Elias, Elijah, and John — Three Forerunners, Three Offices
One of the most misunderstood doctrines in scripture — three distinct offices, not one.
The Confusion — Why Three?
Open the New Testament and the confusion begins almost immediately. The Jewish leaders ask John the Baptist if he is Elijah — he says no. Jesus says John the Baptist is Elijah — for those who can receive it. Malachi prophesied that Elijah would return before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. An angel appeared to Zacharias and said John would go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elias.” The Kirtland Temple vision records the appearance of “Elias” as a separate event from the appearance of “Elijah.”
Without the clarifying doctrine restored through Joseph Smith, these passages form a knot that no commentator has cleanly untied. The Latter-day Saint understanding does not simply harmonize these passages — it reveals that the confusion arises from treating as one thing what is actually three distinct things: the office of Elias, the person of Elijah, and the mission of John the Baptist, who held both offices simultaneously.
Understanding the distinction requires understanding what each term means as an office, not just as a name.
“Elias” Is an Office, Not a Name
Joseph Smith taught that “Elias” is a title and an office, not exclusively a proper name. The office of Elias is the office of a forerunner — one who goes before to prepare the way for a greater work or a greater dispensation. An Elias prepares the way. He does not himself inaugurate the new dispensation; he announces it, calls people to repentance, and opens the door.
This is why the angel could say John would minister in the spirit and power of Elias: John was functioning in the forerunner office, preparing Israel for the ministry of Christ. It is also why, when the Kirtland Temple vision records the appearance of a personage called “Elias,” this refers to a specific individual who held and restored that forerunning role for this dispensation — not the historical Elijah of the Old Testament.
D&C 27:6–7
“And also with Elias, to whom I have committed the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began, concerning the last days; And also John the son of Zacharias, which Zacharias he (Elias) visited and gave promise that he should have a son, and his name should be John, and he should be filled with the spirit of Elias.”
The Elias of D&C 27 visited Zacharias and promised him a son — which corresponds to the angel Gabriel in Luke 1. Joseph Smith taught that this Elias was Noah, who held the forerunning keys for the restoration and appeared in the Kirtland Temple as the “Elias” distinct from Elijah. The office is old. The holder of the office in this dispensation is a specific, named individual.
“Elijah” Is the Sealing Keys
Elijah is a different office with a different function. Where Elias prepares the way, Elijah seals it. The mission of Elijah is specifically connected to the sealing power — the authority to bind on earth and have it bound in heaven, the keys that make eternal family relationships possible.
Malachi's prophecy that Elijah would return before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, “to turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:5–6), is a specific prophecy about the sealing authority. The turning of hearts is not a vague emotional metaphor. It is a description of the sealing ordinances — the priesthood authority that connects generations, binds families, and makes salvation for the dead possible.
D&C 110:13–16
“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, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi — testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come — To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse — Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.”
April 3, 1836. Kirtland Temple. Elijah appeared — the actual historical prophet Elijah, translated and still alive — and restored the sealing keys. Malachi's prophecy was fulfilled. The hearts of fathers and children are being turned through temple work that would not be possible without those keys.
John the Baptist Held Both
John the Baptist is the figure who held both the Elias office and the Elijah office simultaneously, which is why the New Testament passages about him are so confusing to readers who do not understand the distinction.
When John denied being Elijah (John 1:21), he was answering a literal question about whether he was the historical Elijah — and he was correct that he was not. He was John. When Christ said John was Elijah (Matthew 11:14), He meant John functioned in the Elias/forerunner office that the prophecy of “Elijah” referred to in its forerunner dimension. John prepared the way for the Messiah; that is the forerunner role.
Key References
- D&C 110:12–16 — Elijah's appearance in Kirtland Temple and restoration of sealing keys
- D&C 27:6–7 — Elias and his keys; his visit to Zacharias
- Malachi 4:5–6 — Elijah's return to turn hearts of fathers to children
- Matthew 11:14 — Christ identifies John as the Elias-forerunner
- John 1:21 — John denies being the literal Elijah
- D&C 77:14 — The Elias who restores all things
John also held keys that he delivered to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in 1829 — the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, which include the keys of baptism, repentance, and the remission of sins. He appeared as a resurrected being, laid hands on their heads, and conferred those specific keys. The same John who baptized Christ returned to begin the restoration of priesthood authority in this dispensation.
Elijah's Return in 1836 — D&C 110
The appearance of Elijah in the Kirtland Temple is not a minor event in Latter-day history. It is the event that makes everything the Church does in temples possible. Without the sealing keys Elijah restored, there is no temple sealing. Without temple sealing, there is no eternal family. Without the authority to bind on earth and have it bound in heaven, proxy ordinances for the dead accomplish nothing.
Elijah came. He said the time had fully come that Malachi had spoken of. He committed the keys of this dispensation into the hands of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. That event — April 3, 1836 — is when the fullness of the Elijah mission was restored to the earth.
The entire family history movement — the billions of names submitted, the temple ordinances performed for the dead, the genealogical databases, the dedication of thousands of Latter-day Saints to finding their ancestors — all of it traces back to that Sunday afternoon in Kirtland, Ohio when a translated being stood in a holy house and delivered the keys that make it all possible.
What the Keys Elijah Restored Are Doing Today
The sealing keys Elijah restored are exercised in every temple on earth, every day. Every couple sealed at an altar. Every child sealed to their parents. Every proxy sealing performed on behalf of the dead. These are all made possible by the authority restored through Elijah in 1836.
When a grandmother sits across an altar from her husband of fifty years and a sealer pronounces that their marriage is sealed for time and all eternity by the authority of the holy priesthood, that authority descends in an unbroken line from the historical Elijah, through that April afternoon in Kirtland, through every subsequent President of the Church who has held and transmitted those keys. The doctrine of Elias and Elijah is not an academic curiosity. It is the reason those words mean something.
Why This Matters for Temple Work
Understanding the distinction between Elias and Elijah clarifies the entire structure of temple work. The Aaronic Priesthood — restored by John, who held the Elias role for this dispensation — administers the preparatory ordinances: baptism, repentance, the sacrament. It opens the door to the covenant path.
The sealing authority — restored by Elijah — completes that path. The covenant path leads to the temple. The temple leads to the altar. The altar is where the sealing authority Elijah restored is exercised. Elias opens. Elijah seals.
The confusion in the Bible about these figures is resolved not by clever reading but by restoration. Joseph Smith did not explain away the tension in the New Testament texts — he received, through revelation and the actual appearance of the figures involved, the keys and the understanding that the texts themselves point toward but cannot on their own fully disclose.
Three forerunners. Three offices. One purpose: prepare a people, seal them to their God and to each other, and make them ready for the coming of their King.