Scripture Difficultiesbaptismimmersionauthoritypriesthood

Baptism: Mode and Authority

Does the New Testament teach immersion by one having authority, or is any sprinkling in any community sufficient?

Bible

The Bible answers

Bible · Matthew 3:16

KJV + NRSVUE

King James Version
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

NRSVUE
And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him.

Our explanation

Jesus went up straightway out of the water.

Bible · John 3:5

KJV + NRSVUE

King James Version
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

NRSVUE
Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.”

Our explanation

Born of water and of the Spirit.

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon answers

3 Nephi 11:23–26
Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water. … And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.
Our explanation
Jesus gives the words and the immersion.

Modern Revelation

Doctrine and Covenants 20:72–74
Baptism is to be administered in the following manner unto all those who repent— … And then shall he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of the water.
Our explanation
The same ordinance, restored.

Ancient witnesses

Dead Sea Scrolls and related extra-biblical texts that illuminate the same pattern the Restoration restores.

Didache 7 and 1QS III

Baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living water. If you have no living water, baptize in other water; if you cannot in cold, then in warm. If you have neither, pour water three times on the head.

The Didache prefers living water and still allows pouring when water is scarce—already a later pastoral concession. Qumran’s washings (1QS III) treat ritual water as covenant purification, not as a casual symbol. The Restoration returns to the New Testament’s immersion-plus-authority pattern and does not treat the Didache’s emergency pouring as the Lord’s standing law.

Faithful answers

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Baptism

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins is the first ordinance of the gospel, performed by one holding priesthood keys and authority, followed by the gift of the Holy Ghost. Infant sprinkling is not the New Testament pattern. Rebaptism of those previously sprinkled is not an insult; it is obedience. Authority matters because baptism is the Lord’s gate, not a community’s welcome ritual.

Then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.

Mode: immersion, as with Jesus, Philip, the Nephites, and D&C 20.
Authority: John 1 and Hebrews 5 already refuse self-called priesthood.
John 3:5 is a requirement, not a metaphor to be dissolved into sincerity.

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