Go to Related Reading
About this book

Matthew

About this book
Chapter 7

1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.⁠ 2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.⁠ 3 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?⁠ 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.⁠ 6 Do not give what is holy to dogs⁠ or throw your pearls before pigs;⁠ otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.⁠ 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;⁠ knock and the door will be opened for you.⁠ 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.⁠ 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!⁠ 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you,⁠ for this fulfills the law and the prophets.⁠ 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.⁠ 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it! 15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.⁠ 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?⁠ 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.⁠ 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.⁠ 20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’⁠ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.⁠ 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many powerful deeds in your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’⁠ 24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.⁠ 25 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation had been laid on rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed—it was utterly destroyed!” 28 When Jesus finished saying these things,⁠ the crowds were amazed by his teaching,⁠ 29 because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law.

Texts in conversation

Compare Seneca, Moral Epistles 9:3 and Matthew 7:12

Classical · New Testament

Share:

Summary

Seneca and Jesus use the Golden Rule in its positive form, urging people to do good to others and not just avoid harm. Seneca’s teaching and Jesus’ call to treat others as one wants to be treated both teach to initiate kindness.

Passages

Seneca, Moral Epistles 9:3

Classical · Letters from a Stoic
But he need never lack friends, for it lies in his own control how soon he shall make good a loss. Just as Phidias, if he lose a statue, can straightway carve another, even so our master in the art of making friendships can fill the place of a friend he has lost. If you ask how one can make oneself a friend quickly, I will tell you, provided we are agreed that I may pay my debt at once and square the account, so far as this letter is concerned. Hecato, says: 'I can show you a philtre, compounded without drugs, herbs, or any witch's incantation: 'If you would be loved, love.'
65 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Seneca, Moral Epistles

Matthew 7:12

New Testament
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it!
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... Ricoeur's fatal error is mistranslating Jesus' 'as you wish that others would do' as 'as you expect that others would do.' The verb (e)thelem does not mean 'expect,' neither in classical nor Hellenistic Greek, nor anywhere in the New Testament! Jesus' form does not anticipate a response as the intention of the Golden Rule. (His implication of retribution applies more clearly to his example from Seneca's Moral Epistle 94 43, "αό alio expectes alteri quod fecems," than it does to the negative form of the rule) He asks disciples to get in touch with their own desires and act accordingly for the other. Thus the underlying motive could be love of neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18) ..."
John Topel, “The Tarnished Golden Rule (Luke 6:31): The Inescapable Radicalness of Christian Ethics,” TS 59 (1998): 475–485.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Tags

Your feedback

Seneca, Moral Epistles 9:3 and Matthew 7:12

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library