3 Ne 11:21-25
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
The Book of Mormon > Third Nephi > Chapter 11
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Contents |
Questions
- After allowing the people to witness that he is Jesus Christ (vv 10-17), Jesus begins teaching Nephi and the other apostles he calls about baptism. Why is baptism the first thing he talks about here (vv 21-28)?
- Why does Jesus give Nephi the power to baptize (v 21)? Didn't he already have this power?
Lexical notes
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Exegesis
Verse 25
Here Jesus provides the Nephites with the precise wording He would have them use in performing baptisms. The wording is significant, as it draws into baptism the question of the "trinity" (a term understood here in the broadest, non-creedal manner). The theme of the trinity does not arise as a theme in the Book of Mormon between 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 11: though the three are mentioned once in Alma 11:44 (in a reference that might contextually be understood as a threefold description of one God anyway), all other references to the Father and the Son between 2 Nephi and 3 Nephi are discussions of Jesus Christ as both the Father and the Son (as in Abinadi's rather difficult discourse on the subject). That here, as in Nephi's early discourse on the subject, the three are tied together in their several roles is significant. More significant still, they will be taken up in chapter 16, and then again in chapters 20-26, in terms of the Abrahamic covenant. The "return" of the trinity is of utmost significance.
But what remains to be discussed here is the fact that the trinity returns as part of the theme of baptism: if Jesus goes on to explain the meaning of the trinity in the next few verses, it is because of the role of the trinity in the ordinance of baptism. Perhaps this is no surprise, since Nephi's discussion of the trinity back in 2 Nephi 31 was within the same context (and that discussion is perhaps the only place to begin to explore the trinitarian themes of the present chapter). If the trinity is later a question of the Abrahamic covenant, there seems to be at least the hint that the ordinance of baptism is tied to the covenant in some manner. (It is likely significant that only two people in scripture are recorded explicitly as having received the sign of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove: Jesus Christ, at His baptism, and Abraham when He received the fulness of the priesthood... in baptism?) At the very least, the implicit connection between baptism, trinity, and the Abrahamic covenant must guide all thought concerning the following chapters.
Rather than simply listing the three members of the trinity/Godhead here in the traditional order—the Father first, then the Son, then the Holy Ghost—in the baptismal prayer, the authority of Jesus Christ is first invoked before reference to each member of the Godhead. The mention of the name Jesus coupled with the title Christ may be a significant reference to the role of mediator that Christ plays. That is, it is Christ's atonement that makes it possible for the person being baptized to enter into the relationship of oneness that the Godhead shares.
Related links
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