The Commands of Christ, Part Eighteen

When studying anything in scripture, looking at context is incredibly important. While the focus for this lesson is Matthew 7:12, there are some other verses we’re going to reference as well because they help us paint a bigger picture of just how important what we’ve come to know as “The Golden Rule” really is. Is it about being kind to others, absolutely, but it’s also much bigger than that. Let’s dive in!

Matthew 7:12 (NASB20)

In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

It’s pretty easy, and pretty common for us to focus on the first half of that verse. Especially since this is coming just shortly after Christ gives us some pretty stern instructions on passing judgment. It’s easy to just wrap this into Jesus’ other teachings about how we should evaluate ourselves first, understand how we want to be treated, and then treat others the same way. And, in part, that’s exactly how it’s meant to be!

Remember, Christ taught us that the measure we use is the measure used against us (or for us, depends on what you’re measuring out, I suppose). I’ve heard a lot of interpretations of the Golden Rule. I think my favorite, and I wish I could remember where I heard it first so I could give proper credit is that this instruction is meant to be PROactive and not REactive. The difference? When you’re treating it reactively, you’re seeing how others treat you and then using The Golden Rule as an excuse for how you treat them.

“Well, if they are a jerk to me, they must want me to be a jerk to them, so it’s okay that I’m being one.” No! Wrong! Bad! The right way to look at this is, “I want everyone to be generous to me, so I’m going to be generous with everyone. I want everyone to speak to me with respect and kindness, so I’m going to speak to everyone with respect and kindness.” We are to use how we want to be treated to guide us on how we treat others. I think for most of us, for those who take it seriously, we know this.

I teach my kids that they can’t use the actions of others to justify what they do. “But he was mean first!” isn’t an excuse. “But he wouldn’t stop poking my arm!” isn’t an excuse. That’s hard for kids, and even adults to hear sometimes. We live in a culture that wants us to treat people the way we think they deserve, not the way we want to be treated. That’s hard sometimes and it’s easy to give ourselves a pass when it’s hard and make an excuse for our behavior. That’s why I feel compelled to hone in on the last part of this first, “…for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

“Whoa! Writer, dude,” you may be thinking, “I’m not Bible scholar, but I know the Golden Rule isn’t in the 10 commandments. You can’t call it the Law.”

For you, I say, I didn’t. Jesus did. He’s got that authority. He talks about the Law and the Prophets in two other places in Matthew. The first is in Matthew 5:17 (NASB20)

Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

Now, Jesus goes on to say after this first that not even the stroke of a letter will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. That binds us as Christians to follow whatever Christ tells us the Law is. The final time Christ mentions the Law and the Prophets is in Matthew 22:36-40 (NASB20)

Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

So, let’s look at the examples we have from these three instances in order. Firstly, we have Jesus telling us that He came to fulfill the law. Secondly, He tells us that treating others how we want to be treated IS the law. Christ lived up to that because he willingly gave himself up to save a world that hated him. Throngs of people who’d witnessed miracle after miracle shouted for His death. He knew it was going to happen. He even went so far as to ask God for another way, but made it clear He would follow through with the plan if it was the only way. Finally, Christ sums up the whole of the Law of Moses in just two commandments; the second of which requires us to love others.

Treating others the way we want to be treated is an act of love. It’s also not optional if we want to call ourselves Christians. How we treat people, especially sinners, appears to them as a reflection of God. If we are bullies, they will view God as a bully. If we are loving, they will view God as loving. We are not called to treat the world as it deserves. We are called to treat it with love.

While these three verses all speak to love being a core aspect of the Law and the Prophets, there’s one new commandment that Christ issues twice in John.

John 13:34-35 (NASB20)

I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples; if you have love for one another.

Then, later in John 15:12 (NASB20)

This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

When we wrap all of these together here’s what we see. Christ loved the world in a way it did not deserve because He came into the world to serve the Father, not Himself. Christ summarized the Law and the Prophets with three statements that referenced the Old Testament: treat others the way you want to be treated, love God with above everything else, and love our neighbors. He then took it a step further and issued a new commandment, that we treat each other with the same love He treated us.

I have an expectation that my family in Christ will treat me with the same love that my Savior would because it’s commanded from His lips. Since that’s the expectation I have of how I should be treated, I am bound by Christ to treat others with that same love.