Polygamy in the days of Joseph Smith

A Foundation for the LDS Church's LGBTQ journey (pt. 2)

Oct 10, 2025

As part of the church’s marriage foundation, it’s worth overviewing how the church has followed Christianity’s pattern of monogamous heterosexual marriage, and how they’ve deviated. The first of what Joseph Smith had to say on marriage is in the Book of Mormon in 1829. If we’re going off the Mosiah-first translation sequence, the first teaching says the following: “And they were married, and given in marriage, and were blessed according to the multitude of the promises which the Lord had made unto them.” (4 Nephi 1:11) That’s pretty in line with the prevailing Christian teachings of marriage at that time and place. Near the end of the translation, we get this interesting caveat: “For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts… For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.” (Jacob 2:27-30) This passage is the first signal of polygamy’s later introduction in the church.

Later on in 1831 we got a few more teachings in Kirtland that fit into larger Christianity: “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else.” (D&C 42:22) “And again, verily I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man. Wherefore, is is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation;” (D&C 49:15-16)

Some time during that same year while Joseph Smith was translating the Bible, he likely came across the story in Genesis 16, where Sarah allows Abraham to have a child with her handmaid Hagar. This story would later become the basis for Joseph’s reasoning to his wife Emma for why he’s practicing polygamy. In the summer of 1831 while Joseph and others were on their first visit to Missouri, it was reported by W. W. Phelps in a letter to Brigham Young that Joseph Smith received a revelation (not in the Doctrine & Covenants) for a group of already-married leaders that reads partially as follows: “For it is my will, that in time, ye should take unto you wives of the Lamanites and Nephites, that their posterity may become white and delightsome and just, for even now their females are more virtuous than the gentiles.” This shows that Joseph was already thinking of polygamy as God’s will as early as 1831.

4 years later in 1835, leaders met together to compile revelations into the first edition of the Doctrine & Covenants. At the very end were 2 sections composed at the same meeting. One of these sections, known to members today as D&C 134, was a declaration of belief with regards to laws and the government. The other section (which was removed from the Doctrine & Covenants in 1876) was a declaration of belief with regards to marriage. Among other things, it said the following: “Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again.” While clearly approved by Joseph Smith, this section was removed under Brigham Young due to its contradiction to the church’s practice of polygamy.

In 1836 after the Kirtland Temple was dedicated, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery recounted a vision in the temple where angels appeared to them: “Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed. After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us and said: Behold, the time has fully come… Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands.” (D&C 110:12-16) The “gospel of Abraham” is likely a nod to polygamy and their receiving the authority to practice/administer it. This Abrahamic gospel is then connected to “this dispensation” via the other keys given by Elijah, later taught to be the sealing keys. Thus the authority of eternal marriage and polygamy was in the church.

It’s no secret now that Joseph Smith had plural wives, married from his 1830s time in Kirtland, all the way until shortly before he was killed in Illinois in 1844. This was very difficult for Emma Smith, which was only made worse by Joseph’s failure to be forthright with her in many cases. In 1843 as a response to Emma’s concerns, Joseph received D&C 132, which sets forth “a new and everlasting covenant.” It teaches that marriages are of no effect after this life unless entered into under the sealing power, and that such is the path required for exaltation. This is further supported in D&C 131: “In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage];” (D&C 131:1-2) It’s important to note in this passage that the bracketed text wasn’t added until 1876, when the term “new and everlasting covenant” was widely believed to mean polygamy. D&C 132 also explains why Joseph and other past prophets were justified in having multiple wives, which was to “multiply and replenish the earth.” (D&C 132:63) Almost a year after D&C 132 was given, Joseph was killed by a mob, leaving Brigham Young and the church to sort out his teachings on marriage. From this timeline, we can learn from Joseph Smith that the church has not always adhered to the prevailing Christian marriage pattern.

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