Requirement of Marriage and Sealing

Hey Gramps,

It’s been taught in our Relief Society that women can be exalted without being sealed to a husband. On the other hand, a man can NOT be exalted without being sealed to a wife. The reference they give to back this up is D&C 131:1-4. Is this really true? I’m pretty sure I’ve heard general authorities say that BOTH men and women need to be sealed in the temple in order to achieve exaltation. By saying that only males need to be married/sealed, and females can make it without, isn’t that being a little unjust on the part of our Father in Heaven?

JAGuar

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JAGuar,

If one reads these verses using the word “he” to mean the gender of the person, then it could seem that this interpretation would be correct.

However, I believe that “he” is gender-neutral in this instance. If either a man or woman choose not to enter into the New and Everlasting Covenant of marriage, then either of them cannot inherit the highest degree of glory within the Celestial Kingdom. In 1 Corinthians 11:11 it says: “Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.”

We do know that if one does not have the opportunity to marry in this life, that we may be paired with a spouse in the afterlife. (I would think our Father in Heaven would be a perfect matchmaker.)

With the strong doctrine of eternal families, it does not make doctrinal sense that a woman can inherit the highest degree of glory within the Celestial Kingdom without marriage.

-Gramps