2 Nephi 31:13, 17

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Reference Search: 2 Nephi 31:13, 17

13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.
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17 Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.

Quotes for Discussion

Receive the Holy Ghost…Baptism of Fire
Sins are remitted not in the waters of baptism, as we say in speaking figuratively, but when we receive the Holy Ghost….The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the baptism of fire….After baptism in water, legal administrators lay their hands upon a repentant person and say: “Receive the Holy Ghost.” This gives him the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the right to the constant companionship of that member of the Godhead based on faithfulness. Either then or later, depending upon the individual’s personal worthiness, the Holy Ghost comes. The baptized person becomes a new creature. He is baptized with fire, sin and evil are burned out of his soul, and he is born again.
Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985], 290-291


Fire is an agent of purification. When a person is baptized by the fire the dross of sin is burned from his soul and he thus becomes a fit abiding place for the Holy Ghost. Fire is also a metaphor used to describe the witness of the Spirit that is associated with the receipt of the Holy Ghost. (See Jeremiah 20:9.)
Millet & McConkie, BOM Commentary, Vol. 1 p. 365


Years ago I took a young man, 20 years of age, into the waters of baptism….
As I brought that young man up out of the waters of baptism, he surprised me by throwing his arms around my neck and whispering in my ear, tears streaming down his face, “I’m clean; I’m clean.” That same young man, after we laid our hands on his head with the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood and conferred on him the Holy Ghost, said to me, “When you spoke those words, I felt something like fire go down from the top of my head through my body, all the way to my feet.”
Henry B. Eyring, Ensign, May 2005 [Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2005], 77


Nephi wrote about two baptisms (see 2 Nephi 31:13). One was the baptism of water, which may be administered under the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, and the other was the baptism of fire, or the Holy Ghost, administered under the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Speaking of this baptism of fire, Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained:
“By the power of the Holy Ghost—who is the Sanctifier (3 Ne. 27:19-21)—dross, iniquity, carnality, sensuality, and every evil thing is burned out of the repentant soul as if by fire; the cleansed person becomes literally a new creature of the Holy Ghost. (Mosiah 27:24-26.) He is born again.
“The baptism of fire is not something in addition to the receipt of the Holy Ghost; rather, it is the actual enjoyment of the gift which is offered by the laying on of hands at the time of baptism. “Remission of sins,’ the Lord says, comes ‘by baptism and by fire, yea, even the Holy Ghost.’ (D&C 19:31; 2 Ne. 31:17.) Those who receive the baptism of fire are ‘filled as if with fire.’ (Hela. 5:45.)” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 73.)
BYU BOM Student Manual p. 43


Remission of sin by fire
This baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost here spoken of by Nephi…cleanses, heals, and purifies the soul. It is the sealing and sign of forgiveness.
Marion G. Romney, Learning for the Eternities, 133