Outward Expressions

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for a remission of your sins; yea, be baptized even by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost. ...and remember that they shall have faith in me or they can in nowise be saved. Doctrine & Covenants 33:11—12

Ordinances themselves do not save us; rather, Christ the Person saves us. Yet ordinances are outward expressions of our inward covenant to come unto Christ. Baptism by water symbolizes our acceptance of the Atonement, our willingness to go down into the watery tomb by burying the old man of sin and coming forth unto “newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Though we speak of our sins being washed away through baptism by water (Acts 22:16; D&C 39:10), a remission of sins comes only after we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, who is the Sanctifier (2 Nephi 31:17). The Prophet taught: “You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half—that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 314; see also 360). (Robert L. Millet and Lloyd D. Newell. Draw Near Unto Me: Daily Reflections on the Doctrine and Covenants. 89)