Three degrees

The three-degree structure was not present at the foundation of the premier Grand Lodge in 1717, which originally practiced only a single form of initiation 12. The system developed gradually in London between 1717 and 1730 12. Initially, the material now divided between the first two degrees was communicated to the Apprentice, while the material of the Third Degree was given to the Fellow Craft or Master 3. A tri-gradal arrangement began taking shape by the mid-1720s, though it was not generally adopted across English lodges until between 1733 and 1740 3, and took several more decades to spread through Scottish lodges 2.

Accounts of how the Third Degree originated vary among Masonic historians. George Oliver attributed its creation to John Theophilus Desaguliers and James Anderson, arguing they adapted allegories from Jewish Targums printed in 1715 2. J. G. Findel, by contrast, viewed the Master Mason degree as a modern fabrication derived from guild legends rather than ancient mysteries, introduced initially as a reward for brethren who had passed the master's chair 2.

Masonic scholars offer differing interpretations of the degrees' symbolic progression. Albert Mackey outlines a traditional Christian reading—supported by writers like James Watson and William Hutchinson—wherein the Apprentice degree represents the Patriarchal era, the Fellow Craft represents the Mosaic Dispensation, and the Master Mason degree symbolizes the Christian Dispensation and the resurrection to eternal life 1. W. L. Wilmshurst takes a mystical approach, comparing the three degrees to early Christian initiation rites: the first degree cleanses and purifies the candidate, the second illuminates the intelligence, and the third signifies a total death unto sin and a raising to spiritual mastership 4.