I Have Not Come to Destroy the Law

The three revelations: Moses, Jesus, and Spiritism. The relationship between Science and Religion.

Instructions from the Spirits: the new era

1. Jesus taught that he did not come to abolish the law or the teachings of the prophets. He came to continue them and reveal their true meaning. According to the Gospel, nothing that belongs to God's law will fail to be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-18)

Moses

2. The work distinguishes two parts in the law attributed to Moses. The first is God's law, represented by the Ten Commandments. The second brings together civil and disciplinary rules created to organize that people in that historical period. In the view presented here, moral principles remain, while many social rules change over time and with customs.

I — Recognize God above all. Do not place other divinities in God's place, and do not turn images or objects into substitutes for what is spiritual.

II — Do not use God's name in an empty or disrespectful way.

III — Set aside time for reflection, prayer, and spiritual life.

IV — Respect and honor your father and your mother.

V — Do not kill.

VI — Do not betray the trust of the person beside you in an intimate relationship.

VII — Do not steal.

VIII — Do not lie to harm another person and do not make false accusations.

IX — Do not desire to take another person's partner for yourself.

X — Do not desire to take another person's house, possessions, or anything that belongs to them.

The work presents these moral principles as teachings that do not belong only to one time or one people. Many other rules attributed to Moses, however, would have been created to organize a specific society, marked by conflicts, its own customs, and the recent experience of slavery in Egypt.

According to Kardec, in that historical context it was common to give religious authority to laws so that they would be obeyed. The work points out an important difference: a moral principle such as “do not kill” does not fit with the idea of turning extermination into a permanent duty. For this reason, it considers many social and disciplinary rules from that period to be temporary.

Christ

3. In the interpretation presented in this work, Jesus did not come to destroy God's law. He came to develop it, explain its meaning, and present it in a form suited to people's moral growth. Duties toward God and toward one's neighbor form the basis of this teaching. Several social rules attributed to Moses, however, were changed by Jesus.

Jesus criticized religious practices done only for appearance and interpretations that moved people away from the moral meaning of the law. He summarized what is essential in two principles: love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself. For the work, this summary concentrates the moral meaning of the law and the prophets.

When the Gospel states that nothing from the law would pass away without being fulfilled, Kardec understands that the principles of God's law should be lived by all humanity, not only by one people. If all people are children of God, no one should be left outside the same care and the same moral principles.

4. For this work, Jesus was not only a teacher of morality. His mission would also be connected with prophecies that announced his coming and with the exceptional spiritual nature that Kardec attributes to him.

The work explains that Jesus taught that life is not limited to our experience on Earth. He showed a path toward God and spoke about people's spiritual destiny. Kardec believes, however, that Jesus did not explain everything fully at that time because many teachings could not yet be understood by the people of his age.

For this reason, some ideas would have been presented symbolically or in summary form. According to Kardec, new knowledge would be needed to understand certain teachings more clearly. He also considers that the progress of Science would play an important role in this process and that time was needed for this knowledge to develop.

Spiritism

5. Kardec presents Spiritism as a field of study concerned with the existence of the spiritual world and the relationship between that world and material life. In the view of the work, phenomena once considered supernatural or inexplicable could be studied as part of Nature itself.

According to the work, this understanding helps interpret passages from Jesus that once seemed difficult or were understood in different ways. Kardec presents Spiritism as a key for reading these teachings.

6. The work organizes this sequence into three major moments: Moses represents the first revelation, Jesus represents the second, and Spiritism is presented as the third. Unlike the two previous ones, Kardec states that Spiritism would not be linked to a single person because its teachings would have been received by many mediums in different places. For this reason, he presents it as a collective work attributed to the spiritual world.

7. Just as Jesus said that he did not come to destroy the law but to help fulfill it, the work presents Spiritism as a continuation of Jesus' teachings. Its purpose would be to develop and explain more clearly ideas that were previously transmitted in a summarized or symbolic form. Kardec understands this process as part of a moral renewal of humanity.

Alliance of Science and Religion

8. Kardec compares Science and Religion to two forms of knowledge that help humanity understand existence. Science mainly studies the material world; Religion deals with moral and spiritual questions. In the view of the work, if both have their origin in God, one truth should not destroy another.

For Kardec, many conflicts between Science and Religion arose from limited interpretations and from each side's difficulty in considering the other's point of view. This separation would have contributed both to disbelief and to intolerance.

The work argues that religious and scientific knowledge need to keep developing. Science should not ignore the possibility of a spiritual dimension, and Religion should not deny the observable laws of matter. For Kardec, the two fields can support one another when they stop treating each other as enemies.

In this view, a faith that is in dialogue with reason becomes stronger, while Science broadens its understanding when it does not limit all reality only to what is material. Kardec considers that a connection between these two fields was missing.

For the work, this connection would be found in the study of relationships between the spiritual world and the material world. Kardec compares these relationships with the laws of Nature and states that, when studied through experience, they could bring faith and reason closer together.

Kardec understands that this change in understanding is part of a broader moral transformation. He considers that some people would resist new ideas, but that the movement of progress would continue. In the view presented in the text, this transformation had been prepared for many centuries and would mark a new stage for humanity.

According to the work, this transformation would also have consequences for the way people relate to one another in society. Kardec associates this process with the law of progress, which he understands as a law of God.

Instructions from the Spirits

The new era

An Israelite Spirit - Mulhouse, 1861

9. The message presents Moses as a Spirit sent on a mission to help the Hebrew people know God. According to this teaching, the history of that people and the experiences they lived through helped prepare new religious understandings. The Ten Commandments are presented as the moral foundation that would later also appear in Christian teaching.

The message states that these principles could not yet be understood in their full depth by the people of that time. Even so, the Ten Commandments are presented as a reference capable of guiding humanity's moral path.

According to this communication, the teachings transmitted by Moses were adapted to the level of understanding of that people. Practices such as sacrifices and religious offerings belonged to that context, while ideas such as worshiping God without material rituals or forgiving an enemy would still have been difficult to accept.

The message distinguishes intellectual development from moral development. A people could advance in the arts, social organization, or material knowledge and still have difficulty understanding a more inward and spiritual religion. For this reason, symbols and rituals would have served as resources suited to that period.

Jesus is presented as the one who raised moral teaching to a higher level, emphasizing charity, love of neighbor, and unity among people. The message associates this moral transformation with building a more fraternal and spiritually developed society.

In the view of this communication, progress is part of the laws of Nature, and Spiritism would be one of the instruments used to help humanity advance morally.

The message states that moral ideas need to mature and develop. This process would not happen without debates, conflicts of ideas, and changes in thought. For the text, Moses opened a path, Jesus broadened that path, and Spiritism would be a new stage in this process of spiritual development.

Fénelon - Poitiers, 1861

10. The communication describes the coming of Jesus as a moment of great spiritual enlightenment. After that period, however, humanity would again face confusion and distance from moral teachings. The message presents the action of the Spirits as a new call for people to awaken and prepare for change.

The message presents Spiritism as part of divine laws and states that all knowledge should serve a moral and useful purpose. It criticizes material development when it happens without the same care for the heart, responsibility, and love of neighbor. The central idea is that Science and moral feeling need to advance together.

The communication states that, despite centuries of Christianity, the moral transformation taught by Jesus would still not have been fully achieved. For this reason, it invites Christians to return to the Master's teachings, especially faith and love.

Using the image of an approaching storm, the message asks people to prepare for a change that is mainly moral, not material. It also reminds us that no one should consider themselves too small to contribute: each person can take part in the transformation through their choices and their work for good.

The message reinforces that each person has a task and that small contributions, added together, can produce great changes. When it speaks of a “new crusade,” the text makes clear that it refers to an action of peace and fraternity, not war. The goal would be to move forward according to the law of progress.

Erastus, disciple of Saint Paul - Paris, 1863

11. This communication presents Saint Augustine as an important spiritual collaborator in the spread of Spiritism. The text recalls his path as a Christian philosopher and his religious transformation, using his life as an example of inner change.

The message recalls that Augustine went through a period of personal conflict before dedicating himself to Christianity. The reference to the road to Damascus is used symbolically to compare his transformation with the experience attributed to Paul: a moment in which a person deeply changes the direction of their life.

The communication cites Saint Augustine's Confessions and highlights the hope of meeting his mother, Monica, again after death. The work interprets this thought as an approach to the idea of the continuity of life and communication between the material and spiritual worlds.

For this reason, the message presents Saint Augustine as someone who, in the spiritual world, would have broadened his understanding and gone on to collaborate in spreading teachings he considered consistent with his Christian faith.