TEMPLES, PRIESTHOOD AND ETERNAL MARRIAGE

Did Jesus and the apostles teach that a temple sealing is necessary for exaltation?

This gives us a very clean biblical investigation:

1. Do Christians need a physical temple?
Jesus identifies His body as the temple (John 2:19–21). Paul says Christians collectively are God's temple (1 Cor. 3:16–17), and individually the believer's body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). Stephen says the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48), and Paul makes the same point in Acts 17:24.

2. What happened to the Old Testament priesthood?
Hebrews is crucial. Jesus came from Judah, not Levi (Heb. 7:13–14). With His priesthood came a change of law (7:12). And because Jesus lives forever:

“He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.”
— Hebrews 7:24

That raises a major question for our series: if Christ's priesthood is permanent, what exactly needed to be “restored”?

3. Who are the priests under the new covenant?
Peter tells ordinary Christians:

“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood...”
— 1 Peter 2:5

And:

“a royal priesthood.”
— 1 Peter 2:9

Revelation 1:6 similarly says Christ has made His redeemed people kings/a kingdom and priests.

Then we come to eternal marriage, where the contrast becomes especially interesting.

Official LDS teaching says a husband and wife may be sealed “for time and all eternity,” and that this covenant of eternal marriage is necessary for exaltation. The Church of Jesus Christ

But Jesus was once asked specifically about a woman who had been married to seven husbands. The question was:

“Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven?”
— Matthew 22:28

Jesus answered:

“For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage...”
— Matthew 22:30

That passage needs to be the center of our study.

We should be careful with it. Jesus does not say people cease loving one another, cease recognizing family members, or lose meaningful relationships. He specifically answers a question about marital status in the resurrection.

That gives us the central question for the page:

IF MARRIAGE MUST BE SEALED FOR ETERNITY, WHY DID JESUS SAY THAT IN THE RESURRECTION THEY “NEITHER MARRY, NOR ARE GIVEN IN MARRIAGE”?

Then we examine Matthew 16:19—the “binding and loosing” passage LDS teaching connects with sealing authority. Official LDS material explicitly identifies Peter's authority there with the sealing power used for eternal families. The Church of Jesus Christ

We ask rather than assume:

Does Matthew 16:19 actually discuss marriage?

Does Jesus call this a marriage-sealing ordinance?

Do Peter or the other apostles ever use this authority to seal a husband and wife eternally?

Is there an example of an apostle performing an eternal-marriage ceremony?

And finally:

WHERE IS THE NEW TESTAMENT TEMPLE CEREMONY?

This may be the strongest way to finish.

Acts records the church expanding from Jerusalem throughout the Roman world. We see conversions, baptisms, laying on of hands, elders appointed, churches meeting, the Lord's Supper, discipline, marriage teaching, worship and missionary work.

So if temple endowment and eternal-marriage sealing are essential ordinances for exaltation—as current LDS teaching says they are—The Church of Jesus Christ we can simply ask:

WHERE DO JESUS AND THE APOSTLES TEACH THEM?

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