"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12 (NIV)
As part of His Sermon on The Mount, Jesus said that men should always treat others as they would have others to treat them. He said that this is the essence of the Law and the teachings of the Prophets.
This verse is often referred to by the worldly phrase, "the golden rule", which states "do unto others as you would have them to do unto you." This quote is usually followed by the phrase "author unknown". All too often the world will not give Jesus, The Christ, the credit and respect which He is due. The golden rule is a paraphrase of a Bible verse which quotes Christ. Sometimes people will even give man credit for something that Christ said or did rather than recognize Christ. The real problem with this is that not enough believers are sufficiently knowledgeable about the Bible to refute the worldly individuals with the chapter and verse from The Word of God. Christ said that we should always behave, speak to, and act towards other individuals as we would like for them to behave, speak to, and act towards us. We are not to do unto them as they do unto us. We are not to repay evil with evil, but with love. (Romans 12:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:15, and 1 Peter 2:9) We are even to do good the those that hate us. (Matthew 5:44) We are to do good to, and love, our enemies. (Luke 6:27 and 6:35) We are to love others, even when we are not loved in return. If we only do good to and love those that do good to and love us, then we are no better than the lost sinners in the world. (Luke 6:33) By our being Christ-like to those who treat us poorly, we are "heaping burning coals upon their heads."
The Lord will deal with them for their bad treatment of us. (Proverbs 25:21-22 and Romans 12:19) Therefore, let us do good to all men, and treat all men as we would like to be treated. (Galatians 6:10) For knowing the right thing to do and not doing it is a sin. (James 4:17)
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