Vicarious Ordinances of Salvation for the Dead

Ordinances of Salvation are for Mortals

Joseph Fielding Smith

• Baptism, confirmation, ordination, endowment, and sealings all pertain to this mortal life and are ordinances required of those who are in mortality. Provision has been made for these ordinances to be performed vicariously for those who are worthy but who died without the opportunity in this life of receiving these ordinances in person. You can readily see that it would be inconsistent for a resurrected being to come and be baptized for the dead. The resurrected person has passed to another sphere where the laws and blessings do not pertain to this mortal life. This is equally true of every other ordinance. If it were permissible for resurrected persons to come and do work in the temples, then there would be no reason for us in this mortal life to act vicariously for them, for they would do it for themselves. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:178)

• All of the ordinances of the gospel given to us here pertain to this mortal probation and must be attended to here by the contracting parties or by some one in their behalf after they are dead . . . but they must be performed here. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:72)

• Temple work is for the purpose of giving to every man and to every woman the blessings of the higher ordinances of the gospel that are essential to salvation in the kingdom of God. There is not an ordinance performed in the temple that does not pertain to this mortal life. When we go into the temple and act for somebody else, we are treating that person as though we were that person living here, doing for him just what he would have to do if he were in mortal life. Thus we bring to pass his salvation, and we learn through these keys the knowledge of God which is made manifest through these ordinances, these blessings, these signs, all that is given to us in the temple of the Lord. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:143)

• So we are only presenting to the dead such ordinances and privileges as pertain to those who are living here and now. So far as faith is concerned, they exercise that where they are. So far as repentance is concerned, they repent where they are. We are baptized for them because they cannot be baptized there. We are confirmed and ordained for them. Why? Because they cannot receive those ordinances there. Why? Because these ordinances pertain to mortal life, and all we are doing for the dead is to give them that which pertains to this mortal existence in which we find ourselves. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:142-143)

Vicarious Ordinances RedeemSpirits From Prison

Joseph Smith

Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that [baptism for the dead] which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the  prisoners shall go free. (D&C 128:22; see the entire section)

Joseph F. Smith

• Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets. These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and all other principles of the gospel that were necessary for them to know in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. . . . I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead. 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. (D&C 138:32-34, 57-59)

• We have a mission to perform for and in their behalf; we have a certain work to do in order to liberate those who, because of their ignorance and the unfavorable circumstances in which they were placed while here, are unprepared for eternal life; we have to open the door for them, by performing ordinances which they cannot perform for themselves, and which are essential to their release from the “prison-house,” to come forth and live according to God in the spirit, and be judged according to men in the flesh. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 442)

Wilford Woodruff

• It is a great blessing that there can be saviors on Mount Zion. It is a glorious principle that we can go forth and erect temples and attend to ordinances for the living and the dead; that we can redeem our forefathers and progenitors from among the spirits in prison. They will be preached to in prison by those spirits on the other side of the vail who hold the keys of the Kingdom of God, and we will have the privilege of attending to ordinances in the flesh for them. (Journal of Discourses, 12:14)

• We have power to-day to go into four temples and attend to the ordinances of the house of God for the living and for the dead. Yes, we are opening the prison doors in the spirit world to thousands and thousands of our fathers’ households. Thus we are saviors upon Zion, whom the Lord has raised up in these last days to redeem the dead and give them a place and a standing in their fathers’ house. (Collected Discourses, Vol. 4, September 7, 1895)

Vicarious Ordinances is a Reasonable Doctrine

Joseph Fielding Smith

Since it is necessary for all who enter the kingdom of God to comply with the ordinances of the gospel, it must be necessary for the dead to conform to this plan. If a man cannot enter the kingdom of God without baptism, then the dead must be baptized. But how can they be baptized in water for the remission of their sins? It is easy to understand how they in person could believe in Christ and even obtain the spirit of repentance; but water is an element of this world, and how could spirits be baptized in it, or receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost? The only way it can be done is vicariously, someone who is living acting as a substitute for the dead. But, says one, this cannot be; it is impossible for one man to stand for another. The answer to this is: The whole system of Christianity is based on vicarious work. One without blemish and without sin standing for all as the Redeemer. You answer, “This is granted in the case of Jesus Christ, for he is God, but it cannot be granted in the case of man for man.” What of the commandments given by the Lord to Moses in the case of the sin offerings and of the scapegoat for Israel? On the head of the goat Aaron placed his hands and confessed over it all the iniquity of the children of Israel, all their transgressions, and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and then sent it away “by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.” And the goat bore upon him all their iniquities into the wilderness “unto a land not inhabited.” If this was done then, is it beyond the power of the lord to permit a man now to act as proxy for the man who is dead and unable to help himself in person? That one man cannot stand or answer for another’s sins, but that every man must stand for himself, is true so far as it is possible to be done. But occasions have arisen where the man guilty of transgressing the law was unable to redeem himself. And punishment for sin is for the propitiation of sin, and in such cases there is nothing in the scriptures forbidding one to stand vicariously for another when circumstances render it impossible for the first to comply with the law. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:141-142)

Ordinances Performed in Spirit World Make Mortal Ordinances Effective

Ezra Taft Benson

The work we are performing here has direct relationship to the work over there. Someday you will know that there are ordinances performed over there, too, in order to make the vicarious work which you do effective. It will all be done under the authority and power of the priesthood of God. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pp.252-253)

Administrators Release Spirits From Prison to Paradise

Joseph Smith

God has administrators in the eternal world to release those spirits from Prison. The ordinances being administered by proxy upon them, the law is fulfilled. [Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith. A. Ehat, and L. Cook (Ed.s). Provo, UT: Grandin, 1991, p. 372]