The Golden Rule

Recently, I had a dialogue with a neighbor about the Golden Rule. She had no religious association and of course, she now knows that I am a Christian. Our beliefs in the existence of God are different. It is her belief that God does not exist because she cannot visibly see him. In the same breath, she claims that she tries to live her life by the Golden Rule.

I started reflecting on my neighbors comments and started thinking exactly what is the Golden Rule. I have read that the "Golden Rule" is the name given by Bible translators to a principle taught in His Sermon on the Mount. That is to say, the actual words, "golden rule" are not found in Scripture, nor are the words, "sermon on the mount" are also not found. These titles were later added by Bible translation teams when describing different passes of Scripture in order to make Bible study a little easier. (Got Questions Ministries)

I guess what startles me about my neighbor is the fact that she was raised as a Jew but does not believe in the existence of God. "Agnostic" I think is the term for those who don't believe in God's existence. Yet she states that she was raised by her father to believe in the Golden Rule.

I guess I am confused and it is apparent that the Golden Rule means different things to different people.

What most Christians call the Golden Rule, myself included, is mention in the book of Matthew, chapter 7, verse 12 which states: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

The gospel according to Matthew is in the New Testament.

In the Old Testament, a similar principle is found in Leviticus 19:18 which states, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." This is God speaking to His chosen people, the Jews, those who were lead by Moses.

Jesus knew the human heart and its selfishness. In fact, in the preceding verse, He describes human beings as "you who are evil." This is important to grasp because, as He continues to say in verse 16, human beings still know how to give good gifts to their children even though they are evil and selfish by nature. This verse leads into the Golden Rule which says to actively pursue and treat others as we would like to be treated in all things.

In Leviticus, we again see the implication that people are naturally self-lovers due to sin, so it gave the audience a place to start in how they should treat others and how they want to be treated.

As good as the Golden Rule is in its command to treat others, it also reminds us how selfish we really are! Jesus audience could relate to this command (as the Jews of Moses' day could) because people universally demand respect, love, and appreciation regardless of whether they deserve it or not. Jesus knew this and used it to show how His people should treat others: how they themselves wanted to be loved, respected, and appreciated.

What is my point? This rule to treat others with such high regard is also the second in the greatest of commandments, followed only by the command to love God Himself.

The Golden Rule as stated by Jesus is radically different in that it is an active, positive command to do good to others, as opposed to the negative, restraining commands to not hurt others.

The command to love is what separates the Christian ethic from every other religion's ethic. In fact, the Bible is so radical in its command to actively love that Christians are told to love even their enemies, something that other religions do not practice.

Obeying the Christian ethic and imperative to love others is a mark of a true Christian (John 13:35). In fact, Christians cannot claim to love God if they don't love other people as well.

If someone says, "I love God" and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20)

The Golden Rule encapsulates this idea and is unique to the Judeo-Christian Scriptures.

How can a person abide by the Golden Rule when they don't believe that God exists? The Golden Rule is about love. You must first love God. The problem isn't that such people prefer to think about "love." The problem is that they don't love God, who is a God of great love, nor can they understand His law, which is summed up in the command to love our neighbor as ourself.

We can't pretend to live by Golden Rule, which a command of God, if we don't believe He exists.

Thought for Today: God is real even if we can't see Him; He does exist, and He does love all of his creation, even those who doubt his existence.