Sunday, April 2, 2023

Joseph Smith on the Relationship between Regeneration and Ordinances

In a discourse dated between June 26 to August 3, 1839, Joseph Smith taught that:

 

Being born again comes by the Spirit of God through ordinances. (William Clayton version; the Willard Richards account reads the same)

 

This shows that Joseph did believe in baptismal regeneration; it also shows that he understand the difference between various “causes” (here, ordinances are not meritorious causes; they are instrumental causes, with the Spirit working through physical means [water of baptism; laying on of hands in confirmation, etc]).

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