The Second Article of Faith

The second listed belief in the Mormon Articles of Faith written by Joseph Smith states , “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam’s transgression.”  On the surface this may seem like an appropriate principle.  However, further study will reveal that it is rather ironic       based on how the Mormon Church views dealing with sin and particularly their teaching of a proxy salvation.

They impart the idea of what is commonly referred to as baptism for the dead.  It is the belief that one may be baptized on behalf of another who passed away and did not have the opportunity to be baptized in this life.  According to their doctrine, some never heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Others lived without fully understanding the importance of the ordinance of baptism.  Some were baptized but by someone without the proper authority to administer it.  Mormonism instructs that one must be ordained to be eligible to baptize another.





According to the Mormon teaching, the New Testament validates baptism for the dead and was restored with the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  They claim the Apostle Paul was doing it when he said, “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?” (1 Cor. 15:29).  What needs to be considered is the context of the passage.  If one carefully examines the entire chapter, Paul is describing the resurrection process.  Notice the middle questions in verse 29:  If the dead rise not at all, why be baptized?  If there is not a resurrection, what is the point of being baptized?

First it must be understood who needs to be baptized, and why.  Baptism is for the condemned (Mar. 16:16; Rom. 6:23).  It is personal for each individual.  The one who sins is the one who needs to be baptized in order to take care of it.  If the wages of sin is death, something must be done consciously on an individual’s part to take care of that sin.  Baptism is that commandment (Act 2:38; 22:16).  The Bible teaches man is responsible for his own sins (Ezek. 18:20).  Therefore if man is “punished for his own sins” according to the Mormon article of faith, then how could anyone else be able to atone for them?  Paul writes, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation [emphasis, NF] with fear and trembling” (Phi. 2:12).  The inspired writer pens, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).  Death seals a person’s fate.

It must also not be overlooked that man is held accountable for himself.  Each person must hear for himself (Rom. 10:17).  Each person must believe/obey for himself (Joh 8:24).  Each person must repent of his own sins (Act 2:38).  Each person must confess Christ himself (Matt. 10:32-33).  None of these can be done on behalf of another.  So neither can anyone be baptized for someone else.  Jesus made it clear in His account of the rich man and Lazarus that their destinations were final.  The Savior states, “And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence” (Luk 16:26).  There was not so much as even an implication of someone coming to the rescue of the rich man who had this life to make the necessary preparations for the next.

Jesus affirms,

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations:and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left (Matt. 25:31-33).



Therefore, to have Mormonism teach that man is punished for his own sins yet believe a proxy redemption is a contradiction in principle.  One can not have a foot in both camps.  It is important for all to realize that the decisions made in this life will determine where the next one is served.


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