Celestial Kingdom

The celestial kingdom represents the highest of three degrees of glory in Mormon theology, as outlined in Doctrine and Covenants section 76.1 Brigham Young taught that Joseph Smith “holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation” and that “no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith.”2

Requirements for Entry

According to Mormon teaching, entering the celestial kingdom requires faithful adherence to specific covenants and ordinances. Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of the LDS Church, declared:

It is impossible, however, for the Saints of God to inherit a celestial kingdom without their being tried as to whether they will abide in the covenants of the Lord or not. Any man who undertakes to serve God has to round up his shoulders and meet it, and any man who will not trust in God and abide in his cause even unto death is not worthy of a place in the celestial kingdom.3

Joseph Fielding Smith emphasized the necessity of complete obedience, stating, “In order to enter the celestial a man must be true and faithful to the end, observing all things which the Lord has commanded, otherwise he shall be assigned to some other kingdom, or to outer darkness if his sins so merit.”4 He further explained that those who wish to “go into the presence of God and dwell in the celestial kingdom and see the glories of exaltation” must “live by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God.”5

Spencer W. Kimball taught that entrance into the celestial kingdom is restricted to those who follow celestial laws. He stated, “All good people of every nation will be saved in one of these kingdoms, but neither Paul nor Peter nor modern prophets, nor the Lord himself, has ever promised celestial life or eternal life to any soul who does not live celestial laws.”6

How Many Will Enter?

Mormon leaders have expressed expectations that a minority of Latter-day Saints will achieve celestial glory. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

NOT HALF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS TO BE SAVED. Those who receive the fulness will be privileged to view the face of our Father. There will not be such an overwhelming number of the Latter-day Saints who will get there. President Francis M. Lyman many times has declared, and he had reason to declare, I believe, that if we save one-half of the Latter-day Saints, that is, with an exaltation in the celestial kingdom of God, we will be doing well.7

Smith clarified this was not due to divine partiality but to failure to observe required laws and ordinances.8

Sub-degrees?

The question of whether the celestial kingdom contains three distinct sub-degrees has generated considerable discussion within Mormon circles. Doctrine and Covenants 131:1 states, “In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees.”9

According to Shannon Flynn’s research, this verse was not originally interpreted as describing sub-divisions within the celestial kingdom. Flynn traces the first published teaching of three celestial sub-degrees to a 1922 discourse by Elder Melvin J. Ballard, who stated:

Now, I wish to say to you that the only possible candidates to become what God is are those who attain Celestial Glory, and those who fail in that will never, worlds without end, be possible candidates to become what God is. Then I wish to say to you that there are three degrees of glory in the Celestial Kingdom and only those who attain the highest degree of Celestial Glory will be candidates to become what God is, and graduate.10

Flynn argues that Ballard’s interpretation represented a shift from the original meaning of the verse. According to Flynn, William Clayton’s 1843 journal entry, from which Doctrine and Covenants 131 was extracted, used “celestial glory” to mean “heaven” in a general sense, thus referring to the three degrees of glory described in Doctrine and Covenants section 76, not three divisions within the highest kingdom.11 Flynn contends that Ballard confused the terms “celestial kingdom” and “celestial glory,” using them interchangeably, which led to the emergence of the sub-degrees doctrine.12

Flynn’s research indicates that before 1922, no published Mormon teaching described three sub-degrees within the celestial kingdom. Even the 1919 Doctrine and Covenants commentary by Hyrum M. Smith and committee members including Joseph Fielding Smith contained no reference to celestial sub-degrees.13 However, by 1960, the concept had gained acceptance, with Sydney B. Sperry’s Doctrine and Covenants Compendium teaching that those who fail to receive eternal marriage can “enter into one of the two lower degrees of the celestial kingdom.”14

The sub-degrees interpretation is currently taught as part of basic Mormon doctrine.15

References

  1. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, October 9, 1859, 289. “Joseph Smith holds the keys of this last dispensation, and is now engaged behind the vail in the great work of the last days. I can tell our beloved brother Christians who have slain the Prophets and butchered and otherwise caused the death of thousands of Latterday Saints, the priests who have thanked God in their prayers and thanksgiving from the pulpit that we have been plundered, driven, and slain, and the deacons under the pulpit, and their brethren and sisters in their closets, who have thanked God, thinking that the Latter-day Saints were wasted away, something that no doubt will mortify them-something that, to say the least, is a matter of deep regret to them-namely, that no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding-up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are-I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent. He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation-the keys to rule in the spirit-world; and he rules there triumphantly, for he gained full power and a glorious victory over the power of Satan while he was yet in the flesh, and was a martyr to his religion and to the name of Christ, which gives him a most perfect victory in the spirit-world. He reigns there as supreme a being in his sphere, capacity, and calling, as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim- ‘Oh, that is very disagreeable! It is preposterous! We cannot bear the thought!’ But it is true.”

  2. Wilford Woodruff, The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, ed. by G. Homer Durham (Salt Lake City, UT: Bookcraft, Inc, 1946), 263.

  3. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., Doctrines of Salvation, 2:15. “NOT HALF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS TO BE SAVED. Those who receive the fulness will be privileged to view the face of our Father. There will not be such an overwhelming number of the Latter-day Saints who will get there. President Francis M. Lyman many times has declared, and he had reason to declare, I believe, that if we save one-half of the Latter-day Saints, that is, with an exaltation in the celestial kingdom of God, we will be doing well. Not that the Lord is partial, not that he will draw the line as some will say, to keep people out. He would have every one of us go in if we would; but there are laws and ordinances that we must keep; if we do not observe the law we cannot enter.”

  4. Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:310.

  5. Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Reports, April 1968, 11. “If any of you who are here present prefer, when you get on the other side, to be a servant and perhaps go into the terrestrial kingdom, you will have that privilege. You do not have to keep other commandments. You do not need to pay your tithing; you do not even have to be baptized for the remission of your sins, if you want to go into those other kingdoms. But if you want to go into the presence of God and dwell in the celestial kingdom and see the glories of exaltation, then you must live by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God.”

  6. Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 69. “To the Corinthian saints, he explained that after the resurrection, there were three heavens or degrees of glory-the telestial, terrestrial, and celestial. In modern revelation, Joseph Smith amplifies these truths. All good people of every nation will be saved in one of these kingdoms, but neither Paul nor Peter nor modern prophets, nor the Lord himself, has ever promised celestial life or eternal life to any soul who does not live celestial laws.”

  7. Shannon Flynn, “Three Sub-Degrees in the Celestial Kingdom?,” By Common Consent – A Mormon Blog, April 18, 2018, https://bycommonconsent.com/2018/04/18/three-sub-degrees-in-the-celestial-kingdom/. Flynn’s article provides extensive documentation tracing the evolution of the sub-degrees teaching, including William Clayton’s original journal entries, the 1919 Doctrine and Covenants commentary, Melvin J. Ballard’s 1922 discourse, and subsequent developments in Mormon teaching about celestial sub-degrees. Flynn argues that the concept represents a doctrinal innovation rather than original Mormon teaching, based on a misreading of D&C 131:1 that confused “celestial glory” (meaning heaven generally) with “celestial kingdom” (the highest degree specifically). Flynn contends this interpretation contradicts the scheme outlined in D&C 76 and has generated unnecessary confusion and speculation within Mormon culture.

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