Vicarious Work for the Dead

Vicarious work for the dead, which is directly linked to our temples, constitutes a grand and prodigious undertaking. In fact, President Boyd K. Packer provides us with a glimpse as to the greatness of this endeavor: “We can build those thousands of temples and we can redeem our dead by the thousands and tens of thousands and millions and billions and tens of billions. We have not yet moved to the edge of the light.”327 Our prophets and apostles have made several doctrinal statements regarding the great and eternal significance of vicarious work for the dead. A few of the teachings are as follows:

(1) Work for the dead started after Jesus’s death and Resurrection. This means that work on behalf of the dead was not conducted in the tabernacle, Solomon’s temple, or any other temple before the death of Jesus Christ. Several authorities have discussed this matter, including Joseph Fielding Smith, who stated, “Until the Son of God had finished his preparations for the salvation of man and to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, there could be no ordinance or labor of any kind pertaining to the resurrection and redemption of mankind that could be performed for the dead.”328

(2) Vicarious work testifies of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Elder D. Todd Christofferson elucidates the manner in which work for the dead “constitutes as powerful a statement as we can make concerning [Jesus Christ’s] divine character and mission.” He stated, work for the dead “testifies, first, of Christ’s Resurrection; second, of the infinite reach of His Atonement; third, that He is the sole source of salvation; fourth, that He has established the conditions for salvation; and, fifth, that He will come again. . . . By identifying our ancestors and performing for them the saving ordinances they could not themselves perform, we are testifying of the infinite reach of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Christ ‘died for all.’”329

The Manti Utah Temple.

(3) Those doing vicarious work for the dead become “Saviors on Mount Zion” (Obadiah 21). Many Church authorities have spoken on this topic. Joseph Smith taught, “But how are they to become Saviors on Mount Zion by building their temples erecting their Baptismal fonts & going forth & receiving all the ordinances, Baptisms, Confirmations, washings anointings ordinations, & sealing powers upon our heads, in behalf of all our progenitors who are dead & redeem them . . . & herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the Children, & the Children to the Fathers.”330

(4) Vicarious work “approaches” the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus. Vicarious work that is conducted in temples is a form of sacrifice itself—a sacrifice of both time and means. As President Gordon B. Hinckley expressed: “I think that vicarious work for the dead more nearly approaches the vicarious sacrifice of the Savior Himself than any other work of which I know. It is given with love, without hope of compensation, or repayment or anything of the kind. What a glorious principle.”331

(5) Temple work is our “greatest responsibility.” In 1844, the Prophet Joseph Smith made this solemn declaration: “The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us, is to seek after our dead. The Apostle says, ‘they without us cannot be made perfect’ [see Hebrews 11:40].”332

(6) It is a manifestation of Jesus’s perfect grace, love, and mercy. The temple is the quintessential place of grace—the grace that is perfected and available because of Jesus Christ’s Atonement. The temple is also a manifestation of His matchless love and mercy, which extends to all of God’s children, not just those who have the privilege and opportunity of learning about the plan of salvation during mortality.

(7) “For we have been commanded.” President Boyd K. Packer wrote the following dialogue (regarding work for the dead) between two anonymous individuals: “‘Strange,’ one may say. It is passing strange. It is transcendent and supernal. The very nature of the work [for the dead] testifies that He is our Lord, that baptism is essential, that He taught the truth.

“And so the question may be asked, ‘You mean you are out to provide baptism for all who have ever lived?’

“And the answer is simply, ‘Yes.’ For we have been commanded to do so.

“‘You mean for the entire human family? Why, that is impossible. If the preaching of the gospel to all who are living is a formidable challenge, then the vicarious work for all who have ever lived is impossible indeed.’

“To that we say, ‘Perhaps, but we shall do it anyway.’”333