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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_7:12
12"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets."
Mat_7:12 This has often been called the Golden Rule (cf. Luk_6:31). This summary statement was based on the assumption that believers are kingdom people with a new heart. This is not an egocentric fallen human response.
Jesus was the only One who put this proverb in a positive form, although the negative form was known from the rabbinical writings (cf. Tob_4:15 and Rabbi Hillel, found in the Talmud, b Shabbath 31a, and Philo of Alexandria). This is not an emphasis on inappropriate self-worth, but it is a good word about knowing who believers are in Christ and projecting that sense of peace and goodness onto one's fellow human in Jesus' name. It requires that people do what is good and right, which is far more than refraining from doing wrong.
▣ "for this is the Law and the Prophets" The Law and the Prophets are the names of two of the three divisions of the Hebrew canon. This was an abbreviated Hebrew idiom referring to the entire OT (cf. Mat_5:17).
It was significant that Jesus made a summary statement summing up all that the OT requires (cf. Mat_22:34-40; Mar_12:28-34). This would have been extremely controversial to a first century Jew (cf. Rom_13:9).