Latter-day Saints’ beliefs about the Godhead are one of the ways they differ from other Christian denominations. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states “They acknowledge the Father as the ultimate object of their worship, the Son as Lord and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as the messenger and revealer of the Father and the Son. But where Latter-day Saints differ from other Christian religions is in their belief that God and Jesus Christ are glorified, physical beings and that each member of the Godhead is a separate being.”
These beliefs originate with the first vision. This event is when Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to Joeseph Smith in 1820. Joseph describes the experience, “It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
The scriptures further back this doctrine. The Bible states, in Matthew 13:16-17,
“And Jesus, when he was , went up out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the of God descending like a , and lighting upon him:
And lo a from heaven, saying, This is my , in whom I am well pleased.”
These verses show us the three individual beings that make up the Godhead. Jesus Christ is being baptized, the Holy Ghost is present in the form of a dove, and we hear the voice of Heavenly Father from heaven.
The Godhead is comprised of three individual beings, Heavenly Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. They are all individual beings with unique attributes and roles in the plan of salvation, but they all have the same goal. The Godhead is unified in purpose. They all work to bring to pass the plan of salvation so we can live together again in their presence.
