The Law of the Church

One revelation is called, inside its own text, “the law” — and it is a law of an unusual shape: it opens with a preaching commission, turns without a seam into a decalogue, turns again into a property system, and ends in a court procedure written in “he or she” for every clause. This page maps what that law says. The membership rubrics, ordinance texts, and church records are a different body of material and live on The Order of the Church.

What this page maps. Modern revelation, reported as the text gives it. Where the law’s wording runs with an older text’s, both are quoted so a reader can check the correspondence rather than take a description of it. Dates, places, and occasions are not in this wiki’s source text and are not stated.

Account

The text names itself

The revelation calls itself a law twice before it states any of it: “Again I say unto you, hearken and hear and obey the law which I shall give unto you” (D&C 42:2); and at the close of the property section, “Thou shalt take the things which thou hast received, which have been given unto thee in my scriptures for a law, to be my law to govern my church” (D&C 42:59). A later revelation states the same identification from outside: “Behold, the laws which ye have received from my hand are the laws of the church, and in this light ye shall hold them forth. Behold, here is wisdom.” (D&C 58:23).

The law is also placed: an earlier revelation had promised it as something to be received in a named region — “Wherefore, for this cause I gave unto you the commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto you my law; and there you shall be endowed with power from on high” (D&C 38:32). That promise and the law’s own self-naming are the two ends of the same statement; the wiki reports the promise and its fulfilment as the texts state them, and does not date either.

First, a preaching commission

Before any prohibition, the law commissions: “ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto angels of God” (D&C 42:6). The baptismal cry is given in direct speech.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 42:7: “And ye shall go forth baptizing with water, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Helaman 5:32: “And behold the voice came again, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; and seek no more to destroy my servants.”

The doubled cry “Repent ye, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” stands at exactly two distinct frozen verses in the corpus — these two. The single form stands once more, at Matthew 3:2: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” — disclosed, not paired, because the doubling is what distinguishes the two verses paired here. Divergences reported: in the revelation the words are what a baptizer says, in Helaman they are what a voice says to men in a prison; and Helaman’s verse continues “and seek no more to destroy my servants” (Helaman 5:32), which the revelation has no counterpart for.

Who may preach at all is fixed in one sentence: “it shall not be given to any one to go forth to preach my gospel, or to build up my church, except he be ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the church that he has authority and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the church” (D&C 42:11). What may be preached is fixed by naming two books: “the elders, priests and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fulness of the gospel” (D&C 42:12) — and with a condition on the preacher: “if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach” (D&C 42:14).

Then, without a seam, a decalogue

The law’s second movement changes address — “And now, behold, I speak unto the church” (D&C 42:18) — and changes form, into second-person singular prohibitions each carrying its own penalty: “Thou shalt not kill; and he that kills shall not have forgiveness in this world, nor in the world to come” (D&C 42:18); “Thou shalt not steal; and he that stealeth and will not repent shall be cast out” (D&C 42:20); “Thou shalt not lie; he that lieth and will not repent shall be cast out” (D&C 42:21); “Thou shalt not commit adultery; and he that committeth adultery, and repenteth not, shall be cast out” (D&C 42:24); “Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor, nor do him any harm” (D&C 42:27).

The bare prohibitions are stock: “Thou shalt not kill” stands at nine distinct frozen verses in the corpus — Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17, Matthew 5:21, Romans 13:9, Mosiah 13:21, 3 Nephi 12:21, D&C 42:18, D&C 42:19, and D&C 132:36 — and “Thou shalt not steal” at six: Exodus 20:15, Matthew 19:18, Romans 13:9, Mosiah 13:22, D&C 42:20, and D&C 59:6. None of those verses stands nearer to the revelation than the rest, so they are disclosed here rather than paired as connections. What is not stock is the appended penalty clause, which has no counterpart in the decalogue verses, and one addition the revelation makes in its own terms — that a marriage commandment is stated positively before the adultery prohibition: “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else” (D&C 42:22).

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () The look, not only the act, is legislated: - D&C 42:23: “And he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith, and shall not have the Spirit; and if he repents not he shall be cast out.” - 3 Nephi 12:28: “But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart.”

Divergences reported: the two verses state different consequences from the same clause — the risen Lord’s sermon states what the man has already done (“hath committed adultery already in his heart”, 3 Nephi 12:28), the revelation states what will happen to him (“shall deny the faith, and shall not have the Spirit”, D&C 42:23) and attaches the same cast-out penalty its neighbouring clauses carry. The run “looketh on a woman to lust after her” stands at three distinct frozen verses in the corpus — 3 Nephi 12:28, Matthew 5:28, and D&C 63:16, which states the same clause a third time with a further consequence attached; the revelation’s “looketh upon a woman to lust after her” (D&C 42:23), with upon, stands at exactly one. 3 Nephi is paired because its wording is the nearest whole-clause match; Matthew and D&C 63:16 are disclosed, not paired.

Forgiveness is bounded rather than unlimited: the adulterer who “repents with all his heart, and forsaketh it, and doeth it no more, thou shalt forgive” (D&C 42:25); “But if he doeth it again, he shall not be forgiven, but shall be cast out” (D&C 42:26).

The poor, and what is done about them

The law’s third movement is property, and it is treated in full on Consecration and Stewardship. Two of its sentences belong here because they state the law’s reason rather than its machinery: “thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken” (D&C 42:30), and the identification the law makes of the poor with the lawgiver.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 42:38: “For inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, ye do it unto me.” - Matthew 25:40: “And the King 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.”

Divergences reported: the revelation’s present “ye do it unto the least of these” (D&C 42:38) against the judgment scene’s perfect “ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren” (Matthew 25:40); the revelation drops “one of” and “my brethren”; and the two verses do different work — Matthew’s is the King’s verdict at a judgment, the revelation’s is the stated ground of a property commandment given four verses after it. The phrase “the least of these” stands at four distinct frozen verses in the corpus: these two, Matthew 25:45, and D&C 88:47, where the sense is unrelated (“any or the least of these” kingdoms).

The same identification is stated once more in the immediately preceding verses, with the bishop in the middle of it: “inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me; and they shall be laid before the bishop of my church and his counselors” (D&C 42:31) — that verse’s Book of Mormon counterpart is registered on Consecration and Stewardship.

Health, death, and the limits of faith

An unusual passage legislates for the sick by dividing them: “whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy” (D&C 42:43); “the elders of the church, two or more, shall be called, and shall pray for and lay their hands upon them in my name; and if they die they shall die unto me, and if they live they shall live unto me” (D&C 42:44). Death is then given a grammar of its own — “those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them” (D&C 42:46); “And they that die not in me, wo unto them, for their death is bitter” (D&C 42:47) — and mourning is commanded rather than discouraged: “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection” (D&C 42:45).

Four short verses then run a ladder from healing to the other senses: “he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed” (D&C 42:48); “He who hath faith to see shall see.” (D&C 42:49); “He who hath faith to hear shall hear.” (D&C 42:50); “The lame who hath faith to leap shall leap.” (D&C 42:51). The ladder ends by legislating for those who do not have it: “they who have not faith to do these things, but believe in me, have power to become my sons; and inasmuch as they break not my laws thou shalt bear their infirmities” (D&C 42:52).

Asking, and what asking is for

The law makes asking a mechanism rather than an attitude: “If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal” (D&C 42:61); and one specific thing is named as a subject of asking: “Thou shalt ask, and it shall be revealed unto you in mine own due time where the New Jerusalem shall be built” (D&C 42:62).

[Textual] — paraphrase / allusion. () - D&C 42:68: “Therefore, he that lacketh wisdom, let him ask of me, and I will give him liberally and upbraid him not.” - James 1:5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

Divergences reported: the epistle’s third-person “of God… that giveth” becomes the first-person “of me, and I will give” in the revelation, which is the lane’s ordinary voice difference and not a variant reading; “upbraideth not” (James 1:5) becomes “upbraid him not” (D&C 42:68); and the epistle’s closing promise “and it shall be given him” has no counterpart in the revelation’s verse. Registered as allusion rather than shared phrasing: the sequence of ideas is common and three of its words are, but no run of four words stands verbatim in both. “upbraid him not” stands at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus, and “upbraideth not” at exactly one.

The city named in the middle of the law

Three verses of the law name a city, and one of them makes it the condition of a gathering.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 42:9: “…that ye may be gathered in one, that ye may be my people and I will be your God.” - Jeremiah 32:38: “And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:”

Divergences reported: person — the revelation addresses the covenant to its hearers in the second person (“ye… your”, D&C 42:9) where the prophecy states it of a third party (“they… their”, Jeremiah 32:38). The covenant formula in its third-person form stands at five distinct frozen verses in the corpus — Jeremiah 24:7, Jeremiah 32:38, Ezekiel 11:20, Ezekiel 37:23, and Zechariah 8:8; Jeremiah 32:38 is paired because it is the bare formula with nothing else in the verse, and the other four are disclosed. The second-person form of D&C 42:9 stands at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus.

[Textual] — paraphrase / allusion. () The law states the city as something prepared and revealed; the risen Lord’s discourse states it as something built: - D&C 42:9: “Until the time shall come when it shall be revealed unto you from on high, when the city of the New Jerusalem shall be prepared, that ye may be gathered in one…” - 3 Nephi 21:23: “And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.”

The shared element is the title and the gathering attached to it; the wording around the title is not common, which is why this is registered as allusion. Divergences reported: the revelation makes the city’s location itself a thing to be asked for and revealed — “it shall be revealed unto you in mine own due time where the New Jerusalem shall be built” (D&C 42:62) — where the discourse names the builders. “New Jerusalem” stands at twenty distinct frozen verses in the corpus, counted case-insensitively; the treatment of the city itself is on The New Jerusalem, and the Doctrine and Covenants verses are flagged to that page rather than restated here.

A court, written in “he or she”

The law’s last movement is procedure, and its most conspicuous formal feature is that nearly every clause is doubled for both sexes. Killing and robbery go outward to the civil courts — “if any persons among you shall kill they shall be delivered up and dealt with according to the laws of the land; for remember that he hath no forgiveness” (D&C 42:79); “if a man or woman shall rob, he or she shall be delivered up unto the law of the land” (D&C 42:84) — while adultery is tried inside, on a witness rule: “he or she shall be tried before two elders of the church, or more, and every word shall be established against him or her by two witnesses of the church, and not of the enemy; but if there are more than two witnesses it is better” (D&C 42:80); “he or she shall be condemned by the mouth of two witnesses; and the elders shall lay the case before the church, and the church shall lift up their hands against him or her, that they may be dealt with according to the law of God” (D&C 42:81).

Private offence is handled by a graded rule that matches the visibility of the offence to the visibility of the remedy: “if thy brother or sister offend thee, thou shalt take him or her between him or her and thee alone; and if he or she confess thou shalt be reconciled” (D&C 42:88); “if thy brother or sister offend many, he or she shall be chastened before many” (D&C 42:90); “if any one offend openly, he or she shall be rebuked openly, that he or she may be ashamed” (D&C 42:91); “If any shall offend in secret, he or she shall be rebuked in secret, that he or she may have opportunity to confess in secret to him or her whom he or she has offended, and to God, that the church may not speak reproachfully of him or her” (D&C 42:92). The section closes on the procedure, not on the doctrine: “And thus shall ye conduct in all things.” (D&C 42:93).

The doubling is a countable feature of this material rather than an impression: the string “he or she” stands at twelve distinct frozen verses in the corpus, and eleven of the twelve are in this one section — D&C 42:80–81 and D&C 42:84–92. The twelfth is D&C 132:26, outside this cluster. Nowhere else in the corpus does the formula appear at all.

Significance

The law’s shape is the reportable fact about it. A reader expecting a code of prohibitions finds one, but bracketed: a preaching commission before it and a court procedure after it, with a property system in the middle that the law itself treats as the same kind of obligation as “Thou shalt not steal” (D&C 42:20) — the poor clause carries a penalty in exactly the same grammar as the theft clause. The correspondences with older texts cluster in the decalogue and the sayings material, and each one, where the wording actually runs together, is quoted above with its divergences listed.

What the wiki does not do is explain the correspondences. Whether one text depends on another, and how, is a question about how these texts came to be — external, real-world material outside this wiki’s scope in both directions.

Key references

D&C 42:2, 42:59, 58:23 — the text naming itself a law
D&C 42:4–17 — the preaching commission; who may preach and what
D&C 42:18–29 — the prohibitions, each with its penalty
D&C 42:30–39 — the poor; consecration (treated on Consecration and Stewardship)
D&C 42:43–52 — the sick, the dying, and the faith ladder
D&C 42:61–69 — asking; the New Jerusalem’s place to be revealed
D&C 42:74–93 — the court, written in “he or she”

The Order of the Church · Consecration and Stewardship · The Gathering to Zion · Chastity and Marriage · The New Jerusalem · Offices of the Church · Index · Connections

Sources

Doctrine and Covenants section 42 throughout, with D&C 38:32 and D&C 58:23 quoted alongside it (verse text only; headnotes excluded). Cross-references quoted from Helaman 5, 3 Nephi 12, 3 Nephi 21, Matthew 25, James 1, and Jeremiah 32; Matthew 3, Matthew 5, D&C 20, D&C 88, Jeremiah 24, Ezekiel 11, Ezekiel 37, and Zechariah 8 are cited, not quoted, inside disclosures.

Every quote is verbatim from the frozen source text, cited to its exact reference and checked character-for-character; no quote crosses a verse boundary. Six connection records are registered on this page, all [textual] and all submitted asserted_by: wiki. Phrase distributions are counts of distinct frozen verses in the corpus, derived by script at the time of writing; the basis is stated at the head of this draft.