The Golden Rule is not the gospel. It is true, and it is part of the law, but it misses the foundation of the law, which is that you will love the LORD your God with all you heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.

And Christ himself says that if you keep this you will live. There is an image in the psalms of a tree, well rooted and fertile, in a valley: to be contrasted with the desert, the wilderness. Palestine was surrounded by desert, and the ancients knew what good and fertile land looked like.

Now, from that shared foundation of what the Law is, Christ moves somewhere else. He brings in the despised outer, the Samaritans, with whom no observant Jew would have any business, as an example of what to do: and contrasts them with a priest and Levite who keep the regulations of purity but leave a man bleeding.

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

(Luke 10:25-37 ESV)

The Golden rule is not the complete law. It is part of what some would call universal grace, that which all men share, that which is written in our hearts, our conscience. That which made Solzhenitsyn, while in military academy, refuse to join the Cheka: when he saw what the vanguard of the revolution was doing it disgusted him.

Many philosophers have and will expound the golden rule, and those who argue that hedonism and selfishness are better rules are left having to explain why this will help our neighbour.

But there is an implication in all this: none of us keep the law. We have all done things that shame us. We all have acts that prick our conscience, and we awake in the night, full of shame and regret. This is normal, this is healthy. To expunge shame, and guilt, and grief is to make yourself less than human, and I speculate if that is a sin against the Holy Spirit.

For the gospel is not about the Law, written or unwritten: the law is good, and right, and just, and true. The gospel is about our broken state. It is about mercy. It is about being rescued, by those we despise.

It is not about self-esteem, and definitely not about self righteousness. Christ was not interested in disputing Talmudic details: he was interested in saving souls. For there is a final risk: in our temptation to regulate all things so we can live righteously, we forget to be merciful, and again become proud. And that the Gospel has never been about.