What is the right thing to do? Jesus gives you a brief standard, called the Golden Rule, which is always available for you to use. It is found in Matthew 7:12.
Do to others what you would have them do to you. Jesus gives the Golden Rule. This principle is found in other religions, usually in negative form. The Rabbi Hillel said, “What is hateful to yourself do not to your neighbor; for this is the whole law, and all else is its exposition.” Confucius: “Do nothing to your neighbor which afterward you would not have your neighbor do to you.” The bare negative is certainly far less than what Jesus teaches. Doing nothing at all might satisfy that form. But it is probably not fair to assume that the negative does not expect the positive as well. But this is not a principle that equalizes all religions. What Jesus says is profoundly deeper than what other teachers said. Too often people treat this simply as a principle to use because it works. But Jesus ties it in with the attitude and actions of your Father in heaven.
Don’t forget the context! Remember how God has treated you. Notice the “so” or “therefore,” which ties the saying with the preceding context. It follows the reference to the Father’s treatment of his children. We are evil, v.10. Yet the Father has given good gifts to us. The ultimate instance of this gracious behavior is the Father giving his Son to be your Savior. Your salvation rests in the undeserved, unmerited love of the Father. That gives the whole principle a God-centered, rather than man-centered focus.
With that in mind, treat others as you would like to be treated. Do to others just what you would have them do to you. That principle is your brief guide to ethics. Ask yourself how you would like to be treated, and use that as the guide for your actions. This principle, like the Beatitudes, runs contrary to our sinful human nature. You can practice it only as you trust in the Savior. Don’t forget the breadth of what Jesus says. This applies to everything. Run this check before you make important decisions. Ask yourself how you would like to be treated by your family—and then act that way towards them. Remember it as you drive your car. It is in connection with the 8th Commandment that the Heidelberg Catechism refers to the Golden Rule. It connects the Rule with your wallet. Remember that the earth is the Lord’s, Psalm 24:1; 1 Corinthians 10:26. These texts have been misused as arguments against private ownership of property—but if so, they should apply equally to the state. The earth is the Lord’s, but he has made you his steward. Ownership of property, and hard work to earn property, are not sinful. You reflect the dominion God has over his creation. Do not steal on any level. God’s Word must be applied to the state as well as to individuals. Inflation of the currency reduces the value of money for elderly retirees, see Leviticus 19:35–37. Governmental indebtedness means a huge burden for the next generation. Uncontrolled personal indebtedness and non-payment of debt break this commandment. The “get rich quick” appeal of the government operated lottery takes from those least able to afford it. Do not rob God by withholding your tithe, Malachi 3:7-10. Do not defraud your neighbor. Examples include: “borrowing” from your company, wasting time on the job, shoplifting, stealing someone’s reputation through gossip. Doing nothing can defraud, Deuteronomy 22:1–4. Work instead of stealing, Ephesians 4:28. Replace the taking of other’s property with earning so that you can give to those in need. Recognize the joy of working to the glory of God. And a nearer purpose is to give to the needy. As Jesus reflected on Mary’s extravagant gift of ointment, he connected the service of him with meeting the needs of the poor, John 12:8. Also see Matthew 25:40, where Jesus counts service you give to those in need as service to him. We face difficult economic times, and as a nation we tend to look, not first of all for the Lord’s mercy, but for a government fix. Whatever the causes, and whatever the way out, as God’s people you can give generously to those in need.
The Golden Rule may be simple, but its implications are comprehensive. Keep the whole Word of God! This is the Law and the Prophets. The Law refers to the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, which contain not only the Ten Commandments, but the more detailed commands which applied those basic principles. It includes the account of God creating the world, making us, male and female in his image, and establishing a covenant relationship with his people. The Prophets means the writings of the prophets, the men who summoned God’s people back to covenantal fellowship and obedience. Together the terms include the entire Old Testament Scriptures. When Jesus says that this golden command is the Law and the Prophets, he certainly is not substituting these few words for the entire Scriptures. He did not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them, Matthew 5:17. The Golden Rule summarizes the entire requirements of your covenant God. It puts it in simple form for you to remember. This simplicity contrasts with the rabbinic multiplication of commandments, and their adding human regulations to them.
“When we look to God and realize something of the truth about Him, and ourselves in our relationship to Him, the one thing we are conscious of is that God never deals with us according to our deserts…. God gives us good things in spite of our being what we are…. He sees us as a loving Father. He looks upon us n His grace and mercy. So He does not deal with us merely as we are. He deals with us in grace.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the Sermon on the Mount, p. 215
The Golden Rule calls you to entrust yourself to the God who speaks in the Law and the Prophets. The simplicity of Jesus’ summary puts your focus on the Lord who gave his Law and who calls you to live in covenantal obedience to him. The Law is not a series of arbitrary and impersonal commands. Rather, it is the standard of the Kingdom of heaven, the will of the Great King. It is the will of your Father in heaven, calling you to live as his child.
“He [our Lord] once more made the voice of the law the voice of the living God, who is present in every commandment, so absolute in his demands, so personally interested in man’s conduct, so all-observant, that the thought of yielding to him less than the whole inner life, the heart, the soul, the mind, the strength, can no longer be tolerated.”
Geerhardus Vos, The Kingdom of God and the Church, p. 61
This Father not only expects your obedience, but because he knows you are, by nature, evil, he sends his Son to be your Savior. Ultimately your treating others as you would like to be treated by them is an expression of grateful trust in the Savior he has provided.
This Golden Rule may be brief, but it does nothing less than call you to live as a grateful child of your heavenly Father.