SALVATION FOR THE DEAD.
Through the Prophet Joseph Smith was revealed the doctrine of salvation for the dead, a doctrine that had not been understood in the world for many centuries until he taught it. It is nevertheless a scriptural doctrine, and is referred to by Peter:
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." (I Peter 3: 18-20).
It is also referred to by Paul:
"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?" (I Corinthians 15: 29).
Preaching the Gospel to the dead is referred to in several places in the scriptures. (John 5: 25, 28; I Peter 4: 6).
That one person can perform a Gospel ordinance for and in behalf of another accords with the teachings of the scriptures. Christ did vicarious work for all mankind when He atoned for the sins of the world. By that atonement He brought about the resurrection from the grave, and made man's eternal salvation possible, as declared by the Apostle Paul:
"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (I Corinthians 15: 22).
Also in these words: