Friday, December 13, 2019

M. Lynn Bennion and J.A. Washburn on "The Two-fold Purpose of Baptism"


Writing in a Sunday School manual for the Church, M. Lynn Bennion and J.A. Washburn wrote the following about water baptism being the instrumental means of one’s initial remission of sins and being “born again” (baptismal regeneration) as well as the issue of post-baptismal sins and the forgiveness thereof:

The Two-fold Purpose of Baptism

Shortly after you were baptized, you were confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You could not have become a member of the Church and kingdom of God without first being baptized. Jesus said: “. . . Except a man be born [baptized] of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5, 13-16.) Jesus Himself set the example and was baptized by John saying, “ . . . Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness . . .” (Matthew 3:15.) Baptism acts as the door into the Church—the kingdom of God, as well as for the remission of sins.

There is still another phase of baptism. Suppose a man is forty years old when he is baptized. If he has repented and complied with the necessary requirements, it is clear that his past sins are remitted. But what of the future? He still is not perfect—there will be mistakes in the future no matter how hard he tries to live perfectly.

The same rule holds good for the future. One acknowledges his sins and honestly tried to overcome them, then baptism holds good for past, present, and future. It is like a two-edged sword; it cuts both ways—going and coming.

Baptism, then, is for the remission of sin. It is the door into the kingdom of God, and it is in force for all periods of life, past, present, and future. (M. Lynn Bennion and J.A. Washburn, Principles of the Restored Church at Work [Course 13 for the Sunday Schools of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1958], 72-73)