Therefore all things whatever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
all.
Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
for.
Matthew 22:39,40 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself…
Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Isaiah 1:17,18 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow…
do to others
This directive is proactive, urging believers to take the initiative in treating others well. It reflects the biblical principle of love for one's neighbor, which is central to the teachings of both the Old and New Testaments (Leviticus 19:18, Romans 13:9). The focus on "others" underscores the communal aspect of biblical ethics, where relationships and community are paramount.
as you would have them do to you.
This is commonly known as the "Golden Rule." It is a call to empathy and understanding, encouraging individuals to consider their own desires and needs when interacting with others. This principle is found in various forms in other religious and philosophical traditions, but its placement here within the context of Jesus' teachings gives it a distinctively Christian interpretation, rooted in love and selflessness (Philippians 2:3-4).
For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
This statement connects the teaching to the broader biblical narrative. The "Law and the Prophets" is a term that encompasses the entire Old Testament, indicating that this principle summarizes the ethical teachings of Scripture. It reflects Jesus' teaching that love fulfills the law (Matthew 22:37-40, Romans 13:10). This connection highlights the continuity between Jesus' teachings and the Old Testament, affirming that the call to love and ethical living is central to God's revelation throughout history.
- Jesus introduces an all-inclusive scope: “In everything” (Matthew 7:12). No area of life is exempt—home, work, church, online, or leisure.
- Scripture consistently widens our view: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). Paul echoes the same breadth in 1 Corinthians 10:31.
- Because God’s Word is true and authoritative, we do not pick and choose where this command applies; it governs every circumstance, relationship, and decision.
- The command is active, not passive. We are called to initiate good, not merely avoid harm.
• Speak words that build up (Ephesians 4:29).
• Share resources with those in need (1 John 3:17-18).
• Show compassion across cultural lines, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33-37).
- Jesus’ phrasing moves us beyond minimal compliance and urges deliberate, loving action.
- The standard is personal and practical: measure your treatment of others by what you would welcome yourself.
• This mirrors the call to “love your neighbor as yourself” first given in Leviticus 19:18 and affirmed in James 2:8.
• Philippians 2:3-4 urges the same mindset—consider others’ interests alongside your own.
- The verse assumes a healthy, God-given desire for good in one’s own life; it channels that desire outward, sanctifying it into selfless service.
- Jesus declares that the entire moral heartbeat of Scripture converges here (cf. Matthew 22:36-40).
• Romans 13:8-10 explains that love fulfills the Law because “love does no wrong to its neighbor.”
• Galatians 5:14 repeats, “The whole Law is fulfilled in a single decree: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- By grounding the command in the Law and the Prophets, Jesus affirms the continuity and reliability of all Scripture. He is not replacing God’s earlier commands; He is revealing their core.
- Believers, indwelt by the Spirit (Romans 5:5), can now live out this love genuinely, demonstrating the Law’s righteous requirements through faith-driven obedience.
Matthew 7:12 calls followers of Christ to apply God’s unchanging moral standard to every facet of life, proactively seeking the good of others with the same care we naturally desire for ourselves. In doing so, we live out the central intent of God’s Law, displaying a love that reflects His character and fulfills His Word.
(12) Therefore . . . whatsoever.--The sequence of thought requires, perhaps, some explanation. God gives His good things in answer to our wishes, if only what we wish for is really for our good. It is man's highest blessedness to be like God, to "be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect," and therefore in this respect too he must strive to resemble Him. The ground thus taken gives a new character to that which otherwise had already become almost one of the "common-places" of Jewish and heathen ethics. Perhaps the most interesting illustration of the former is the well-known story of the Gentile inquirer who went to Shammai, the great scribe, and asked to be taught the law, in a few brief words, while he stood on one foot. The Rabbi turned away in anger. The questioner then went to Hillel, and made the same demand; and the sage turned and said, "Whatsoever thou wouldest that men should not do to thee, that do not thou to them. All our law is summed up in that." And so the Gentile became a proselyte. A like negative rule is quoted by Gibbon (Decl. and Fall, c. liv., note 2) from Isocrates, not without a sneer, as if it anticipated the teaching of the Christ. The nearest approach to our Lord's rule is, however, found in the saying ascribed to Aristotle, who, when asked how we should act towards our friends, replied, "As we would they should act to us" (Diog. Laert., v. 1, ? 21). All these, however, though we may welcome them as instances of the testimonium animae naturaliter Christianae (as Tertullian calls it), are yet wanting in the completeness of our Lord's precept, and still more do they fall below it in regard of the ground on which the precept rests, and the power given to perform it. Yet even here, too, there is, of necessity, an implied limitation. We cannot comply with all men's desires, nor ought we to wish that they should comply with ours, for those desires may be foolish and frivolous, or may involve the indulgence of lust or passion. The rule is only safe when our own will has been first purified, so that we wish only from others that which is really good. Reciprocity in evil or in folly is obviously altogether alien from the mind of Christ.Verse 12. - Ver. 12a, parallel passage: Luke 6:31; Luke 12b, Matthew only. All things therefore. Therefore. Summing up the lesson of vers. 1-11 (cf. ver. 7, note). In consequence of all that I have said about censoriousness and the means of overcoming it, let the very opposite feeling rule your conduct towards others. Let all (emphatic) your dealings with men be conducted in the same spirit in which you would desire them to deal with you. Even so. Not "these things" do ye to them; for our Lord carefully avoids any expression that might lead to a legal enumeration of different details, but "thus" (οὕτως), referring to the character of your own wishes. (For this "golden rule," cf. Tobit 4:15 (negative form); cf. also patristic references in Resch, 'Agrapha,' pp. 95, 135.) On the occasional similarity of pre-Christian writings to the teaching of our Lord, Augustine (vide Trench, 'Serm.,' in loc.) well says it is "the glory of the written and spoken law, that it is the transcript of that which was from the first, and not merely as old as this man or that, but as the Creation itself, a reproduction of that obscured and forgotten law written at the beginning by the finger of God on the hearts of all men. When, therefore, heathen sages or poets proclaimed any part of this, they had not thereby anticipated Christ; they had only deciphered some fragment of that law, which he gave from the first, and which, when men, exiles and fugitives from themselves and from the knowledge of their own hearts, had lost the power of reading, he came in the flesh to read to them anew, and to bring out the well-nigh obliterated characters afresh." (Compare also Bishop Lightfoot's essay on "St. Paul and Seneca," in his 'Philippians.') For this is the law and the prophets. For this. This principle of action and mode of life is, in fact, the sum of all Bible teaching (cf. Leviticus 19:18). Observe:(1) Our Lord brings out the same thought, but with its necessary limitation to the second table, in Matthew 22:40 (cf. Romans 13:10).
(2) Our Lord thus returns to the main subject of his sermon, the relation in which he and his must stand to the Law (Matthew 5:17).
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