Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Text/SMS
Random
Subscribe
Answer
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) teaches the “sealed portion” is a section of the Book of Mormon that founder Joseph Smith was not allowed to translate. According to LDS lore, Joseph Smith discovered gold plates inscribed with an esoteric language. When Smith translated the words into English, the result was the Book of Mormon. Purportedly, some of the plates were sealed up, and Smith was told not to translate this sealed portion. Mormons believe that God will reveal this sealed portion to the world at a future date.
The LDS church describes the sealed portion as follows:
This sealed portion contains the complete record of the vision of the brother of Jared. . . . This vision included ‘all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof.’ . . . So basically the Lord revealed to the brother of Jared the history of mankind, and the sealed portion of the plates was Moroni’s translated copy of it. (“What is the ‘sealed portion’ of the Book of Mormon, and will we ever know what’s in it?” www.churchofjesuschrist.org, October 2011, accessed 10/29/25)
Adding to Scripture is common in new religious movements and religious organizations claiming their roots in Christianity. In these cases, the “new revelation” is supposedly better than the Bible or provides a fuller and more complete record. The LDS Church believes there are multiple additional books of revelation, including the Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants. In practice, the Mormon scriptures override the Bible in instances where there are contradictions.A handful of Joseph Smith’s associates claimed to have seen the golden plates. One of the witnesses, David Whitmer, said that “about . . . half of the book was sealed” (quoted in “What Did the Golden Plates Look Like?” Henrichsen, K., ibid., July 2007, accessed 10/29/25).
Mormon theologians point to a “sealed portion” of the biblical book of Isaiah as a precedent for Smith’s sealed portion:
For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.” (Isaiah 29:11–12)
God’s words through the prophet Isaiah were a pronouncement of judgment on unbelieving Israel: because they had refused to heed the truth, God gave them over to “a deep sleep” (Isaiah 29:10). In other words, God allowed a state of spiritual insensitivity to pervade their minds. Their eyes would be blinded to the truth because “their hearts are far from [God]” (Isaiah 29:13). Jesus used this passage to condemn the spiritually blind of His day (Mark 7:6–7).In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Nephi quotes God as saying this:
The learned shall not read them, for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee. Touch not the things which are sealed, for I will bring them forth in mine own due time; for I will show unto the children of men that I am able to do mine own work. Wherefore, when thou hast read the words which I have commanded thee, and obtained the witnesses which I have promised unto thee, then shalt thou seal up the book again, and hide it up unto me, that I may preserve the words which thou hast not read, until I shall see fit in mine own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men. (2 Nephi 27:20–22)
The claims of Joseph Smith are spurious. Mormonism claims to Christian yet denies some of Christianity’s core truths: it rejects belief in the Trinity; holds to an unbiblical view of the afterlife; and teaches that Jesus is a created being, that salvation is by faith and works, and that the Book of Mormon is an authorized addition to the Bible. Sealed or unsealed, real or unreal, the gold plates are not Scripture.