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?

Hey listeners, this is Nick from Scripture Central, and today's podcast addresses the question.

Why are people baptized for the dead?

On August 15, 1840, people baptized for the dead.

On August 15, 1840, the prophet Joseph Smith was preaching at the funeral of Seymour Brunson.

Seeing a widow in the congregation who had recently lost a son before he could be baptized,

Joseph Smith introduced one of the most significant doctrines of the restoration,

Baptisms for the Dead. This ordinance would be the theme of many of Joseph's revelations,

letters, and discourses during the following months, especially as the Navu Temple was being constructed.

As biblical evidence that this ordinance was performed in ancient Christianity, Joseph Smith turned to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 29.

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?

This verse constitutes the only explicit reference to this

ordinance for the deceased in the New Testament, and it has led many scholars to wonder what Paul

might have been referring to, and if proxy baptisms were actually performed in antiquity.

As additional texts have come to light, however, most scholars today conclude that the clearest reading of this verse

states that early Christians actually performed vicarious ordinances for the dead.

For example, after reviewing attempts to interpret this passage as referring to a metaphor or a regular baptism,

one scholar concluded that all interpretations which seek to evade

vicarious baptism for the dead are misleading. Similarly, Reginald St. John Perry noted that

the plain and necessary sense of the words implies the existence of a practice of vicarious

...