The epistle that became Doctrine and Covenants 127 was written during a particularly challenging time for Joseph Smith. He was involved in the construction of the Nauvoo temple, the coming and going of missionaries, and the implementation of the higher ordinances of the temple. At a time when these projects needed close attention from the Prophet, he was forced into hiding because of the controversy surrounding the assassination attempt on Lilburn Boggs.

Although he was in hiding, Joseph remained confident in his calling and in the eventual triumph of the work. Pondering over the reasons for his trials, Joseph reflected, “envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it” (D&C 127:2). Joseph’s teaching about the influence of our premortal life on our earthly experience was enlightened by his work on the Book of Abraham around this time. Studying Abraham’s story, Joseph found that God gave the ancient patriarch a knowledge of Abraham’s premortal mission. The Lord showed Abraham “the intelligences that were organized before the world was” and informed him that “among all these were many of the noble and great ones; and God saw these souls that they were good; and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good.” The Lord then told Abraham, “Thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born” (see Abraham 3:22–23).¹

In a discourse given about a year and half after Doctrine and Covenants 127 was written, Joseph Smith expanded this concept from himself and ancient prophets to include all those called to minister. He taught, “Every man who has a calling to the world, was ordained to that very purpose in the grand Council of Heaven—I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that grand Council—it is the testimony that I want, that I am God’s servant, and this people his people—in the last days the God of Heaven shall set up a Kingdom and the very time that was calculated on.”²

1. Book of Abraham Manuscript, 8–circa 15 March 1842 [Abraham 3:18–26], p. 8, JSP.

2. Discourse, 12 May 1844, as Reported by Thomas Bullock, p. 1, JSP.

The Saints enthusiastically embraced the doctrine of baptisms for the dead when it was introduced on August 10, 1840. A few weeks after Joseph Smith introduced the ordinance, he wrote to the Twelve Apostles in England to explain the new practice: “The saints have the privilege of being baptized for those of their relatives who are dead, who they feel to believe would have embraced the gospel if they had been privileged with hearing it, and who have received the gospel in the spirit through the instrumentality of those who may have been commissioned to preach to them while in the prison. Without enlarging on the subject you will undoubtedly see its consistency, and reasonableness, and [it] presents the gospel of Christ in probably a more enlarged scale than some have received it.”³

We do not know precisely when the first proxy baptisms took place in Nauvoo, but the first documented baptism for the dead was performed on September 12, 1840. Jane Neyman requested that Harvey Olmstead baptize her in behalf of her son Cyrus Livingston Neyman, who was deceased. Vienna Jacques served as a witness for the baptism by riding her horse into the water so she could hear and watch the ordinance. Shortly after the baptism was performed, Joseph Smith gave his approval to the ordinance.⁴

As with any new practice, the Saints soon encountered questions that required refinements to the way baptisms for the dead were performed. In a revelation received in January 1841, the Lord instructed that baptisms for the dead needed to be performed inside the temple (D&C 124:30–39). However, while the temple was under construction, the Saints were allowed to perform baptisms in the nearby Mississippi River. These first baptisms were carried out in a haphazard and unsystematic manner. Wilford Woodruff later recalled going to the river along with Joseph Smith and other Church members to perform baptisms for the dead. They baptized hundreds of people, but no one was assigned to record the names of the deceased who were baptized. President Woodruff later remembered, “The Lord told Joseph that he must have recorders present at these baptisms—men who could see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and record these things. Of course, we had to do the work over again. Nevertheless, that does not say that work was not of God.”⁵

In a discourse to the Nauvoo Relief Society recorded on August 21, 1842, “Pres[ident]^. S[mith] said he had one remark to make respecting the baptism for the dead—to suffice for the time being, until he has opportunity to discuss the subject to greater length—that is, all persons baptized for the dead must have a Recorder present, that he may be an eyewitness to testify of it. It will be necessary in the grand Council, that these things be testified—let it be attended to from this time, but if there is any lack[,] it may be at the expense of our friends—they may not come forth.”⁶ From this small beginning in Nauvoo, Church members have labored to create a record of all the proxy ordinances performed in this dispensation. In section 127 Joseph also recorded the words of the Lord: “I am about to restore many things to the earth, pertaining to the priesthood, saith the Lord of Hosts” (D&C 127:8). Baptisms for the deceased represented only the beginning of the great work of redeeming the dead.

3. Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 December 1840, p. 6, JSP. 

4. See Alexander L. Baugh, “‘For This Ordinance Belongeth to My House’: The Practice of Baptism for the Dead outside the Nauvoo Temple,” Mormon Historical Studies, vol. 3, no. 1 (2002), 48. 

5. Millennial Star, June 29, 1891, 405. 

6. Minutes and Discourse, 31 August 1842, p. 83, JSP.