Mosiah 18: 11/16/14

It's a Sunday, and I'm interested in starting a scripture study blog. After studying this morning, I felt like I should put my thoughts in a safer, more permanent, yet also easily organizable place. I have too many notebooks with random notes on random days about random subjects that I can't put into a nice, neat, hierarchical-path-separated file system. My hope is to organize my blogs by chapter of books, or even by topic. So, this should be an ongoing work, needless to say.

v. 10:
Is this verse saying that baptism itself is a witness? The baptism isn't necessarily the receiving of the covenant, then. It's merely an outward manifestation of our inner commitment. Where do we make this covenant? It would seem to be on our own, in our private chambers, where we can pray unto the Lord, and He shall reward us secretly. Matthew 6:6

This is similar to the purpose of the garment. It is an outward manifestation of an inner commitment. More generally, we show our faith BY our works. Our faith is an inner commitment to the Lord. Our works are the outward fruits that people see, which glorify our Father in Heaven.

v. 13:
Continuing in this vein, the baptism is a testimony of our covenant. When we actually bear testimony in church, it's not when we get one. Neither do we make a covenant when we are baptized. Just as with baptism, we receive a testimony before showing it to the world.

Also, note the change in wording for the baptism. Our current baptismal prayers are not like this. Interesting how these things change. Currently, if the wording of the baptism is wrong, we have to perform the ordinance again. Is consistency in these (and possibly other) ritualistic prayers, then, mainly meant for simplicity in church affairs and administration, rather than required doctrinal consistency? Note how the second was baptized "according to the first" in v. 15.

In contrast, sacrament prayers have been around at least since Moroni's time, circa 400 A.D., and we still use the same wording verbatim (with the exception of "wine" to "water" change).

v. 18:
We are not told how he received his authority. We are simply told that he does have it. It's interesting to think about some of the details of the scriptures that are left out, that would help create a more complete picture.

v. 22:
We become the children of God as we learn and obey commandments. This is consistent with Galatians 3:26 - we are children of God "by faith in Christ Jesus." This simple doctrine seems to contradict what we are always told. We are told that we are all children of God. Period. But this seems to say we become such through faith, obedience, and adherence to gospel principles.

Perhaps this is merely saying we are adopted into the fold of Christ, meaning his accepted people, through baptism (note the next verse in Galatians) and the associated covenant. The Father, however, is the "father of our spirits." So, in this context, we are His children. Confusing, sometimes, to distinguish these ideas.