Do Unto Others, Except When…
Our Lord Jesus taught the so-called Golden Rule in the Sermon on the Mount. He said in Matthew 7:12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” This is often referred to as one of the most practical and wise things Jesus taught. Even unbelievers appreciate its value.
For example, when Elon Musk was first interviewed by The Babylon Bee, he stated that he agreed with the principles of Jesus. He taught wisely. As one of his examples, he cited the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”
But what if what you want done unto you is immoral? I doubt this thought has entered Musk’s mind. Yet it is a good question, one we need to grapple with as Christians.
Let’s take a couple of examples.
Take Medically Assisted Dying, also known as euthanasia, but most properly described as state-sanctioned suicide. What if I bought the line of reasoning that dominates today’s discourse around this? If I had a terminal illness and there was only the prospect of a long-drawn out death with much suffering, I would want to be able to end my own life. Because I want that for myself, I should also strive to make it available for others. That’s the Golden Rule, right?
As another example, you might want something sexually immoral done to you. Therefore, I should do that same sexually immoral thing to others. After all, what I want is the standard by which I’m going to determine my treatment of others.
We can’t abuse the Golden Rule by bringing our sinful desires into the equation. For it to function as a moral guide, we have to line up what we would want done unto us with what God would want for us to want done unto us. Ultimately God and his law must be the arbiter by which I’m going to evaluate my desires and then how I treat others accordingly.
There are a couple of clues in the context of the Golden Rule pointing us in this direction. Most proximate, right before Matthew 7:12, Jesus is speaking about the generosity of our Father God. He loves to lavish good gifts on his children. Verse 12 begins with a ‘so,’ telling us there’s a connection to what precedes. God’s character is to be the standard by which we proceed to implement the Golden Rule, not only his generosity, but also his righteousness. But a little more distantly, Christ also teaches the Lord’s Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount. In that prayer, he teaches his disciples to pray the third petition, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt.6:10). The execution of God’s will (as expressed in his moral law) applies everywhere, in all our ethical choices. You shouldn’t put a wedge between the third petition and the Golden Rule – to do so puts a wedge between your will and God’s will.
This is what separates Christ’s teaching of the Golden Rule from the various other forms that have appeared before and after him. The Christian understanding of the Golden Rule is ruled by the will of God. In the same interview with The Babylon Bee, Elon Musk said he believes in “the god of Spinoza.” Baruch Spinoza was a philosopher who held to a form of pantheism – the natural world is divine. The Spinozan deity doesn’t express a moral will for humanity; it can’t because it isn’t personal. If you believe in the “god of Spinoza,” the Golden Rule is at the whim of your desires. Much could go wrong. Contrariwise, the Bible teaches that you ought always do unto others as you would have done unto you, except when your desires don’t accord with the law of God as expressed in the Bible.
