Luke 6:31

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) As ye would that men should do to you . . .—See Note on Matthew 7:12. The very different arrangement of the precepts in the two discourses is obviously an argument against their identity.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:27-36 These are hard lessons to flesh and blood. But if we are thoroughly grounded in the faith of Christ's love, this will make his commands easy to us. Every one that comes to him for washing in his blood, and knows the greatness of the mercy and the love there is in him, can say, in truth and sincerity, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Let us then aim to be merciful, even according to the mercy of our heavenly Father to us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See Matthew 7:12.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27-36. (See on [1585]Mt 5:44-48; [1586]Mt 7:12; and [1587]Mt 14:12-14.)

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Matthew 7:12". This is the law of nature the golden rule of all justice, and may also serve for a guide to us to expound the former verses, and some other precepts of charity in this chapter. Men in all these cases should consider what they would be glad, and think reasonable, that others should do to them, were they in their circumstances, and the others had the same ability or advantage to do good to them; and by this they should measure their acts both of justice and charity.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And as ye would that men should do to you,.... In matters of justice and beneficence were they in your case, and you in theirs;

do ye also to them likewise: a golden rule this, agreeably to the light of nature, and divine revelation, and is the sum and substance of the law and prophets; See Gill on Matthew 7:12.

Geneva Study Bible

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 6:31. Comp. Matthew 7:12. To the injunction given and specialized at Luke 6:27 ff. of the love of one’s enemy, Jesus now adds the general moral rule (Theophylact: νόμον ἔμφυτον ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν ἐγγεγραμμένον), from which, moreover, results the duty of the love of one’s enemy. It is self-evident that while this general principle is completely applicable to the love of one’s enemy in itself and in general, it is applicable to the special precepts mentioned in Luke 6:29-30 only in accordance with the idea (of self-denial), whose concrete representation they contain: hence Luke 6:31 is not in this place inappropriate (in opposition to de Wette).

καὶ καθὼς κ.τ.λ.] a simple carrying forward of the discourse to the general principle: and, in general, as ye, etc.

ἵνα] Contents of the θέλετε under the notion of purpose—ye will, that they should, etc. Comp. Mark 6:25; Mark 9:30; Mark 10:35; John 17:24; 1 Corinthians 14:5. See also Nägelsbach, Anm. z. Ilias, ed. 3, p. 62 f.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 6:31. Lk. brings in here the law of reciprocity (Matthew 7:12), hardly in its proper place, as the change from singular to plural shows, but in sympathy with what goes before, though not quite in line, and therefore inserted at this point as the best place to be found for the golden rule. It seems to be meant as a general heading for the particular hypothetical cases following = you would like men to love you, therefore love them whether they love you or not, etc.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. as ye would that men should do to you] The golden rule of Christianity of which our Lord said that it was “the Law and the Prophets,” Matthew 7:12. The modem ‘Altruism’ and ‘vivre pour autrui,’ though pompously enunciated as the bases of a new religion, are but a mutilated reproduction of this.

Luke 6:31