What must be done with sin before baptism can occur?
We must live no longer in sin. And that it should be destroyed.
What events in Christ’s life are symbolized in baptism?
When Christ was crucified and resurrected is a symbol of baptism.
Considering this symbolism, why couldn’t someone be baptized by sprinkling?
Well if it symbolizes death and resurrection, sprinkling does not help you to think about the newness of life that we all must have as we are being baptized. When we are fully emersed we are learning that we put away our past life and actions and we begin again as we come out of the water and start new. This can’t be if we were sprinkled. We could not see the resurrection of Christ or the resurrection into a new way of living.
What do these verses teach us about how we can maintain the “newness of life”?
When we do not sin then we will be able to keep this newness of life free. I feel that this is a very hard thing to do but I know that as we strive to fulfill this we will one day accomplish the task. This is after all the reason we are given the sacrament to remember the Lord Jesus Christ and to remember that we are here to accomplish what we promised when we were baptized. That is to maintain the newness of life.
According to Mosiah 3:19, what part of us would ideally die at baptism?
That would be the natural man. When we putteth of the natural man and becometh a saint though the atonement of Christ. This is what part of us we must have die at baptism. But yet again this doesn’t always happens so that is why we have a whole lifetime to make it happen. We must do this and it doesn’t even begin until be are baptized and start on that path to a newness of life.
We can know who we are following and what commandments we are keeping. I like to look at it as who’s servant we are. If we look at the rest of the chapter verses 14 – 23 we can see what Paul taught about this. One way to tell if we are being obedient to the call of a newness of life we are being righteous and we are following God. God would not forbid us to be disobedient. He would want us to be obedient and strive to do all that is right. The gift that god will give to us is eternal life as we strive to be obedient. This is the great gift of righteousness.
The true source of freedom is keeping the commandments, and doing what God has asked us to do.
