Chapter 1 I Have Not Come To Abolish The Law 
The Gospel Explained By the Spiritist Doctrine

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18)

  MOSES 

There are two parts to the laws enacted by Moses; the Law of God, which Moses received on Mount Sinai, and the civil (or Secular) law, which he devised and mandated himself.  The first Law is unalterable; the second which was designed to suit the customs and character of people of the people of Moses' era, changes over time.

The Divine law is based on the  ten commandments. The Law presented in the Ten Commandments is for all times and all nations, a universality that gives the commandments a divine character.  

The other laws decreed by Moses were devised to instill, at times through fear, a sense of order in a people very much agitated and unorganized, whose behavior and prejudices were still freshly colored by many years of bondage in Egypt.  To sanction his authority, Moses did claim a divine origin for his secular laws.  In doing so, he followed a practice common among the leaders and lawgivers of many early peoples.  In those days authority over people was often exercised under the guise of a divine power.  Only the notion of a harsh God could impress a relatively unaware people, whose sense of justice and moral values were still very limited.  Today we realize that a God Who would include among the the Divine commandments "you shall not murder, and do no harm to your neighbors" wouldn't contradict that law by sanctioning any type of bloodshed. This only highlights the transient nature of Moses' secular laws. 

  CHRIST

Jesus didn't come to abolish the Law defined in the Ten Commandments.  He came to fulfill and amplify it, to clarify its real meaning, and to interpret it at humanity's level of progress at the time.  Those elements of the Moasaic code that emphasize love of God and fellow human beings constitute the very basis of Jesus' teachings.  

As for the secular laws, Jesus advocated fundamental reforms both in form and substance.  He fought constantly to correct the abuses of ritualistic worship and to right misconceived interpretations.  His call for reform could not have been any more revolutionary than when He reduced the Law to this one principle: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind; and Love your neighbor as yourself."  He said Himself, "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." [Matthew 22:37-39 ]

Furthermore, by the words "until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" Jesus wanted us to realize that the Law must be respected and lived in all its purity, over the whole Earth, and with all its amplifications and consequences.  What, otherwise, would have been the purpose of proclaiming the Law if it was going to benefit one nation or a few people?  All human beings are sons and daughters of God; they are without distinction in God's eyes and subject to the same care and attention.

 But Jesus wasn't simply a lawgiver who was offering His word as the one and final authority.  He also came to fulfill the prophecies that had foretold His coming.  He derived His moral authority from the exceptional nature of His spirit and from the Divine mission with which He was entrusted.  Jesus came to teach humanity that true life is not the one lived here on Earth but in the Kingdom of Heaven.  He came to show us the pathway to this Kingdom.  

Jesus taught us that the way to reconcile ourselves with God is by experiencing the events of our lives with an awareness of our higher purpose as human beings.  But He did not reveal everything.   On many subjects He limited Himself to offering only the initial part of the truth, explaining His silence about the rest by saying that human beings weren't capable yet of understanding the whole truth.   

He did talk about all things, but often in a veiled manner.  He knew that, in order for people to be able to assimilate the integral meaning of His words, new ideas and knowledge would first have to come into being that would provide the key to unlock the full extent of His doctrine.  These ideas would only come once the human spirit had reached a certain level of advancement.  Science, especially, still had an important part to play in the emergence and development of human knowledge, and it needed time to mature.

 THE SPIRITS' DOCTRINE

The Spiritist Doctrine is the new body of principles that reveals, through indisputable evidence, the existence and nature of the spirit world and its relationship to the material one.  The spirit world is presented not as a supernatural element but as one of the living and active forces of Nature, the source of a vast number of phenomena that even today we don't understand and so relegate to the realm of fantasy or miracles.  Christ hinted at such a development on several occasions, and it is because He only hinted that many of the tings He said have remained beyond our grasp or been wrongly interpreted,  The Spiritist Doctrine offers a key that will help explain all these matters.

The law of the Old Testament was personified in Moses; that of the New Testament in Christ.  The third revelation can't be personified, however because it isn't given by a human being but by spirits.  Having transcended the bondage of matter, spirits now constitute the heavenly voices which communicate to all parts of the world and through countless intermediaries.  The Spiritist Doctrine is, in this sense, the collective work of the illuminated intelligences of the spirit world.  This work brings us enlightenment and offers the means of understanding the destiny that awaits each of us on our return to the spirit realm.

Just as Christ said, "I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them," so it is with the Spiritist Doctrine, which has not come to defy Christian principles but to help carry them out.  The Spiritist Doctrine teaches nothing contrary to Christ's message.  Indeed, it develops that message, explains it in a way that everyone can understand, and makes plain that part of which it has been known, until now, only in an allegorical form.  The Doctrine has come at the predicted time to confirm Christ's foresight and to prepare the way for the realization of future things.  The Spiritist Doctrine is, then, part of the Christ's design.  As He said Himself, Christ presides over the spiritual renewal of humankind, laying the foundation of a more divine order on Earth.   

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Note: This chapter from Kardec's book is completed with teachings from three spirits ( An Israelite Spirit, received in Mullhouse, 1861; the spirit Fénelon, received in Poiters, 1861; and Erastus a disciple of the Apostle Paul, received in Paris, 1863) regarding the three revelations and the New Era brought by Spiritism.  Check it out in "The Gospel Explained by the Spiritist Doctrine".