Doctrinal Criticisms
(c) Copyright Michael R. Ash 1999. All rights reserved
DEGREES OF GLORY
In 1832 while Joseph Smith was receiving revelatory insights concerning the scriptures, he came upon John 5:29 which explains that the resurrected will “come forth; they have done good, unto the resurrection of life; an they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” While contemplating this scripture in presence of Sidney Rigdon, the Heavens were opened and they received a vision of hereafter as recorded in D&C Section 76. Joseph and Sidney learned that in the afterlife there are three Kingdoms of Degrees of Glory– the telestial, the terrestrial, and the celestial.
To summarize the teaches of D&C 76 concerning these degrees, we find that the telestial kingdom is for those who are ungodly; the wicked and profane; the unrepentant adulterers, murders, thieves, and liars.
The terrestrial kingdom is reserved for the honorable men and women of the world who had not accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, or those who had accepted Jesus Christ but were not valiant in that testimony.
The celestial kingdom. The reward for the righteous children of God who come into His presence and partake of His fullness.
Mormon critics have scoffed at the idea of three degrees of glory. “There is one heaven, and one hell,” wrote one such critic, “and we go to either the one or the other, depending on what we do with Jesus Christ” (McElveen [1977], 121). Indeed, most people, when imagining the afterlife, picture a heaven and a hell and nothing else. Although this view is traditional, it is not scriptural and the early Christian Church believed otherwise. The doctrine of three degrees of glory goes back to Jewish times. Thus we read in the Testament of Levi, where Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah, beheld a vision:
And behold the heavens were opened, and an angel of God said to me, Levi, enter. And I entered from the first heaven, and I saw there a great sea hanging. And further I saw a second heaven far brighter and more brilliant, for there was a boundless light also therein.
And I said to the angel, Why is this so? And the angel said to me, Marvel not at this, for thou shalt see another heaven more brilliant and incomparable. And when thou hast ascended thither, Thou shalt stand near the Lord....
“Hear, therefore, regarding the heavens which have been shown to thee. The lowest is for this cause gloomy unto thee, in that it beholds all the unrighteous deeds of men.... And in the second are the hosts of the armies which are ordained for the day of judgement, to work vengeance on the spirits of deceit and of Beliar.... And in the highest of all dwelleth the Great Glory, far above all holiness.” (The Lost Books of the Bible and The Forgotten Books of Eden, 227.)
Jesus taught the existance of multiple degrees of glroy.
In my Father's house there are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2; italics added.)
Paul commented more than once on the doctrine of three degrees of glory.
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. (1 Cor. 15:40-42.)
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago... such an one caught up to the third heaven. (2 Cor. 12:2-3; italics added.)
Christ spoke of many mansions and Paul compared the difference between the glory of the sun, moon, and stars with the difference between the glory of those at the resurrection. Richard Anderson explains that Paul “sometimes wrote ‘heaven’ of the place where God dwells, but he used ‘heavens’ twice as much. Paul normally used the plural, even though the King James Version sometimes writes the singular for the Greek plural. For Paul, Christ is exalted ‘far above all heavens’ (Eph. 4:10). If Christ is literally ‘higher than the heavens’ (Heb 7:26), he is in the highest heaven” (Anderson [1983], 143)
While Jesus was speaking in parables, the Lord related the story of the sower, explaining that what ones sows one shall reap. “But other [seeds] fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 13:8-9). Commenting on this passage the very early Christian writer, Irenaeus, wrote:
As the Elders say, ‘Then those who are though worthy of abode in heaven will go there, others will enjoy the delights of paradise, others will possess the splendor of the city; for everywhere the Saviour will be seen, according as those who see him will be worthy.’ This is the distinction of the dwelling place of those who bring forth fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirty respectively; for some will be taken up into the heavens, others will dwell in paradise, and others will inhabit the city. This is why the Lord said, ‘In my Father's house are many mansions.’ For all things are of God, who provides for all a suitable dwelling place. ...This is the ordering and arrangement of those who are saved, say the elders, the disciples of the apostles, and they advance by such degrees....” (Richardson, 396-397.)
Irenaeus was not the only early Christian who made comments concerning the degrees of glory. Clement of Alexandria, for instance, wrote:
“Conformably, therefore, there are various abodes, according to the worth of those who have believed.... These abodes, which are three, are indicated by the numbers in the Gospel– the thirty, the sixty, the hundred. And the perfect inheritance, belongs to those who attain to ‘a perfect man,’ according to the image of the Lord.... To the likeness of God, then, he that is introduced into adoption and the friendship of God, to the just inheritance of the lords and gods is brought; if he perfected, according to the Gospel, as the Lord Himself taught.” (Quoted in Bickmore, 241.)
Why would God divide the heavens into three degrees of glory? Each kingdom is reserved for the those of different degrees of commitment to the gospel. God is just and therefore each of us is rewarded a glory fitting our faith and works. For the Lord “shall reward every man according to his works” (Matt. 16:28).
Michael R. Ash
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