Mormonism Explained
The History of the Garment: From Eden to Nauvoo
The internet thinks temple garments are the strangest thing about Latter-day Saints. The Bible thinks clothing is one of the oldest ways God talks to people. This is the 4,000-year history of that conversation — told, start to finish, from scripture and the church’s own sources.
The Short Answer
Where do Mormon garments come from?
Historically, from the temple ceremonies Joseph Smith introduced in Nauvoo, Illinois, on May 4, 1842. Theologically, from a biblical pattern far older, in which God marks covenants with clothing. Eden’s coats of skins, Aaron’s vestments, Israel’s fringed garments of remembrance, the prophets’ “garments of salvation,” Paul’s instruction to “put on Christ” — the church’s own materials make this genealogy explicit, and its leaders cite Ephesians 6 when teaching what the garment means. This page walks the whole chain, link by link, citing only the canon and the church’s own published teaching.
Key Takeaways
- Sacred clothing enters scripture in its third chapter — God clothes Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21).
- Israel’s priests were consecrated by washing, anointing, and clothing (Exodus 28–29), wearing a gold plate engraved HOLINESS TO THE LORD — the words on Latter-day Saint temples today.
- Numbers 15:37–41 commands a garment worn to “remember all the commandments” — the reminder function, stated more than 3,000 years ago.
- The prophets and apostles turned clothing into covenant language: garments of salvation (Isaiah 61:10), “put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27), the armor of God (Ephesians 6).
- The Latter-day Saint garment (Nauvoo, 1842) inherits all of it — “an outward expression of an inward commitment” (Elder Carlos E. Asay, Ensign, August 1997). Citations on this page: scripture and church-published sources only.
The first recorded thing God makes for human beings after the Fall is clothing. Not a shelter, not a covenant document, not a set of instructions — clothes: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). It is one verse, easy to read past. But everything this website’s garments hub describes — the white underclothing that endowed Latter-day Saints wear as a reminder of covenants — stands at the end of a chain that begins in that verse and runs, almost without interruption, through the entire Bible: Eden, Sinai, the prophets, Paul, Patmos.
The internet treats the temple garment as a modern oddity. Scripture treats sacred clothing as one of its oldest recurring ideas. This page walks the whole chain, link by link, citing only the canon and the church’s own published teaching — so you can watch the idea travel four thousand years and arrive in Nauvoo already ancient.
The 60-Second Version
Where do Mormon garments come from? Historically: from the temple ceremonies Joseph Smith introduced in Nauvoo, Illinois, on May 4, 1842 — the full modern history lives on our garments hub. Theologically: from a biblical pattern far older, in which God marks covenants with clothing — Eden’s coats of skins, Aaron’s vestments, Israel’s fringed garments of remembrance, the prophets’ “garments of salvation,” Paul’s instruction to “put on Christ.” The church’s own materials make this genealogy explicit: its Temple Garment pages ground the practice in biblical times, and its leaders cite Ephesians 6 when teaching what the garment means. This article tells that longer story.
Eden: The First Clothing Was a Gift
Genesis spends two verses on humanity’s own solution to shame — “they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7) — and one verse on God’s replacement for it: “coats of skins” (3:21), made by God himself, put on them by God himself. The sequence carries the whole theology in miniature: the couple’s covering is self-made and inadequate; the covering that lasts is given. Latter-day Saint teaching has long read those coats of skins as pointing toward the Atonement of Jesus Christ — a covering provided at the cost of a life.
What the plain text alone establishes is remarkable enough: in scripture’s account, clothing is not humanity’s invention adopted by religion. It is God’s first gift to fallen people — and it enters the story doing exactly what the church says the garment does: covering, reminding, pointing to redemption. (The yes/no version of the biblical question has its own short answer; this page tells the full story.)
Fig leaves — self-made
“They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7). Humanity’s own covering: improvised, inadequate, and quickly replaced.
Coats of skins — God-given
“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). The Bible’s first clothing story is about who does the covering.
Sinai: Priests Consecrated by Clothing
When Israel becomes a covenant nation at Sinai, God’s instructions for worship include an entire chapter of clothing. Exodus 28 prescribes Aaron’s vestments “for glory and for beauty” (28:2): the ephod, the breastplate carrying the names of Israel’s tribes over the priest’s heart (28:29), and — most striking to a Latter-day Saint reader — a plate of pure gold on his forehead engraved HOLINESS TO THE LORD (28:36). Those words are inscribed on Latter-day Saint temples today.
And the ordination of those priests, in the next chapter, follows a sequence any endowed member will recognize in outline: washed with water, anointed with oil, clothed in the garments of their office (Exodus 29:4–9) — a pattern Latter-day Saints recognize in their own temple worship. The point survives any trimming: in the Bible’s founding covenant, sacred clothing is not decoration. It is how a person is set apart.
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The Commandment to Remember: A Garment with a Job Description
Numbers 15:37–41 is the closest thing in scripture to a purpose statement for covenant clothing, and it reads like it was written about the modern garment: God commands Israel to put fringes on the borders of their garments “that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes” (15:39). A physical thing, worn on the body, whose stated function is memory and fidelity — thirty-two centuries before Nauvoo.
The church’s General Handbook describes the garment in nearly the same grammar: “a reminder of covenants made in the temple” (38.5). Observant Jews wear the tzitzit to this day; the practice never stopped. When critics ask where Latter-day Saints got the idea that clothing could carry covenant, the honest answer is: from the same Bible everyone else has.
“…that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them…”
Numbers 15:39 — paired, thirty-two centuries later, with the General Handbook’s “a reminder of covenants made in the temple” (38.5). Two purpose statements, one function.
The Prophets: Clothing Becomes the Language of Salvation
By the prophets’ era, sacred clothing has become scripture’s standing metaphor for the covenant relationship itself. Isaiah: “he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness” (61:10) — and “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments” (52:1), a verse the Restoration’s canon quotes back across the gap twice, in Moroni 10:31 and Doctrine and Covenants 82:14.
Zechariah stages an entire temple scene as a change of clothes: the high priest Joshua stands “clothed with filthy garments,” and the Lord commands, “Take away the filthy garments from him… I will clothe thee with change of raiment” (Zechariah 3:3–4) — forgiveness, rendered as wardrobe. Job wears the metaphor in the first person: “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me” (29:14). A modern reader meets the temple garment as strange. A reader of the prophets meets it as familiar: by 500 BC, being clothed by God is simply what redemption is called.
“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments…”
Isaiah 52:1 — quoted back across the dispensations at Moroni 10:31 and Doctrine and Covenants 82:14. The Restoration quotes the clothing verse twice.
The New Testament: “Put On Christ”
The New Testament completes the turn: clothing becomes the grammar of belonging to Christ. Paul to the Galatians: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (3:27) — conversion as getting dressed. To the Romans: “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (13:14). The prodigal’s restoration is announced with a robe: “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him” (Luke 15:22). The faithful in Revelation “shall be clothed in white raiment” (3:5).
And to the Ephesians, Paul writes the passage the church’s own leaders reach for when they teach what the garment means: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (6:11). Elder Carlos E. Asay, in the church’s fullest published treatment of the garment, quotes that chapter and adds that there is another piece of armor worthy of consideration — the garment of the holy priesthood (Ensign, August 1997). The metaphor Paul built for every Christian, the church applies to the clothing its members actually wear.
“We wear the garment faithfully as part of the enduring armor of God.”
President Russell M. Nelson, “Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings,” general conference, May 2001. Four witnesses, one metaphor: Ephesians 6 → Asay 1997 → Nelson 2001 → Bednar 2022.
Nauvoo: The Ancient Idea, Restored
On May 4, 1842, in the upper room of his red brick store in Nauvoo, Joseph Smith introduced the temple endowment — and with it, the garment of the holy priesthood. Read against everything above, the Restoration’s claim about the garment is of a piece with its claim about everything else: not invention but return — priesthood, temples, covenants, and the clothing that marks them, restored together.
The modern chapter of the story — the designs, the fabrics, Rose Marie Reid, the 2014 video, the 2024 redesigns — belongs to the garments hub and its timeline. The theology has stayed where Elder Asay put it in 1997: the garment is “an outward expression of an inward commitment to follow the Savior” — a sentence Adam, Aaron, Isaiah, and Paul would each have recognized on sight.
The Thread: One Idea, Seven Knots, 4,000 Years
Eden
God clothes Adam and Eve in coats of skins — clothing as God’s first gift to fallen people (Genesis 3:21).
Sinai
Priestly vestments and consecration by clothing, crowned with HOLINESS TO THE LORD (Exodus 28–29).
The Commandment
Fringes of remembrance: a garment whose stated job is “that ye may… remember all the commandments” (Numbers 15:39).
The Prophets
Garments of salvation and robes of righteousness — redemption rendered as raiment (Isaiah 61:10; Zechariah 3).
The Apostles
“Put on Christ” and the whole armor of God (Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 6).
Nauvoo, 1842
The garment of the holy priesthood arrives with the first endowment, May 4, 1842.
Today
“An outward expression of an inward commitment” (Asay 1997; Holland 2024) — the oldest symbol in scripture is the one the internet thinks is the newest.
A Note on Carthage
One question about the garment’s history is asked quietly and often: what Joseph and Hyrum Smith wore on the day they were killed at Carthage Jail, June 27, 1844. The historical record is discussed in church-published history, and this page follows its lead exactly — plainly, and without detail beyond what those sources state.
What the long life of the question itself shows is worth one sentence: for 180 years, members have cared what the martyrs wore — because to the people who wear it, the garment was never underwear. It was the covenant, kept close. That is the fact this entire history explains.
The Whole Chain at a Glance
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Continue the Record
Mormon Garments, Explained: The Complete Guide
The hub this history feeds: what garments are, what critics say, and the 2024–2026 redesign era — every citation the church’s own.
The Mormon Temple: What Happens Inside
The garment is received in the temple’s initiatory ordinances. What the endowment is and why the building is closed to the public.
Mormonism 101: The Complete Beginner’s Guide
Start here if the terms on this page — endowment, Restoration, Nauvoo — are new.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Mormon garments in the Bible?
The modern garment is a Latter-day Saint practice, but its pattern is thoroughly biblical: God clothes Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21), consecrates priests by clothing (Exodus 28–29), and commands Israel to wear a garment of remembrance (Numbers 15:37–41). Our dedicated Q&A gives the short answer; this page tells the full history.
What clothing did God give Adam and Eve?
“Coats of skins” — made and put on them by God himself (Genesis 3:21), replacing the fig-leaf aprons they had made for themselves. Latter-day Saint teaching reads the gift as pointing toward the covering of the Atonement.
What did Aaron’s priestly garments include?
Exodus 28 prescribes the ephod, a breastplate bearing the names of Israel’s twelve tribes worn “upon his heart,” a robe, and a mitre with a gold plate engraved HOLINESS TO THE LORD — the words inscribed on Latter-day Saint temples today. Priests were consecrated by washing, anointing, and clothing (Exodus 29).
What is the garment of remembrance in Numbers?
Numbers 15:37–41 commands Israel to wear fringes on their garments “that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord.” It is scripture’s clearest statement of clothing worn as covenant reminder — the same function the church’s Handbook assigns the temple garment.
What are the “garments of salvation”?
Isaiah’s phrase for the covenant relationship itself: “he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation… the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). The prophets repeatedly render redemption as being clothed by God — Zechariah 3 stages forgiveness as a literal change of raiment.
What does “put on Christ” mean?
Paul’s description of baptism: “as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27) — belonging to Christ expressed as being clothed in him. It is the New Testament’s extension of the Old Testament’s covenant-clothing pattern.
How is the temple garment connected to the armor of God?
Church leaders make the connection directly: Elder Carlos E. Asay’s Ensign article treats the garment as a piece of the armor of God described in Ephesians 6, and President Russell M. Nelson taught that members “wear the garment faithfully as part of the enduring armor of God” (May 2001).
When did Latter-day Saint garments begin?
With the first temple endowment, introduced by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois, on May 4, 1842. The design history since — including the 2024 redesigns — is on our Mormon Garments hub and its timeline.
Did Joseph Smith wear garments at Carthage?
The question is treated in church-published history, which this page follows exactly; see the Carthage note above. What the question’s 180-year persistence shows is how much the garment means to those who wear it.
Is the temple garment copied from Jewish practice?
Latter-day Saints would put it differently: the tzitzit and the garment both descend from the same biblical commandments, and the church regards its temple clothing as a restoration of ancient covenant practice, not a borrowing. Observant Jews and endowed Latter-day Saints are keeping cousin traditions of the same scriptural family.
References
- Scripture (as published by the church): Genesis 3:7, 21; Exodus 28–29; Numbers 15:37–41; Isaiah 52:1; 61:10; Zechariah 3:3–4; Job 29:14; Luke 15:22; Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 6:11; Revelation 3:5; Moroni 10:31; Doctrine and Covenants 82:14.
- Carlos E. Asay, “The Temple Garment: ‘An Outward Expression of an Inward Commitment,’” Ensign, August 1997, 18–23 (churchofjesuschrist.org). Russell M. Nelson, “Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings,” Ensign, May 2001. David A. Bednar, “Put On Thy Strength, O Zion,” Liahona, November 2022. Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Garment of the Holy Priesthood,” Liahona, September 2024.
- Church: Temple Garment FAQ (churchofjesuschrist.org); General Handbook 38.5; Sacred Temple Clothing video (2014); Gospel Topics; Church History materials for the Carthage passage.
Consulted for context, not cited, per editorial brief: FAIR, Scripture Central, Mormonr.