The Golden Rule

Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31, identical verses, are referred to as the Golden Rule. But it has been misquoted often, as in the following cartoon.

Other variations include, “Don’t do to others what you don’t want to be done to you,” “Do unto others as they do to you,” “Don’t do unto others unless they do it first,” and “Do unto others before they do unto you.”

The Lord Jesus’s words were as follows:

“What you wish that people will do for you, you do for them instead.” (Luke 6:31)

He explained:

“If you love those who love you, what is graceful (charis)? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what is graceful (charis)? Even sinners do that.” (Luke 6:32–33)

Loving someone who loved them wasn’t difficult. Instead, loving an enemy, someone who hated them, was (Luke 6:27–30). If someone wished that their enemy loved them instead of hating them, they must start by loving the enemy who hated them in the first place. “What you wish that people would do for you” – that was, they would love them – “You do for them instead,” i.e., you love them. If someone wished their enemy wouldn’t mistreat them, they should have stopped mistreating them.

Jesus was saying that the oppressed were equally guilty as the oppressors because their hearts weren’t pure. They were, for example, loving those who loved them. That wasn’t graceful (from charis “grace”). Gracefulness began with self-examination of whether they loved their enemies unconditionally.

The essence of the Golden Rule was this: one does not expect anything in return. I’ll repeat it: Doing something nice, i.e., graceful, without expecting anything in return! That’s the Golden Rule. (The minute we hope that our enemy will change by our kindness, it is no longer the Golden Rule.)

The Lord illustrated it with further examples:

“If you lend money from whom you hope to receive back what you’ve lent, what is graceful (charis) about that? Even sinners lend to receive back what they lent (6:34). Again, love your enemies and do good to them and lend them without expecting it in return. Then, your reward will be great, i.e., you will be children of the Highest [God] because he is kind (chrestos) to the un-graceful and evil.” (6:35)

Graceful life that imitated God did not expect anything back in return, yet gave generously and graciously. The ultimate reward was being like the Highest God, who was kind even to the un-graceful and evil people. The Lord would illustrate this elsewhere with God sending rain and sunshine on the good and evil. The reward for the Golden Rule wasn’t the enemy loving you back but being like the Heavenly Father.

The honeybees practice the Golden Rule – they keep producing honey, even after people take them and do not repay them. The milking cows and fruit trees imitate God and follow the Golden Rule – keep giving without expecting anything in return.

If we think we are practicing the Golden Rule and expect something in return for our grace or kindness, it is not the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule doesn’t expect anything in return. Then we will be like our Heavenly Father, generous to the core!