The question
GLM’s video description compares Latter-day Saint teaching to the error Paul condemns in Galatians. Its argument is that both make something besides faith necessary for eternal life. Put the comparison plainly. If Paul rejected requiring circumcision alongside faith, why should Christians require baptism? GLM, “A Different Gospel”
What Paul means by works of the law
Paul confronts pressure on Gentile Christians to take on the law of Moses. In Galatians 2, he says Titus was never compelled to be circumcised and recounts confronting Peter over withdrawing from meals with Gentiles. In Galatians 5, he warns that taking on circumcision as a means of justification obligates a person to keep the whole law. Paul objects to making Torah observance a condition of standing with God. Galatians 2 · Galatians 5:2–6 · Church student manual
Paul’s argument reaches beyond the name of the practice. If people look to a rite to secure the righteousness Christ gives, the objection stands even if the rite has nothing to do with Moses. A closer question is whether Paul gives baptism a role that differs from the one he rejects for circumcision. Galatians 2:19–21 · Galatians 5:2–6
The Reformed Westminster Confession calls faith the sole instrument of justification and says saving faith works through love. It takes baptism seriously as a sacrament through which the Holy Ghost can confer grace, while allowing that a person can be saved without receiving it. On that view the issue extends beyond whether baptism earns anything. The issue is whether God requires baptism as part of receiving what faith receives from Christ. Westminster Confession XI.1–2 · XXVIII.5–6
A Lutheran overview hosted by the LCMS also applies Galatians to LDS teaching on obedience. It calls baptism God’s work and a means by which He imparts the blessings Christ earned. The overview disputes the validity of LDS baptism on separate grounds. Its own account illustrates why the argument has to address the role of a specific ordinance. “A Lutheran Response,” pp. 5–6
What Paul says about baptism
Paul says believers are children of God through faith in Christ. In the next verse he describes those baptized into Christ as having put Him on. In Romans, Paul describes baptism in terms of sharing in Christ’s death and burial and walking in new life. He can speak of faith and baptism together because Christ’s saving work gives baptism its meaning. The passages leave open when justification occurs in relation to baptism. Galatians 3:26–29 · Romans 6:1–5
What Latter-day Saints claim
The third and fourth Articles of Faith affirm salvation through Christ’s Atonement and identify faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost as the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. In 3 Nephi, Jesus says His blood cleanses those who trust Him, repent, and endure. He commands baptism and connects sanctification to receiving the Holy Ghost. Doctrine and Covenants 20 explicitly attributes justification and sanctification to Christ’s grace. Articles of Faith 1:3–4 · 3 Nephi 27:19–21 · Doctrine and Covenants 20:29–31
Latter-day Saints see baptism as the covenant response Christ commands. Christ does the saving. The disagreement is whether He requires baptism as part of receiving His grace and entering that covenant. Calling baptism a “work” leaves that question unanswered.
A careful conclusion
Paul’s positive account of baptism undercuts the claim that a rite necessarily displaces faith. Questions about the timing of justification and the authority of other ordinances require their own evidence. Start with the comparison Paul himself gives you. In Galatians 5, circumcision taken up for justification puts you under the whole law. In Galatians 3, baptism is into Christ. Galatians 5:2–6 · Galatians 3:26–29
Apply Paul’s test to 3 Nephi and the Book of Mormon’s gospel of grace.