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Church Fathers

As prolific commentators on the Bible, multiple Church Fathers, including the Apostolic Fathers, wrote on the Golden Rule found in both Old and New Testaments. The early Christian treatise the Didache included the Golden Rule in saying " in everything, do not do to another what you would not want done to you. "

Clement of Alexandria, commenting on the Golden Rule in Luke 6:31, calls the concept "all embracing" for how one acts in life. Clement further pointed to the phrasing in the book of Tobit as part of the ethics between husbands and wives. Tertullian stated that the rule taught " love, respect, consolation, protection, and benefits."

While many Church Fathers framed the Golden Rule as part of Jewish and Christian Ethics, Theophilus of Antioch stated that it had universal application for all of humanity. Origen connected the Golden Rule with the law written on the hearts of Gentiles mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Romans, and had universal application to Christian and non-Christian alike.

Basil of Caesarea commented that the negative form of the Golden Rule was for avoiding evil while the positive form was for doing good.