This post is going to be more about baptism being part of the doctrine, and its history rather than the symbolism and necessity of it.
Let's begin with confirming that baptism is part of the doctrine of Christ, " 11 And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.
12 And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do." (2 Nephi 31)
"32 And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.
33 And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God." (3 nephi 11)
"5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3)
From these verses we can see that the doctrine taught is the same before Christ came in the flesh, while he was in the flesh, and following his resurrection. In a later post I'll show why this is significant.
Baptism was spoken of by the Father, and then by Christ. Why would Nephi say "the Father hath said..." if he didn't hear the voice of the Father?
Christ reaffirms that it is also the doctrine of the Father in 3rd nephi.
Its history
Baptism was not something invented by John the Baptist or by Nephi. It was a common practice in the Torah, and Adam was also baptized.
"13 And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean." (Leviticus 15)
64 "And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water." (Moses 6)
Isaiah also mentions the waters of Judah, and Nephi clarified this to mean waters of baptism. (See Isaiah 48 and 1 Nephi 20, verse 1)
While baptism was mentioned, there doesn't seem to be evidence that many understood baptism unto repentance. It is obvious that Moses had an understanding from the book of Moses, but Abraham makes no mention of it, nor do most of the books of the old testament.
Does this indicate something? At a minimum it indicates a few possibilities: we're expected to know about it, translators removed many examples but left the New testament ones or even the idea that baptism was more about ceremonial cleanliness in the old testament rather than repentance.
The translators didn't remove the New testament ones, so errors with scribes seems less likely. And while an argument could be made with the bible about ceremonial cleanliness, Moses 6 shows Adam understood baptism was related to repentance:
53 "And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden."
That leaves us with the idea that we are supposed to have an understanding of baptism from sources other than the old testament texts. Nephi didn't speak of baptism being something new. He must have known about it from previous knowledge, meaning the Jews had an understanding of it before the destruction shortly after 600 B.C.
There is an article in the Jewish encyclopedia that I found to be well worth reading HERE
This article states, "Baptism was practised in ancient Judaism, first as a means of penitence..." And then later, "To receive the spirit of God, or to be permitted to stand in the presence of God, man must undergo Baptism"
I find it curious that it also said, "In order to pronounce the name of God in prayer in perfect purity, the Essenes underwent Baptism every morning." Essenes were a sect of Judaism that existed until the destruction of Jerusalem around 600 B.C.
From our current culture, baptism seems to start with John the Baptist, but the New testament writers do not explain baptism, or that it was a new practice among them, just that John was baptizing.
Mosiah 18 shows that baptism is a way to witness before God that you covenant with Him.
" 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?"
In conclusion, baptism was used before Christ came, and is still used today to witness before God that we will serve him for the rest of our mortal lives.
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