Summary
The Golden Rule
"Do to others as you would have them do to you" Luke 6:31. With these words Jesus gives a paraphrase of the second great commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18). It is one of the most familiar sayings of our Lord, and yet its distinctively Christian shape is easily missed.
Most religions and philosophical systems contain some version of the Golden Rule, but they typically state it in the negative: don't do to others what you would not want done to you. The rabbi Hillel taught, "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to someone else." Other ancient teachers said much the same thing. Stated this way, the rule is comparatively easy to keep—it requires only that we refrain, that we hold back, that we do nothing. Jesus, however, states the rule in the positive. He calls us not merely to avoid harm but to act, to take the initiative, to step toward our neighbor with concrete good.
A second temptation is to tweak the rule into a principle of reciprocity: "I will do to others as they do to me." Jesus directly confronts this in the verses that follow: "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them… even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount" Luke 6:32-34. Reciprocity is powerful—studies of restaurant tipping show how strongly human beings feel the pull to repay even small kindnesses—but it is not Christian love. Unbelievers practice reciprocity every day. The Lord calls His people to something higher.
That higher way is captured in Luke 6:35: "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return." This is the Golden Rule of Jesus—selfless love that does not depend on the response of the other. The Good Samaritan illustrates it perfectly Luke 10:25-37. Where the priest and Levite passed by, the Samaritan bound the wounds of a stranger, carried him to an inn, and paid for his care—with no expectation of repayment, no calculation of return. He simply asked, "What would I want done for me?" and acted accordingly.
The power for such love does not arise from within us. It flows from the gospel itself. "While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" Romans 5:10. God loved His enemies—us—sending Jesus to bear our sin and restore the broken relationship. Having been so loved, we are made "children of the Most High" Luke 6:35—a status conferred at our Baptism. We do not keep the Golden Rule to earn salvation; salvation is already ours in Christ. We keep it as the outpouring of His love through us, empowered by the One who is "kind to the ungrateful and the evil" and merciful to all.
This positive, non-reciprocal love is one of the chief ways Christians bless others, as taught in "The Golden Rule" 2-21-21. In a world quick to withhold and quick to repay in kind, the followers of Jesus are called to do good, to lend, and to love—expecting nothing in return—and so to leave a blessing wherever they go.
Video citations
- "The Golden Rule" 2-21-21 — Let us pray. Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks now for this time when you're word, your word is truth. We praise you, O Lord, for the treasure that you have placed in our hands for Holy…