Latter-Day Saints & the Spirit of the Law

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” said Jesus Christ. (Matthew 22:40)

By saying this, Jesus made it known that the two commandments spoken of in Matthew 22:37-40 don’t hang upon the prophets nor do the two commandments hang upon how the prophets interpret them; nor do they hang upon any other commandments given to man by God in any of the scriptures. All commandments hang upon those two commandments and to do otherwise is to put the proverbial cart in front of the horse.

Jesus made it clear that all the prophets hang upon these two commands and not the other way around. We also shouldn’t put any other commandment given in the law above the two great commandments lest we deny the spirit of the law which is the spirit of every commandment. (2 Corinthians 3:6) Because, when we have denied the spirit of the law we have also denied the entirety of the law. For the law is not the law without the spirit. When we do this we have now rendered every commandment in the law into what is termed within the scriptures to be “the commandments of men having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof’ (2 Timothy 3:5) by those whose hearts are far from the truth.(Isaiah 29:13)

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is recorded saying, “I am the truth” (John 14:6) and without Jesus Christ the law will not save us, nor any portion thereof (Hebrews 10:1-4), for Jesus Christ is, indeed, the spirit of the law. (2 Corinthians 3:6)

There is no commandment in scripture, nor any penalty of any commandment in scripture, which supersedes the two commandments recorded in Matthew 22:37, 39.

This is why Jesus Christ instructed each of us to “do unto others as you would have others do to you”. (Matthew 7:12) This is the golden rule and the standard by which all other commandments are measured. For Jesus Christ prophesied in Mathew 25:40 concerning the king, that “he shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

This means as well, if a person does not want something done to him or her then you are not to do it to that one for do you want done unto you what you do not desire another to do? To do such a thing to another is to not “do unto others as you would have others do to you.” It is an irrational delusion to call this type of behavior an act of love. Such an act actually an act of violence. It is an act of one who teaches the commandments of men but whose heart from the truth: Jesus Christ. Such are false prophets and false teachers and called in the scriptures “wolves in sheep’s clothing”. (Matthew 7:15)

In the Book of James we are told, If “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well” (James 2:8)

And if “ye do well” surely God will say to you at the day of judgement, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)