The Golden Rule--Part one

First of our Tuesday postings...

[happening every Tuesday, right here.]

The Golden Rule--part one

*This is a study on the "Golden Rule", and what it truly means.*

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Luke 6:31               " ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you."

In the Old Testament [Leviticus] Luke 6:31 is written written in a negative fashion:

“What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others.”

Or another version:

“What is hateful to you, do not do to neighbor.”

Jesus, on the other hand, states it positively:

“Do to others as you would have them do to you."

Not simply enough for us to be passive, or to be refraining from recrimination. The children of God are to be those who are initiative takers in this matter of love.

Even Plato, Aristotle, confusious and many others are for “The Golden Rule”. But the framework needed is absent in their beliefs.

The Old Testament laws: You shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, you shall not commit adultery..etc are summed up in one positive dimension:

“Do to others as you would have them do to you."

As well, in Romans 13:9-10 Paul uses the same terminology.

⁹ For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be [As if Paul doesn’t know, which clearly he does.] , are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

And then in the next verse Paul says,

¹¹ And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

Paul is saying [in a kind manner] wake up, be sure you are “loving” your neighbor as yourself. 

In other words….

We need to understand the rule not only positively, but we need to understand it precisely.

We need to see what it doesn’t say, as well as what it does say. And it does NOT say “Treat others as they treat you”.

Don’t treat them the way they treat you, treat them in the way you would like to be treated by them.

Make sure you do not view this statement in verse twenty-one as simply a requirement which an individual is able to fulfill in their own strength.

We should not regard this Golden Rule, so called, as a requirement which men and woman, by virtue of who we are and what we are, are able to fill this in our own strength.

Many people hear,

“Do unto to others as you would have them do unto you”.

Then they say,

“Now I am going to go out and have a very good try at that.”

But that is where we go wrong,

For we CANNOT do it!

We can make an attempt at it, but we cannot achieve it. 

What Jesus calls for here is not the natural response of natural men and woman. It is the super-natural response of ordinary men and woman. 

You may ask, "How then can I, who by nature am merely natural, respond in a super-natural way?"

Do you want to know the answer?

Stay tuned until next weeks post, where we will pick up right where we left off. 

Until then, if you have any questions or comments concerning this post, please contact us @ alacritymagazine.director@gmail.com putting as your subject "The golden Rule".

Grace and peace be to you

Charity for,