The Golden Rule--Matthew 7:12

12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

I decided to talk about this verse separately because it didn't really seem to be a part of the previous passage, but more a summary of everything we have talked about so far.  Everything means just that--everything.  Not just our actions, but our attitudes, thoughts, motives, desires, and thoughts.  Jesus is King over all areas of our lives and we should conduct ourselves in a way that always brings glory and honor to Him--part of which is to love His Law and obey it.

We cannot love God and hate others, that is also clear from the Sermon on the Mount, so Jesus here emphasizes that we need to love others the same way that we love ourselves--remember that we just talked about forgiving others with the same measure with which we want to be forgiven.  It is assumed that you love yourself and want to look out for your own best interest, so if you treat others as good as you would treat yourself, then you should theoretically not break any of the last 6 commandments nor should you need to come under the judgment from the prophets which usually had to do with people mistreating their neighbors in addition to failing to correctly worship God and turning to idols instead.

Here are a few more verses from the epistle of 1 John to reinforce this idea.

1 John 2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.

1 John 2:11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

1 John 3:15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

1 John 4:20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

Let's examine our hearts and make sure that we love God and love others and realize that the two cannot be separated from each other.  We must be in a right relationship with each other to be in a right relationship with God and only through a right relationship with God can we have a right relationship with one another.