The golden rule is good, it dictates a reciprocity in the way an individual goes about his or her business. God’s law, goes beyond the golden rule in that it tells individuals they must do better than they should expect to receive in return, even to the point of death because in doing so God can be glorified through it; and thus can be considered God’s Royal Law. It is what moved Jesus to die horrifically on the cross for undeserved people like you and me.
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. (James 4:11 ESV)
James, the half-brother of Jesus, and devout follower of Christ, tells us that we must go beyond ordinary relationships with people. It is easy to rule out other people based on what they did or how they acted. It is very easy to see yourself as better than them.
In fact, what James is saying is that anybody can discount other people based on some criteria of deserving or another. Let me give you some examples of what this looks like: Tattoos, some people are outcast and judged horribly because of their tattooes; fashion, or lack thereof– people dressed in ripped jeans or some other clothing not cool in the moment.
The law given to the people of Israel through Moses or any other religious tradition or rule we have derived our judgments from makes it easy for any of us to open the Bible into the old testament and discount people based on whatever random criterion we find.
But if we do that, then what causes us not to be discounted in the same way?
Moreover, doesn’t that make God look stupid for saying He is love except when people do x, y, and z? Of course it does. Yet, this is how we do.
We forget that rules and laws were written for the purpose of fulfilling the Royal Law (to love God with all your heart, mind and soul; and to love your neighbor as yourself).
Discounting other people based on some misaligned criteria as you randomly choose and pick like a flavor of ice cream discount the purpose of God giving us law– to create a society to love Him and other people like He does.
As people redeemed by Jesus, the Son of God, we must not discount the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice for us. It was so that we can live under the Royal Law by loving people who don’t deserve it or warrant a second glance from anybody. We love like this because the King of the universe loves us in this way.