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The Holy Ghost Will Still Receive a Body
Latter-day Saints understand that, in order to become like God, one needs a body as stipulated by scripture such as Doctrine & Covenants 130:22. This has been cause for reflection among Latter-day Saints about the future destiny of the Holy Ghost. It has also caused reflection about the nature of God and how the Holy Ghost can be called “one God” (Doctrine & Covenants 20:28) when he or she does not have a body like the Father.
The Holy Ghost can be “God” in the sense that he or she works in perfect union with the Father and often performs actions on behalf of the Father with something called divine investiture which is the authority to act as if one were God.
But there is another theory that has currency among many Latter-day Saints that the Holy Ghost itself will receive a body one day. This belief is rooted in the teachings of Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith taught:
the Holy Ghost is now in a state of Probation which if he should perform in righteousness he may pass through the same on a similar course of things that the son has146
And:
But the holy ghost is yet a spiritual Body. and waiting to take to himself a body as the saviour did or as god did or the gods before them took bodies. for the Saviour says the works that my father did do I also and these are the works; he took himself a body and then Laid down his Life that he might take it up again147
It is tantalizing that Joseph Smith seems to arrive at much the same logical conclusion that many modern Latter-day Saints arrive at when examining the body of canonized scripture and what the ideas taught therein logically entail.
It should be noted that this is not a notion that is taught by modern leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is not canonized as part of the scriptures published by the Church. That would be necessary in order to substantiate this teaching as authoritative (Doctrine & Covenants 42:56–60). However, knowing that Joseph Smith was open to this idea and knowing that the scriptures do not declare the idea false can give hope to many Latter-day Saints and others interested in the teachings of the Church in the logical coherence of those same teachings.
146Discourse, 27 August 1843, as Reported by Franklin D. Richards, p. 25, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed January 23, 2025, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-27-august-1843-as-reported-by-franklin-d-richards/1. Punctuation and capitalization retained from original.
147Discourse, 16 June 1844–A, as Reported by George Laub, p. 30, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed January 23, 2025, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-16-june-1844-a-as-reported-by-george-laub/2. Punctuation and capitalization retained from original.
