The Core Principle of Christ's Kingdom
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matt. 7:12, ESV.
I don't like that verse because it interferes with the way I run my life. And that's irritating.
Behind our distaste for the golden rule is our dislike of God's law, which plainly states that love to God and others is what true living is all about. And behind our hostility toward the law is an aversion to the God who gave it. Why doesn't He just mind His business and let us do our thing?
That question brings us to the real root of the issue. The reason we don't like the golden rule, the law, and even God, is that they interfere with the natural course of our self life, our sinful life outside of Christ. We must never forget that love of self is the center of sin. The sinful nature is entirely self-centered, whereas the golden rule and the law and God are other-centered. Those things interfere with our self-centered life. And that puts us at enmity with them.
The self-centered life says that if you like something, take it; if you desire someone else's spouse, use them; if it serves your purpose, lie to get what you want. Then along comes Jesus and God and Their meddlesome law and rule to frustrate our natural selves. It makes us feel downright hateful at times. That's what Jesus wants to put an end to. He wants to transform our hearts and minds so that we will be in harmony with God, His law, and His rule. He seeks to write the principles of His kingdom on our hearts. Then we will love the golden rule of Matthew 7:12.
With that rule, with its claim that doing the loving thing to others "is the Law and the Prophets," the Sermon of the Mount has come full circle from Matthew 5:17: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy [them], but to fulfill [them]."
Both Matthew 5:17 and 7:12 highlight the law and the prophets. Those texts bracket the central core of Christ's inaugural sermon. As a result, we must view the golden rule as a summary of Christ's interpretation of the meaning of the law and the prophets (the Old Testament), with Matthew 5:21-7:11 being His expansion of filling out of several principles inherent in that one-verse summary.
Both in the summary and in the commentary we discover that God's law is a way of living and thinking rather than a list of do's and don'ts.
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matt. 7:12, ESV.
I don't like that verse because it interferes with the way I run my life. And that's irritating.
Behind our distaste for the golden rule is our dislike of God's law, which plainly states that love to God and others is what true living is all about. And behind our hostility toward the law is an aversion to the God who gave it. Why doesn't He just mind His business and let us do our thing?
That question brings us to the real root of the issue. The reason we don't like the golden rule, the law, and even God, is that they interfere with the natural course of our self life, our sinful life outside of Christ. We must never forget that love of self is the center of sin. The sinful nature is entirely self-centered, whereas the golden rule and the law and God are other-centered. Those things interfere with our self-centered life. And that puts us at enmity with them.
The self-centered life says that if you like something, take it; if you desire someone else's spouse, use them; if it serves your purpose, lie to get what you want. Then along comes Jesus and God and Their meddlesome law and rule to frustrate our natural selves. It makes us feel downright hateful at times. That's what Jesus wants to put an end to. He wants to transform our hearts and minds so that we will be in harmony with God, His law, and His rule. He seeks to write the principles of His kingdom on our hearts. Then we will love the golden rule of Matthew 7:12.
With that rule, with its claim that doing the loving thing to others "is the Law and the Prophets," the Sermon of the Mount has come full circle from Matthew 5:17: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy [them], but to fulfill [them]."
Both Matthew 5:17 and 7:12 highlight the law and the prophets. Those texts bracket the central core of Christ's inaugural sermon. As a result, we must view the golden rule as a summary of Christ's interpretation of the meaning of the law and the prophets (the Old Testament), with Matthew 5:21-7:11 being His expansion of filling out of several principles inherent in that one-verse summary.
Both in the summary and in the commentary we discover that God's law is a way of living and thinking rather than a list of do's and don'ts.
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