Introduction: Not a New Practice, but a Restoration
For Latter-day Saints, temple worship is not a modern invention or a cultural oddity. It is understood as a restoration of ancient covenant practices that go back to the beginning of humanity. Rather than viewing temples as symbolic innovations, Latter-day Saints see them as part of God’s consistent pattern for teaching, binding, and saving His children.
At the center of temple worship is the idea of covenant—a binding relationship between God and His children that includes promises, obligations, and divine power. This concept runs through the Old Testament, early Christian history, and ancient religious records outside the Bible, and is fully restored in modern times through Joseph Smith.
Adam and Eve: Covenant Worship from the Beginning
Latter-day Saints believe temple worship begins with Adam and Eve. After the Fall, God did not abandon them. Instead, He taught them through instruction, symbolic actions, and covenants. Adam and Eve were commanded to offer sacrifice, were taught the plan of redemption, and entered into sacred covenants with God.
In the Book of Moses, Adam and Eve receive ordinances and instruction that parallel later temple worship. They learn about the role of the Savior, the purpose of mortal life, and the conditions for returning to God’s presence. This establishes a pattern: God reveals His will through covenant ceremonies that teach His plan and bind His people to Him.
Covenants as a Central Theme of the Old Testament
The Old Testament is fundamentally a record of covenants. God repeatedly establishes formal, binding relationships with His people:
- Adam enters into covenant after the Fall
- Noah receives a covenant following the Flood
- Abraham is given promises tied to obedience and priesthood
- Israel enters into covenant at Sinai
Temples and sacred spaces are consistently associated with these covenants. From altars to tabernacles to Solomon’s Temple, God sets apart holy places where He reveals Himself, accepts offerings, and renews covenants with His people.
Temple worship is not peripheral to the Old Testament—it is central to how God interacts with humanity.
Apocryphal Records and Ancient Temple Ordinances
Ancient texts outside the Bible, often referred to as apocryphal or pseudepigraphal, preserve additional details about early temple practices. While not considered scripture by most Christian traditions, these records show that ancient Jews and Christians believed God taught sacred knowledge through ceremonial instruction.
Texts such as the Books of Enoch, Jubilees, and early Christian writings describe:
- Heavenly ascents
- Ritual instruction
- Sacred clothing
- Covenant-making
- Knowledge revealed only to the faithful
These themes closely parallel temple worship as practiced by Latter-day Saints and support the idea that ceremonial covenant worship existed long before modern Christianity.
The Flood: Baptism, Renewal, and Covenant
The Flood is more than a story of judgment. Latter-day Saints understand it as a covenantal reset.
The earth itself is symbolically baptized, emerging cleansed and renewed. Noah receives a new covenant from God, with the rainbow as a sign of that covenant. This follows the same pattern seen earlier:
- Judgment and cleansing
- Covenant making
- Promises tied to obedience
The Flood reflects how God renews His relationship with humanity through covenant rather than abandoning His creation.
Egypt and Pharaoh: Imitation Without Authority
Ancient Egypt preserved echoes of earlier temple traditions. Egyptian religious texts and rituals include ceremonial clothing, symbolic journeys, and teachings about the afterlife. However, Latter-day Saints believe Egypt possessed the form of temple worship without divine authority.
The Pharaohs claimed priesthood power but did not hold it. This mirrors the biblical pattern of apostasy: sacred forms remain, but the authority and covenants are lost. The Exodus represents God reclaiming His covenant people and restoring true worship under priesthood authority.
The Restoration: Joseph Smith and the Return of Temple Worship
Joseph Smith did not see himself as a Protestant reformer reinterpreting scripture. He claimed to be a restorer of ancient truth.
Through visions, angelic visitations, and priesthood authority, Joseph Smith taught that God was restoring:
- Lost doctrines
- Priesthood keys
- Sacred ordinances
- Temple covenants
Early Latter-day Saints were commanded repeatedly to build temples—first in Jackson County, then in Kirtland, and later in Nauvoo. These temples were not symbolic meeting houses but places where sacred ordinances were revealed.
In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith introduced what Latter-day Saints call the endowment of power, teaching eternal covenants and divine instruction tied directly to ancient patterns.
Modern Temple Worship
Today, temples operate worldwide. Anyone may enter temple grounds, but participation in ordinances requires preparation and commitment.
To enter the temple, members must:
- Be baptized members of the Church
- Live basic standards of faith and conduct
- Receive a temple recommend from Church leaders
Inside the temple, members participate in sacred ordinances including:
- Washings and anointings
- Instruction through symbolic presentation
- Covenants with God
- The endowment of spiritual power
These ordinances are considered sacred, not secret, and are treated with reverence.
Mormon Temple Video
To learn more about Mormon temple worship, see what the inside of a temple looks like and learn about the Mormon Endowment Ceremony, watch this video:
Work for the Dead: God’s Justice and Mercy
Latter-day Saints believe God is perfectly just and merciful. Because salvation requires covenant and ordinances performed in mortality, provision must exist for those who died without the opportunity.
Temple work for the dead allows living members to act as proxies, receiving ordinances on behalf of deceased individuals. Each person remains free to accept or reject those ordinances in the afterlife.
This doctrine reflects the belief that God desires all His children to have equal access to salvation.
Elijah, Sealing Keys, and the Abrahamic Covenant
Central to temple worship is the restoration of sealing authority, fulfilled through the prophecy of Elijah.
The sealing power binds:
Husbands and wives
Parents and children
Generations across time
Through temple ordinances, families are linked back to Adam, fulfilling the covenant given to Abraham—that his seed would bless all nations. This creates a connected human family united through covenant rather than divided by death.
God’s Purpose: Immortality and Eternal Life
Temple worship ultimately points to God’s stated purpose:
“To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”
Through restored temple covenants and ordinances, all people—living and dead—are given the opportunity to:
- Accept Jesus Christ
- Enter into binding covenants
- Receive necessary ordinances
- Return to God’s presence
Far from being strange or new, Mormon temple worship reflects an ancient, consistent pattern of how God has always worked with His children: through covenant, priesthood authority, and sacred instruction designed to lead them home.