What Is the Plan of Salvation? Where We Came From, Why We’re Here, Where We’re Going

The short answerGod’s plan to make His children like Him

The plan of salvation is our Heavenly Father’s plan for His children: where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. God Himself states its purpose: “this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). The Book of Mormon calls it “the great plan of happiness” (Alma 42:8) and “the great plan of our God” (2 Nephi 9:13).

In brief: we lived with God as spirits; we come to earth to gain bodies and be tested; Jesus Christ atones for our sins and overcomes death; after death we go to the spirit world; everyone will be resurrected and judged; and nearly everyone receives a kingdom of glory, with the faithful inheriting all the Father has.

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Where we came fromSpirit children of God

We are literally God’s children. Paul wrote, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16). Abraham saw “the intelligences that were organized before the world was,” and God chose leaders among them (Abraham 3:22–23). In a premortal council the Father presented His plan, Jesus Christ was chosen as Savior, and Lucifer rebelled. See What Is the Premortal Life?.

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Why we are hereA body, agency and a Savior

Earth life is “the time for men to prepare to meet God” (Alma 34:32), “a probationary state” (Alma 12:24). The Fall of Adam made it possible: “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). We gain physical bodies, learn by experience and choose.

Because we all sin, the plan centers on Christ: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring in covenants, His grace cleanses and changes us.

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Where we are goingSpirit world, resurrection, glory

At death, “the spirits of all men … are taken home to that God who gave them life,” and the righteous enter “paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace” (Alma 40:11–12). Those who never heard the gospel are taught there. Then comes the resurrection: “the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal” (2 Nephi 9:13).

Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2). Paul described “one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars … So also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:40–42). Joseph Smith saw these kingdoms in vision: celestial, terrestrial and telestial (D&C 76:50–70). See The Three Degrees of Glory.

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The destination: becoming like our FatherHeirs of God

The plan doesn’t end with getting into heaven. Paul wrote, “if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). Those in the celestial kingdom “are the church of the Firstborn … having received of his fulness and of his grace; and he makes them equal in power, and in might, and in dominion” (D&C 76:94–95).

Joseph Smith taught this openly. In the King Follett sermon: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man,” and “you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves … the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another … from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation.” In the Sermon in the Grove he taught that the Father of Jesus Christ “had a Father also”: an endless lineage of divine fathers and sons. The plan of salvation is the plan by which our Father makes His children what He is, sealed as families, with eternal increase and worlds without number, while we remain forever His children who worship Him. That is what Latter-day Saints have taught for nearly two centuries. See Was God Once a Man?.

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Check the premiseThe presuppositions baked into the question

Before this question can be answered fairly, the person asking has to justify a few assumptions packed inside it:

1. That life began at birth. Abraham 3:22–23 and Romans 8:16: we are spirit children of God who lived before.
2. That heaven is one place and hell the only alternative. John 14:2 and 1 Corinthians 15:40–42 describe many mansions and degrees of glory.
3. That the Fall was a disaster God didn’t plan for. 2 Nephi 2:25: “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”
4. That salvation means merely escaping hell. Romans 8:17 calls the faithful “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”

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FAQQuick answers

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Sources

• King James Bible (churchofjesuschrist.org): John 3:16 · John 14:2 · Romans 8:16–17 · 1 Corinthians 15:40–42
• Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 2:25 · 2 Nephi 9:13 · Alma 12:24 · Alma 34:32 · Alma 40:11–12 · Alma 42:8
• Doctrine and Covenants: D&C 76:50–70 · D&C 76:94–95
• Pearl of Great Price: Moses 1:39 · Abraham 3:22–23
• Joseph Smith, King Follett sermon (HC 6:305–306) and Sermon in the Grove (HC 6:476), BYU Studies online edition

• Featured image and in-article graphic: original graphics by thebookofmormon.ai (painterly backgrounds; no photographs or likenesses of real people).