"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the
dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" (I
Corinthians 15:29). This was an argument used by the Apostle Paul
with the Corinthians, who doubted the doctrine of the resurrection
of the body. It is evident that they were familiar with baptism for
the dead. For, the apostle was reasoning with them from what they
knew. The influence of Greek philosophy affected the minds of the
Saints at Corinth, and the apostle found it necessary to write to
them his splendid treatise, to convince them that as Christ was
actually raised from the dead, so all mankind should be brought
forth from their graves, as the Savior himself declared. And
appealing to their good sense, he asked the question why they were
baptized for the dead, if, as some among them maintained, there was
to be no resurrection of the dead.
This doctrine, that the living could be baptized in behalf of the
dead, has not been understood in the so-called Christian world for
many hundreds of years. It was known to the early fathers, but
became obsolete when the authority held by the apostles and their
associates was taken from the earth and spiritual darkness settled
upon the world. Yet, if that was part of the doctrine of Christ in
the Apostolic age, it is part of it now. But who among all the sects
of the age teaches it? Who has authority to administer it? Who knows
anything of the manner in which the ordinance should be solemnized?
It is because of the profound ignorance of modern teachers of
religion on this important subject that they endeavor, whenever the
text given above is quoted, either to cover it with a cloud of
meaningless explanation, or to treat it as unworthy of attention, or
to set it aside as something "done away."
In the revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ anew in the present
age, baptism for the dead was made known to the Prophet Joseph Smith
as a necessary part of the doctrine of Christ. Its purpose, the form
of the ordinance, who should administer it, who should receive it,
how it would affect both the living and dead and everything to
render it acceptable to God and efficacious to the departed, was
made known to the prophet of the nineteenth century.
It has already been demonstrated that the gospel preached by our
Savior and his apostles to the living was also preached to the dead,
that is, to the spirits of those who had once dwelt in the body on
earth. Also that such persons are capable of receiving the truth, of
faith, of repentance, of obedience and reform. It has been further
shown that baptism for the remission of sins and the reception of
the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, both ordinances to be
administered by actual divine authority, are essential to salvation.
But it will be evident to the thoughtful reader that while the
internal or spiritual requirements of the gospel can be complied
with by disembodied persons, the outward and material ceremonies are
of the body, and can only be performed on the earth. Water is an
earthly element or composition of material elements, and pertains to
this mundane sphere. It is for this reason that the living must be
baptized for the dead. If those who died unbaptized are to obtain
salvation the necessary ordinances will have to be attended to by
proxy.
If any professing Christian objects to the idea of salvation by
proxy, the all-important fact that the entire plan of salvation
hinges on that principle should be sufficient to sweep away the
objection entirely and forever. "The wages of sin is death." "All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Jesus of Nazareth
died instead of sinners. The just was offered for the unjust. The
innocent Christ was a substitute for guilty men. The whole doctrine
of the atonement rests upon the principle of salvation by proxy.
Jesus is called the Captain of our salvation. He is the head of the
host of the army of saviors. It was predicted by Obadiah the prophet
that, "Saviors shall come up on Mount Zion" in the last days, and
"the kingdom shall be the Lord's" (Verse 21). And the inspired
writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, speaking of those worthies who
through faith performed great wonders and prevailed and obtained a
witness from God in olden times, declared: "These all having
obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God
having provided some better thing for us, that they without us
should not be made perfect" (Heb. 11:39, 40). Thus the work of human
redemption is to be carried on until all the people of the earth
shall be judged according to the gospel, every soul having had an
opportunity of receiving or rejecting it, either in the body or in
the spirit state, and of obeying the ordinances thereof, either in
person or vicariously, the living acting for the dead.
At the first glance, this doctrine may strike the modern Christian
mind as new and dangerous, but the more it is investigated in all
its bearings, the clearer its truth is made apparent, and the more
glorious it becomes. The thought that those who receive and obey the
gospel of Christ in its fulness while in the flesh, can aid in the
work of redemption for their ancestors who are in the spirit world,
is most delightful to the reverent soul.
It shows the value of those genealogies which Israel, the covenant
people of God, were moved upon in olden times to preserve. It
stimulates the faithful in Christ to good works that they may become
"saviors on Mount Zion." It explains how the nations composed of
millions upon millions of souls that never heard the gospel or the
name of Christ Jesus, may ultimately be redeemed and made heirs of
salvation. It points out the way by which Christ shall eventually
obtain the victory over Satan and prove himself "a ransom for all,"
presenting his perfect work to the Father, not one soul having been
lost but the sons of perdition, who sinned unto death and could not
be forgiven in this world or in the world to come.
The ordinances for the dead, as revealed from heaven to the Prophet
Joseph Smith, must be attended to in the way provided by the Lord or
they will not be accepted of him. They must be administered in
sacred places, built according to a heavenly pattern, and
administered by those who have authority to loose on earth and it
shall be loosed in heaven, to seal on earth and it shall be sealed
in heaven. Persons who have themselves complied with the
requirements of the gospel may be baptized and administered to in
other necessary ordinances for and in behalf of their departed
kindred and ancestors, as far back as their line of progenitors can
be ascertained. This work must be attended to in Zion. This
necessitates the gathering of the Saints, "the elect of God," from
all parts of the earth. They are commanded of the Lord to come out
of Babylon, that they "be not partakers of her sins, and that they
receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4). In compliance with
this requirement they are gathering from all nations, to the
"mountain of the house of the Lord, in the tops of the mountains,
where they can learn of his ways and walk in his paths," and build
up Zion, where they can officiate as saviors and prepare for the
coming of the Great King (See Micah 4: 1-4; Isaiah 2:2-5; Psalms
102:16).
The gathering of Judah is also to be accomplished in this
dispensation of the fulness of times. Their gathering place is
Jerusalem. They will return to the land of their forefathers chiefly
in unbelief. A few of that race will begin to believe that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Christ, but the masses of that people will not
receive him in that light until he comes and "His feet shall stand
again on the Mount of Olives." He will then appear as their
Deliverer from the hosts that will assemble against them for a spoil
and a prey. They will then look upon him whom their forefathers have
pierced, and beholding the scars of the wounds he received when "He
came to his own and his own received him not," but hung him upon the
cross, will come to the understanding that Jesus is indeed the Son
of God as well as the Son of David, and is their Messiah, their
Redeemer, and their King. They will then receive his gospel, the
only plan of salvation: "a nation will be born in a day unto the
Lord" and in the temple that will be reared to his name they will
officiate for their dead until all the links in the chain of their
ancestry, back to the time when the gospel was on the earth previous
to the enunciation of the Mosaic code, the law of carnal
commandments, are made complete. All the promises made to Israel and
Judah through their prophets will be fulfilled and Christ will
"reign in Mount Zion and Jerusalem" and fill the earth with his
glory! (Zechariah 14:8-23; Jeremiah 23:3-8; 32:37-44; Ezekiel
34:13-16; 38:8-23; Ezekiel 39; Isaiah 24:23.)
While the house of Judah is to rebuild Jerusalem, in expectation of
a Messiah, but in unbelief of the Savior and his atonement, the
descendants of the House of Israel which was scattered and dispersed
among the nations, will gather as the elect of God to the latter-day
Zion upon the land of Joseph in the top of the mountains, where the
house of God is "exalted above the hills," and where the revelations
of his will are made known and the ordinances of his house for the
living and the dead can be administered. The blood of Israel, though
mixed with that of the Gentiles, is counted as the seed of Abraham
to whom the promises of old were made, and not one of them will
fail. Their gathering place is on "the land shadowing with wings"
which Isaiah saw in vision "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," where
the Lord has "lifted up an ensign on the mountains," and from which
his "swift messengers" are now going forth as "ambassadors" of the
great King and are bringing Israel from afar to "the place of the
name of the Lord of Hosts, the Mount Zion" (Isaiah 18). There, in
the temple built to his name according to the pattern he has
revealed, baptisms and all the ordinances necessary on earth in the
work of salvation for the living and the dead, are performed by
divine authority, and there the Spirit of God is poured out in rich
effusion, bearing witness to the humble of heart and contrite of
spirit that they and their labors of love are accepted of him and
sealed and recorded in heaven.
There "the wilderness and the solitary place have been made glad"
because of them. The parched ground and the thirsty land have
brought forth springs of water, the desert is made to "blossom as
the rose." There the ransomed of the Lord have come to Zion with
songs of everlasting joy. "The place of their defense is the
munition of rocks," and they are looking for the time, which is near
at hand, when they shall behold "the King in his beauty." (See
Isaiah 25; also 32:13-20; 33:15-17; 39:22-23; 42:7-12; Psalm
107:1-7, 33-43; Isaiah 41:18-20.)
From the foregoing it will be seen that our heavenly Father is not
bound by the small notions and narrow creeds of modern religious
sects and teachers. "His ways are not as man's ways, nor his
thoughts as their thoughts." "As high as the heavens are above the
earth," so is his plan of salvation above the inventions of the
worldly wise. The gospel is to be preached to every responsible and
accountable creature. They who do not hear it while in the body will
hear it in the spirit world, and even those who through folly and
darkness received it not will, after having been beaten with "many
stripes" and having paid the "uttermost farthing" of the debt thus
incurred, have mercy extended to them when justice has been
satisfied, and at length through the ministrations of the holy
priesthood of God on earth and behind the veil, and the ordinances
performed in person or vicariously, all the sons and daughters of
God of the race of Adam will come forth from the grave; and finally
"every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the
Christ to the glory of God the Father." Then Jesus, having finished
his work of redemption, will present it to the eternal Father, that
he may be all in all.
This glorious work for the salvation of the human family is now in
progress under the revelation and authority of the Most High, and no
matter how much it may be opposed by ignorance or malice, by Satan
or foolish men, it will go on to complete and glorious victory. Evil
will be overcome, darkness dispersed, Satan and his hosts be bound,
the earth and its inhabitants be redeemed, Paradise will be
restored, Eden will bloom again, Christ will reign as King, the
Tabernacle of God will be with men, and all things above, beneath,
around, will sing praises to the Most High, to whom be glory and
dominion forever. Amen.