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"Do good" and "do no harm" put Methodism in the Wisdom stream of Christian tradition. (Shutterstock Photo)
Special to United Methodist Insight | Dec. 8, 2025
One of the luxuries of retirement is having opportunities to “chase rabbits” (topics) that get my attention. Once in a while, I catch a rabbit Here’s one.
Many of you in the Oboedire community know about “The General Rules of the United Societies,” which served as the Methodist movement’s Rule of Life. You know that the first two rules were “do no harm” and “do good.” Over the years, I have read and written about them, noting (for example) that they are the rules found in the Hippocratic Oath.
harper ident 2024
But only recently have I learned that they are also enjoined in the Wisdom tradition as a twofold interpretation of what’s called The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” a cardinal maxim found in the world’s religions and philosophies. When Jesus included it in his sermon on the mount (Matthew 7:12), he did so as a Wisdom teacher intent on putting his message and movement into that stream.
That’s the interfaith-history “rabbit” I recently caught, but it generates a significant formative insight: the purpose of our lives is to “do good” whenever we have the opportunity to do so, and in whatever ways we can (Galatians 6:10).
That’s the purpose of our life. Full stop.
Did John Wesley know he was putting the Methodist movement into the Wisdom stream? I am guessing that he did because his Oxford education would have acquainted him with it theologically, philosophically, and historically. That he wanted Methodism to be a Golden-Rule movement means he wanted people to live well (the sum of the Wisdom tradition) by “doing no harm” and by “doing good.”
The simplicity of this is stunning. Everyone of us can do this as we move through our day. As we do so, we are congruent with the purpose of life that God has in mind for us, and has told the world about in every way possible.