Answer to the Question

Steve: Here is the answer to your question about the Golden Rule.

What is commonly known as the "Golden Rule" is kind of a shorthand term for one of Christ's teachings. The common way to define the Golden Rule is to "treat others the way you want to be treated." In the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew chapters 5-7 Christ says "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12) Dr. John MacArthur's study notes on this passage states "Versions of the Golden Rule existed before Christ, in the rabbinic writings and even in Hinduism and Buddhism. All of them cast the rule as a negative command, sugh as Rabbi Hillel's version, "What is hateful to yourself do not to someone else." Jesus made it a positive command, enriching its meaning and underscoring that this one imperative aptly summarizes the whole gist of the ethical principles contained in the Law and the Prophets." (pg. 1401 study notes in the MacArthur Study Bible copyright 1997 by Word Publishing (a division of Thomas Nelson). This same principle was brought up many more times in the New Testament (see Luke 6:31, Matthew 22:40, Romans 13:8, Galatians 5:14. and 1 Timothy 1:5). Basically all of these Scriptures command us to love our neighbors as ourselves. There are many more instances of this principle. Many of you are probably familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, this is a fine example of a man treating someone else the way he would want to be treated.

All of this is well and good, I treat other people nice...they like me...God likes me...or does He? Just treating people the way I want to be treated is not enough to get on good terms with God. Remember...God is holy, just and pure and cannot tolerate ANY sin whatsover. So what does that mean for me? I tried to be good right? Isn't that all God really wants...for us to make a good effort? After all none of us is perfect. The answer is NO. God is just, He cannot justly hide our sin under the rug and pretend that it never existed just because we "made a good effort." The truth is you are deceiving yourself into believing that you are even trying to please God. Romans 3:10-11 says "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS AFTER GOD." (emphasis added) We do not seek after God much less try to please Him on our own.

The only way to please God is to accept the subsitutionary death of Christ on our behalf for the forgiveness of our sins.

Romans 5:6-10 says that "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified (declared righteous) by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God throug the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." (New American Standard Bible)

1 John 5:11-12 states that "...God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

So in short the Golden Rule is a summary of the "ethical principles contained in the Law and the Prophets" as Dr. MacArthur so aptly put it. But all the ethics in the world will do nothing to bring you into a personal relationship with God. If you have any more questions please feel free to post them...I will do my best to answer them!! (That goes for any of you too!!)