Baptism for the Dead - Explained

God's Universal Love For His Children

Scientists estimate that over 100 billion human beings have called this earth home since the first man and woman, Adam and Eve

"We are the offspring of God" (Acts 17:29). All of us.

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16).

Is it not logical that God loves all of His children?

When Cornelius - a Gentile - petitioned Peter for baptism, the Lord inspired Peter that the time had come for the Gentiles to receive the Gospel as well.

"Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons," Peter declared (Acts 10:34). He does, indeed, love all of us with the same infinite love.

Justice and an Equal Opportunity For All

And yet how many of those 100 billion have had the opportunity to receive a proper baptism by the proper authority?

How many, even today, have never heard the name of Jesus Christ, much less learned of His Gospel and had the opportunity to accept it and to be baptized.

Is it just for a person to be damned because he or she never had the opportunity to accept the Gospel and be baptized?

The heart of every human being feels the injustice in such a statement.

And yet the Lord's word is clear: "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5).

Some suggest that this injustice may be solved by God allowing those who never had the opportunity to accept the Gospel and to be baptized to be saved without baptism.

The problem with such an approach is that it makes God a liar. And God is not a liar. Baptism is an essential ordinance for our salvation.

So what becomes of the billions who have never had the opportunity to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ through baptism?

The answer to this question comes from a further search into the life and death of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ Among the Dead in the Spirit World

Do you know where Jesus Christ's spirit was after his death and before His resurrection?

Was He in heaven?

No. Remember the word he spoke to Mary on the morning of His resurrection: "touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father..." (John 20:17).

Think back to the crucifixion. One of the two thieves crucified with Him mocked the Savior. The other reverenced Him and Christ told him,"To day thou shalt be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43).

Paradise. Jesus Christ was in Paradise.

Paradise is the temporary resting place of the dead while awaiting the resurrection (see Luke 16:22-30 and Alma 40:12-14 in the Book of Mormon)

What was Jesus Christ doing in paradise?

"For Christ also ... being put to death in the flesh ... went and preached unto the spirits in prison... the like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us" (1 Peter 3:18-21)

Some are not convinced that "spirits in prison" refers to those who have died (even though verse 20 clearly refers to those who had lived in Noah's day, thousands of years before).
But if there is any doubt, Peter clears it up for us in the very next chapter:

"For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" (1 Peter 4:6).

Hope For Those who have Died

Why would Jesus Christ preach the Gospel to those who had died if there were no hope for them to be saved?

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Corinthians 15:19).

All Christians rejoice to know that, through the suffering of One, even Jesus Christ, our sins are washed away and we are made clean.
Christ's suffering was a vicarious act - something done by one person in behalf of another.

Baptism for the dead is a vicarious act - something done by one person in behalf of another.

Jesus Christ does not force us to accept His sacrifice. He suffered for our sins, but it is our decision to accept His sacrifice and to follow Him, or to reject it.

Neither is anyone forced to accept a baptism performed on their behalf. The ordinance - like the atoning blood of Christ - is available for any who will receive it, but no one is forced to do so.

By preaching the Gospel to the dead and allowing for baptism and other sacred ordinances to be performed in behalf of those who have died, Jesus Christ has solved the troubling question of what will happen to all who have died without the opportunity to accept His Gospel and be baptized.

All will rise again. All will stand before the judgement bar of God. And all will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and to accept the saving ordinance of baptism, even those who never had that opportunity during life.

"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?" (1 Corinthains 15:29)


I share my personal witness that the doctrine of vicarious baptism is true. I have performed such ordinances many times in the Temple of the Lord, and have felt the Spirit of God confirm to me that it is a true ordinance. It does not force Mormonism upon anyone. It is a gesture of goodwill and love toward all of our brothers and sisters. I know that God lives and loves all of His children. I know that He is a just God, who gives equal opportunity to all that they might believe and be saved.
I know that salvation comes only through our Savior Jesus Christ. 


"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).

Additional references
Romans 14:9