Clothed With Righteousness

The Church website says this about the temple endowment ceremony: “The word endow has two related meanings: ‘to bestow a gift’ and ‘to clothe upon.’ In this context, the temple endowment is a sacred gift whereby we are clothed with blessings from God now and forever.” I was familiar with that first meaning, particularly because we use it in the world to speak of an endowment as a permanent fund for something. In that sense the temple endowment should be for us a permanent source of strength and knowledge. But I don’t think I have ever thought of the word endow as a synonym for the verb to clothe. And yet putting on physical clothing is part of the endowment in two ways. First, as the same website says, “As part of these ordinances, you will also be authorized to wear the sacred temple garment and covenant to wear it throughout your life.” This becomes clothing that is to be used daily for the rest of the lives of those who receive the endowment. It is to permanently cover those who have covenanted to follow Jesus Christ. Second, the Church website also teaches, “Temple robes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the robes of the holy priesthood, are worn only inside Latter-day Saint temples and reserved for the most sacred ceremonies of their faith.” Sacred clothing is thus put on as part of the endowment twice, reinforcing the notion that through this ceremony we are being spiritually clothed or covered by Jesus Christ.

                This theme of being covered in the endowment is consistent with the fundamental principle of the gospel: the atonement of Jesus Christ. Sister Anette Dennis taught, “The garment of the holy priesthood is deeply symbolic and also points to the Savior. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit and had to leave the Garden of Eden, they were given coats of skins as a covering for them. It is likely that an animal was sacrificed to make those coats of skins—symbolic of the Savior’s own sacrifice for us. Kaphar is the basic Hebrew word for atonement, and one of its meanings is ‘to cover.’ Our temple garment reminds us that the Savior and the blessings of His Atonement cover us throughout our lives. As we put on the garment of the holy priesthood each day, that beautiful symbol becomes a part of us.” The Savior gave Adam and Eve “coats of skins, and clothed them,” after their transgression in the Garden of Eden. The animal sacrifice that took place for them to have that covering points us to the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ who covers our sins if we will “put on Christ” as Paul admonished (Galatians 3:27). If we do not symbolically put on the clothing of the Savior’s redeeming power, we will be spiritually naked. Jacob put it this way, “Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness” (2 Nephi 9:14). The wicked who do not repent will be ashamed of their nakedness because there was no covering for their sins; the righteous who have followed Christ, on the other hand, will be clothed with purity and the “robe of righteousness.”    

                In the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Joseph pleaded “That our garments may be pure, that we may be clothed upon with robes of righteousness, with palms in our hands, and crowns of glory upon our heads, and reap eternal joy for all our sufferings…. And let these, thine anointed ones, be clothed with salvation, and thy saints shout aloud for joy” (Doctrine and Covenants 109:76, 80). The ordinances of the temple are meant to clothe us in righteousness through the spiritual covering that our covenants with Jesus Christ provide. Those who have so clothed themselves and stayed true to Him will not be ashamed to stand before God at the last day.