Bringing Salvation to the Spirits in Prison

by Robert Rosskopf

One of the plain and precious truths of the gospel, one that was lost after the death of the
apostles, is the doctrine that Christ brought the gospel to the Spirit World. This doctrine is briefly mentioned in the New Testament in the following scriptures.

"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. " (1 Peter 3:18-20)

"For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." (1 Peter 4:6)

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. " (John 5:25)

It isn't enough that the dead hear the gospel preached, they must enter into a covenant with God to keep his commandments, and forsake sin, although they are only spirits. The token of the covenant is baptism and that is why the early Christians practiced proxy baptism for the dead.

"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? " (1Corinthians 15:29)

These scriptures were little more than a puzzle before Joseph Smith received several revelations on the subject. Now proxy baptisms take place in Temples throughout the world, and the work of genealogy continues, so that everyone may eventually receive the blessings of the gospel, whether they were taught the gospel while they were on the Earth, or whether they received it later.