Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12
The Golden Rule. So simple, yet so misunderstood and abused!
How is it simple? It is contained in one short verse. It consists of only 12 of 21 words in the one verse (in the NJKV). The obvious meaning is simply that we must treat others as we want others to treat us. Simple? Yep!
Misunderstood and abused? Yep to that too! How is it misunderstood and abused? The concluding eight words are routinely twisted. Jesus did say, “for this is the Law and the Prophets.” He did not say this is ALL that was said by the Law and the Prophets. It is a summary, not a replacement of the Law. It is a summary of an important, but secondary aspect of the Law and the Prophets—not the sum total of the Law and Prophets.
When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment (Mark 12:28-31), He did not state the Golden Rule. He said the greatest commandment is to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. He then identified the second greatest commandment as “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” The Golden Rule is a parallel way of stating the second greatest commandment—not the greatest, much less the entire Law. The Golden Rule is a summary of the commandments regarding horizontal relationships (with other people). It says nothing about loving God, which the greatest commandment regarding our vertical relationship (with God). It doesn’t even mention God.
Yet people who do not care about loving God repeatedly insist that there is no sin unless it hurts another person. Beside the fact that no one has ever lived a life without ever hurting anyone else, even if a person ever did, that person is not sinless because everyone has certainly broken the greater commandment to love God perfectly!
It is also understood that loving one’s neighbor is downstream of loving God, since the correct motivation and power to love our neighbors is by loving God first. And why do we love God? Because He first loved us! (1 John 4:19)
Next: The Golden Rule in the context and flow of the Sermon on the Mount.