In 1833 JS described faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the reception of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands as “the requesitions of the new Covenant or first principles of the Gospel of Christ.” In 1842 he similarly listed these principles and actions as being among “the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” (Letter to Noah C. Saxton, 4 Jan. 1833; “Church History,” 1 Mar. 1842 [Articles of Faith 1:3–4].)

The Book of Mormon depicts Israelites performing baptisms in America long before the birth of Christ. In 1830, while revising the book of Genesis, JS dictated an account of the baptism of Adam, the first man. An 1832 revelation stated that although God had taken Moses and the higher priesthood from the children of Israel, “the lesser Priesthood continued,” including “the preparitory gospel, which gospel is the gospel of repentence and of Baptism, and the remission of sins, and the Law of carnal commandments.” According to the revelation, these things had continued “until John.” (Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 117, 188 [2 Nephi 31:13–14; Mosiah 18:15–17]; Old Testament Revision 1, pp. 14–15 [Moses 6:64–66]; Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:25–27].)