Articles

Do Ye Even So

By Justin Huffman

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12).

This is arguably the most famous passage from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and it is perhaps the only Bible verse you can still quote in almost any political or social setting without rejection or repercussion.

It is often called the “golden rule” and it is one of the few teachings of Jesus with which almost everyone agrees — at least on the surface.

Almost everyone will agree today that we should be thoughtful and considerate of others, maybe even practice “random acts of kindness” toward strangers. Tolerance — for every religion, every lifestyle, and every moral persuasion — is the god of our culture, and this verse is frequently quoted in order to encourage us to worship at her shrine.

However, this widespread and warm-and-fuzzy reception to Jesus’ command is sadly due to the fact that it is broadly misunderstood and misapplied. Consider at least three aspects of the golden rule which we often don’t bother to notice or to remember:

This Command Is Based On God’s Character

Matthew 7:12 begins with the word therefore, which points us back to the previous eleven verses in order to grasp the motivation for this command.

Jesus connects the golden rule with what precedes, and what precedes is a two-fold lesson concerning the character of God.

In other words, we are to practice the golden rule because God’s divine judgment teaches forbearance (verses 1 to 6), and because God’s goodness teaches kindness (verses 7 to 11).

In Matthew 7:1, Jesus instructs us to “judge not, that ye be not judged.” Clearly, then, God’s divine and righteous judgment should lead us to honest self-examination and a realization of our own failures and faults. Because whether or not you and I recognize the plank in our own eye, God sees and will impartially and uncompromisingly judge “according to every man’s work” (1 Peter 1:17). Paul uses this same motivation when he instructs the masters not to threaten their servants, “knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him” (Ephesians 6:9).

Christians—because we trust that we are forgiven because of grace and not our own merit—should be characterized by an acute awareness of own failings, not the failings of others.

Yet, this lesson is a double-edged sword for any worldly or secular person wishing to wield it, because it is forged in the fiery reality of God’s judgment — perhaps the single most offensive subject to any unbeliever.

It is true we should be willing to forbear and love and forgive others; but the reason we are to do this, Jesus intimates, is that God’s judgment will come on those who do not consider his righteous character and act accordingly.

Then Jesus tells us to persevere in prayer rather than in fault-finding (personal judging), by continually asking, seeking, and knocking at the throne room of God. But what are we to be asking, seeking, and knocking for? The parallel passage in Luke’s gospel shows the spiritual nature of God’s promise: “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (11:13). God promises God to those who ask! And so God—not bank accounts or promotions or even physical health—is to be the great object of our prayers.

Once you revamp the priorities of your prayer life according to that promise, the obvious question is: how will you apply the golden rule in your newly renovated prayer life? Surely you will not be content any longer, in your prayers for others, to merely ask for financial success or personal happiness, when the Holy Spirit himself is promised to those who ask for him?

No, the golden rule clearly corners you into spiritual prayers on behalf of others, as well as for yourself.

And be assured that the surest, fastest way to learn to love your aggravating spouse, or wandering teenager, or even constant enemy is to pray for their spiritual well-being! But it does require the recognition, first of all, that they need the moving of the triune God of the Bible on their behalf in order to help them out of their current state. This is not what most people think of when they say “do unto others and you would have them to unto you,” but, in context, this is clearly what Jesus means by the command.

Ultimately, what Jesus is saying is this: the second commandment hangs on the first. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind—humbled his righteous judgment and looking to him for our every need—and thus we will discover the strength, the motivation, the conviction to love others selflessly and self-crucifyingly! And part of loving them like that will mean loving them enough to pray for their spiritual welfare and the moving of God upon their lives.

This Command Is Positive and Comprehensive

Jesus’ statement of the golden rule is positive, not merely negative: do ye even so to them. Confucius had stated the negative version of this rule—don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you—and we often mistake this for Jesus’ words.

But the negative version is much easier than Jesus’ command.

Jesus tells us to actively be engaged in the lives of others for their welfare — which is why the same Jesus would then send his disciples out with the Great Commission, to preach the gospel to every creature. If Jesus is, indeed, God—as he claimed to be, and as Christians believe him to be—and if God is the one great object and center and satisfaction to be found in the universe, then the golden rule demands we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to others no matter what their religious background or personal persuasion.

This is why Jesus’ statement is not only positive, but also comprehensive: “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you.”

There is nothing you should be willing to pray for yourself, but not for others.

There is no truth you should embrace yourself, but not share with others. It is in perfect accord, then, with the golden rule that Paul would say to a great assembly of pagans and idolaters, “I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds” (Acts 26:29).

The golden rule does not prohibit us from the offense of the gospel.

Rather, the golden rule mandates personal evangelism, praying for and striving for the spiritual good of others according to the reality that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

This Command Is Law

Jesus says it himself in this verse: “this is the law.” James would likewise affirm: “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well” (2:8), and Paul pronounces that “he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). The golden rule is not merely a warm-and-fuzzy motto by which to live. It is a bedrock reality built into the cosmos, firmly grounded in the foundational reality that this universe has a Maker, that he is the God of the Bible, and that he has given us laws by which we are to live.

John Stott appropriately reminds us that “the symbol of the religion of Jesus is the cross, not the scales.” If we are saved, we are not saved because our good works outweigh our bad works. We are saved because Jesus fulfilled the demands of the law on our behalf. The grace of the cross, then, should be displayed in the way we deal with and interact with others, as the golden rule reminds us.

Our relationships, like our religion, should be symbolized by the cross (unconditional forgiveness) and not the scales (carefully weighing and criticizing the misdeeds of others).

But the cross also reminds us that the only way of salvation is Jesus Christ and the work he accomplished there. And so the golden rule—itself a part of the righteous law of God—points us to the reality that we can never save ourselves, that the only hope the world will ever have of escaping God’s righteous judgment according to his righteous law is the person and work of Christ on the cross. Our very inability to truly love others as ourselves should drive us to Christ for strength, forgiveness, and healing — and to share this good news with others in direct proportion to the joy we ourselves have found in it.

Related Resources

Be Thankful and Bless His Name

(Article)

The Source of Grace

(Article)

The Superiority of Grace

(Article)

The Patience of Job and the Goodness of God

(Article)

Jesus In Job

(Article)

Resource Categories

Use the categories below to find resources that interest you.