The Know

In 1832, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had a grand vision of the heavens. This vision, not unlike other early Christian descriptions of the heavens, would go on to be canonized as Section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants.1 One of the most sacred blessings promised to those who would obtain the highest heaven, or the celestial kingdom, may seem foreign to many Christians today: “They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory … wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God” (D&C 76:56, 58). Furthermore, in another revelation given to Joseph Smith, these same saints are similarly described:

Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them (D&C 132:20).

The language of saints becoming gods or like God is found within the Bible. For example, when challenged by the Pharisees who sought to stone Jesus, they listed blasphemy as Jesus’s crime. Jesus, however, responded by citing Psalm 82:6: “The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (John 10:33–34).2 Peter taught the saints that “ye might be partakers of the divine nature,” (2 Peter 1:4), and Paul taught that “we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16–17).

Some of these promises are especially manifest in the writings of the Apostle John. In a string of blessings given to seven churches, the saints are promised: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21). Again, at the close of the revelation, they are promised: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Revelation 21:7).

Finally, in the First Epistle of John, the apostle powerfully taught, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:2–3). The ultimate fate of mankind was clear to the early Apostles: while full details of our eternal lives have not been revealed, we have been promised that we would be like God in the fullest sense of the word.3

This belief continued well into the early centuries of the Church. Clement of Alexandria, who taught during the second century AD, once wrote “the Word of God became man, that thou mayest learn from man how man may become God.”4 Furthermore, he believed that God “rejoices most when He sees us bright with the ornament of intelligence” and thereby “he is made like to God; he is beautiful; he does not ornament himself: his is beauty, the true beauty, for it is God; and that man becomes God, since God so wills.”5

Tertullian similarly taught that our exaltation depends upon God’s grace and mercy, who will reward the faithful with this blessing: “For we shall be even gods, if we, shall deserve to be among those of whom He declared, ‘I have said, Ye are gods,’ and, ‘God standeth in the congregation of the gods.’ But this comes of His own grace, not from any property in us, because it is He alone who can make gods.”6 Irenaeus of Lyons similarly taught that “the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.”7

By the sixth century AD, teachings about exaltation began to slowly fade in official discourses and sermons of mainstream Christendom. Some Christian churches still maintain a form of this teaching, most notably the Eastern orthodox faith.8 Nonetheless, there remain distinct differences in how many contemporary Christians interpret this doctrine and the ancient teachings of the New Testament authors and other early Church fathers.9 But the full implications of this important doctrine have been more completely revealed and restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, clearly demonstrating the ultimate fate of mankind.

The Why

When the Lord spoke to Moses, He declared “this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). Like Clement of Alexandria and other early Christians, Latter-day Saints likewise believe that God “rejoices most when He sees us bright with the ornament of intelligence” and the Eternal Life that He freely bestows on us. We believe that God actively desires us to share the same kind of life He has, should we accept His gift and stay true to the covenants we have made with Him.

Of course, the doctrine of exaltation, or becoming like God, does not in any way belittle God or seek to replace Him now or anciently. As expressed by the First Presidency in a doctrinal exposition entitled The Father and the Son in 1916, “Yet though [exalted Saints] be gods [per D&C 76:58], they are still subject to Jesus Christ as their Father in this exalted relationship; and so we read in the paragraph following the above quotation: ‘And they are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s’ (D&C 76:59).”10 Rather, we will simply enjoy the same type of life that God lives while we worship and serve Him in celestial glory.

This has been noted by Scott Peterson, who wrote, “those who believed this doctrine anciently did not hold that they would replace God. On the contrary, the assumption was that they would always worship and reverence God and Christ. However, for early Christians salvation in its fullest sense consisted of God making you as He is and empowering you to do what He does. Thus, the redeemed would continue to worship God, but would participate in His creative acts throughout eternity.”11

This doctrine also serves to elevate mankind, more fully demonstrating our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Specifically, it teaches us what we, as His children, are capable of becoming if we stay true and faithful to the covenants we have made with God. In this way, we truly will be “heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

• 1. See Book of Mormon Central, “What Did Early Christians Teach about the Three Degrees of Glory? (2 Corinthians 12:2, 4),” KnoWhy 689 (September 19, 2023).
• 2. For a discussion on these verses from Psalm 82 and John 10 in light of the doctrine of exaltation, see Daniel C. Peterson, “‘Ye Are Gods’: Psalm 82 and John 10 as Witnesses to the Divine Nature of Humankind,” in The Disciple as Scholar: Essays on Scripture and the Ancient World in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, ed. Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, and Andrew H. Hedges (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2000), 471–594; David E. Bokovoy, “‘Ye Really Are Gods’: A Response to Michael Heiser concerning the LDS Use of Psalm 82 and the Gospel of John,” FARMS Review 19, no. 1 (2007): 267–313.
• 3. Interestingly, these verses are repeated either in part or in full in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, showing how this doctrine has been taught in all dispensations of the Gospel. See Moroni 7:48; D&C 130:1; D&C 35:21.
• 4. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen, chapter 1.
• 5. Clement of Alexandria, Instructor 3:1.
• 6. Tertullian, Against Hermogenes, chapter 5.
• 7. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 5 Preface.
• 8. See, for example, J. B. Haws, “Defenders of the Doctrine of Deification,” in Prelude to the Restoration: From Apostasy to the Restored Church, ed. Steven C. Harper, Andrew H. Hedges, Patty Smith, Thomas R. Valletta, and Fred E. Woods (Provo, UT and Salt Lake City: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University and Deseret Book, 2004), 70–98. For a comparison between Eastern Orthodox teachings and Latter-day Saint doctrine, see Jordan Vajda, “‘Partakers of the Divine Nature’: A Comparative Analysis of Patristic and Mormon Doctrines of Divinization,” FARMS Occasional Papers 3 (2002).
• 9. For another study on this early Christian belief, see Daniel Becerra, “Becoming Like God: Incarnation, Moral Formation, and Eternal Progression,” in Ancient Christians: As Introduction for Latter-day Saints, ed. Jason R. Combs, Mark D. Ellison, Catherine Gines Taylor, and Kristian S. Heal (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute, 2022), 369–393.
• 10. The Father and the Son: A Doctrinal Exposition by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, reprinted in the April 2002 Ensign.
• 11. Scott R. Peterson, Do the Mormons Have a Leg to Stand On? A Critical Look at LDS Doctrines in Light of the Bible and the Teachings of the Early Christian Church (Orem, UT: Millenial Press, 2014), 305–306.