Come, Follow Me April 29-May 5: Mosiah 4-6
In 2024, the Maxwell Institute will offer a weekly series of short essays on the Book of Mormon, in support of the Church-wide Come, Follow Me study curriculum. Each week, the Maxwell Institute blog will feature a post by a member of the Institute faculty exploring an aspect of the week’s reading block. We hope these explorations will enrich your study and teaching of the Book of Mormon throughout the coming year.
King Benjamin and the Case of the Missing Ordinance
By Morgan Davis
This week’s reading (Mosiah 4–6) plunges us into a mystery. These wonderful chapters continue Mormon’s narration of what is said and done at the Temple of Zarahemla as King Benjamin gathers his people in preparation for his transfer of the kingdom to his son, Mosiah. He has given an accounting of his kingship, taught the gospel, and, remarkably, related the words of an angel foretelling the coming of Christ. Now, a kind of dialogue unfolds between the king and his people. They fall to the earth and cry out with one voice, overcome by a desire to be forgiven and purified through the atonement of Christ. Then, they are filled with joy, “having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come” (Mosiah 4:3). King Benjamin responds, elaborating further on “the goodness of God” in preparing the atonement to bring salvation to those who put their trust in Christ, keep his commandments, and “continue in the faith even unto the end” (4:5). He exhorts them to believe in God, to love one another, and to care for the needy.
When he asks the people for their response to his exhortations, they again answer with one voice that they not only believe his words but “know of their surety and truth by the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent which has wrought a mighty change in… [their] hearts” (5:2). Going further, the people declare, “We are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things…” (5:5). The king approves of their covenant and teaches them that because of it, they “shall be called the children of Christ, his sons and his daughters; for behold this day he hath spiritually begotten you” (5:6–7). Continuing this theme, he says, “Therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God,” promising them that those who live by this covenant “shall be found at the right hand of God” (5:9). They are therefore to “remember to retain the name written always in your hearts…” (5:12) “that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have eternal life” (5:15).
To summarize, we have seen the people of King Benjamin exercise faith in Christ unto repentance insomuch that they receive a remission of their sins and have their hearts purified and converted to the Lord. They make a covenant that they are willing to keep his commandments, take his name upon them, and serve him to the end of their days, the promise being that by so doing, they may have eternal life.
This, of course, is the covenant and promise associated with baptism. And yet, there is no baptism recorded here. In the next chapter, Mormon, as editor, tells us specifically what the people do to memorialize and signify their covenant, but it isn’t baptism. Instead, King Benjamin simply causes the names of all the people who had entered into the covenant to be written down (Mosiah 6:1–2). If there had been a mass-baptismal event, it seems likely that it would have received notice at this point, but there is no mention of it [1] [2] .
The importance of baptism had been clearly taught by Nephi, including that it involved a commitment to keep God’s commandments and to take upon oneself the name of Christ (2 Nephi 31:13). Nephi also uses self-inclusive language that suggests baptism was an ordinance that he himself was to fulfill along with those to whom he was writing: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father? And the Father said, Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son” (2 Nephi 31:18). This gives us to understand that Nephi and his people practiced baptism, even though there are no recorded instances of it in those early generations.
The first mention of the actual administration of baptism comes as a repentant priest named Alma, a fugitive from wicked King Noah’s court, asks his followers-in-hiding, “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…?” (Mosiah 18:10). Alma’s seemingly spontaneous version of the ordinance happens at the waters of Mormon, far from the center of Nephite authority, literally on the margins, in the wilderness. It does not appear that baptism is unknown to Alma and his followers, but it does seem to have been neglected during their years of waywardness under the wicked King Noah.
Was it also neglected among the people of the righteous King Benjamin? That would be more surprising, but here in Mosiah 4–6, we find ourselves in an ambiguous place. It seems strange that they appear to be making this covenant for the first time but without any mention of baptism. One tantalizing clue as to their baptismal status is that Alma later baptizes the people of Limhi, just as he had baptized his own people, but not the other people already at Zarahemla—at least according to the record as we have it (Mosiah 25:17-18).[1] This would seem to support the likelihood that the people of Zarahemla were practicing baptism as a matter of course, but if that is the case, why does it appear in Mosiah 4–6 that they are undertaking the covenant as though for the first time?
Such questions as this can be revelatory—mostly because they can show us something about ourselves. When a question with no simple answer comes up, how do we respond? Do we experience a gnawing need for resolution that won’t rest until we can figure out an answer? Do we decide that there’s just no making sense of God or the Restoration, and we might as well give up trying? Or do we get curious and add a note to our mental list of things to patiently, faithfully consider over time? Admittedly, this is a low-stakes instance of ambiguity in the scriptures. But it can still prompt the question, What is our tolerance for ambiguity?
I have been tempted to try and offer a resolution to this question here, but as my gift to you, the reader, I’m going to hold off. I’m trying to get comfortable with the “patience in perplexity” approach to gospel questions. There is no need to hammer out an answer here that might seem plausible, but that has no real support in the text. I would much rather keep the question alive, along with others I have found that nourish my thinking as I continue to read, ponder, and go about my life as a disciple.
Here in Mosiah 4–6, we have come upon something that, in one sense, doesn’t matter that much. After all, baptism or not, the power of God was efficacious for the people of King Benjamin as the Spirit wrought a mighty change in their hearts and they did indeed receive a remission of their sins through faith in Christ. But, in another sense, maybe it matters the more because in pondering our lingering questions, we get to practice, not just think about, discipleship. It is another example of how two contrasting yet true ideas can arise from sacred sources: On the one hand, God is a God of order (cf. 1 Cor 14:33; D&C 88:119); on the other, as “the wind bloweth where it listeth…, so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
[1] My thanks to J. B. Haws for pointing this out.
