Identity of the Holy Ghost

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This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.

Contents

Question

Who is the Holy Ghost? Has he or will he receive a physical body?

Response

We have no revelation on this topic. Leaders of the Church have consequently discouraged pronouncements or speculation on this topic.

Joseph Fielding Smith

Before he was president of the Church, Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

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.[1]

Bruce R. McConkie

In the same vein, Bruce R. McConkie wrote:

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.[2]

The Church does not take an official position on this issue

Main articles: Fallibility of prophets and Changing doctrine

This is one of many issues about which the Church has no official position. As President J. Reuben Clark taught under assignment from the First Presidency:

Here we must have in mind—must know—that only the President of the Church, the Presiding High Priest, is sustained as Prophet, Seer, and Revelator for the Church, and he alone has the right to receive revelations for the Church, either new or amendatory, or to give authoritative interpretations of scriptures that shall be binding on the Church....
When any man, except the President of the Church, undertakes to proclaim one unsettled doctrine, as among two or more doctrines in dispute, as the settled doctrine of the Church, we may know that he is not "moved upon by the Holy Ghost," unless he is acting under the direction and by the authority of the President.
Of these things we may have a confident assurance without chance for doubt or quibbling.
—J. Reuben Clark, Jr. "When Are the Writings or Sermons of Church Leaders Entitled to the Claim of Scripture?" Address to Seminary and Institute Teachers, BYU (7 July 1954); reproduced in Church News (31 July 1954); also reprinted in Dialogue 12/2 (Summer 1979): 68–81.]

This was recently reiterated by the First Presidency (who now approves all statements published on the Church's official website):

Not every statement made by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine. A single statement made by a single leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered, opinion, but is not meant to be officially binding for the whole Church. With divine inspiration, the First Presidency...and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...counsel together to establish doctrine that is consistently proclaimed in official Church publications. This doctrine resides in the four “standard works” of scripture (the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price), official declarations and proclamations, and the Articles of Faith. Isolated statements are often taken out of context, leaving their original meaning distorted.
—LDS Newsroom, "Approaching Mormon Doctrine," lds.org (4 May 2007) off-site]

(For further discussion of this principle see: FAIR wiki article: Official Church doctrine and statements by Church leaders.)

Endnotes

  1. [back] Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols., (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954–56), 1:39.
  2. [back]  Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd edition, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), 359.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Holy Ghost wiki articles

FAIR web site

Holy Ghost FAIR articles
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Holy Ghost FAIR link
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Revelation FAIR link
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Testimony (Witness of the Holy Ghost) FAIR link
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Testing the Book of Mormon FAIR link
  • Blake T. Ostler, "Spiritual Experiences as the Basis for Belief and Commitment," (2007 FAIR Conference Presentation). FAIR link

External links

Holy Ghost on-line articles
  • David A. Bednar, "Seek Learning by Faith," Ensign (September 2007): 60–68 (from talk given to CES educators on 3 February 2006). off-site
  • Allen R. Buskirk, "Science, Pseudoscience, and Religious Belief (Review of: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark)," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 273–310. off-site PDF link
  • Daniel H. Ludlow, "I Have A Question: A friend of mine says he has prayed about the Book of Mormon but has not received a testimony of its truthfulness. Shouldn't Moroni's promise always work?," Ensign (March 1986): 49. off-site
  • Dallin H. Oaks, "How can I distinguish the difference between the promptings of the Holy Ghost and merely my own thoughts, preferences, or hunches?," Ensign (June 1983): 25. off-site
  • Dilworth B. Parkinson, "We Have Received, and We Need No More," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 255–272. off-site PDF link
  • Richard G. Scott, "Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer," Ensign (May 2007): 8–11. off-site off-site

Printed material

Holy Ghost print works
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