The Golden Rule

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” –Matthew 7:12 (ESV).

We know this statement from Jesus as the Golden Rule.  It stands as a summary of the Law (Torah) and Prophets (the remainder of the Old Testament).  And Jesus had said already in Matthew 5:17: “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.”  How do I want to be treated?  With respect, with love, with dignity?  Then I must treat others in that same way.  Behavior and human interaction are reciprocal.  If we are “nice” (a word we use to cover acceptable, respectable conduct) in our behavior and interaction with others, we can expect to be treated in that manner.  However, if our conduct toward others is undesirable, then how can we expect to be treated well?

“But,”  I hear arguments beginning to arise.  “In this day in which we live, it’s a ‘dog-eat-dog’ society.  People have forgotten how to treat each other with respect and dignity.  I can’t treat people with respect or they will run all over me.  It’s a cruel world in which we live!”

Yes.  We hear these negative evaluations of our times on every hand, as if this mind-set allows us—Christians—to conduct ourselves in the same manner as those who do not believe in the Lord Christ.  We forget that He told us, “You are light.  You are salt.  You are yeast.  You are My children.”  These metaphors Christ used to describe His followers indicate that we are to make a difference where we are.  We initiate Christ-like behavior.  In that way, the Golden Rule takes on a new and very purposeful dimension:  “Whatsoever you wish that people should do to you, do you to them,” for this is the Lord’s way.  The Christian is responsible for initiating the good and respectable treatment of others.  This should be practiced deliberately as a way of life for those who love the Lord God with all their  “heart and soul and mind and strength and their neighbor as themselves” (see Mt. 22:37-40 and Luke 10:27).  In the book of Tobit, a popular Jewish writing, the Prophet Tobias teaches his son, “What you hate yourself, do not do to any man.”  This gets near to the heart of the Golden Rule, a tenet we find not only in Jewish and Christian teachings, and pronounced by the Lord Himself, but in other writings as well.  In fact, many of our laws are based on the premise in the Golden Rule.  And certainly our Christian conduct should be grounded in a good understanding of it.

The term “Golden Rule” does not exist in the Bible.  It is the name designated by scholars to denote Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7:11 and Luke 6:31.  It is found in many religions, sometimes stated a bit differently.  But Jesus’ wording of it, and His command that we practice it, makes it special and unique, and of extreme importance in how we conduct our human relationships.  Pray that we may be more conscious of the truth of the Golden Rule and begin this very day to put into practice its positive approach to human relationships.  Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe has this comment:  “Remember that practicing the Golden Rule means paying a price.  If we want God’s best for ourselves and others, but others resist God’s will, then they will oppose us.  We are salt, and salt stings the open wound.  We are light, and light exposes dirt.” (New Testament Commentary.  Matthew.  2007, p. 26). Are we up to praying the price to follow the Golden Rule?