This is part of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:12 and part of the Sermon on the Plain, Luke 6:31. It is an excellent rule to remember, not only for the kingdom community, but the whole world.
The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
I. Scripture
A. Matthew 7:12
12 Therefore, everything that you want people to do to you, in the same way you also do to them. For this is the law and the prophets. (Matt. 7:7-12)
B. Comments
This is the famous Golden Rule. I like how Olmstead translates it: “Therefore, all things—whatever you wish people to do to you—do also the same to them; for this is the law and prophets” (p. 145). His translation and mine add up to the same principle.
Rabbi Hillel, who lived just before Jesus ministered (AD 20), is reported to have been challenged to summarize the whole Torah standing on one leg. He said: “Do not do to your neighbor what is hateful to you.” One shortcoming to this negative phrasing (the word “not” is the negative) is that the goats in Matt. 25:31-34 could live comfortably and be acquitted at final judgment, with Hillel’s version. Recall that the goats did nothing to help their neighbors in need. Hillel’s version is too passive, while Jesus’s wording is active. The goats would not be acquitted by Jesus’s version. Look for ways to help people (Carson 223-24).
People say God wants only a relationship with us, and we don’t need to bother with rules. It is true that relationship takes priority over rules, but kingdom citizens can get confused without them.
Kingdom citizens need guidelines or parameters between which they must remain. This Golden Rule acts as guardrails between which we must drive our cars. When we scrape against the guardrails, we get out and look at the damage and say, “Well, that was dumb!” Then we get our cars fixed. We pay the price for it, too. The Golden Rule is just one rule among many others moral laws in the NT.
Further, it is naïve to think that we don’t need rules. We need them. But the church today is filled with confusing, contradictory, naïve teaching. The hyper-grace teachers are guilty of spreading this bad teaching. So, who can blame the churchgoer if he is confused? These teachers need to repent.
Jesus boils down the law here:
37 And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.’ [Deut. 6:5] 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 The second is like it. ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ [Lev. 19:18] 40 On these two commandments the whole law and prophets depend.” (Matt. 22:37-40)
Paul expresses the same idea when he writes that love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:8-10). He also says that the whole law is fulfilled in this one saying: “You are to love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:14). James singles out the love of neighbor as the “royal law” (Jas. 2:8). John writes that if we say that we love God but hate our brother, then we are liars; the love of God is not in us. Whoever loves God must love his brother (1 John 4:20-21).
But we still need moral law, found in both the OT and NT, for guidance and the parameters.
II. Scripture in Luke’s Gospel
A, Luke 6:31
31 And just as you want people to treat you, treat them likewise. (Luke 6:31)
B. Comments
This is the Golden Rule. Matt. 7:12 says the law and prophets (shorthand for the entire OT) is summed up in this general principle.
Bock (pp. 596-97) has an impressive list of parallel statements. Here are three out of his twelve:
Rabbi Hillel: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor; that is the whole Torah, while the rest is commentary.” (It is in the negation “not.” Not as insightful.)
Testament of Naphtali: “No one should do to his neighbor what he does not like for himself.” (this is also in the negative.)
Herodotus (3:142): I will not myself do that which I account blameworthy in my neighbor.” (This declaration is too personal and in the negative.)
All of the other nine statements show that in comparison Jesus stated his rule in the most emphatic and positive way. It is not in the negation. Jesus is not saying his disciples should not be left alone. Don’t live a sheltered life. Rather, the right golden rule seeks to look for good things to do for people out of concern for them. It is active, not passive, positive, not negative.
People ask how we should love our neighbor, and some teachers give complicated answers, pointing to this or that verse in an epistle. Those examples are true and right, but the Golden Rule is the most succinct statement, which will be reenacted in Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Be proactive. Be concerned. Do to others what you want them to do to you. That’s how you show love to the kingdom community and those outside it.
After reviewing the different versions in Judaism, Marshall is right:
Jesus is, therefore, not saying something new here, but it is significant that he stresses the positive form of the rule. The negative form is merely a rule of prudence: do not hurt other people lest they retaliate. The positive form is not prudential but absolute: this is how you are to treat others (positively), regardless of how they treat you … Jesus thus goes beyond the negative form, citing the rarer and more demanding form. The fact that the rule is found in Judaism in no way suggests that the present saying cannot have been uttered by Jesus. (comment on v. 31)
The goats who are judged in Matt. 25:31-33 could be acquitted with the negative Golden Rule seen in Hillel’s version. Recall that the goats did nothing to help their neighbors in need.
Finally, Matthew 7:12 says: “Therefore, everything that you want people to do to you, in the same way you also do to them. For this is the law and the prophets.” Paul expresses the same idea when he writes that love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:8-10). He also says that the whole law is fulfilled in this one saying: “You are to love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:14). James singles out the love of neighbor as the “royal law” (Jas. 2:8). John writes that if we say that we love God but hate our brother, then we are liars; the love of God is not in us. Whoever loves God must love his brother (1 John 4:20-21). And Jesus said to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind (Luke:10-27; Matt. 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-33). This sums up the entire law.
Both Luke’s version and Matthew’s versions of the Golden Rule are profounder than the others ones, in my view. It is good to boil down the whole law to these pithy sayings. We can avoid complications and focus on these simple truths. The negative rule (“don’t do”) will exempt you from doing good. The Good Samaritan would not have to act (Luke 10:25-37).
III. Application
A. Questions to Ponder
1. How might the Golden Rule (v. 12) influence your life for the better?
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SOURCES
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