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The Golden Rule The Sermon on the Mount Study Study By Bible Study Session 25 Lorin L Cranford Matthew 7:12 : Topic 24.0 cranfordville.com Greek NT Gute Nachricht Bibel NRSV NLT Pavnta ou\n o{sa eja;n qev Behandelt die Men- In everything do to oth- Do for others what you lhte i{na poiwsin uJmin oiJ schen so, wie ihr selbst ers as you would have would like them to do for a[nqrwpoi, ou{tw kai; uJmei von ihnen behandelt them do to you; for this you. This is a summary poieite aujtoi: ou|to werden wollt – das ist es, is the law and the proph- of all that is taught in the gavr ejstin oJ novmo kai; oiJ was das Gesetz und die ets. law and the prophets. profhtai. Propheten fordern. The Study of the Text:1 1. What did the text mean to the first readers? The Golden Rule. That is what it is called, and has been so named in the English language since the middle 1700s. The title originally pointed to the New Testament texts of Matt. 7:12 and Luke. 6:31,2 which are the two places in the Bible where this principle is stated directly. The wording is slightly different between these two passages, but the essential concept is the same. This will be examined in our study to help understand more precisely the teaching of Jesus at this point. But in the last few centuries, especially with the studies in comparative religions, the title has been applied to similar expressions found in most of the major religions around the world. Consequently, in modern western oriented marketing dynamics the label ‘golden rule’ has come to be applied to a wide variety of products and principles that have no religious orientation at all.3 The Golden Rule has even had its critics in modern times.4 Consequently, it merits careful study in order to correctly understand the concept as taught by Jesus. The broader historical background of its existence both in the ancient world and in the modern world will provide a good background against which we can see the distinctive emphasis of Jesus. For believers in Jesus, this understanding becomes the standard by which conduct and treatment of other people must be measured. Historical Context: Understanding the concept of the Golden Rule both in our world and in the ancient world is important to correct understanding of Jesus’ teaching in Matt. 7:12 and Luke 6:31. Because these two very different worlds had very different ways of looking at other people, some clarity of emphasis here is also helpful. With- out such understanding one can easily import false understandings of the Golden Rule from either of these worlds into the assumed teaching of Jesus. This is ‘eisegesis,’ reading meaning into a text from the outside, 1Serious study of the biblical text must look at the ‘then’ meaning, i.e., the historical meaning, and the ‘now’ meaning, i.e., the contemporary application, of the scripture text. In considering the historical meaning, both elements of literary design and historical aspects must be considered. In each study we will attempt a summary overview of these procedures in the interpretation of the scripture text. 2Luke. 6:31 (NRSV): “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (kai; kaqw;" qevlete i{na poiw'sin uJmi'n oiJ a[nqrwpoi poiei'te aujtoi'" oJmoivw") 3A wide variety of uses of this label can be found. The Golden Rule Store was the original name of the J.C. Penney chain of department stores. A small airline company in Kyrgyzstan is named the Golden Rule Airlines, as well as the Golden Rule Insurance Company in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA). Fermi’s golden rule is a label for a formula in quantum mechanics. 4“Many people have criticized the golden rule; George Bernard Shaw once said that “The golden rule is that there are no golden rules”. Shaw also criticized the golden rule, “Do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.” (Maxims for Revolutionists). “The golden rule is a good standard which is further improved by doing unto others, wherever reasonable, as they want to be done by.” Karl Popper (The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 2) This concept has recently been called “The Platinum Rule”[42] Philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Bertrand Russell have objected to the rule on a variety of grounds.[43] The most serious among these is its application. How does one know how others want to be treated? The obvious way is to ask them, but this cannot be done if one assumes they have not reached a particular and relevant understanding.” [“The Golden Rule: Criticisms,” Wikipedia Encyclopedia online] An electronic copy of this study can be accessed at http://cranfordville.com/Cranfordville/Reources.htm. These are located under IBC Cologne/Bonn Bible Studies. The study is free and provided as a ministry of C&L Publishing, Inc. Page 1 of Bergpredigt Study rather than ‘exegesis,’ reading meaning from within the text to apply to the outside. True Bible study is about exegesis, and abhors ‘eisegesis.’ The Golden Rule in the Modern World. Perhaps one of the major aspects of the Golden Rule in the modern world has been its ‘secularization.’ That is, the religious significance of the concept has been largely discarded in favor of a commercial interpretation and application of the idea. This modern usage of the Golden Rule is a classic example of the falseness of proof-texting whereby the words spoken by someone are lifted out of their original context and given entirely new meanings, almost all of which have no connection to the meaning originally intended by the speaker or writer. Such awareness is critical to understanding Matthew 7:12. Two major issues regarding the modern use of the Golden Rule: the twisted use of it in western society, and the criticism of it as inadequate. Twisted Use. This principle is understood as an ethical code without any particular religious foundation that imposes boundaries of meaning.5 This ‘slogan,’ “Do unto others...,” exists independently of any particular context in modern society. Consequently when some particular context is applied more specific meaning takes place through the influence of the context. A variety of contexts exists where the principle has been applied. They tend to fall into either a religious or a non-religious setting. In the religious setting, a variety of forms of the Golden Rule have been tracked down in modern studies of religious traditions. In 1993, a conference on world religions drafted a document called “Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration,” which identified four supposed affirmations of shared principles essential to a global ethic.6 The golden rule as a contextless principle was used as a foundation for these concepts. The social radicalism of the details of the proposal have severely limited the influence of this proposal on a large scale.7 Most world religions contain some kind of a ‘golden rule’ statement, although most are formulated from the negative, i.e., the ‘Silver Rule,’ perspective.8 For example, “That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another,” coming from ancient Egyptian texts about 1080 BCE. The religious oriented expressions can be found in the ancient world among the Indians, Greeks, Jews, and Chinese, mostly in the negative formation (Silver Rule) rather than in the positive formation (Golden Rule).9 In general the various formulations 5Note the description in “The Golden Rule (ethics),” Wikipedia online: “The Golden Rule is an ethical code that states one has a right to just treatment, and a responsibility to ensure justice for others. It is also called the ethic of reciprocity. It is arguably the most essential basis for the modern concept of human rights, though it has its critics.[2] A key element of the golden rule is that a person attempting to live by this rule treats all people, not just members of his or her in-group, with consideration. The Golden rule appears to have an evolutionary basis, see Reciprocity (evolution).” 6These are: 1. Commitment to a culture of non-violence and respect for life 2. Commitment to a culture of solidarity and a just economic order 3. Commitment to a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness 4. Commitment to a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women For details see “Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration,” Wikipedia online. Religious leaders from over 40 different faith traditions initially signed the declaration. Since then a growing number of political and religious leaders have pledged support of the concepts. The detached golden rule played a formative role in shaping of these concepts, since at least the idea of a golden rule is common across a broad spectrum of religious traditions. 7Both communism and material capitalism are condemned as inherently unjust and unworkable as political and social philosophies. A rather naive ‘feel good, think good thoughts’ philosophy of living is set forth with external controls of government and religion being minimized if not eliminated completely. For details see “Solutions” in “A New Plan of Action,” globalpublic.org. However noble sounding such language appears, it is doomed to failure and to become highly destructive to human society because of its ignoring the human predicament of sinfulness. 8See “Religion and Philosophy” in “The Golden Rule,” Wikipedia for specific examples of eleven different modern faith expressions. 9As an example, note the following formations in ancient Greek philosophy among the different Greek philosophers: 1.
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