Covenants, Temples, and the Eternal Family
As taught in the Latter-day Saint tradition
How Latter-day Saints read covenant, temple, and the eternal family.
Few features of Latter-day Saint religion are more visible from the outside, or more central from the inside, than its temples. Set apart from ordinary meetinghouses, closed to the public after dedication, and devoted to ordinances not performed in Sunday worship, the temple gathers into one place the tradition's distinctive convictions about covenant, priesthood authority, the dead, and the family. For The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the temple is not a relic of Old Testament ritual superseded by the cross, nor merely a beautiful house of prayer; it is the setting in which the highest covenants between God and his children are made and in which families are "sealed" to one another for time and for eternity.
By the end of this lesson
- Explain how Latter-day Saints understand baptism and temple ordinances as covenants administered through restored priesthood authority.
- Describe the temple endowment and the sealing of families, and the hope of exaltation as continuation of the family beyond death.
- Summarize the Latter-day Saint doctrine of vicarious ordinances for the dead and the genealogical work it motivates.
- Trace how Malachi 4:5-6, 1 Corinthians 15:29, Matthew 16:19, and Revelation 3:12 each support a distinct pillar of the temple system.
- Identify how the Book of Mormon passages on the Waters of Mormon, the temple at Bountiful, and the covenant with Israel ground these teachings.
- State precisely where Latter-day Saint readings of canon, priesthood, vicarious baptism, and exaltation diverge from historic and mainstream Christianity.
Scripture
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