Chapter 22: Marriage and DeityEternal Marriage and the Heavenly Family

In brief

Why do Latter-day Saints believe that marriage is necessary for exaltation? God’s image is “male and female” (Genesis 1:27). Ancient rabbis taught that whoever does not marry “diminishes the image of his Maker.” Seaich shows that the New Testament passages often used to favor celibacy have been misread, and that Clement, Athenagoras, and Tertullian expected marriage to continue after death. He traces the memory of a Heavenly Mother in Israel, from Asherah and Wisdom to the embracing Cherubim. He concludes that eternal marriage, the “continuation of the seeds,” belongs to the very structure of godhood.

This page summarizes Chapter 22 of Understanding Mormonism: The Restored Gospel of Christ and Its Biblical Foundations in Latter-day Saint Belief by Eugene Seaich (2026 Annotated Edition, edited by Eric Hendrickson). The summary is quoted from the book’s “In brief” and is editorial material, not the author’s words. The full chapter, with its notes and argument, is in the book.

Independent scholarship by Eugene Seaich. Not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.