And he commandeth all men that th

ey must

repent, and be baptized in his name, having

perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they
cannot be saved in the kingdom of God (2 Ne.
9:23).

I Can Repent and Be Baptized

Have you ever been so happy you clapped your hands for joy? The Book of
Mormon tells about people who did just that!
Because King Noah and his priests did not keep the commandments, the Lord
sent Abinadi to warn them that they must repent. Abinadi also taught them
about Jesus Christ. King Noah put Abinadi to death. But one of King Noahs
priests, Alma, believed everything Abinadi taught.
Alma repented of his sins and iniquities, and went about privately among the
people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi (Mosiah 18:1). Alma knew
this would make King Noah angry, so Almas people hid.
Alma taught the people that they could be baptized and that if they kept the
commandments, God would give them His Spirit. When the people had heard
these words, they clapped their hands for joy (Mosiah 18:11).
Baptism is the first covenant we make. We renew our covenant e

ach week

when we take the sacrament. When we keep our baptismal covenant, the Lord
promises us that [we] may have eternal life (Mosiah 18:9).

Why the First Fruits of Repentance is

Baptism
by Kelly Merrill on in Doctrine & Information

Moroni 8:2426 talks about why we need repentance and

baptism, as opposed to little children who need neither
repentance nor baptism. The flow of a logical argument in the
culture of the Book of Mormon is not like how we argue a subject
in our culture. This can make understanding some of their
explanations a little challenging to piece together. We state the
conclusion of our argument then start at the beginning and piece
together how we arrived at that conclusion, so that in the end,
hopefully, the reader agrees with us. In the Book of Mormon the
line of reasoning is not always so straight forward. Read the
following verses as they are printed in the Book of Mormon then I
will pull apart the line of reasoning and display it visually for you.
Hopefully it will all make better sense to you.
24 Behold, my son, this thing ought not to be; for repentance is
unto them that are under condemnation and under the curse of a
broken law.

25 And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism

cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the
fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins;
26 And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of
heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh
the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope
and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer,
until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.
Verse 24 confirms what was said in the earlier couple of verses
that baptizing infants and young children is a mockery before God
and should not be done. Mormon goes on to give the reason for
why we need baptism. Because we are aware of good and evil,
and we know the difference, we are held responsible for our
actions according to the atonement of Christ. When we commit
sin we fall under condemnation and are cursed by the laws that
we have broken. There is only one way appointed by God to get
out from under this condemnation, and that is to repent and take
advantage of the atonement of Christ. So what are the
requirements of the atonement? What do we have to do to no
longer be held in contempt of the laws we have broken? The
answer is we must repent.
Verse 25 says the first fruits of repentance is baptism, then
Mormon explains how remission of sin works and is obtained. The
term first fruits means that something is what happens before
everything else. When the scriptures refer to Christ as the first
fruits of the resurrection they mean he was resurrected before
anyone else. He was literally the first results of the resurrection,
just as the first fruits of your apple harvest would be the very first
apples you pick in the fall. This comparison gives us some idea as
to the importance our Father in Heaven places on being baptized
if we want to become and stay forgiven of our sins. If we want him
to remit or forgive our sins, we had better be willing to keep his
commandments, the first and foremost of which is to be baptized.

We do believe, after all that baptism is the first ordinance of

salvation, and is the gateway to the Celestial kingdom.
In the graphic below I have drawn it in a circle, but the process of
repentance is really a spiral which leads us upward toward God.
Think of repentance as being on the next level up each time we
work our way around the ring, with each step along the way
raising a little bit higher.

Lets start at the top with Faith. When we exercise faith (think
trust) in God we do so by keeping His commandments. The act of
keeping Gods commandments leads to remission (forgiveness) of
our sins. As we have our sins remitted (forgiven) we feel more
humble and begin to recognize how much we need God in our
lives and how much we rely on his mercies. This creates
meekness and lowliness of heart. You can read an article about
meekness here.
Being meek and lowly in heart invites the Holy Ghost to come and
be with us. His presence leads to an increase in hope of salvation
and feeling more intensely the love of God. We can stay in this
condition if we are willing to do two things: pray diligently for
continued forgiveness, and starting the cycle over again by
exercising faith in Christ by keeping his commandments.

But why do the first fruits of our repentance need to be baptism?

What is the point of baptism? Honestly? I dont know. All I know is
that it is a commandment from the Father that all of us, including
Christ, h
imself, be baptized or we cannot enter into His
presence again. That is a good enough reason for me. If the Lord
says that being baptized is required for me to come back and live
in his presence again, then that is the first thing on my list of
things to do when I decide that I want to be forgiven of my sins.
This is why an offer of baptism is made when the missionaries
teach someone about the gospel of Christ. In order to start down
the road to the Celestial kingdom we must all pass through the
gateway of baptism.

Article of Faith 4
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We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first,
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by
immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of
the Holy Ghost.
Faith is hope for things that we cannot see but are true. We believe that Jesus
Christ is our Savior, and we trust Him to help and guide us.
Repentance is when we change our hearts to be more like Heavenly Father.
When we do something wrong, we feel sorry and promise ourselves and
Heavenly Father that we will not do that wrong thing again. When we repent
we can be forgiven because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Baptism is the first step in becoming a member of Jesus Christs Church. We

can be baptized when we are eight years old. At age eight, we are old enough
to know the difference between right and wrong.
The gift of the Holy Ghost is given to us by a priesthood holder after we are
baptized. The Holy Ghost prompts us to choose the right, comforts us, and
helps us understand eternal truths. The Holy Ghost is like a still, small voice
that we feel in our minds and hearts.

(click to view larger)

Illustrations by Brad Teare

Definitions

Principle: A principle is a fundamental law or truth. Faith and repentance are

principles of the gospel.
Ordinance: An ordinance is a sacred act performed by the authority of the
priesthood. Baptism and confirmation are ordinances.

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