2
Ne 9:23 they must repent and be baptized
¡°The
teachings of Jacob clearly indicate that the early Nephites considered baptism
an essential ordinance of the gospel. (2 Nephi 9:23-24.) Nephi also taught the
necessity of baptism (2 Nephi 31:5-13), and then, referring to the baptism of
the Savior, he counseled his followers to ¡®do the
things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer
should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know
the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is
repentance and baptism by water¡¯ (2 Nephi 31:17).
¡°Concerning
baptisms by the early Nephites, Joseph Fielding Smith has written:
The Book of Mormon teaches us that baptism
for the remission of sins was a fundamental principle of the gospel among the
Nephites from the time of Lehi all through their history. ...
All through the Book of Mormon there are
references to baptism as an ordinance for the remission of sins. What their
word for baptism was is not revealed, but in the translation the Prophet Joseph
Smith used the familiar expression of our time. (Answers to Gospel Questions,
2:66.)
¡°The
Lord indicates in the Pearl of Great Price that baptism has been practiced as
an ordinance of the gospel since the fall of Adam (Moses 5:58; 6:52), with Adam
himself being baptized (Moses 6:64-65). The purpose and necessity of baptism is
clearly and beautifully explained by the Lord in this scripture. (Moses
6:52-63.)
¡°The
following statement provides additional information on the baptisms performed
before the birth of Christ:
In the former ages of the world, before the
Saviour came in the flesh, ¡®the saints¡¯ were baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ to come, because there never was any other name whereby men could be
saved; and after he came in the flesh and was crucified, then the saints were
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen from the dead and
ascended into heaven, that they might be buried in baptism like him, and be
raised in glory like him, that as there was but one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, and one God and father of us all, even so there was but one door to
the mansions of bliss. Amen. (Times and Seasons, 3:905.)
(Daniel
Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, p. 139)