People often take an “either-or” approach to baptism (it is either a symbol or regeneration); however, in 1947, Hyrum P. Jones pulled the ¿Por qué no los dos? card:
. . . baptism is a perfect symbol
of the death, burial, and the resurrection of Christ. Paul explains this symbolism
in his letter to the Romans (Ch. 6:1-6). Christ died, his body was buried in
the tomb, then he took it up again. He was resurrected and came forth from the
grave to a new kind of life, His body had been changed, cleansed and purified.
What a striking symbol is
baptism! After repenting one goes down into the watery grave, completely
covered or buried in the water. He is then raised up out of the water, in the
likeness of Christ coming forth from the tomb, to walk in newness of life,
cleansed and purified from sin.
Truly baptism is an appropriate
and suitable ordinance. It is the door by which we enter the Church and Kingdom
of God, and is required of all. It promotes righteousness and is rich in
meaning and symbolism. It is for the remission of sins and is in force through
all periods of one’s life, past, present, and future. To realize its greatest
blessings one should remember his baptism often and think upon it much. Jesus
has given us help in going just this by giving us another ordinance, The
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. It is by baptism that we take upon us the name
of Christ and the obligations of citizenship in his Kingdom. In partaking of the
Sacrament we are reminded of Christ’s great gift to us, and of our covenants to
always remember him, to keep his commandments which he has given us, that we
may always have his spirit to be with us. (Hyrum P. Jones, “Vitalizing Young
People’s Participation in the Ordinance of Baptism,” Address given in BYU
Faculty Study Group, January 23, 1947, pp. 3-4, Church History Library, Call
no.: M266.04 A327 item 23, copy in my possession)
A boy, approached by his teacher
because he was disobeying moral laws, feels that he is defeated in life. He has
lost hope that God will forgive him for his immoral conduct. He assumes the
attitude, "I have the name, I might as well have the game"; and so he
continues his practice feeling that all is lost.
I would like to say to this young
man that we all make mistakes; that we are all sinners. It even says in the
scriptures that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and
sinneth not." God knew that man would sin when good and Evil came into
this world; and so in His mercy He provided a way in which all men might be
saved from their sins and lifted out of this hopeless pit in which they have
found themselves. Jesus came to show mankind that all could be saved by
repentance, by a complete change of life; that is, a change so complete that it
might be likened to a rebirth. To Nicodemus He said, "A man must be born
again."
Jesus' life was spent in trying
to bring about this rebirth in men and to convince them of the mercy and
forgiveness of God. He offered to the woman at the well a fuller life if she
would but drink the living waters of the eternal fountain. He said to the woman
taken in adultery, "Neither do I condemn thee. Go thy way and sin no
more." Could your sin be so great that God would not forgive you when He
offered forgiveness to such as these? And when Jesus was on the cross pleading
for those who were responsible for His death, saying, "Father forgive them
for they know not what they do." Would He not have included you in His
mercy and forgiveness? It is not God that is unforgiving. It is always man who
is unforgiving. The Scriptures are filled with illustrations of the forgiveness
of God.
He even established baptism as a
symbol that our sins will be forgiven. If baptism were only for the remission
of those sins we committed before we were baptized then there would not be much
hope, as most of us were baptized when we were eight years of age. However,
baptism is for the remission of those sins we commit and repent of after we are
baptized, and it is a rebirth to a new way of life to such an extent it
functions for righteousness in our lives that the remorse for our sins and
repentance which follows keeps us on the road to the mercy and forgiveness of
God.
The Old Testament Prophet Ezekiel
taught the forgiveness of God. He said, "If the wicked man will turn from
all the sins which he has committed, and will keep all my statutes, and do what
is lawful and right, he shall surely live, and not die. None of the
transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the
righteousness which he has done he shall live............
"Repent, then, and turn from
all your transgressions; lest your iniquity bring you to ruin. Cast away from
you all the transgressions, which you have committed against me; and get
yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. (rebirth) Why should you
die?........For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who di.....Turn,
then, and live!" (Ezekiel 18:21-22, 30,31,32.)(American Translation) (H.
Bartley Heiner, “Mercy and Forgiveness,” Address given in BYU Faculty Study
Group, October 11, 1946, p. 1, Church History Library, Call no.: M266.04 A327
item 14, copy in my possession)
