What do you think?
Rate this book
Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants
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. The revelations promise that the faithful will “be crowned with blessings from above . . . and with commandments not a few” (D&C 59:4).
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. The revelations promise that the faithful will “be crowned with blessings from above . . . and with commandments not a few” (D&C 59:4).
119 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 5, 2024
4 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 1, 2025
This is a wonderful addition to the Latter-day Saint theological landscape. In some ways, it is paradigm shifting; in other ways, it helps us see differently what we already know.
Collings’s work serves as a stepping stone to further research in divine law. There is room for clarification and magnification. Yet, the book fulfills its purpose masterfully: helping us turn to the Lawgiver.
Collings’s work serves as a stepping stone to further research in divine law. There is room for clarification and magnification. Yet, the book fulfills its purpose masterfully: helping us turn to the Lawgiver.
October 24, 2025
I've appreciated Collings' thoughtful perspective in other mediums (BYU devotional, Wayfarer, etc.) and so I was excited to read this. It delivered - as a constitutional law scholar, he was the perfect person to approach the topic.
February 11, 2025
The sixth out of the seven books in the Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series that I read is the one by Justin Collings on Divine Law. I admit that this one left me pleasantly surprised. I was expecting some sort of lawyerly analysis of how the commandments in the Doctrine and Covenants create a system of laws and how those hold up under the scrutiny of legal experts, akin to some of the chapters in Embracing the Law: Reading Doctrine and Covenants 42. Instead, I found an insightful and well-written exposition of the idea that divine law is a principle means by which God blesses us and guides us towards becoming more like Him.
Admittedly, part of why I resonated with this book is that it outlined thoughts that I’ve had on my mind for years, using some of my favorite Joseph Smith quotes to support them. The book starts with a vignette that drops you right into the King Follett Sermon, building up to the statement that “God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself … He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits.” This described, Collings writes, “a singular moment in cosmic history—a primeval burst of celestial grace.” This quote frames much of what follows, since it indicates that “those laws would furnish means for our divine ascent. In a thrilling blaze of gracious condescension, God beckons His children to rise toward His own throne. All who answer that sweet summons may climb by the ladder of law” (pp. 3–4).
The one area in which I felt like there could have been more attention paid was in the efforts offered towards reconciling the divine love of God with God’s judgement and justice. Collings’s explanations felt a bit like hand waving, since they basically just said that it is what it is and judgement and justice are motivated by love without a lot of deep discussion into how that plays out before moving on to the next topic. He best wrestlings with the topic state that “Divine law does not gain its weight merely from an affixed punishment. It is motivated instead by a correlated possibility” (p. 14) and “there can be no law without consequences, shrink as we might from that cosmic reality. … The earliest revelations make clear that those who abuse God’s gifts of grace risk losing them” (p. 47).
An area that I was particularly pleasantly surprised was in the author’s efforts to address commentary about the U.S. constitution in the Doctrine and Covenants. I’ll admit that when I came to the moment he brought it up, I rolled my eyes, thinking that it was going to be yet another exposition of American exceptionalism costumed in religious language by a Republican. Yet, a paragraph later (almost as if he saw my reaction coming), he wrote, “some might wonder why, in a global church, special attention should be paid to the political arrangements of any particular country. Others might wonder how an imperfect document that accommodates slavery could possibly merit divine approval.” His responses to these questions were actually very insightful and didn’t raise my hackles, like my initial reaction anticipated he would. In particular, his thoughts about the second question he raised were new to me—that the biggest flaws to the U.S. constitution were addressed by the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments: “In some respects, it is this Constitution—the post-Civil War Constitution, purged of its original compromises with slavery—that seems to be envisaged and described in the revelations. When I read that the Lord ‘redeemed the land by the shedding of blood,’ I think of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass as well as of George Washington and James Madison; of Antietam and Gettysburg as well as Yorktown and Trenton” (p.80). The revelations prophetically anticipated that version of the U.S. Constitution as much as they embraced the Constitution as it existed in the 1830s.
In the end, Divine Law: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants stands out along with Terryl L. Givens’s entry on Agency as one of my favorite entries in the series.
Admittedly, part of why I resonated with this book is that it outlined thoughts that I’ve had on my mind for years, using some of my favorite Joseph Smith quotes to support them. The book starts with a vignette that drops you right into the King Follett Sermon, building up to the statement that “God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself … He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits.” This described, Collings writes, “a singular moment in cosmic history—a primeval burst of celestial grace.” This quote frames much of what follows, since it indicates that “those laws would furnish means for our divine ascent. In a thrilling blaze of gracious condescension, God beckons His children to rise toward His own throne. All who answer that sweet summons may climb by the ladder of law” (pp. 3–4).
The one area in which I felt like there could have been more attention paid was in the efforts offered towards reconciling the divine love of God with God’s judgement and justice. Collings’s explanations felt a bit like hand waving, since they basically just said that it is what it is and judgement and justice are motivated by love without a lot of deep discussion into how that plays out before moving on to the next topic. He best wrestlings with the topic state that “Divine law does not gain its weight merely from an affixed punishment. It is motivated instead by a correlated possibility” (p. 14) and “there can be no law without consequences, shrink as we might from that cosmic reality. … The earliest revelations make clear that those who abuse God’s gifts of grace risk losing them” (p. 47).
An area that I was particularly pleasantly surprised was in the author’s efforts to address commentary about the U.S. constitution in the Doctrine and Covenants. I’ll admit that when I came to the moment he brought it up, I rolled my eyes, thinking that it was going to be yet another exposition of American exceptionalism costumed in religious language by a Republican. Yet, a paragraph later (almost as if he saw my reaction coming), he wrote, “some might wonder why, in a global church, special attention should be paid to the political arrangements of any particular country. Others might wonder how an imperfect document that accommodates slavery could possibly merit divine approval.” His responses to these questions were actually very insightful and didn’t raise my hackles, like my initial reaction anticipated he would. In particular, his thoughts about the second question he raised were new to me—that the biggest flaws to the U.S. constitution were addressed by the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments: “In some respects, it is this Constitution—the post-Civil War Constitution, purged of its original compromises with slavery—that seems to be envisaged and described in the revelations. When I read that the Lord ‘redeemed the land by the shedding of blood,’ I think of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass as well as of George Washington and James Madison; of Antietam and Gettysburg as well as Yorktown and Trenton” (p.80). The revelations prophetically anticipated that version of the U.S. Constitution as much as they embraced the Constitution as it existed in the 1830s.
In the end, Divine Law: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants stands out along with Terryl L. Givens’s entry on Agency as one of my favorite entries in the series.
February 3, 2025
A book entitled "Divine Law" sounds kind of ominous, no? I have been excited to tackle my pile of "Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants," but this one wasn't at the top of my list. I'll admit, Elder Oaks kind of scares me when he gets out his law professor glasses-- and this one is written by a lawyer too! But hold one, perhaps I'm judging too quickly. This one ended up being quite beautiful, not by watering doctrine on law down, but by clarifying it.
There was a lot I liked about this book. Here are a few elements that I found profound additions to my understanding of the gospel.
(1) The metaphor of the law as a Ladder. Collings begins with a re-telling of Joseph Smith's King Follett discourse, the one most famous for its "deep doctrine" on becoming like God. He quotes the prophet:
"When you climb a ladder, you must begin at the bottom and ascend, step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel-- you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation."
Collet shows how the law isn't in conflict with grace; the law is one of the original gifts of God's grace given to as, as it allows us to ascend to become as he is. I liked this, because we often view the law as a form of punishment, not as a form of ascent. Like Elder Bednar's metaphor of traction-- you can't get anywhere without traction-- the law seems to serve a similar purpose. It gives us the spiritual traction to grow and improve. I have noticed in my own life that I need to impose artificial constraints and discipline if I want to learn a topic. Things like flash cards seem silly and artificial, but those are what make you move forward. I also liked the idea of ascending a ladder. You don't try to tackle all the rungs at once. That's what makes the law so imposing; you feel like it is a list of rules that you could violate just by breathing. But the Lord doesn't judge us like that. He imposes the law to help us grow, as we can take on more and more responsibility. People will be judged by their spiritual progress, not by all the law all the time.
Laws as covenants. Collet shows how these words are used interchangeably, and it really makes you reframe a lot of the gospel. This book, like the book on Redeeming the Dead, emphasizes relationships. Covenants bring us into a relationship with God, and when you read laws this way, it makes you see that keeping God's law is coming to know him, not trying to navigate a Kafkaesque heavenly bureaucracy.
The Savior's rights of mercy. This was a beautiful discussion of the Savior. Collet challenges again here the idea that law and mercy are in conflict with each other, as the "mercy cannot rob justice" scripture is sometimes interpreted shallowly in Sunday School class. Collet explains that he views laws as an essential part of the law, not a "get out of jail free" card that allows you to evade the law. And as the Savior has merited his rights of mercy by performing the Atonement, this mercy was built into God's law and plan. These rights of mercy aren't a get out of jail free card, they are an expression of that law in action. Just like miracles are not an exception to the laws of nature, they are an expression of a higher law.
Throughout the book, I liked some of Collet's touches that really brought it all together. Collet has a flair of starting his chapters with personal stories. Just the first page makes you think you are reading a dramatic retelling of the early history of the church: "His thoughts soared far beyond the stars, but he worried about the wind. He had, in a sense, waited his whole life to preach this sermon..." Collet also appears to have a thing for temple dedicatory prayers? Perhaps he was doing a research project that involved them, but I was surprised to find them referenced so much on a book on divine law. Finally, Collet clearly studies and references the words of President Nelson regularly. These are woven throughout the book, combined with the words of Doctrine and Covenants for a mix of past and present. Very well done, and a lot left to think about.
There was a lot I liked about this book. Here are a few elements that I found profound additions to my understanding of the gospel.
(1) The metaphor of the law as a Ladder. Collings begins with a re-telling of Joseph Smith's King Follett discourse, the one most famous for its "deep doctrine" on becoming like God. He quotes the prophet:
"When you climb a ladder, you must begin at the bottom and ascend, step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel-- you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation."
Collet shows how the law isn't in conflict with grace; the law is one of the original gifts of God's grace given to as, as it allows us to ascend to become as he is. I liked this, because we often view the law as a form of punishment, not as a form of ascent. Like Elder Bednar's metaphor of traction-- you can't get anywhere without traction-- the law seems to serve a similar purpose. It gives us the spiritual traction to grow and improve. I have noticed in my own life that I need to impose artificial constraints and discipline if I want to learn a topic. Things like flash cards seem silly and artificial, but those are what make you move forward. I also liked the idea of ascending a ladder. You don't try to tackle all the rungs at once. That's what makes the law so imposing; you feel like it is a list of rules that you could violate just by breathing. But the Lord doesn't judge us like that. He imposes the law to help us grow, as we can take on more and more responsibility. People will be judged by their spiritual progress, not by all the law all the time.
Laws as covenants. Collet shows how these words are used interchangeably, and it really makes you reframe a lot of the gospel. This book, like the book on Redeeming the Dead, emphasizes relationships. Covenants bring us into a relationship with God, and when you read laws this way, it makes you see that keeping God's law is coming to know him, not trying to navigate a Kafkaesque heavenly bureaucracy.
The Savior's rights of mercy. This was a beautiful discussion of the Savior. Collet challenges again here the idea that law and mercy are in conflict with each other, as the "mercy cannot rob justice" scripture is sometimes interpreted shallowly in Sunday School class. Collet explains that he views laws as an essential part of the law, not a "get out of jail free" card that allows you to evade the law. And as the Savior has merited his rights of mercy by performing the Atonement, this mercy was built into God's law and plan. These rights of mercy aren't a get out of jail free card, they are an expression of that law in action. Just like miracles are not an exception to the laws of nature, they are an expression of a higher law.
Throughout the book, I liked some of Collet's touches that really brought it all together. Collet has a flair of starting his chapters with personal stories. Just the first page makes you think you are reading a dramatic retelling of the early history of the church: "His thoughts soared far beyond the stars, but he worried about the wind. He had, in a sense, waited his whole life to preach this sermon..." Collet also appears to have a thing for temple dedicatory prayers? Perhaps he was doing a research project that involved them, but I was surprised to find them referenced so much on a book on divine law. Finally, Collet clearly studies and references the words of President Nelson regularly. These are woven throughout the book, combined with the words of Doctrine and Covenants for a mix of past and present. Very well done, and a lot left to think about.
June 15, 2025
A Difficult Task
Surely it must have been a challenge. For example, the subject is perhaps uninviting (and the title does little to make it more so). Contributing to a largely theological series with seemingly little training in that manner of deconstructive and reconstructive thought. Inevitable comparison with other series contributions.
Most appreciated: the thesis. Divine law is a gift. It is a manifestation of grace. It is inseparable from grace. It is that which grace fulfills. “Gracious law and lawful grace: … God’s offer and our acceptance, His covenant and our agency…” Grace, law, and agency instituted before the council in heaven.
Primary opportunity: tighter ficus on the thesis throughout. The more I read, the more difficult it became to find the thesis. At times the approach felt like a summary of a terms search on the word “law” in the D&C … supplemented with cite-worthy commentary by notable authorities. Original and alternative thought was less pronounced as compared to other volumes in the series or other similar works.
Evenso, highlighted passages, passages cited in notes in the margins (so you speak) of my electronic scriptures, and impressions recorded in my journal, are manifestations of a worthy and inspiring work.
Surely it must have been a challenge. For example, the subject is perhaps uninviting (and the title does little to make it more so). Contributing to a largely theological series with seemingly little training in that manner of deconstructive and reconstructive thought. Inevitable comparison with other series contributions.
Most appreciated: the thesis. Divine law is a gift. It is a manifestation of grace. It is inseparable from grace. It is that which grace fulfills. “Gracious law and lawful grace: … God’s offer and our acceptance, His covenant and our agency…” Grace, law, and agency instituted before the council in heaven.
Primary opportunity: tighter ficus on the thesis throughout. The more I read, the more difficult it became to find the thesis. At times the approach felt like a summary of a terms search on the word “law” in the D&C … supplemented with cite-worthy commentary by notable authorities. Original and alternative thought was less pronounced as compared to other volumes in the series or other similar works.
Evenso, highlighted passages, passages cited in notes in the margins (so you speak) of my electronic scriptures, and impressions recorded in my journal, are manifestations of a worthy and inspiring work.
February 11, 2025
Good read. The law exists to help us to become like God and is an expression of love and mercy. That said, I’m not sure I agree with his interpretation of the relationship between justice and mercy. When he takes the idea that “mercy cannot rob justice” he seems to imply that they are like yin and yang, two opposites that complement each other, flowing in and out of each other, one never replacing the other. I always envisioned Christ’s mercy as satisfying penal justice on our behalf, us, when repentant, being the recipient of mercy. He argues that when Christ advocates for us, he doesn’t advocate for mercy to overtake justice but for mercy and justice to work together. This implies that we earn our reward, and this is where I disagree most, because since we are all unprofitable servants, we cannot earn anything. Thus, we are always the recipient of mercy and grace. If we were the recipient of a justice which isn’t overtaken by mercy, wouldn’t we never possibly be able to progress to become more like God? Maybe I am misunderstanding his argument in the second half of the book, but that’s how I read it.
July 7, 2025
Not my favorite volume in the "Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants" series, but still good. What I liked less about "Divine Law" is that it read more as a devotional work than a theological one. I think that's very valuable, it's just not what I've come to expect from these books. I tend to pick them up because I want a fresh, unique angle on scripture that, if I'm being honest, can become a little stale after decades of reading it. "Divine Law" though, sort of read like a BYU devotional or forum talk. I just found it less inpiring and invigorating than the other Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants volumes I've read. I think a lot of other readers would really catch a spark from this. It just didn't do much for me.
March 13, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It provided me with thoughtful insights on divine law and why commandments are such blessings. I will read with new eyes now when focused on the Lord’s commandments and why they are such a gift.
April 23, 2025
I have not ever read another treatise that has made me love the Savior more, by giving me the deepest gratitude for the gift of His law. God’s law is not a burden, barrier, or obstacle, it is a priceless gift! Thank you Justin Collings for teaching me this!
May 6, 2025
A good summary of the theme of divine law throughout the Doctrine and Covenants. I'm still thinking about a few of the ideas from this book after finishing it. The biggest one of these is how the D&C sets up divine law as a component of God's mercy and love rather than an opposite to it.
March 26, 2025
Quite readable and thought provoking.
October 10, 2025
Divine law is an aspect of religion I've been really interested in the past few years. This book added a lot to my understanding of it.
February 17, 2026
So beautiful. Perfectly written and expressed.
May 5, 2026
3.75/5
Some good/interesting points, but honestly I had hoped to see more of the Doctrine and Covenants and not as much outside/contemporary references.
Some good/interesting points, but honestly I had hoped to see more of the Doctrine and Covenants and not as much outside/contemporary references.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews