The Golden Rule, Part 1 | God’s Love is the Golden Rule

Luke 6:31

 “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” You probably were taught that by your mother when you were growing up by a very, very wide margin, the best known of Jesus sayings, in any of his teachings. “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” You will find the golden rule in both Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31. We’re studying Luke’s Gospel, so you can turn to Luke 6:31 in your Bibles, that’s where we’re going to be for a while. But in Luke 6:31, we read “and as you wish that others would do to you do so to them.”

Over in Matthew’s Gospel, which a Gospel that’s aimed at the conversion of the Jewish people, Matthew records for his fellow Jews, what else Jesus said, which was very important, especially in a Jewish context. In Matthew 7:12, it says, “so whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets.” That is to say the golden rule summarizes the teaching of the law of Moses, and all the divinely inspired writings of the Old Testament prophets as well. That is quite a claim, quite a summary statement by Jesus Christ, and that makes this golden rule weighty, very, very far reaching, as we will see this morning.

As I anticipated, studying and preparing for this message, I knew that I would be exposed to the fact that the New Testament is not the only place where we find the golden rule written, or some version of the golden rule written. What I did not realize, and what I did not anticipate is how far and wide we find that principle that’s embodied in the golden rule perfectly. I didn’t know how far and wide I’d find it, or how universally admired that principle is. From religion, and philosophy to politics, from Emperor to commoner, and everyone in between, everyone admires the golden rule and acknowledges it as the pinnacle, the paramount ethical virtue.

Now, I’ll quickly add that they don’t, that doesn’t mean that they always truly understand what they appreciate, especially as we have been informed by the very rich context of Jesus teaching on love. And though they recognize the excellence of what they hear, the world doesn’t understand the deep, deep wisdom of the golden rule at all. Very few people do, but we, beloved, are among the privileged few. These are things which 1 Corinthians 2:10 tells us that God has revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. So we are going to get an appreciation of that privilege that we have of understanding his truth and understanding the golden rule in all its glory and beauty. We have that privilege this morning.

What I’d like to do is start by providing a short explanation of the golden rule. I want to set it squarely in its context so we see it most clearly. It’s kind of like a diamond that set among the gems of a wedding ring. And you see that diamond’s beauty when it’s set off against those other rich gems nd that’s how we’re going to look at it this morning in its context. Any faithful explanation of this golden rule is going to require us to read the verse in its context. So let’s get right into this first point by reading and we’re going to read from verse 27 to verse 35.

Jesus said, “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek offer the other also. And from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you, for even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great. You will be sons of the Most High for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”

You may notice that the golden rule Luke 6:31, it’s sort of like a, like a pivot point that in that opening section of the main body of Jesus sermon, Jesus teaches about the true nature and the true character of divine love, which sets the standard and is gonna be the pattern for all true disciples. Then Jesus summarizes what he has just said about love with this principle of the golden rule, which has to do with using subjective reflection. We’ll talk more about that.

But then he immediately pivots from that golden rule to teach the true motivation for practicing the golden rule, which is a summary of love. That’s what you see what we just read in verses 32 to 35. Practicing the golden rule, as we see in those verses, verses 32 to 35, has nothing to do with self interest. Rather, practicing the golden rule is about the all surpassing reward of God, for all of those who take pleasure in manifesting his glory.

Again, Jesus is speaking, verse 27, he’s speaking to those who hear, this instruction is for those who are counted as the blessing, namely, the poor, verse 20, or those who hunger and weep now, verse 21, those who are hated, excluded, reviled and spurned on account of the Son of Man, that’s who this is for. Like the Son of Man, they are the ones who endure all that because their joy is wrapped up in being called sons of the Most High. When that is ascribed to them, that they are sons of the Most High, that’s enough for them. Let the world deal out all the wrath and fury and persecution that it can, if I am counted as the son of the Most High, that’s enough for me. As long as I’m able to reflect his character, as long as I’m able to manifest his glory, that is my reward. That’s who this is for.

Because of that, people like that, their reward is great in heaven, they’ve counted themselves not interested in having the rewards of this earth, but rather just living for the glory of God and so God rewards them with what they didn’t ask for a great reward in heaven, true sons enter into their true father’s heavenly reward.

So Luke 6:31, the golden rule, it’s a pivot point, summarizing Jesus’ teaching on love and then providing a practical guide to obey, pointing us to a sound hopeful, reliable, steadfast motivation for our obedience. That is the reward and pleasure of our father in heaven. Now, with that, just as a introduction or summary, let’s get a little more specific and make, make some observations about this most memorable statement, the golden rule, which really summarizes the kind of love that we’re to practice, look at it again, they’re in verse 31.

“And as you wish that as you would do to you, do so to them.” As you wish that others would do to you do so to them; that is a statement that has to do with your judgment, right? The ESV translation, it says “as you wish that others would do,” the verb translated, would do, there is in the subjunctive mood, and it can just as easily be translated as, should do. So I think it’s more clearly rendered, as you wish or as you desire, as you want, as you desire that others should do, do likewise to them. That’s what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is appealing here to our internal innate sense of moral judgment. And the way it’s stated, it’s intended also to provoke our empathy, our empathy, our concern for others.

First, let’s talk about your judgment. Like all people, all of you have an immediately identifiable sense of right and wrong. In fact, under the right circumstances, that is, somebody just asked you the question, you’re able and willing to provide your opinion, oftentimes about moral judgment, aren’t you? You know what ought to happen in any given situation and what ought not to happen? You can look at a news story and see if that’s right or wrong, according to your judgment. You know, what should and should not be what ought to be and ought not to be? Everybody understands that. And some of us are all too willing to give our opinion on that, aren’t we?

But not only that your sense of moral judgment and moral obligation seems to be clearest when other people are in view, right? That’s when it’s at its sharpest is when you’re thinking about others. That’s, it’s, it’s exercised at that point with keen interests, when others are in view, and then add this, when your own personal interests are at stake. So we can judge a situation over there with somebody else and we can make good right and wrong judgments about whether or not that ought to happen. Right? When it has to do with that person doing whatever he or she is doing, now, on my property with my stuff, all of a sudden my interest in that moral question becomes keenly personal, intimately important to me, right? We’re easily blind to our own moral faults, our own obligations, our own sense of duty. And all the while we’re keenly aware of the moral faults and obligations of other people, and even more so, even more intimately, when it has to do with us. We may not like to admit it, but that is true of us, isn’t it?

Now, this is not to say, Jesus is certainly not saying that our moral judgments are infallible, they’re not but everyone has a sense of moral judgment. Why? Because God created them that way. All of us are created with a moral judgment. Everyone without exception exercises that sense of moral judgment all the time. It’s how we live our lives. It’s how we think through every situation, every decision. And we’re particularly interested in exercising our moral judgment when it pertains to ourselves and to our own interests and all that Jesus is saying here and this principle is this: Turn that sense of moral judgment that you have, that everybody has, turn that sense of moral judgment to the advantage of other people, “as you wish that others should do to you do so to them.”

 Now, with the principle established, let’s make a few important contextual and grammatical observations. These are these observations, I think, are vital, not hard to see, but we need to remind ourselves because they’re vital to understanding the true meaning and the true implications of the golden rule for us as we’re going to practice it. First, remember the context we always say this context, context, context, Jesus is speaking here to his disciples. He is speaking to those who hear, he is speaking to those who he defined there in verses 20 to 23 as the poor, the hungry, the weeping and the despised. This golden rule has to do with Jesus’ people, using their moral judgment as a standard of how to treat others.

So contrary to popular wisdom, unbelievers are utterly unable to practice this rule. They have the internal sense of moral judgment, but they do not have a regenerate nature. They do not have the power of indwelling, power of the indwelling Holy Spirit both to will and to do according to God’s pleasure, they don’t have any of that. Only believers have that internal change. Only believers have the internal indwelling Spirit of God, who teaches them, and trains them, and motiv, motivates them, and rebukes them, and exhorts them, and encourages them, and illuminates the truth to them. Therefore, only believers can really practice the golden rule.

Second observation, the golden rule is not, as it is commonly known, and as it is widely purported to be, it is not an ethic of reciprocity. That is to say, this is not about us, okay? This is not about us deriving some personal benefit. It’s not even about a benefit to wider society. This is not about practicing the golden rule so we can together create a peaceful, utopic, society where we can all live as one, you know, that’s not the issue here.

And again, if we keep the context in mind. This is a summary statement about our practice of a divine love, which extends even to our enemies, our enemies who stay our enemies. This isn’t about trying to produce a utopia by means of loving sentimentality and feeling. This is about raw practical love within the context of this dystopia, a world that’s ruined by sin. Again, the context gives the lie to the view that this is an ethic of reciprocity, there’s no self interest involved at all and this is about believers practicing this not unbelievers practicing this, okay?

Augustine points out how ridiculous this principle would be if we’re talking about unbelievers using their own sinful self interest to apply this as an ethic. Here’s what he says, “The thought occurred that if anyone should wish something wicked should be done for him and should refer this clause to that, as for instance, if one should wish to be challenged to drink immoderately,” I like how he puts that, “and to get drunk over his cups, and should first do this to the party by whom he wishes to be done himself, it would be ridiculous to imagine that he had fulfilled this clause.”

You get what he’s saying? “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” That is get them drunk, because that’s what they would like to do. Don’t use your sinful self judgment. This isn’t for unbelievers to fulfill themselves. We need to take everything from the context that we’ve already learned about love and fill in all the gaps that we may have with this in this summary statement.

The love that Jesus commands here is one that loves enemy. Verses 27-28, it loves by doing good to the hating, blessing, the cursing, praying for the persecuting. We don’t love to gain a favorable outcome, we can hope for that, but they are enemies because they’re sinfully and rebelliously oriented toward Christ. So until they’re regenerate, it is likely that all of our extension of Christ’s love to them is going to result in getting socked in the jaw, which is what it says in verse 29.

Looking ahead to verses 32 to 35. This pushes the concern for reciprocity, that is getting benefit derived to myself, this pushes it way out of the picture. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? Jesus’ saying it doesn’t have to do with you. Love your enemies, verse 35, do good lend, expecting nothing in return. That’s what God does for us on a daily basis, a minute-by-minute basis. That’s what Christ does for us. That’s what we do as we mimic him, follow his example. That’s what we do as sons in the Most High toward others, again, not an ethic of reciprocity. We expect nothing in return, except for maybe more punches in the jaw, maybe more muggings, maybe more things like that for the sake of Christ.

Remember, Jesus Christ is our perfect example of how to practice that kind of love. We know that he perfectly practiced this principle, using his moral judgment as the standard for how to treat others, and it ended with his crucifixion. He wasn’t naively hoping for reciprocity from his enemies, in kind, he wasn’t hoping naively that they would somehow be won over by his acts of grace and love, instead, he was demonstrating the love of God in order to redeem his enemies. If we’re following Christ’s example of how to practice love for enemies, then we have no concern about reciprocity. Our expectations and our attitudes are established as we observed, what happened to Jesus and how he acted in spite of that treatment.

Third thing, third observation, notice the positive way that Jesus has stated this. He doesn’t say here, “However you don’t want to be treated, don’t treat others in that way.” That is a good principle too, there’s nothing wrong with that principle. But the do no harm ethic, it just doesn’t go far enough. You can walk through life trying to passively avoid harming anybody else. That’s how a lot of people in our culture live. Instead, Jesus says, “Do to others.” This requires positive, thoughtful action, not just passive avoidance.

Fourth observation, the golden rule requires us to develop an essential quality which I mentioned earlier, it’s the quality or the ability to empathize with other people. Notice how Jesus starts by acknowledging the internal thought life that is, as you wish or as you want, as you desire and then he commands that there be a correspondence in external behavior, what we say what we do. In other words, obeying the golden rule is going to require us to think carefully, requires us to use our imaginations in a sanctified way. To empathize with other people, to get ourselves into their situation and think that through, what that must be like. To sympathize and to empathize with them, we’re even to empathize with our enemies, to sympathize with their situation, empathize with their thoughts and feelings.

Peter commends us to do that when we think about unbelievers, he says, “When you think about unbelievers and their treatment of you, remember that you at one time were also just like them foolish, lost, chasing different lusts.” Have sympathy have empathy for their situation, this starts here with our thought life. It requires us to get outside of ourselves, our own self interests, our own feelings, we have to get into other people’s situation, we have to use our imaginations in a righteous way, not to come up with evil, as is the case with sinners. We need to use our imaginations to put ourselves mentally in somebody else’s position, then act accordingly for the good of others, that is love.

Fifth observation here, you can’t see this in English. But the Greek verb tenses are very important here. Let me expand the translation, it’s going to sound a little bit awkward to your ears, but I just want to give you a sense of the verbal aspect here the there are present tense verbs here, okay? And they can be translated this way, this verse could be translated this way this is expanded. And as you are wanting that others should continuously due to you, you likewise, continuously, habitually, do so to them. Okay, that’s awkward, I know. But that gives you the idea. Jesus is talking about a continuous, habitual way of life. This is about how we always live as a regular habit of our Christian lives. This is what we’re to pursue.

And that sense of verbal aspect that continuousness gives us a sixth observation, which I think is profoundly vital. The golden rule, it provokes maturity in our moral judgment and as it provokes maturity in our moral judgment, it grows in potency, that is power, with that maturation of moral judgments. That is to say, the more you mature as a Christian, the more useful and effective and fruitful this rule becomes.

Think about it instead of using your moral judgment to indulge self interest. Instead of using your moral judgment for the sake of self-protection, self-justification, defending yourself, instead of using your moral judgment to condemn others and nurse your own self-centered wounds and petty offenses. Think about practicing using your moral judgment, not for the sake of self at all, but for the sake of other people for their good. As you do that, you’re going to grow in moral maturity, you’re going to grow in strength, you’re going to become wiser in your moral judgment and moral behavior. And that is a reinforcing principle, continuing to help you to grow and grow and grow.

In that sense, this summary statement about how to practice Christian love is one of the most potent statements about the pattern of Christian growth. You can find this repeated in different ways all over scripture. I like what Paul said in Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit,” but what, “in humility of mind count others as more significant than yourselves.” That’s the same thing stated differently. Okay, so those six observations, those six points, I think, help us to understand what the golden rule is about what it means.