Doctrine & Theologybaptismdeadvicarioustemple

Baptism for the Dead

Is baptizing the dead a Mormon invention, or does the New Testament already assume the practice?

Bible

They quote this

Bible · 1 Corinthians 15:29

KJV + NRSVUE

They say Paul was mocking. He uses it as evidence for resurrection. You do not prove Easter with a joke you despise.

King James Version
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?

NRSVUE
Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?

How we read it

Paul uses baptism for the dead as evidence for resurrection. You do not prove Easter with a practice you think is a joke. 1 Peter 3–4 has Christ preaching to the dead. If John 3:5 is required, God must have a way for those who never heard. We took Paul at his word.

Book of Mormon

Also restored

Doctrine and Covenants 128:16, 18
And now, in relation to this baptism for the dead, I will give you another quotation of Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:29: 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? … For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect.

Doctrine and Covenants 138:58–59
The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God, And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation.

Ancient witnesses

Dead Sea Scrolls and related extra-biblical texts that illuminate the same pattern the Restoration restores.

2 Maccabees 12:43–45

He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead… Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sin.

Second Temple Jews already offered vicarious rites for the dead because they believed in resurrection. Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees, argues from a related practice in the Corinthian church. The Restoration did not invent concern for the dead. It restored the authorized ordinance that matches Paul’s passing remark and Maccabean piety.

Faithful answers

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Gospel Topics

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Vicarious baptism is an offering, not a coercion. The dead retain agency. God is not a tribal deity of those lucky enough to hear missionaries in mortality. He provided a way for every soul to accept Christ.

Jesus Christ made it possible for all who have died without hearing the gospel to receive every ordinance of salvation. Baptism for the dead is a vicarious ordinance performed in temples, and those in the spirit world may accept or reject it.

Paul does not say “if there were a baptism for the dead.” He asks why they are doing it, as a fact that supports resurrection.
1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6 already have Christ preaching to the dead. Ordinance work for them is the Restoration’s answer to that preaching.
No one is forcibly joined to the Church. Records, names, and agency matter.
This doctrine is among the strongest moral arguments of the Restoration: a just God does not damn the unevangelized for geography.

Read the original

Maxwell Institute / BYU