Norman
Defender of Truth
This is from a lot of research and being an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I find this practice to be one of love and respect for my ancestors who are on the other side of the veil. It truly was and is a Christian ordinance.
Baptism for the dead was so central, in fact, that Justin Martyr accused the Jews of having removed a passage from Jeremiah about the descent and preaching to weaken the scriptural support for Christianity.
Here Trypho remarked, "We ask you first of all to tell us some of the Scriptures which you allege have been completely cancelled." [Justin quotes some passages which the Jews evidently removed from Esdras and Jeremiah.] And again, from the sayings of the same Jeremiah these have been cut out: 'The Lord God remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in the graves; and He descended to preach to them His own salvation.' (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 71-72, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1.)
That Paul was not condemning the practice of baptism for the dead is evidenced by the fact that he cites it as evidence for the resurrection, as is clear from a full quote of the verse: "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?" Clearly, the practice would have been foolish if there were no resurrection.
That Paul was not referring to some ancient Babylonian or Gnostic practice is evidenced by the fact that his audience must have been acquainted with the practice. It makes little sense for an apostle to cite a pagan practice as evidence for the resurrection. This point was made in a recent article by Richard E. DeMaris, a non-LDS scholar at Valparaiso University, in his article, "Corinthian Religion and Baptism for the Dead (1 Corinthians 15:29): Insights from Archaeology and Anthropology," Journal of Biblical Literature 114/4 (Winter 1995).
The Greek original of 1 Corinthians 15:29 does not use the pronoun "they." It says, "Otherwise, what will do the ones being baptized for the dead?" The text uses a passive participle form, "the being baptized [ones]," used as a substantive (where it is usually accompanied by the definite article). Participles reflect gender, number and case, but not person. Hence, there is no third person plural ("they") in the Greek original. Placing stress on the pronoun supplied by the English Bible translators for flow in English distorts Paul's meaning. The passage, being devoid of reference to person, does not exclude the Christians as the ones who performed the rite, as the critics have claimed.
Two of the early church fathers, Epiphanius (A.D. 315-403), in Heresies 8.7, and Tertullian (A.D. 145-220), in Against Marcion 5.10, note that the Marcionites, a Christian group outside mainstream Christianity (like the Latter-day Saints) baptized others in the name of the dead. St. Chrysostom (A.D. 347-407) tells how the Marcionites, when one of their catechumens died without baptism, would place a living person under the dead man's bed and ask whether he desired to be baptized. The living person would respond in the affirmative and was then baptized as a proxy for the deceased (Homily 40 on 1 Corinthians 15).
Some dismiss this evidence on the grounds that the Marcionites were heretics. Latter-day Saints, believing that the great apostasy was already well under way by Marcion's time and that no Christian group then possessed the full truth, see the practice as a remnant of an earlier practice dating from the time of the apostles. Since baptism is essential for salvation (John 3:5-7) and that Christ went into the spirit world to bring the message of salvation to those who had not received it in mortality (1 Peter 3:18-21; 4:6; cf. John 3:25-29), it seems reasonable to expect that the Lord would have provided a means for the dead who had not heard the gospel to receive this sacred ordinance.
Moreover, there is a precedent in one of the books of the Apocrypha, 2 Maccabees 12:43-46, where we read that Judas Maccabaeus, the Jewish high priest and ruler, offered sacrifices to atone for the sins of some of his dead soldiers.
That baptism for the dead was indeed practiced in some orthodox Christian circles is indicated by the decisions of two late fourth century councils. The fourth canon of the Synod of Hippo, held in 393, declares, "The Eucharist shall not be given to dead bodies, nor baptism conferred upon them"
(fifth canon in the list of 41 rather than 36.). The ruling was confirmed four years later in the sixth canon of the Third Council of Carthage. Churches not represented at these minor council did not feel bound to discontinue the practice. Consequently, the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran and the Copts of Egypt continued baptisms for the dead while, in some churches, it was replaced by prayers and masses for the dead.
Since the scripture speaks of an ordinance which none of the traditional Catholic or Protestant Christian denominations understand, they feel that it is necessary to explain it away. The same feeling prevailed shortly after the Apostasy began. Even though there were some Christian splinter groups that were practicing the ordinance of vicarious baptism for the dead, it was officially abandoned in the sixth canon of the Synod of Hippo in the year 393 A.D.
I know by the power of the Holy Ghost, spirit to my spirit that this ordinance is of God. It truly is an act of love by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I bare this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Baptism for the dead was so central, in fact, that Justin Martyr accused the Jews of having removed a passage from Jeremiah about the descent and preaching to weaken the scriptural support for Christianity.
Here Trypho remarked, "We ask you first of all to tell us some of the Scriptures which you allege have been completely cancelled." [Justin quotes some passages which the Jews evidently removed from Esdras and Jeremiah.] And again, from the sayings of the same Jeremiah these have been cut out: 'The Lord God remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in the graves; and He descended to preach to them His own salvation.' (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 71-72, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1.)
That Paul was not condemning the practice of baptism for the dead is evidenced by the fact that he cites it as evidence for the resurrection, as is clear from a full quote of the verse: "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?" Clearly, the practice would have been foolish if there were no resurrection.
That Paul was not referring to some ancient Babylonian or Gnostic practice is evidenced by the fact that his audience must have been acquainted with the practice. It makes little sense for an apostle to cite a pagan practice as evidence for the resurrection. This point was made in a recent article by Richard E. DeMaris, a non-LDS scholar at Valparaiso University, in his article, "Corinthian Religion and Baptism for the Dead (1 Corinthians 15:29): Insights from Archaeology and Anthropology," Journal of Biblical Literature 114/4 (Winter 1995).
The Greek original of 1 Corinthians 15:29 does not use the pronoun "they." It says, "Otherwise, what will do the ones being baptized for the dead?" The text uses a passive participle form, "the being baptized [ones]," used as a substantive (where it is usually accompanied by the definite article). Participles reflect gender, number and case, but not person. Hence, there is no third person plural ("they") in the Greek original. Placing stress on the pronoun supplied by the English Bible translators for flow in English distorts Paul's meaning. The passage, being devoid of reference to person, does not exclude the Christians as the ones who performed the rite, as the critics have claimed.
Two of the early church fathers, Epiphanius (A.D. 315-403), in Heresies 8.7, and Tertullian (A.D. 145-220), in Against Marcion 5.10, note that the Marcionites, a Christian group outside mainstream Christianity (like the Latter-day Saints) baptized others in the name of the dead. St. Chrysostom (A.D. 347-407) tells how the Marcionites, when one of their catechumens died without baptism, would place a living person under the dead man's bed and ask whether he desired to be baptized. The living person would respond in the affirmative and was then baptized as a proxy for the deceased (Homily 40 on 1 Corinthians 15).
Some dismiss this evidence on the grounds that the Marcionites were heretics. Latter-day Saints, believing that the great apostasy was already well under way by Marcion's time and that no Christian group then possessed the full truth, see the practice as a remnant of an earlier practice dating from the time of the apostles. Since baptism is essential for salvation (John 3:5-7) and that Christ went into the spirit world to bring the message of salvation to those who had not received it in mortality (1 Peter 3:18-21; 4:6; cf. John 3:25-29), it seems reasonable to expect that the Lord would have provided a means for the dead who had not heard the gospel to receive this sacred ordinance.
Moreover, there is a precedent in one of the books of the Apocrypha, 2 Maccabees 12:43-46, where we read that Judas Maccabaeus, the Jewish high priest and ruler, offered sacrifices to atone for the sins of some of his dead soldiers.
That baptism for the dead was indeed practiced in some orthodox Christian circles is indicated by the decisions of two late fourth century councils. The fourth canon of the Synod of Hippo, held in 393, declares, "The Eucharist shall not be given to dead bodies, nor baptism conferred upon them"
(fifth canon in the list of 41 rather than 36.). The ruling was confirmed four years later in the sixth canon of the Third Council of Carthage. Churches not represented at these minor council did not feel bound to discontinue the practice. Consequently, the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran and the Copts of Egypt continued baptisms for the dead while, in some churches, it was replaced by prayers and masses for the dead.
Since the scripture speaks of an ordinance which none of the traditional Catholic or Protestant Christian denominations understand, they feel that it is necessary to explain it away. The same feeling prevailed shortly after the Apostasy began. Even though there were some Christian splinter groups that were practicing the ordinance of vicarious baptism for the dead, it was officially abandoned in the sixth canon of the Synod of Hippo in the year 393 A.D.
I know by the power of the Holy Ghost, spirit to my spirit that this ordinance is of God. It truly is an act of love by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I bare this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.