Mormonism teaches that certain sacred ordinances performed in temples are absolutely necessary to have eternal life in the presence of God the Father forever. They build temples all over the world to ensure that these rituals can be carried out and even perform these rites on behalf of the dead who were unable to complete them in this life. As they explain:

“In temples, these ordinances are also performed by members of the Church on behalf of those who have died without the opportunity to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. Such service extends the saving grace of Jesus Christ to all people.”¹https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/why-latter-day-saints-build-temples?lang=eng (Accessed 03/14/2022)

This is one of the clear dividing lines between the gospel of true, biblical Christianity and the message of the Mormon church. During many years of sidewalk evangelism in Utah, I have found it helpful to point to Mormon teachings about temple ceremonies to help them understand the differences between their “gospel” and the genuine good news of Jesus Christ. These conversations usually follow a three-stage process:

1.  Explaining the biblical gospel
2.  Pointing to Mormon beliefs about temples to illustrate how their gospel is different
3.  Drawing on elements of those Mormon beliefs to help them understand the true gospel

Let’s take a look at each of these in order.

The biblical gospel: Jesus and eternal life

At the heart of any gospel conversation will be the question, “what must I do to obtain eternal life?” I often choose verses that use the term “eternal life” rather than verses that discuss “salvation” or being “saved” because, in traditional Mormon vocabulary, “salvation” can mean resurrection even into a lower eternal state wholly apart from the presence of God. “Eternal life,” however, is exaltation to celestial glory (the highest heaven) and dwelling with Heavenly Father forever. Thus, most Mormons will agree that eternal life is nothing less than living in the highest heaven in the very presence of God the Father. At any rate, even if the particular Mormon with whom you are speaking tries to define it more broadly, Jesus Himself defines eternal life as knowing the Father (John 17:3) and says that we “come to the Father” through Him (John 14:6), so when Jesus uses the word eternal life, He certainly doesn’t mean going to some lesser place where God the Father is not present. This brings us to the question: how does Jesus say that we receive eternal life?

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:14-17).

Jesus repeats throughout this passage that all those who believe receive eternal life. If you do not have eternal life, it is because you did not believe. There is no category here for people who believe but do not receive eternal life because they were not baptized by a proper priesthood authority or married in a temple. Everyone who believes has eternal life. Everyone who does not believe does not have eternal life. Jesus says this over and over throughout John’s gospel in such clear and unambiguous terms that mandatory temple ordinances can’t possibly be smuggled in. Showing a few other examples can be helpful, such as:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47).

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?‘” (John 11:24-25)

Here it is important to ask what it means to believe. What sort of faith does the New Testament have in mind? Paul summarizes this well in Romans:

“Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5).

The kind of faith that is credited as righteousness is a faith that trusts completely in God to justify the ungodly (i.e., us sinners) and does not attempt to add our own works. The moment we add to Christ’s finished work with the claim, “I also have to do this to get eternal life,” we abandon grace and try to turn the gift of God into a wage due us for our work. That is not faith. The gospel is eternal life by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone.

Mormon temple ordinances and eternal life

Having listened to this thoroughly, some Mormons will claim, “yes, we believe that too!” They are not lying to you, but there is a breakdown in communication. They do not actually believe the gospel you are presenting, but they don’t realize that because they think in different categories than you do and are not picking up on the difference. This is where it helps to draw attention to their temples.

I often pose a question. Let’s say there was a man who hears about Jesus for the first time. The man believes that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died and rose again for the sins of the world. The man recognizes his own sin and puts his complete trust in what Jesus did for him, asking God’s forgiveness. The man dies immediately afterward, having never been baptized, doing any good works, or carrying out any ordinances. Now, let’s say that the man is utterly unknown, so no temple works are ever done on his behalf after his death. Based on his faith alone, without baptism or any temple works, can this man have eternal life in celestial glory in the presence of his heavenly father forever?

The honest Mormon cannot say yes. They will often point out their belief that, during the future millennial reign of Christ, the identity of such people will be revealed so that their temple work can be completed, but this is still an admission that, in addition to what Christ did for us, other works absolutely must be done. We must do the rest ourselves. If we die without completing these works, what Jesus did for us still isn’t enough. Someone else must go into a temple and finish the work on our behalf. The Mormon gospel is Jesus + your own works + the works the church does on your behalf after you are gone. This is not the faith Paul described, the one who “does not work but trusts God, who justifies the ungodly.” This is not Jesus’ message that everyone who believes has eternal life. This is a different gospel.

Mormon temple ordinances and vicarious works

At this point in the conversation, most Mormons will realize that you are, indeed, preaching a very different gospel than they are, but often they will still not yet understand just what your gospel is. Before this misunderstanding gets too deep, it helps to return to the subject of their temples yet again for a helpful illustration.

Drawing attention back to their beliefs about Temple ordinances, I point out that if (heaven forbid) I were to suddenly drop dead on the sidewalk right then and there, someone would be able to submit my name and, after the appropriate process, a member of the LDS church could enter the temple and (for example) be baptized on my behalf. I would then, though dead, have the opportunity to accept that baptism and, if I did, God would look upon me as if I had been baptized even though, in reality, someone else had been baptized on my behalf. God would accept that baptism and treat it as my baptism even though someone else did it for me. Thus, on the Mormon system, my dead soul in spirit prison can receive the free gift of someone else’s righteous works done on my behalf, and God will credit those works to me.

But, you see, the biblical gospel is that Jesus has already done this for us. He lived a perfect life without sin and then died a death He did not deserve to pay the price for our sin. If we, through faith, will receive the perfect life he lived for us, fulfilling all righteousness on our behalf, God will credit us with Christ’s righteousness. Jesus receives the punishment for our sin on the cross, and we receive the reward for his sinless life and perfect obedience in eternity. The Mormon already believes that God accepts vicarious works. That’s why temple ordinances are performed on behalf of the dead. But why turn to the rites of rituals of fellow sinners when Christ offers us His vicarious works? In our sin, we are all already those dead souls in prison, and Christ has delivered us by His perfect life and His sacrificial death.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus,” (Ephesians 2:4-2).

All of this was accomplished already in Christ. All of this is freely given us by grace. Nothing a fellow sinner could go into a temple and do could add anything to Christ, and thinking that such added works are needed is failing to trust in Christ. Faith in Christ and the demand of temple ordinances cannot coexist. One must choose. Repent of dead works and turn in complete trust to the finished work of Christ to the praise of God’s glorious grace. Here and only here is eternal life.