Lessons on the Temple
Lesson No. Fourteen

Women and the Temple

The Lord directs how the priesthood is used – There is a growing trend in Christian churches worldwide for women to be given the priesthood.  From time to time there are discussions about women and the priesthood in the Restored Church of Jesus Christ.  Elder Dallin Oaks explained: “Ultimately, all keys of the priesthood are held by the Lord Jesus Christ, whose priesthood it is.  He is the one who determines what keys are delegated to mortals and how those keys will be used” (Ensign, May 2014).

The Lord has directed that women are to officiate in temple ordinances to other women –   Elder Dallin Oaks said: “With the exception of the sacred work that sisters do in the temple under the keys held by the temple president…only one who holds a priesthood office can officiate in a priesthood ordinance” (Ibid).  President Joseph Fielding Smith also spoke of sister ordinance workers:  “While the sisters have not been given the Priesthood, it has not been conferred upon them, which does not mean that the Lord has not given unto them authority.  … A person may have authority given to him, or a sister to her, to do certain things in the Church that are binding and absolutely necessary for our salvation, such as the work that our sisters do in the House of the Lord.  They have authority given to them to do some great and wonderful things, sacred unto the Lord, and binding just as thoroughly as are the blessings that are given by the men who hold the Priesthood” (Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1959).

Sisters who serve in the temple in this life are given a unique blessing in the spirit world – President Joseph F. Smith taught: “Among the millions of spirits that have lived on the earth and have passed away… since the beginning of the world, without the knowledge of the Gospel – among them you may count that at least one-half are women.  Who is going to carry the testimony of Christ to the hearts of the women who have passed away without knowledge of the Gospel?  Well, to my mind, it is a simple thing.  These good sisters who have been set apart, ordained to the work, called to it, authorized by the authority of the Holy Priesthood to minister for their sex, in the House of God for the living and for the dead, will be fully authorized and empower to preach the Gospel and minister to the women while the elders and prophets are preaching it to the men.  The things we experience here are typical of the things of God, and the life beyond us” (Gospel Doctrine, p. 581-82).

The highest blessings of the temple are shared equally between a husband and wife – Elder M. Russell Ballard has said, “when endowed, both men and women are given ‘power in the Priesthood.’”  Power in the Priesthood was the title of Elder Neil L. Andersen’s Oct 2013 General Conference sermon.  In the patriarchal order of the priesthood a “woman shares with a man the blessings of the Priesthood.”  They minister together, “seeing and understanding alike, and cooperating to the full in the government of their family kingdom” (James E. Talmage, YW Journal Oct. 1914).

Testimony – Most of the work that takes place in the temple is performed by the sisters, both as ordinance workers and as patrons, and they perform their assignments beautifully. The work of both brother and sister ordinance workers is wonderful. The comparison is not unlike how things are done in the high priest group and the relief society. Just like in the relief society the sisters in the temple are committed, careful and well organized. The contribution of both men and women to the work of the Lord in the temple is essential. My greatest blessing as temple president was to be sealed to the temple matron. She had the responsibility to work with all sister workers and patrons, and she did it with inspiration and grace. The temple testifies of the equality of men and women now and in the eternities.