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Gramps,

I really love this website!  I have a question regarding the Holy Ghost.  Will he receive a body of his own at some point?  Thank you for all your time and effort in answering people’s questions the best you can!

Allison

 

Answer

 

Allison,

Thank you for your inquiry with rewards this topic. I must admit, when I was younger, I often thought about this very question and as I’ve grown I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t make any difference to my own salvation whether or not I know the answer. Because nothing has been revealed on this topic, leaders of the Church have consequently discouraged pronouncements or speculation on this subject.

However, I did find one quote from Joseph Smith on the subject:

The Holy Ghost is yet a spiritual body and is waiting to take to himself a body, as the Savior did.”[Joseph Smith, Encyclopedia of Joseph Smith’s Teachings, edited by Larry E. Dahl and Donald Q. Cannon (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997)]

We have not been told when this will happen, but we can make a reasonable guess based on the scriptures.  Before the Savior died, He told His apostles:

“I will not leave you comfortless … But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:18, 26.)

So a reasonable hypothesis may be that when the Savior returns to the earth, then it will be time for the Holy Ghost to receive a body.  But again this is a guess.  It’s not really important that we know when the Holy Ghost will receive a body.  What is important for us to know is that Christ will not leave us comfortless.

Other than the quote by Joseph Smith above,  I couldn’t find anything else revealed on this topic. Leaders of the Church have consequently discouraged pronouncements or speculation on this subject.

“AVOID SPECULATING ON DESTINY OF THE SPIRIT. The Holy Ghost is not a personage with a body of flesh and bones, and in this respect differs from the Father and the Son. The Holy Ghost is not a woman, as some have declared, and therefore is not the mother of Jesus Christ.

 

It is a waste of time to speculate in relation to his jurisdiction. We know what has been revealed and that the Holy Ghost, sometimes spoken of as the Holy Spirit, and Comforter, is the third member of the Godhead, and that he, being in perfect harmony with the Father and the Son, reveals to man by the spirit of revelation and prophecy the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our great duty is so to live that we may be led constantly in light and truth by this Comforter so that we may not be deceived by the many false spirits that are in the world.

 

I have never troubled myself about the Holy Ghost whether he will sometime have a body or not because it is not in any way essential to my salvation. He is a member of the Godhead, with great power and authority, with a most wonderful mission which must be performed by a spirit. This has satisfied me without delving into mysteries that would be of no particular benefit.”

 

Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols., (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954–56), 39. (emphasis added)

Bruce R. McConkie had this to say:

“In this dispensation, at least, nothing has been revealed as to [The Holy Ghost’s] origin or destiny; expressions on these matters are both speculative and fruitless.’

 

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd edition, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), 359

So, I hope you’re not too terribly disappointed but, even Gramps does not know the answers sometimes.

 

Gramps

 

 

 

 

 

 

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