One of the features of Latter-day Saint thought is the deep and committed response to God’s children having agency or free will. We see this as the founding thought of the cosmos, one that existed as long as God (D&C 93:29-31, 2 Nephi 2:11). In fact, it is ’the agency of man’ to receive and reciprocate the light or love that was ‘plainly manifest unto’ each of us from the ‘beginning’ (D&C 93:31) that aligns quite well with Jesus’ two great commandments in response the question of the greatest commandment in the law (Matthew 22:37-40).

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 neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

On LOVE hangs all the law

We should read all scripture with Christ’s words echoing through our souls. Why do we obey? Love. Why do we tithe? Love. Why should we not murder? Love. How do we follow? It starts and ends with love. What are blessings? The results of a loving relationship. What is faith? A deep and committed love to He who has loved ‘from the beginning’ (D&C 93:31).

Love should be the ‘primary answer’ to every question, even when we graduate into Sunday school. But we must push beyond the primary answer to understand how it affects all the ’law and the prophets’ in our life. We need to figure out how this view would feel in our relationships with each other and with God.

Love of God and Fellow Man is Relational

Christ is saying that law comes after love, not before love. We often talk of the laws as being eternal. However, they are not as lasting as love. The law only works when love is the support, as there is no need for law without love. This concept starts to expunge our Western view of the law being equally applied to all. We want His loving reach to be equally applied to all, necessitating that the law is relationally applied.

The book Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes shares excellent commentary on relationship trumping rules.

Our [Western thinkers] confidence in a stable and orderly universe leads us to prioritize rules over relationships, but it does more than that. The western commitment to rules and laws make it difficult for us to imagine a valid rule to which there may be valid exceptions. When we begin to think of the world in terms of relationships instead of rules, however, we must acknowledge that things are never so neat and orderly and that rules are not as dependable as we once imagined. When relationships are the norming factor in the cosmos, we should expect exceptions. (Pg. 166)

Grace and faith are relationship markers and not forensic decrees. Paul used these terms to define a relationship, not to explain a contract or a court ruling. Likewise, holiness is a relational and not a forensic term. Imagine a wedding ceremony in which the groom vowed, “I will kiss you twice daily, with one kiss lasting at least two seconds. I will make at least one statement implying thoughtfulness every morning. I will provide three hugs per week of medium snugness, lasting three seconds…” Such a vow does not arouse love. Rules never do. While a loving husband may perform all those actions, they are the results of the relationship, not the rules that establish it.

Our tendency to emphasize rules over relationships and correctness over community means that we are often willing to sacrifice relationships on the altar of rules. … In fact, it often seems as if God is sovereign over everything except his rules. (Pg. 173-174)

Even when we talk about God’s love, we want it to be doled out with equal servings for all. However, that expected love would be the exact opposite of how Christ invited His followers to show their love for him. Because relational love is intimate and unique to each relationship, not an automatically dispensed rule that happens when one party says or does just the right thing.

Our Western worldview dislikes an image of the Christian life that implies there are different rules for me and for you. The very wording — “different rules for me and for you” — rings of basic unfairness. For wealthy and self-righteous would-be disciples, Jesus pointed out the exacting requirements for righteous living (Luke 18:18-23), but to those weary of sin he called his way “easy” and “light” (Matthew 11:30). Jesus required one disciple to sell everything to follow him (Matthew 19:21), yet he apparently hadn’t required Peter to do so (John 21). He asked one disciple to leave his family (Matthew 8:21-22), but apparently he did not make the same request of Lazarus, Mary and Martha (John 11). It seems that rules applied, except when they didn’t (Pg. 170). ¹

Conclusion

Why did God, from the beginning, give us agency? Love. He wants authentic relationships that are freely chosen. We need agency to love as there is no other way but freedom that allows two parties to become mutually and independently one. If I had to pick a word to put in front of agency, I would use relational agency. It is not so much about the right or wrong of our choices² but the relationship we build with God and our fellow man from those choices. We love God because we choose, not because there is no other choice.

• love
• agency
• voices