Chapter 135—The Role of Baptism
We are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:4
.
Christ made baptism the entrance to His spiritual kingdom. He made
this a positive condition with which all must comply who wish to be
acknowledged as under the authority of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost. Those who receive the ordinance of baptism thereby make a public
declaration that they have renounced the world, and have become members
of the royal family, children of the heavenly King....
Christ enjoins those who receive this ordinance to remember that they are
bound by a solemn covenant to live to the Lord. They are to use for Him all
their entrusted capabilities, never losing the realization that they bear God’s
sign of obedience to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, that they are
subjects of Christ’s kingdom, partakers of the divine nature. They are to
surrender all they have and are to God, employing all their gifts to God’s
glory.
Those who are baptized in the threefold name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost, at the very entrance of their Christian life declare publicly
that they have accepted the invitation, “Come out from among them, and be
ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive
you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty” (
2 Corinthians 6:17, 18
). “Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (
chapter 7:1
)....
Let those who received the imprint of God by baptism heed these words,
remembering that upon them the Lord has placed His signature, declaring
them to be His sons and daughters. The Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, powers infinite and omniscient, receive those who truly enter into
covenant relation with God. They are present at every baptism, to receive
the candidates who have renounced the world and have received Christ into
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