I was surprised to watch a show the other night where the mayor of the town announced that he was going to perform a vicarious wedding ceremony. One of his duties was to perform marriages for military personnel who were in areas with no chaplain. The ceremony was carried out with two people standing in for the real couple who couldn’t be there. Each person held up a photo of the face of the person they represented and the whole wedding was broadcast over the Internet where the two real people could watch from their different locations. This was a legal marriage. Vicarious salvation is based on the same principle.
We perform ordinances in our temples, like baptism, for those who are now dead. Someone living performs the ordinance for and in behalf of someone who is deceased. It is done the same way the ordinance is done for a living person. The proxy, the person standing in for the deceased person, goes down into the water, and is baptized for and in behalf of the person who is dead. This gives the person who died without the opportunity to be baptized the ability to accept baptism without ever having had the chance in mortality.
I used to be a little uncomfortable with the idea that we could stand in and perform a baptism for someone else and have the Lord accept that as valid. That was before I realized that vicarious work is what salvation is all about.
The Atonement is vicarious
Every Christian knows that Christ is the key to being saved. Why? Because he performed a work, an atonement, a payment for us that we could not do or pay for ourselves. He stood in our place and paid for our sins. Our salvation comes only because we, as Christians, believe in vicarious works for and in behalf of others. Without the payment Christ made on my behalf I could not be saved or redeemed from my fallen state. If I don’t accept the principle of vicarious works in behalf of others, then I have to reject my only path back to God, which is Christ.
The vicarious work we perform in our temples for those who have lived without the opportunity to know or accept Christ’s gospel is the only way they will ever be able to receive those saving ordinances. Christ said that we could not go back to God without baptism. So are all those people who died without baptism to be tossed aside as collateral damage in the war against Satan? If that were the case then it looks like Satan has already claimed most of the human race. No, God loves all his children equally and has provided a way for them to receive the ordinances of salvation through those who are currently living. We go into His temples and perform those ordinances in behalf of those who have already died.
Organizing the work
During the time between Christ’s death and resurrection he was in the world of the spirits organizing his missionary forces. After his resurrection those missionary forces went into the spirit prison and began to preach the gospel of Christ to those who had died from the days of Adam down to the time of Christ. As the saints in Christ’s church performed baptisms for the dead, those who had been taught the gospel in the spirit world were able to accept or reject the work done for them. In 1 Corinthians 15:29 Paul asked why the members of the Church were performing baptisms for the dead if the dead were never going to be resurrected. He said, “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?”
Those who accepted the work done for them were able to move from the spirit prison they had been in into paradise where they could prepare for their resurrection. Missionary work among the dead has been going on ever since that time. There are billions who are just waiting for their work to be done for them so they can move on to paradise and prepare for their resurrection. Even when the Lord’s Church was not on the earth, the preaching of the gospel of Christ continued in the spirit world. Now that Christ’s Church as been restored, there is a huge backlog of people waiting to have their ordinances done for them so they can move on.
Final Thoughts
We don’t normally talk about the fact that our own salvation is a vicarious act, but it is. The act of redemption on the Savior’s part could have only been done by him. We do not have the ability to do it. If we did have the ability to save ourselves there would be no need for Christ. But Christ is our Savior, our Redeemer, our advocate with the Father. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves, and he had to do it vicariously. He stood in our place and took our punishment and willingly paid for our sins so he could offer us forgiveness for those same sins if we would obey his commandments.
By us going into the temples of our God and doing vicarious work for our ancestors, we become “saviors on Mount Zion,” performing saving ordinances for those who can no longer do it for themselves. This is a tremendous blessing to us who can help save our ancestors who have done so much for us, but are now at such a distinct disadvantage in spiritual things. We can now turn our hearts to our fathers and bring salvation to our families for generation and generations. The Lord blesses us, and He blesses them for participating with His Son in this great work of saving the whole human family.
Salvation could only ever be offered vicariously. Now we, in turn, are being commanded by God to offer what we have been given so freely by Christ to our families. What a blessing it is to have the ability to do work vicariously in the temple for our loved ones.
The Joy of Redeeming the Dead
BY ELDER RICHARD G. SCOTT
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
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print a PDF copy of the file.
Excellent contribution.
I would like to suggest, however, that we carefully and prayerfully reconsider the idea, which I don’t think is supported by scripture, that those who accept the gospel in the spirit world are blocked in their spiritual progress until we who are on earth perform their ordinances.
This seems to me to be inconsistent with God’s mercy. Yes, it is very important for us to do all the ordinance work we can, as much for our salvation as for theirs, but the vast majority of souls who have ever lived have NO records on earth. Must they be held in spirit prison until their names are revealed to earth in a process that has not yet been revealed to us?
I would like to hope that converts in the spirit world can move forward based on their faith and repentance, with provision, based on God’s foreknowledge of all things, that their ordinances will surely be performed in due time. Time is different for God than for us.
In one known instance, church leaders emphatically condemned the “free the birdies” rumor.
Thank you for your comment. I agree with you insofar as I would also like to think that the foreknowledge of God would allow those who have repented to move on to paradise even before the ordinance work for them has been completed. Unfortunately, I have not seen any evidence among the talks and scriptures I have encountered that support that idea. This appears to be something we will have to wait to find out when we are given more information. If someone has more definitive information I would love to have the information posted here. I would also love it if you would provide me with the exact reference to your “free the birdies” comment. I have never heard of that and would love to learn more about it.
Hi Kelly,
I’d never heard of the military having vicarious weddings, but the idea makes a lot of sense considering what Latter-day Saints understand about performing temple ordinances for those who are not able to do that important work themselves.
You’ve got some very thoughtful articles on your blog here.
Take care,
Richard
As to the story on the proxy ordinance for the military wedding. I do not agree with that. Can someone be baptized for another who is living, or receive the sacrament for someone who is living or any other ordinances we do in life? Because if you can say a wedding in the military can be done by another, then all these others must to. God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. God’s house is a house of order (ordinance) and it does not fit the gospel doctrine, nor have I ever heard the prophet or apostle speak of such things. No these are things we must do in our life for ourselves, not by proxy.
Proxy is what temple worship is all about.
Yes, it is-FOR THE DEAD- but not for the living which is what your military story was all about. Would the temple allow someone to be married for eternity for another living person simply because they could not or do not have the temple nearby to do for themselves. What about all those who have sacrificed financially to travel far to a temple to do their own work-Why not have someone do it for them who is in reasonable travel distance to the temple? No, this is an erroneous thought or idea that has been touted.
Yes, temples are there for proxy ordinances. What your story was about was that someone was married for another living individual who did not have a minister available to perform the wedding. Sorry, this is not ok to do. Explain how the gospel has ever taught this. How and when has it ever been taught by the Prophets. ‘Where is it stated in scripture? No, it has never been taught by the prophets or in the scriptures. Many have saved for years to travel to a temple for them to receive their own ordinances because one was not near to them. If it is possible according to your story, why then did they not have someone do it for them without traveling and spending all that money?
Steve, the military story was only used to introduce the idea of how proxy things work. At no time have I ever promoted or stated that we use or should use the principle of proxy work for the living. Proxy work has only been used for the dead. All living ordinance work must be done by the person being present. The whole gospel of Christ is based on proxy work, because no one can be saved without someone else doing something that we cannot do for ourselves. Even those living rely on Christ’s atoning sacrifice which was a proxy ordinance for our salvation. The principle is woven throughout the gospel. Please get past the opening example and look at proxy work for what it is, a vital component that is required for the salvation of the entire human race. And yes, every prophet and apostle has taught the importance of vicarious works that we do in the temples. Without vicarious works there is no salvation possible.
Kelly, I understand that but there was no commentary that it was used as an analogy at all. Even reading other comments that had been posted some seemed to believe that such a proxy ordinance could be or is valid. We have to be careful on how we communicate the doctrine so that others who read may not get the idea that it is a true doctrine. It appeared as you posted when the story stated-it is legal marriage-that it was deemed as a true doctrine by this experience. We do not want someone walking away believing something not accurate. I appreciate your clarification.
Thanks Steve. I’m glad we got that cleared up. I agree with your statement. That is one of the pitfalls of communication. There are just so many ways in which assumptions can be made because of lack of clarification, that it is difficult to always be completely clear. It reminds of me of the scripture that says that he couldn’t mention all the ways to sin, because there are more ways to do it than he could recount, so he sums it up by saying, basically, ‘don’t do it.’ lol
Kelly, I appreciate your clarification. Thank You. At the end of the story it says, ‘It is a legal Marriage’. This gives credence to such a proxy ordinance as being true. In the story it was not deemed as an analogy to our proxy ordinances and how they work. Furthermore, Richard’s comment lend itself that some will believe that such living proxy ordinances are, have been, and will be true. That is my concern is that unless clarified, many, who may have less gospel understanding as you do, will believe such is true. So, yes, and I think you would agree, how important it is to be careful that others may erroneously pick up on something and believe it is true because, they do not study it out in their mind’ as to whether it comports to scripture, prophets, or the spirit testifying of its truth. So again, thank you for clarifying and I am grateful for what you do add to this site and gospel doctrine.