Baptism Lesson 5

Choice 3: Romans 6. Baptism

            This week I have chosen to do choice 3 which is all about baptism.  Baptism is one of the most important ordinances that a person can take part of.  It literally cleanses us from sin and allows us to be able to return to our Father in Heaven.  “It is by grace that we are saved after all that we can do.” (2 Nephi 25:23)  The atonement of Jesus Christ saved us, period.  But we still must do all that we can do to be righteous and follow the commandments.  Because the demands of justice demanded that the laws of justice were served, Jesus Christ went thru the atonement and already paid the price for our sins.  This allows him in a sense to be able to change the rules a bit.  Since the law of Justice is fulfilled he can extend to us mercy.  So it is by grace that we are saved.  The price has been paid already.  But we still must do all that we can.  Why is this?  Because we need to become like Christ.  He asks us to do all that we can so that we can become like him.  Since we are only human and will make mistakes we are able to repent and try again because mercy is available since the price of our sins and mistakes have already been paid.  That was a huge tangent but what does this have to do with baptism?  We are told that no unclean thing can be in God’s presence.  We must be baptized in order to become clean from sins.  These are the questions we were given for this chapter on baptism. 

1.    Review Romans 6:1–13 and answer the following questions in writing:

·              What must be done with sin before baptism can occur?

o   This is best answered in Romans 6:7 which states, “For he that is dead to sin is cleared from sin.  The italicized is the Joseph Smith translation and the underlined is the greek translation.  This is the results of baptism.  But we have to stop sinning and come to Christ so we may receive the gift of baptism. 

·              What events from Christ’s life are symbolized in baptism?

o   His death and resurrection are symbolized in baptism.  As we are immersed in water it is symbolic of Christ’s death.  Then we are brought out of the water and are cleared from sin.  This is symbolic of the resurrection of Christ.  Hence he that is dead to sin is cleared from sin. 

·              Considering this symbolism, why couldn’t someone be baptized by sprinkling?

o   Because baptism is in essence making us dead to sin.  Our whole bodies must be cleansed.  Verse 6 states:  “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”  Our bodies are stained with our sins.  But baptism cleanses it.  Therefore it does not make sense to have a sprinkling because only a small amount of the body would actually be cleansed.  Because this is symbolic it would be like saying Christ died but only for some peoples sins.  That would not have been complete. 

·              What do these verses teach us about how we can maintain the “newness of    life”?

o   We are cleansed from our sins when we are baptized.  This is basically a new life.  We get a new chance to have a perfect life.  But we will sin again…we will make mistakes again.  We are only human.  But each time we repent.  Each time we take the sacrament we are cleansed again.  This can give us such hope because it is not over once we make a mistake.  It may not be easy but we can repent of our sins and become just like we were after our baptism.  Because we were baptized and followed that commandment we are able to partake of the ordinance of the sacrament. 

·              According to Mosiah 3:19, what part of us would ideally die at baptism?

o   The natural man. 

2.    Study Romans 6:14–23. Write a paragraph that describes how we know whose servant we are. Then write a statement identifying the true source of freedom.

           

            I think that Matthew 6:24 puts this best:  “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”  We know whose servant we are by our actions.  We choose our actions and by doing so we either do the right thing and choose to serve God or we do not and choose to serve the devil.  You can’t be hot and cold, you are either hot or cold.  We may not intentionally be serving the devil but we are if we are not doing what we know to be right.  This is why we must have the atonement.  We may choose to serve the devil.  It may not be intentional but we still must repent.  The devil never has our best intentions at heart.  It might seem enticing in the moment but if we follow him we will never truly be happy.  The true source of freedom is choosing to follow God.  When we follow God and are righteous we have freedom.  We are free to choose right and wrong, good or evil and because of this we are free.  If we choose sin then we may become bonded and chained.  In some sense this may seem extreme.  But really looking at the bigger picture….which we may not know until the next life… will show us how we are in bondage when we choose to not follow God.  When we do follow God we retain that freedom to choose and are not bonded to anyone.

I really have learned a ton more about baptism.  I knew that we were cleansed from sin because of it but I did not know the symbolism behind it.  By choosing to become baptized we are symbolically dying to sin.  And are born again as a clean person.