Divine Law: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants

Law, for many of us, is a scary word. It conjures imposing images—robed judges with imperious gavels or Lady Justice, blindfolded, with her implacable sword and scales. Even in a religious context—perhaps especially in a religious context—many of us associate law instinctively with divine judgment and justice, retribution and eternal punishment. Many of us think of law as an unrelenting standard against which we fall endlessly short. Law, on this view, is the enemy against which we need grace to defend us. In stark contrast to this bleak vision, the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants depict law as a glorious blessing—a ladder of grace by which we may climb closer and closer toward our Heavenly Parents and our heavenly home.