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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.

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Compare The Eloquent Peasant and Matthew 7:12

Ancient Near East, Egyptian · New Testament

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Summary

The Eloquent Peasant, an Egyptian story, may be one of the earliest expressions of the Golden Rule, a popular ethical teaching that was later used throughout Jewish and Christian traditions.

Passages

The Eloquent Peasant

Ancient Near East, Egyptian · A Peasant Good of Speech
And the High Steward Meru's son Rensi said, 'Are your belongings more important to you than my follower's seizing you?' And this peasant said, 'And the measurer of heaps now defrauds for himself; the measurer for others now despoils his surroundings; the lawful leader now commands theft - who then will beat off wretchedness when the dispeller of infirmity is going wrong? One man is exact about being crooked; another acclaims the evildoer. Do you not profit yourself thus? The redress is short, the evil long; yet good character returns to its place of yesterday. This is a command: Do good for the man who acts, to motivate him to act. This is thanking him for what he does; this is parrying a thing before shooting; this is commissioning something from a master craftsman. O for a moment that destroys, downfall in your bird-nets, loss in your fowl, waste in your marsh-birds!
1850 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in The Eloquent Peasant

Matthew 7:12

New Testament
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.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... The passage of scripture on the ethic of reciprocity from Matthew parallels with some other passages of scripture and also some literatures in Judaism and Ancient Eastern Religions. The best known in Judaism is probably that of Rabbi Hillel or Hillel the Elder, who in giving an answer to a question from a proselyte who demanded a precise and good understanding of the law and the prophets: “That which displeases you do not do to another. This is the whole law, the rest is commentary”. In Brahmanism it is expressed thus: "This is the sum of Dharma: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you". In Buddhism: state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?" In Confucianism: "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you". In Ancient Egyptian Religion: "Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do." In Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you”. In Taoism: "The sage has no interest of his own, but takes the interests of the people as his own. He is kind to the kind; he is also kind to the unkind: for Virtue is kind. He is faithful to the faithful; he is also faithful to the unfaithful: for Virtue is faithful." Similar text is also found in the Old Testament in the book of Tobit 4:5: “Never do to anyone else anything that you would not want someone else to do to you”. As expressed in the gospel of Matthew 7:12, the Golden Rule is a summary of the law and the prophets: “This is the meaning of the law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets”. This is attested to not only by the text itself but by the structure or arrangement of the passage 7:12 in relation to the preceding verses. 7:12 is presented as a summary of all that Jesus has been saying about living in relationship with one another as God's people ..."
Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu, “The Ethic of Reciprocity as a Tactic for Restoring Human dignity vis-a-vis the experience of widows in Nigeria,” International Journal of Research in Arts and Social Sciences 3 (2011): 265–273.

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

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