Baptism for the dead

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This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.

Contents

Question

  1. What is baptism for the dead?
  2. Is there any evidence baptism for the dead is an authentic ancient Christian practice?

Source(s) of criticism

Answer

What is baptism for the dead?

Explained Elder G. Todd Christopherson:

Christian theologians have long wrestled with the question, What is the destiny of the countless billions who have lived and died with no knowledge of Jesus?[1] There are several theories concerning the “unevangelized” dead, ranging from an inexplicable denial of salvation, to dreams or other divine intervention at the moment of death, to salvation for all, even without faith in Christ. A few believe that souls hear of Jesus after death. None explain how to satisfy Jesus’ requirement that a man must be born of water and spirit to enter the kingdom of God (see John 3:3–5). Lacking the knowledge once had in the early Church, these earnest seekers have been “forced to choose between a weak law that [allows] the unbaptized to enter heaven, and a cruel God who [damns] the innocent.”[2]
With the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ has come the understanding of how the unbaptized dead are redeemed and how God can be “a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.” [3]
While yet in life, Jesus prophesied that He would also preach to the dead [see John 5:25]. Peter tells us this happened in the interval between the Savior’s Crucifixion and Resurrection [see 1_Pet. 3:18–19]...
Some have misunderstood and suppose that deceased souls “are being baptised into the Mormon faith without their knowledge” [4] or that “people who once belonged to other faiths can have the Mormon faith retroactively imposed on them.” [5] They assume that we somehow have power to force a soul in matters of faith. Of course, we do not. God gave man his agency from the beginning. (See fn11) “The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God,” [6] but only if they accept those ordinances. The Church does not list them on its rolls or count them in its membership.
Our anxiety to redeem the dead, and the time and resources we put behind that commitment, are, above all, an expression of our witness concerning Jesus Christ. It constitutes as powerful a statement as we can make concerning His divine character and mission. It testifies, first, of Christ’s Resurrection; second, of the infinite reach of His Atonement; third, that He is the sole source of salvation; fourth, that He has established the conditions for salvation; and, fifth, that He will come again. [7]

Ancient roots

There is considerable evidence that some early Christians and some Jewish groups performed proxy ordinance work for the salvation of the dead.

John A. Tvedtnes noted:

In his epistle to the Corinthians, Paul cited the early Christian practice of proxy baptism for the dead as evidence of a future resurrection and judgment. Most non-Latter-day Saint scholars have failed to note the importance of this passage. Some pass it off as an outmoded practice of the early church, while others believe it refers to an apostate or heretical doctrine.
But historical records are clear on the matter. Baptism for the dead was performed by the dominant church until forbidden by the sixth canon of the Council of Carthage in A.D. 397. Some of the smaller sects, however, continued the practice. Of the Marcionites of the fourth century, Epiphanius wrote:
“In this country—I mean Asia—and even in Galatia, their school flourished eminently and a traditional fact concerning them has reached us, that when any of them had died without baptism, they used to baptize others in their name, lest in the resurrection they should suffer punishment as unbaptized.” (Heresies, 8:7.)[8]

Thus, baptism for the dead was banned about four hundred years after Christ by the church councils. Latter-day Saints would see this as an excellent example of the apostasy—church councils altering doctrine and practice that was accepted at an earlier date.

Tvedtnes continues:

In early Judaism, too, there is an example of ordinances being performed in behalf of the dead. Following the battle of Marisa in 163 B.C., it was discovered that each of the Jewish soldiers killed in the fight had been guilty of concealing pagan idols beneath his clothing. In order to atone for their wrong, Judas Maccabaeus, the Jewish high priest and commander, collected money from the survivors to purchase sacrificial animals for their dead comrades:
“And when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachmas of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection: for if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. And also in that he perceived that there was great favour laid up for those that died godly, it was an holy and good thought. Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.” (2 Maccabees 12:43–46.)[9]

Conclusion

As one Church leader noted:

The principle of vicarious service should not seem strange to any Christian. In the baptism of a living person, the officiator acts, by proxy, in place of the Savior. And is it not the central tenet of our faith that Christ’s sacrifice atones for our sins by vicariously satisfying the demands of justice for us? As President Gordon B. Hinckley has expressed: “I think that vicarious work for the dead more nearly approaches the vicarious sacrifice of the Savior Himself than any other work of which I know. It is given with love, without hope of compensation, or repayment or anything of the kind. What a glorious principle.”[10]

Endnotes

  1. [back] John Sanders, introduction to What about Those Who Have Never Heard? Three Views on the Destiny of the Unevangelized, by Gabriel Fackre, Ronald H. Nash, and John Sanders (1995), 9.
  2. [back] Hugh W. Nibley, Mormonism and Early Christianity (Vol. 4 of Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Todd Compton and Stephen D. Ricks, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1987), 101. ISBN 0875791271. off-site GospeLink
  3. [back] Alma 42:15
  4. [back]  See Ben Fenton, “Mormons Use Secret British War Files ‘to Save Souls,’ ” The Telegraph (London), 15 Feb. 1999.
  5. [back]  Greg Stott, “Ancestral Passion,” Equinox (April/May 1998): 45.
  6. [back]  D&C 138:58.
  7. [back]  D. Todd Christofferson, "The Redemption of the Dead and the Testimony of Jesus," Ensign (November 2000): 9. off-site (Footnotes have in places been integrated into the main text; citation for has been slightly modified.
  8. [back] John A. Tvedtnes, "Proxy Baptism," Ensign (February 1977): 86. off-site
  9. [back] John A. Tvedtnes, "Proxy Baptism," Ensign (February 1977): 86. off-site
  10. [back]  D. Todd Christofferson, "The Redemption of the Dead and the Testimony of Jesus," Ensign (November 2000): 9.; citing “Excerpts from Recent Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign (Jan. 1998): 73. off-site

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Vicarious baptism for the dead wiki articles
Wiki temple articles

FAIR web site

Vicarious baptism for the dead FAIR articles
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Salvation for the Dead FAIR link
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Temples and temple work FAIR link
FAIR temple articles
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Changes in temple ceremony FAIR link
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Temples and temple work FAIR link

External links

Vicarious baptism for the dead on-line articles
  • Susan Easton Black, "A Voice of Gladness [Restoration of Baptism for the Dead]," Ensign (February 2004): 35. off-site
  • D. Todd Christofferson, "The Redemption of the Dead and the Testimony of Jesus," Ensign (November 2000): 9.; citing “Excerpts from Recent Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign (Jan. 1998): 73. off-site
  • Elma W. Fugal, "Salvation of the Dead," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 3:1257–1259. ISBN 002904040X. off-site off-site direct off-site
  • Hugh W. Nibley, "Baptism for the Dead in Ancient Times," Improvement Era (1948, 1949): multiple, see link. GospeLink off-site
  • Daniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks, "Comparing LDS Beliefs with First-Century Christianity, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, no date). off-site
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Proxy Baptism," Ensign (February 1977): 86. off-site
On-line temple materials
  • Donald Q. Cannon, Larry E. Dahl, and John W. Welch, "The Restoration of Major Doctrines through Joseph Smith: Priesthood, the Word of God, and the Temple," Ensign (February 1989): 7. off-site
  • Robert L. Millet, "Was baptism for the dead a non-Christian practice in New Testament times (see 1 Cor. 15:29), or was it a practice of the Church of Jesus Christ, as it is today?," Ensign (August 1987): 19. off-site
  • Mormon Monastery, "Historical Changes Relating to Temples," off-site
  • David L. Paulsen and Cory G. Walker, "Work, Worship, and Grace: Review of The Mormon Culture of Salvation: Force, Grace and Glory by Douglas J. Davies," FARMS Review 18/2 (2006): 83–177. off-site PDF link wiki
  • Stephen D. Ricks, "Dexiosis and Dextrarum Iunctio: The Sacred Handclasp in the Classical and Early Christian World," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 431–436. off-site PDF link wiki

Printed material

Vicarious baptism for the dead printed materials
  • Richard L. Anderson, "Baptism for the Dead," in Richard L. Anderson, Understanding Paul (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983), 403-13.
  • Alexander L. Baugh, “‘For This Ordinance Belongeth to My House’: The Practice of Baptism for the Dead Outside the Nauvoo Temple,” Mormon Historical Studies 3/1 (Spring 2002): 47–58.
  • H. David Burton, "Baptism for the Dead," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 1:95–96. ISBN 002904040X. off-site off-site
  • Larry E. Dahl and Donald Q. Cannon, eds., Encyclopedia of Joseph Smith's Teachings (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997), 69–(((end}}}. ISBN 1570086729. ISBN 978-1570086724.
  • Richard O. Cowan, "Instructions on Baptism for the Dead (D&C 127 and 128)," in Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson, eds., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 1: The Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989), 490–495. ISBN 087579274X. ISBN 978-0875792743. ISBN 0934126607. ISBN 978-0934126601
  • Hugh W. Nibley, Mormonism and Early Christianity (Vol. 4 of Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Todd Compton and Stephen D. Ricks, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1987), 100–49. ISBN 0875791271. off-site GospeLink See article "Baptism for the Dead in Ancient Times."
  • Krister Stendahl, "Ancient Sources [Baptism for the Dead]," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 1:97. ISBN 002904040X. off-site
  • John A. Tvedtnes, “Baptism for the Dead: The Coptic Rationale,” in Special Papers of the Society for Early Historic Archaeology, no. 2 (1989).
Temple printed materials
  • Matthew B. Brown, The Gate of Heaven: Insight on the Doctrines and Symbols of the Temple (American Fork, UT: Covenant, 1999). ISBN 1577345118. ISBN 978-1577345114.
  • Matthew B. Brown, Symbols in Stone: Symbolism on the Early Temples of the Restoration, 2d ed., (American Fork, UT: Covenant, 1997).
  • William J. Hamblin and David Seely, Solomon's Temple: Myth and History (London: Thames and Hudson, 2007), Chapter 3. ISBN 0500251339.
  • Hugh W. Nibley, The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment, 2nd edition, (Vol. 16 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by John Gee and Michael D. Rhodes, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2005), 1. ISBN 159038539X. 1st edition GospeLink
  • Hugh W. Nibley, Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present (Vol. 12 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Don E. Norton, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1992), 1. ISBN 0875795234. GospeLink
  • Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1980), 1. ISBN 0884944115.
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