
vision while still in the Old World. He
reminds us of Lehi’s vision.
“And he spake also concerning a prophet who should come
before the Messiah, to prepare the way of the Lord-
“Yea, even he should go forth and cry in the wilderness:
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for there standeth
one among you whom ye know not; and he is mightier than I, whose shoe's latchet
I am not worthy to unloose. And much spake my father concerning this thing.
“And my father said he should baptize in Bethabara, beyond Jordan;
and he also said he should baptize with water; even that he should baptize the
Messiah with water” (1 Nephi 10:7-9).
“And I looked and beheld the Redeemer of the world, of whom
my father had spoken; and I also beheld the prophet who should prepare the way
before him. And the Lamb of God went
forth and was baptized of him; and after he was baptized, I beheld the heavens
open, and the Holy Ghost come down out of heaven and abide upon him in the form
of a dove” (1 Nephi 11:27).
Nephi asks an important question. If Christ, being holy, needs to be baptized,
why wouldn’t we, being unholy, also need to be baptized? John made the purpose of his baptisms clear.
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he
that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:
he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
“Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his
floor, and gather his wheat into the [storehouse]; but he will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire.
“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be
baptized of him.
“But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of
thee, and comest thou to me?
“And Jesus answering said unto him, [Permit it now] it to be
so now: for thus it [is fitting for us] us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up [immediately] out
of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
“And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:11-17).
Christ was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. How was being baptized fulfilling all righteousness?
The Savior explained why He did what He did. “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I
hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but
the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30).
Christ showed “unto the children of men that, according to
the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father
that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments” (2 Nephi 31:7).
Richard Lloyd Anderson explains the importance of Christ
fulfilling all righteousness.
“The sacrament renews the baptismal covenant in the Book of
Mormon. American prophets taught the religious necessity of baptism and the
clear doctrinal purposes for it. The most striking teaching is that baptism was
required even for the Savior. The visionary Nephi saw the future mission of
Jesus, including Christ's baptism (1 Nephi 11:27). Speaking by inspiration
afterward, Nephi explained the Savior's insistence on baptism at John's hands: ‘For
thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness’ (Matthew 3:15). Since Nephi
had a vision of this baptism, he evidently heard these words. He explains that
Jesus' immersion was an act that ‘witnesseth unto the Father that he would be
obedient unto him in keeping his commandments’ (2 Nephi 31:7). Here Nephi's
language indicates more than the humility required to keep the commandment of
baptism. He heard Christ's voice declaring immersion as a covenant for
believers, who by that act ‘witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to
keep my commandments’ (2 Nephi 31:14). As quoted above, Nephi applies similar
phraseology to Christ's immersion, really teaching that the Savior set the
example by baptism as a promise of future virtue.”[1]
Noel Reynolds continues.
“When men love their evil ways, it is not easy to turn away
to a path of obedience to the Lord. Nephi reports the instructions of the
Father and the Son through which he learned that this turning to follow the Son
could not be accomplished unless one acts ‘with full purpose of heart, acting
no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of
your sins’ (2 Nephi 31:13). The strictness of this new path is clear. An iron
rod runs along it, leading directly to the tree of life. The path is called
both ‘strait’ (2 Nephi 33:9) and ‘narrow’ (Jacob 6:11). The iron rod represents
the words of Christ or the Holy Ghost which ‘will show unto you all things what
ye should do’ (2 Nephi 32:5). Instead of continuing a life of choosing whatever
appeals to one's fancy at the moment, the repentant convert to Christ commits
to a life of obeying Christ's choices for him at every step of the way. The
choice to repent is a choice to burn bridges in every direction in the decision
to follow forever only one way, the one path that leads to eternal life.
“It is the severity of this demand that requires the convert
to Christ to ‘come down into the depths of humility’ (3 Nephi 12:2) as a
preparation for baptism. In Nephi's vision, Jesus himself gave this example,
humbling himself before the Father, and witnessing that he would be obedient in
keeping his commandments (see 2 Nephi 31:7). This same humility and
willingness to obey was depicted in another image when Jesus taught the
Nephites directly that they ‘must repent, and become as a little child’ (3
Nephi 11:37; cf. 11:38) or come unto him ‘as a little child’ (3 Nephi 9:22).
Describing the general practice of the Nephite church centuries later, Moroni
specified that none were baptized until they had ‘brought forth fruit meet that
they were worthy of it,’ including demonstrating ‘a broken heart and a contrite
spirit’ and witnessing to the church that they had ‘truly repented of all their
sins’ and had taken upon them the name of Christ with a ‘determination to serve
him to the end’ (Moroni 6:1–3; cf. Alma 12:15; 13:13).”[2]
[1]
Religious Validity: The Sacrament
Covenant in Third Nephi, Richard
Lloyd Anderson, Maxwell Institute.
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