The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GC 1301-X, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 26."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1983. All Rights Reserved.

Questioner

I was speaking to a friend at work the other day who’s Mormon, and I asked him how the Mormon church got so involved in the genealogy aspect that they’re involved in, and he brought up the Baptism for the Dead that the Mormon church does, and he quoted a verse, and I can’t remember the reference now, but it went something like, I believe it’s one of the books that Paul wrote, "For if we baptize, we also baptize for the dead," and whatever. And, he quoted that verse and then proceeded to tell me more about their very strange baptism for the dead routine. I was wondering if you could briefly explain the real meaning of that verse?

John MacArthur's Answer

I can. Just first let me say this. The thing that boggles my mind about Mormonism is that the whole goal of Mormonism is to enter into eternal celestial sex and populate your own planet. Now, if that’s not the weirdest, most perverted... You know, all pagan religions have a sexual bent to them. Whether you go back to the prostitutes of Baal or whatever, they all seem to get twisted and that’s Mormonism. The real goal of Mormonism is to get your own planet and your own spirit wife and engage in eternal celestial sex and populate your own planet. So, it’s bizarre.

Now, look at 1 Corinthians 15:29, and I’ll try my best to explain it to you. Let me say, at the very beginning, that I really don’t know what it means. But, I don’t feel bad because no one else does either. And, the reason is because the passage is so limited and obscure and there isn’t a lot of data given to us. It’s like that lady asked about, on Sunday night when she said, why do people disagree? Well, this is one of the things they disagree on. For example, there are 35 different views of this one verse that I, myself, went through when I was doing a paper in seminary.

1 Corinthians 15:29, “Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?” Now, I think, what Paul is doing here, he’s trying to show that there must be resurrection. And, he’s trying to show how obvious that is. And, one of the ways which he demonstrates that is to play off of some contemporary religious belief that was in existence at that time. And, he is simply saying, there are people who baptize for the dead. If there’s no resurrection from the dead, why do they do that? In other words, he’s dealing with first century Mormonism. And, in trying to show the universality of a concept of life after death, he plays off of an existing cult that believed that you could be baptized for the dead, which means they believed that people lived after death, right? So, I think that’s all he’s doing. I don’t think it means that you can get baptized and get somebody out of, out of purgatory or out of Tartarus or out of hell or out of punishment into glory. I don’t think it means that people are being baptized to fill up the ranks of Christians who’ve died. That’s another very prominent view, that Christians die and others have to be baptized to take the place of the dead in the army of the Lord to carry on the work. I think, he’s simply saying, even your own pagan religions affirm the resurrection as a concept. Why else would people be being baptized for dead people, if it wasn’t in the heart of man to believe in the resurrection? Okay, so, he is, he is just playing off of what would have been a contemporary Mormon view in those days.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
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