Tuesday 24th September
Read Matthew 7:12
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (NIVUK)
Strangely, there is debate about the significance of the first word in the Golden Rule! Calvin argues that the ‘So’ or ‘Therefore’ in many translations is entirely incidental. It is just a convenient way to start a sentence when the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ is clearly a carefully crafted collection of sayings of Jesus compiled by Matthew. The argument is that the Golden Rule is a single sentence that is best read on its own. Many commentaries have made the same observation, struggling to make the link between Jesus’ teaching on being judgmental (v1-6) and persistent prayer (v7-11) with a positive exhortation to actively do good to others.
The case against reading this as an isolated sentence actually rests on the very argument Calvin and many others propose. If it is carefully crafted then the ‘therefore’ is not accidental at all. Matthew is deliberately drawing our attention to the fact that this saying of Jesus in some way sums up the sermon’s intent. Jesus has outlined the many and varied radical ways in which the Law remains relevant today, with not a ‘jot or tittle’ left out (Matthew 5:17-20). He does this by capturing the intent of the Law perfectly and spelling out in clear and remarkable ways what it means for how we should live. Matthew is making clear that all of this can be summed up in this single principle. Go do good to others in precisely the way you want good done to you. How do you want to be treated?
