Joan E. Taylor in The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible on the Salvific Efficacy of Water Baptism in the New Testament

  

For Paul, one is buried with Christ in the water and raised from the dead upon coming up, when, with the imparting of the Spirit, one is a new creation (Gal 6:15; Rom 6:4; 7:6; 2 Cor 5:17; Eph 2:10, 15; Col 3:10; Titus 3:5-7) “in Christ.” As such, normal societal divisions no longer existed: “There is no longer Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28, and see 1 Cor 12:13). Paul saw Christians as having a spiritual seal or mark (2 Cor 1:21-22; Eph 1:13-14, 4:30) by means of the imparting of the Spirit. Thus Christian water-and-Spirit baptism replaces the mark of Jewish circumcision, a notion we find also in early extracanonical Christian literature (e.g., 2 Clem. 6:9; 7:6; 8:6; Barn. 9:6; 11:11).

 

In Acts 22:16 there is an understanding of baptism as being about washing away of sins, a conception placed in the mouth of Ananias, who baptized Paul. Paul might have understood baptism also as a kind of washing from sin: “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were rendered righteous, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11), though elsewhere Paul (or his school) can use the imagery of washing in terms of the common ritual of prenuptial washing of the bride, so that the Church—as the bride of Christ—is prenuptially washed by the word of God (Eph 5:25-27). (Joan E. Taylor, “Baptism,” The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, ed. Katharine Doob Sakenfield, 5 vols. [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006], 1:394)

 

 

"Your Children Are Evil!" Voddie Baucham

"Your Children Are Evil!" Voddie Baucham

Lorenzo Snow (June 12, 1901) Teaching How the Promises in His Patriarchal Blessing Had Been Fulfuilled

As a meeting held on June 12, 1901, President Lorenzo Snow made reference to the fulfillment of the promises in his patriarchal blessing:

 

He related his first attempt to speak in public and how he made up his mind solidly what whatever he was asked to do in the Church and Kingdom of God, he would try and do it. He reverted to the time of his first patriarchal blessing when Father Smith placed his hands upon his head and blessed him while an aged brother wrote the blessing, and then continued: “He told me many extraordinary things. When the written blessing was shown to the Patriarch he said that this brother had not written it all, as it was impossible to him, reared as he was in the sectarian traditions, to grasp it all but I felt that it was enough. This blessing has been written off in a beautiful style by Brother Moench, and I now have it banging in the Salt Lake Temple. He told me many extraordinary things that have occurred to me since in my past history, from 1836 to this hour.”

 

The President then related his doubts caused by his not having any great manifestation at the time of his confirmation. He felt that he had made great sacrifices in becoming a Mormon and in blighting his prospects as a young man but he was ashamed now that he had never called it a sacrifice. He related his visit to his many relatives after he became a Mormon and how he had gained light and knowledge of the truth after being thus disturbed in his mind by not receiving the gift of tongues or prophecy when confirmed; an d how the spirit had come down upon him once when kneeling in prayer with a power that had passed through his body and had given him an absolute knowledge that God lived, that he was our Father and that Jesus was his son and had come to earth and talked with the Prophet Joseph, receiving a perfect knowledge, of the truth of this work. “I shall never forget it,” the speaker said, “so long as I draw breath.” (“Notable Reunion of Weber Stake,” The Deseret Evening News no. 177 [June 15, 1901]: 1)

 

In an earlier report of President Snow’s sermon, we read that:

 

He referred to his own baptism at Kirtland, Ohio, in 1836; told many reminiscences of the early days of the church, and state that the patriarchal blessings which he had received from Patriarch Smith, father of the Prophet Joseph Smith, had been fulfilled. (“First Presidency of Church in Ogden Today,” Ogden Daily Standard 31, no. 139 [June 12, 1901]: 5)

 

With that as background, the following is President Snow’s patriarchal blessing. It should be read in light of how President Snow would interpret the language and promises therein (which may also reflect how his contemporaries understood such concepts vis-à-vis prophecy):

 

Patriarchal blessing of Lorenzo Snow on December 15, 1836]

 

At a Patriarchal blessing meeting held in the Lord[’]s House in Kirtland this the fifteenth day of Dec. eighteenth hundred and thirty six. Joseph Smith Sen the Patriarch of the Church of LD. Saints being present and holding the meetting [meeting] a Patriarchal blessing was confer[r]ed on the head of Lorenzo Snow son of Oliver Snow born in Mantua Portage Co State of Ohio the 3d of April 1814.

 

Brother—In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the authority of the Holy Priesthood which God has confer[r]ed on me and by the Holy Anointing I lay my hands on thy head and give thee a Father’s Blessing I ask God the Eternal Father who has call[e]d me to the of[f]ice of the Priesthood to open the visions of my mind and give me the Holy Spirit. I ask him to have mercy on thee who art but a youth—thou hast been dilligent [diligent] and ardent in thy application to thy learning. God has looked upon thee from all Eternity — has been propitious has been bountiful in his gifts — given thee Intelligence— tallent [talent] and great faculties of mind that thou mightest be useful in his Cause Thou hast a great work to do in thy day and generation God has call[e]d thee to the ministry.

 

Thou must preach the Gospel of thy Savior to the inhabit—inhabitants of the earth, Thou shalt become a mighty man in the Earth—Thou shalt have great faith—even like that of the Brother of Jared.— thou shalt have power to translate thyself from one plannet [planet] to annother [another]—power to go to the moon if thou shalt desire it. Power to preach to the spirits in prison — power like Enoch to translate thyself to heaven, — thou shalt have power to rend the vail [veil] of heaven and see Jesus standing at the right hand of his Father. Theare [There] shall not be a mightier man on Earth than thou. Thy faith shall increase and grow stronger and stronger it shall be liken like that of Peter thy shadow shall restore the sick— the diseased shall send to thee their handkerchiefs and aprons and by thy touch their owners shall be healed. Thou shalt have power over unclean spirits; at thy command the powers of darkness shall stand back, and Devils shall flee away. If it be expedient the Dead shall rise and come forth at thy bid[d]ing even those that have long slept in the dust shall come foarth [forth] to life.

 

Thou shalt have long life thou shalt live to the age of Moses yet not be old, for old age shall not come upon thee, the vigor of thy mind shall not be abated and thy vigor and strength of thy body shall be preserved. Thou shalt have power to stand in the flesh and see Jesus come come in the clouds, no power shall take thy life so long as it shall be useful to thy fellow men thou shalt preach the gospel so long as theare [there] shall be an ear to hear or an heart to believe.—Thou must open thy mouth and the Lord will fill it with arguments. thy voice shall cause the Earth to tremble. Thou must pray for thy kindred and be dilligent [diligent] and thou shall see All thy kindred shall be brought into the kingdom and have a Celestial Glory

 

Thou art of the House and lineage of Abraham thy descent is thro’ [through] the loins of Joseph and Ephraim and art entitled to the Priesthood—God will give thee a companion of thy hearts desire—thou shalt have posterity — thy sons shall be large and mighty men — even large in stature like unto the Jaredit[e]s their strength shall be like the strength of Sampson Thou shalt sit in council with the one hundred and forty four thousand and shall stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion and shall be able to sing thy song. This is thy Blessing. In the name of Jesus Christ I seal them on thy head and by the authority of the Holy Priesthood I seal thee up to Eternal life — even so Amen & Amen

 

NB. The above blessing is to be recorded in the name of thy Father it is his Blessing on the head of L Snow (Early Patriarchal Blessings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, comp. H. Michael Marquardt [Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2007], 94-95)

 

Ambrosiaster on People "Seeing" God in the Old and New Testaments

 Ambrosiaster, Questions on the Old and New Testaments:

QUESTION 71. JACOB WAS CALLED THE MAN WHO SEES GOD (GEN. 32:30), AND MOSES SAW GOD FACE TO FACE. (EXOD. 33:11) THE LORD ALSO SAYS, "I SAW WITH MY OWN EYES THE GOD OF ARMIES.” (ISAIAH 6:5) ON THE CONTRARY, THE EVANGELIST ST. JOHN SAYS: "NO MAN HAS EVER SEEN GOD. (1 JN. 4:12) SO HERE THERE IS A CONTRADICTION. — To speak according to the truth, no man has really seen God, neither the Father, nor the Son. If the Scripture tells us that men have seen Him, it is by intelligence, for it could only appear to them in figure. Just as without knowing the emperors, we see them in image and not in reality, so God was seen in the sense that men understood that God appeared to them in a rational and not substantial way, for God cannot be seen in his nature. To put the difficulty of this question into the light of day, let us try to explain the meaning of John's words. For he wanted here to reveal to us a hidden truth which is part of the doctrine of salvation: "No man," he says, "has ever seen God; the only Son who is in the bosom of the Father has manifested Himself.” (Jn. 1:18) Let us examine the meaning of these words of the Evangelist; to show us that there is no truth that no man has ever seen God, he places this statement on the lips of the Son himself, who cannot be deceived because he is in the bosom of the Father. Now, what is the bosom of the Father, except the feeling of love of the true Father for his Son by the unity of nature which is common to them? No one has ever seen God except the only begotten Son, which is what the Apostle of God revealed among other things to St. John the Baptist: "It is not that anyone has seen the Father, there is only one who is of God who has seen the Father.” Now it is to condemn the Jews who would neither hear, nor believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that the Evangelist proves to them that it is this same Christ who appeared as God to the patriarchs, and that the Father has never been seen except by the Son. Indeed, by denying that God the Father was ever seen, and declaring, however, that God appeared to the patriarchs, the Son of God wants to reveal himself and show that it is he who appeared as God to their fathers. This is why he says to the Jews in speaking of his Father: "You have never heard his voice nor seen his face.” (Jn. 5:37) So there is no contradiction in saying that God all at once has been seen and is invisible. (pp. 83-84) 

QUESTION 2. THE GOSPEL DECLARES THAT NO ONE HAS SEEN GOD (JN. 5:46, 1 TIM. 6:16, JN. 1:18); WHILE JACOB, MOSES, AND ISAIAH CLAIM TO HAVE SEEN HIM. IT MAY BE SAID: NO ONE HAS. SEEN THE FATHER; WHAT CAN THIS DO? IF WE HAVE SEEN THE SON, WE HAVE SEEN THE FATHER, SINCE THE FATHER AND THE SON ARE ONE GOD IN THEIR NATURE, IN THEIR IMAGE, FOR BOTH HAVE ONLY ONE IMAGE, AND AS THE SAVIOR SAYS: THE ONE WHO SEES ME ALSO SEES MY FATHER. (JN. 14:9) HOW IS IT THEN THAT NO ONE HAS SEEN GOD THE FATHER, SINCE THE SON TESTIFIES THAT WE SEE THE FATHER WHEN WE SEE HIM, BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER GOD. IF, THEN, THERE IS NONE ELSE, IT IS HIMSELF WHOM WE HAVE SEEN AS GOD, SINCE THERE IS ONLY ONE. — It is from God the Father that the Evangelist wants to speak when he says that no one has seen God, except the only Son who is in the bosom of the Father and who has made it known to us. (Jn. 1:18) Let us then mark to the Son, He taught us that no one except He saw God. Now, he speaks in this way to teach us that it is he who has constantly appeared to the patriarchs and the prophets. These words, therefore, do not apply to the only God, but to the Person of the Father whom we cannot call otherwise than God the Father. As for the Son, he declares that he has been seen, but in an invisible way for those who thought he saw him. The vision here is the intellect, because it is not in the eyes of the body but in the eyes of the intellect that he was manifested, and to have seen him, it is to have understood that God revealed himself in this appearance. Now, when the Savior says, "He who sees me, see also my Father," (Jn. 14:9) he wants to speak not of the vision of the eyes, but of the mind, and to make us understand that there is no difference between the Father and the Son. Neither were seen in their nature. In apparitions, the Son has been seen only by the intellect and not by the eyes of the body, because he is invisible as the Father. (p. 234)

John A. Widtsoe Franklin S. Harris, Jr., teaching that the Book of Mormon is the Record of the Stick of Ephraim (cf. D&C 27:5)

Notice how, in their 1937 apologetic volume for Book of Mormon historicity, Widtsoe and Harris (correctly) noted that the Book of Mormon is the record of the stick of Ephraim (cf. D&C 27:5):

 

"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick, and they shall become one in thine hand." (Ezekiel 37:15-17.) The record of the stick of Judah is the Bible and the record of the stick of Ephraim is the Book of Mormon. They are now one in the hands of the restored Church. (John A. Widtsoe Franklin S. Harris, Jr., Seven Claims of The Book of Mormon: A Collection of Evidences [Independence, Miss.: Zion's Printing and Publishing Company, 1937], 16-17)

 

 Further Reading:

 

Ezekiel 37 and the Book of Mormon

The Stick of Joseph and Ezekiel 37

Duane Crowther on Ezekiel 37

Holzapfel, Pike, and Seely on Ezekiel 37

James H. Anderson (1933): The Book of Mormon is not the Stick, but the Record of the Stick, of Ephraim

Eldin Rick's Nuanced Approach to Biblical Prophecies Relating to the Book of Mormon

Vern Grosvenor Swanson on the Two Sticks of Ezekiel 37 being Bloodlines

Jeffrey S. Krohn on the Common LDS Readings of Ezekiel 37, Isaiah 29, and Appeals to "Sensus Plenior"

Jon Gunn (non-LDS) Correctly Noting that D&C 27:5 Distinguishes the “Record” (Book of Mormon) from the “Stick” of Ephraim

Victorinus (d. 304) Affirming a Future Coming of Elijah in His Commentary on Revelation

  

(7:1) And an angel descending from the rising of the sun: he speaks of the Prophet Elijah who is coming before the time of Antichrist, for the restoring and strengthening of the churches against the overwhelming persecution. We read of this in the opening of the books of the Old Testament and the new prophecy, for the Lord says through Malachi: Behold, I am sending to you Elijah the Tishbite, to turn back the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his neighbor, that is, to Christ through repentance, to turn back the heart of the father to the son: the time of a second calling, to recall the Jews to the faith of the following People. And therefore he also shows the number of the Jews, and the great multitude of the gentiles, who will believe. (Commentary on Revelation by St. Victorinus, ed. John Litteral [trans. Kevin P. Edgecomb; Ancient Bible Commentaries in English, n.d.], 31)

 

 

(12:6) Then he says: There was war in heaven: Michael and his messengers fought with the dragon: and the dragon fought, and his messengers; and there was not found for him a place in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown out, the ancient serpent fell to earth. This is the beginning of the coming of Antichrist. Yet before Elijah must preach and there must be a time of peace, and thus after the end of three years and six months of preaching of the preaching of Elijah, he is to be thrown out of heaven, where he had the power of ascending to until this time, and all the fugitive angels. Thus Antichrist is to be raised up from hell; the Apostle Paul also says this: Except first will come the man of sin, the son of perdition, the adversary, who will raise himself above all that is called God or is worshipped. (Ibid., 42)

 

 

(14:1) And an angel flying in the midst of heaven which he says he saw, we have also treated above: the same is to be Elijah, who acts before the reign of Antichrist. And another angel following signifies the same prophet, the associate of his preaching. But because, as we have said, his leaders, by making a treaty, will attack this city, great Babylon, its ruin is borne witness to. (Ibid., 46)

 

 

(20:1) And the scarlet devil is imprisoned and all his fugitive angels in the Tartarus of Gehenna at the coming of the Lord; no one is ignorant of this. And after the thousand years he is released, because of the nations which will have served Antichrist: so that they alone might perish, as they deserved. Then is the general judgment. Therefore he says: And they lived, he says, the dead who were written in the book of life, and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection: toward this one is the second death has no power. Of this resurrection, he says: And I saw the Lamb standing, and with him 144 thousands, that is, standing with Christ, namely those of the Jews in the last time who become believers through the preaching of Elijah, those who, the Spirit bears witness, are virgins not only in body, but also in language. Therefore, as he reminds above, the 24 elder-aged said: Grace we bring to You, O Lord God, who has reigned; and the nations are angry. (Ibid., 49)

 

Orson Pratt (December 22, 1866): Jesus was Born April 11th and, based, in part, on D&C 20:1, Jesus was Crucified on April 6

  

Christmas, the 25th of December, will open upon us, on Tuesday next. This is a great day among Christian nations. But what peculiar influence has been imparted to this day that it should occupy so conspicuous a prominence, above other days? Was man created on Christmas? Did Noah enter the ark on Christmas? Or what great event has transpired to make Christmas so memorable  Listen, and I will inform you. In the sixth century of our era, there lived a Romish monk, by the name of Dionysius Exiguus: he imagined that Christ was born on the 25th of December. This wild conjecture, without any substantial proof, was received by the Romish Church, and handed down, like many other foolish traditions, to the present day. Learned chronologists are now fully convinced, that this monkish simpleton conceived the idea, and palmed the fabrication upon the world, entirely unsupported by evidence.

 

Chronologists have no certain data on which to ground a calculation, fixing the birth-day of our Redeemer. Wieseler, from approximative data, supposes it to have been about the 10th of January. Greswell, from similar data, believes it to have been the 5th of April. (See Smith's Dic. vol. i, p. 1074.)

 

The day of the crucifixion is not so uncertain. Some chronologists assert that it transpired in March ; (See Arago's Astronomy, vol. ii, p. 772 ;) but the great majority maintain that it took place on the day of the Passover, as described by St. John, the Evangelist, which is said to have occurred on Friday, the 6th of April, corresponding to the 14th of the old Jewish month Abib, now called Nisan. (Smith's Dic. vol. ii, p. 719 : also vol. i. p. 1067.)

 

. . .

 

We have already brought the testimony of chronologists to prove that he was crucified on Friday, the 6th of April. Deduct 32 of our years and 360 days from the period of the crucifixion, and we have April 11th for the exact day of his birth. Also, if we deduct 1721 weeks and 1 day from the time of the crucifixion, we find that the 11th day of April, or the first birthday of Christ, was on Friday. If he had lived to be 33 years of age, according to our reckoning, that is, including the 8 intercalary days, (one day of which being added every 4 years,) the anniversary of his birth-day would have fallen on Wednesday : but he was crucified 5 days before this, or on the preceding Friday, which, as already observed, was on the 6th of April.

 

From the above data, we have arrived at the certain conclusion, that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was born on Friday after mid-day, (Jerusalem local time,) April 11th, which is the True Christmas and New Year’s Day. Therefore, the 11th day of April next will be our TRUE CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S DAY for the True Era of our Lord 1870.

 

The set time that Christ, by New Revelation, organized his Latter-day Kingdom, was on the 6th of April, A.D. 1830, Dionysius’s Vulgar Era, which is the same as the 6th of April, A.D. 1833, True Christian Era. This stupendous event, so long predicted by the Prophets, took place precisely 1800 years, to the very day, from his crucifixion. (Orson Pratt, “True Christmas and New Year’s Day,” The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 28, no. 51 [December 22, 1866]: 808, 810-11)

 

For another “take” on the issue of the date of Jesus’s birth and crucifixion, see:

 

Jerry D. Grover, Jr., Calendars and Chronology of the Book of Mormon (2023).