Latest / Scripture Central / Why Are People Baptized for the Dead?#687

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Why Are People Baptized for the Dead?#687 · Scripture Central

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  Else what shall they do with your baptized for the dead?
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  If the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the
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  dead? Hey listeners, this is Nick from
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  Scripture Central and today's podcast addresses the question
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  Why are people baptized for the dead?
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  On August 15th, 1840, the Prophet Joseph Smith was
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  preaching at the funeral of Seymour Brunson.
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  Seeing a widow in the congregation who had recently
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  lost a son before he could be baptized, Joseph Smith
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  introduced one of the most significant doctrines of the
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  Restoration baptisms for the dead.
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  This ordinance would be the theme of many of Joseph's
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  revelations, letters, and discourses during the following
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  months, especially as the Nauvoo Temple was being constructed as
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  biblical evidence that this ordinance was performed in
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  ancient Christianity. Joseph Smith turned to 1st
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  Corinthians chapter 15, verse 29.
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  Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead?
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  If the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the
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  dead? This verse constitutes the only
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  explicit reference to this ordinance for the deceased in
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  the New Testament, and it has led many scholars to wonder what
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  Paul might have been referring to and if proxy baptisms were
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  actually performed in antiquity. As additional texts have come to
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  light, however, most scholars today conclude that the clearest
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  reading of this verse states that early Christians actually
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  performed vicarious ordinances for the dead.
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  For example, After reviewing attempts to interpret this
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  passage as referring to a metaphor or a regular baptism,
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  one scholar concluded that all interpretations which seek to
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  evade vicarious baptism for the dead are misleading.
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  Similarly, Reginald St. John Perry noted that the plain
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  and necessary sense of the words implies the existence of a
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  practice of vicarious baptism at Corinth, presumably on behalf of
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  believers who died before they were baptized.
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  Many attempts have been made to evade this conclusion, but all
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  at the cost of violence to the language.
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  In fact, all such evasions are wholly due to the unwillingness
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  to admit such a practice and still and still more such a
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  reference to it by S Paul without condemnation.
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  While some scholars may wish to argue that Paul secretly
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  disapproved of vicarious baptisms, there is no evidence
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  to support this conclusion within First Corinthians,
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  especially given Paul's open willingness to criticize
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  cultural or religious practices that ran counter to the gospel
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  of Jesus Christ. In this masterful letter to
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  friends Paul had lived with for a year and a half, Paul
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  corrected many incorrect beliefs or practices that crept into the
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  fledgling branch of the church there, including some incorrect
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  beliefs about the resurrection. Paul emphasized that, like
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  Christ, everyone would be resurrected into a Kingdom of
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  glory. In this context, Paul is using
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  baptisms for the dead to ultimately strengthen his
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  argument in favor of the resurrection of the dead,
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  showing that he understood and approved of the practice.
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  Baptism is still a requirement to enter the Kingdom of heaven,
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  and those who died without being able to receive this ordinance
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  would then depend on living individuals to perform these
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  ordinances as a proxy for them. Limited evidence from other
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  early Christian texts may also allude to baptism for the dead.
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  For example, in the Apocalypse of Peter, the Lord declared
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  regarding the dead. I will give to my called and my
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  elect whomever they request of me from out of punishment, and I
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  will give them a beautiful baptism in salvation, a share in
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  righteousness with my Saints. In other words, the righteous
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  Saints could request the Lord for salvation to be shared with
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  the dead sinners, who would then be saved through baptism.
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  Similarly, the Shepherd of Hermas, which was written only
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  about 40 years after Paul wrote First Corinthians and contained
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  in many quotations from early Christian scripture, describes
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  how apostles and teachers who preached the name of the Son of
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  God preached the gospel to the living and the dead.
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  Furthermore, these same apostles and teachers descended with the
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  dead into the water and again ascended, but these descended
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  alive and rose up again alive, whereas they who had previously
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  fallen asleep descended dead but rose up again alive.
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  The practice may have been more widespread than the limited
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  evidence now available suggests, since Christians generally did
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  not describe any of their ordinances in any depth for the
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  first two centuries, rather keeping the information sacredly
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  guarded. This appears to be especially
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  the case with ordinances performed on behalf of the dead.
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  David L Paulson and Brock M Mason observed that nearly all
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  the texts purporting to contain teachings of Christ concerning
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  salvation for the dead emphasized that his teachings
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  were closely guarded, reserved only for those whom the Lord
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  deemed worthy to hear them. The sacred silence placed upon
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  this doctrine and these ordinances then limit the source
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  material available to modern scholars for study.
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  When Clement, as an investigator, asked Peter, if
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  those shall enjoy the Kingdom of Christ, whom his coming shall
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  find righteous, shall then those be wholly deprived of the
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  Kingdom who have died before his coming.
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  Peter, with reticence, described the sacred nature of ordinances
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  for the dead. You compel me, O Clement, to
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  touch upon things that are unspeakable, but so far as it is
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  allowed to declare them, I shall not shrink from doing so.
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  According to Hugh Nibley, this reticence reflects the occasions
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  Peter and other apostles are forbidden to talk about certain
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  things. In the New Testament this is
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  especially evident in the bestowal of the Apostolic keys
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  upon Peter, giving him power over the gates of hell.
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  That is the realm of the dead, during which Jesus gave a
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  watchword to his apostles not to tell it to any man.
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  Eventually, the practice of baptism for the dead came to be
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  strongly associated with heretical sex, which further
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  complicated the evidence for the practice amongst mainstream
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  Christians. For instance, ancient Christian
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  theologians such as Tertullian and Ambrosiaster quoted First
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  Corinthians chapter 15, verse 29, as referring to vicarious
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  baptisms, but later attempted to distance Christianity from such
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  a practice. This later aversion was
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  evidently in response to the Marcianite and Sarinthian
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  heresies, since the founders of each sect are each described as
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  performing baptisms on behalf of the dead.
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  While some details are conflicting, based on the extant
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  accounts hostile to these sects, it is clear that baptisms for
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  the dead were still being performed as late as the 5th
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  century AD, albeit without priesthood authority.
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  While it may be tempting to dismiss this ordinance due to
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  its acceptance by heretical sects, Scott R Peterson has
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  observed that several logical fallacies exist in such an
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  approach, especially regarding other ordinances such as the
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  sacrament that were likewise accepted by these sects as well
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  as the Orthodox Church. After regarding these later
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  theological developments, Christ or Stendhal, the late Bishop of
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  Stockholm for the Church of Sweden, noted in the
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  Encyclopedia of Mormonism once the theological pressures from
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  later possible developments of practice and doctrine are felt
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  less constricting, the text seems to speak plainly enough
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  about a practice within the Church of vicarious baptism for
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  the dead. That is, as Peterson noted,
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  there is little reason to reject the reality of such an authentic
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  Christian ordinance, simply because later church leaders and
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  theologians had lost a sense of the importance of the right,
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  while smaller sects continued to embrace the ordinance well, only
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  briefly mentioned in the New Testament, it is apparent that
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  baptisms for the dead played an important role in early
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  Christian theology, particularly as it related to salvation for
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  the dead inaugurated by Christ's preaching to the deceased and
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  encouraging them to accept that covenantal offer.
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  These sacred ordinances thus allow all to accept the love and
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  mercy of God in their lives, giving everyone who has ever
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  lived the opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ for
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  themselves through a covenant that is recorded on earth and
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  thereby bound in heaven. In modern times, this ordinance
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  and the authority to perform it has been restored through the
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  Prophet Joseph Smith and is performed in temples throughout
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  the world, as baptism and other essential saving ordinances are
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  performed for those who are unable or unwilling to accept
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  them in this life might do so on the other side of the veil, so
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  they too might live according to God in the Spirit.
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  As we continue to worship in the temple and perform these
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  ordinances, we have the assurance that, just like the
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  early Christians were able to do, we might stand as Saviors on
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  Mount Zion and bring the blessings of Jesus Christ's
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  atonement to all of God's children on both sides of the
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  veil. Thank you for listening to this
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  presentation from Scripture Central.
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  For more information, please visit scripturecentral.org.