Which comes first, baptism or priesthood — Section 41
Does baptism precede priesthood in your church, or vice versa?
Representative of a Christian church:
In your church, which comes first, the priesthood or baptism? I am not aware of any passage in the New Testament that tells us that Christ’s apostles were baptized in Christ’s church. They certainly weren’t baptized by Christ, because John 4:2 tells us that Christ did not baptize. Also, can a man hold the priesthood without being baptized? Such seems to be the case in the New Testament.
Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
It is very rare that a man would hold the priesthood without being baptized. Joseph Smith received the priesthood from John the Baptist and then baptized Oliver Cowdery, and then the same was true in reverse. Our Lord, in Matthew 10:1-8, gave the apostles his power and authority. See also Luke 9:1. In Matthew 20:20-23 Christ promised James and John that they were to be baptized. Luke 7:29-30 tells us that it was the ‘counsel’ and ‘will’ of the Lord for them to be baptized of ‘the baptism of John’. Also, the baptism could have been performed by anyone holding the Levitical (or Aaronic) Priesthood, which priesthood the Jews held.
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