Sunday, May 3, 2020

John Taylor Affirming Baptismal Regeneration


In a sermon dated October 7, 1872, John Taylor said the following:

We may have our own peculiar ideas about the propriety of this, that and the other religious faith, ceremonies and forms of worship, but I am now speaking of law, and of governments, and of the arrangements that peoples, nations, churches, and the members of churches bind themselves to be governed by. The same thing applies to any of the various sects that exist in Christendom. The Baptist commences a church, and he believes in baptism by immersion, but he could not be a Latter-day Saint. Why? Because he can be baptized by anybody not having authority from God, and he does not believe that baptism is for the remission of sins. According to his ideas he must have his sins forgiven first, and then be baptized after a while. He could not be a Latter-day Saint, because his ideas and ours are at variance. (JOD 15:213)

Here, John Taylor contrasts the Baptist understanding of the baptism wherein one receives a remission of sins first and then, as a “symbol” of this forgiveness, gets baptised afterwards. Instead, he teaches that water baptism is the instrumental means of one’s (initial) remission of sins. In other words, he affirms baptismal regeneration.

That this is (1) the biblical teaching and (2) the teaching of Joseph Smith (notwithstanding some wresting of something Joseph once said), see:













J. Paul Sampley on Baptismal Regeneration and Ephesians 5:25-27 

On the related issue of imputed righteousness (which informs a lot of the errant arguments against baptismal regeneration and other doctrines), see: