Understanding “ Do unto others as you want them to do unto you”

So much to say about Matthew 7 where this word of Christ is taken from. It's important to understand this verse in its context. When you take a “text” out of context, you're left with a con. Here's the verse in full- Matthew 7:12-

“In everything, do to others what you would want them to do to you. This is what is written in the Law and in the Prophets.”

See The Living Bible translation: “Do for others what you want them to do for you. This is the teaching of the laws of Moses in a nutshell.”

Notice what Christ says of “Do unto others…” which many churchgoers are trying to fulfill in order to get right with God and into His good books—

“This is what is written in the Law and in the Prophets.”

The saying sums up the LAW and the PROPHETS/the laws of Moses which demand perfect obedience for one to be righteous in God's sight and to escape God's wrath. In Christ, we are not under Law but under Grace-

“For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under Law but under grace.” Romans 6:14.

Even Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the Prophets) spoke of and attest to believers' righteousness apart from the law; see Romans 3 with emphasis on verse 21 in the passage below:

"20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins….26 …and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.

27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”

This is the summary of the Law: ”Do for others what you want them to do for you. This is the teaching of the laws of Moses in a nutshell.”

In Christ, we are not under Law but under Grace. Even the Law and the Prophets attest to this truth that we are made right with God by faith and not by keeping the righteous requirements of the law— something that God’s word in Romans 3 above is telling us that no one can do. For some reason, a common refrain of some religious leaders and their followers to GOD’s WORD in Romans 3 concerning how we are made right with Him and the truth of His saving Grace is:

”So you are saying once we are under Grace, because the righteousness of Christ covers us we should continue in sin, live lawlessly and do no good deeds?”

The truth is those who ask such questions are still quite clueless as to what every human being IS apart from God’s mercy and His saving Grace: beloved, you do not need to be under Grace to express and even bask in jealousy and intense dislike for your neighbour, or to commit terrible sins and even deny Christ. All you need to do for that to happen is just sit back and BE YOURSELF! 

Those who ask such questions are like Peter before his denials— he thought that his Maker didn’t know what he was saying concerning his then upcoming denials and believed that he had some good in him to keep at least the first and eighth commandments (“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart….;” and “You shall not bear false witness…”) 

When Peter got separated from his true Strength (Jesus Christ who is Grace-personified,) he denied Christ copiously— and he saw the futility of thinking that one can produce as much as an atom of good much less keep a single law by human effort aka the arm of flesh. He realised that GRACE (Christ Himself) was what was keeping him from committing even worse sins earlier on. He was humbled hence his writing of 1 Peter 5 where many misinterpret resisting the devil as trying to obey the letter that kills. But that is another story. Christ says—

“There is none good but God.”

He suffered and died that we might have godliness/righteousness (aka be like God the righteous) as a gift. Having a mindset of self-trust for the attainment of good as Peter did before his denials is the hallmark of having the sin nature inherited from Adam — 

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” Romans‬ ‭5:19‬.

From the above verse, we see that committing acts of sin is not what makes a person a sinner. Adam passed on the sin/old nature or sin “virus” to all of his descendants. Sinners will produce sins just as a person infected with HIV will produce symptoms of his infection—the fact that he looks healthy (sinless) does not make his blood (works) acceptable. His works are deathly aka dead works akin to the kind which the religious but self-righteous Pharisees were full of. They too did not like Grace- Christ Himself. 

Recall Christ says— “There is none good but God.” His shed blood is what makes us good/righteous in God’s sight— Romans 5:9– 

“And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God." 

Anyone who is not wholly under this covering of righteousness from Christ’s shed blood has the sin nature evidenced by striving to be righteous or free from punishment by human obedience. 

We can view the sin nature in “no good" man as a dead rat (sin nature) in a vessel (man of himself) whose location is subject to the vagaries of Time and Chance as well as Satan's sifting but for God’s mercy by which we are not consumed by heinous sins and Job-type calamities. The vessel's expression of decay or putrefaction (acts of sin) is dependent on the weather conditions at its current location in the world— whether arctic, arid or anywhere in-between. Like Peter before his denials, some vessels that are currently residing in Antarctica by no effort of theirs boast about their ability to not express maggots and the horrid stench of acts of sin which vessels that find themselves in tropical regions are expressing-- until Time and Chance or Satan's sifting happens to them. 

For we who are in Christ, trusting Him as our Righteousness and Strength, that dead rat (sin nature) has been excised from us and replaced with Christ our Righteousness Himself. We no longer live, and we are constantly being filled with an overflow of the water of the word/hearing of FAITH (not the law) by which God supplies His Spirit and works miracles among us.

When it comes to man of himself, everyone is the same— no good FLESH, whether church daddy or the vilest offender, like bottles off an assembly line. God’s mercy is the “skeleton” that is propping up those who think they are or can be good, still preventing such from experiencing the full expression of their sinful selves. So much to say here. Paul addressed this truth in Romans 1 where a group who “suppress the truth” of righteousness by faith (verses 16-19) devolved into sin after “God lifted off His restraining hand…” —

“24 This is why God lifted off His restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires…”

Remember King David— killed a lion with his bare hands, killed Goliath, wrote many Psalms, experienced God’s power first-hand, a man after God’s heart…and slept with Uriah’s wife! Uriah had only one wife. He is listed among David's mighty men in 1 Samuel 30. In today's parlance, Uriah was like David's close friend. David slept with the wife of his close friend despite having many other women in his harem at his beck and call. Even worse, Uriah was away at war fighting the battles of his friend and general when this horrid thing was happening. 

When David was writing Psalm 23 as a shepherd boy, had anyone told him that as king of Israel, he would lust after and commit adultery with Uriah's wife despite having many other women, try to foist Bathsheba’s pregnancy on Uriah and when that didn't work out, give Uriah his own death sentence to transport to Joab the commander of his army when Uriah was going back to the battlefield - if anyone had told young or even older David all of that, only by God's mercy would David not have had the same reaction as Peter did when Christ told him about his then soon-to -happen denials aka "I can never do that." 

Even when the prophet Nathan came and told David about his sin using a parable about someone taking another person’s lamb, David was still carrying shoulder of “Such should be punished!,” until he saw Light and sought God’s Grace as we see in his Psalm 51.

Beloved, let us take a cue from David who wrote in Psalm 16:2–

“I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

David also wrote in Psalm 130– 

3 “If You, Lord, should keep account of and treat [us according to our] sins, O Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with You [just what man needs], that You may be reverently feared and worshiped.”

Notice verse 4? This man after God’s heart who was under law knew something that many among us are unaware of today: the fear and worship of the Lord is not rooted trying to be sinless or in threats of punishment for sins; rather, believing that all of our sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus is what causes us to reverently fear and worship the Lord.

It takes God’s Grace to stand, beloved. So many things that we go through in life are the result of pride in self to achieve good which gives Satan the opportunity to test one for that good that he claims to possess in himself. The potential to commit heinous sins is in everyone. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances make many think that some sins are beneath them. Peter's eventual denials after trusting in self show us the importance of following God's counsel in 1 Corinthians 10--

""So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall. 13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.""

If God was not filtering and screening…

As I wrote earlier, one does not need to be under Grace in order to be rolling in sins. David understood but was not under Grace. He was under law, and this is the purpose of the law which many are trying to obey for whatever reason—

“The law was given that sins might increase…” Romans 5:20.

To anyone who thinks that he can obey even a tittle of the law or produce an atom of good by himself; to the one who is still clueless about God’s saving Grace and so says — 

“So because we are under Grace we should be sinning anyhow…,” 

— all that such need to do to in order to be “sinning anyhow” is just be himself aka try to be sinless by human effort aka obey the law. With time, given the vagaries of Time and Chance and Satan’s sifting which God’s merciful and restraining hand is still preventing such from experiencing, the symptoms of his sin nature (acts of sin that lead to death) will show up. God by obeying the law and doing all sorts. The very action of trying to be sins-free or good by human effort aka obeying the law causes sin to multiply-

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death." Romans 7:5.

Much more, the one who receives God’s abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness in Christ gets to produce a harvest of good deeds for God because in Christ Jesus, we are a new creation having the same “righteous nature” as the risen Christ. See this in verse 4 of the same Romans 7 where we see the effect of trying to be free from sins or become godly by human striving aka keeping the law—

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.” Romans‬ ‭7:4‬.

It is very important for us to understand why Christ was crucified and the purpose of His being raised from the dead because without it, the “you are united with the one who was raised from the dead” in Romans 7:4 above will not make sense to the reader. In fact, without knowing and believing why, one cannot lay claim to being a Christian. God's word is very clear on WHY. See why in what Romans 4:25 says of Christ-

"who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous."

See the TPT- "Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!"

God raised Jesus from the dead because we have been declared righteous. Our entire lifetime of sins (past, present and future) forgiven and every demand of the Law fulfilled for all who believe in Christ Jesus. For our entire lifetime of sins, it is appointed for man to die only once. Whether you sin ten times or one million times, you can only die ONCE. See Hebrews 9:27-28:

"And just as it is destined that men die only once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ died only once as an offering for the sins of many people; and He will come again, but not to deal again with our sins. This time He will come bringing salvation to all those who are eagerly and patiently waiting for Him."

Christ suffered and died our death that the Law demanded us. Once. Believer, Jesus is not going to come and die again for the sins that you might commit tomorrow. It is appointed for man to die once. One death for our entire lifetime of sins- past, present and future. Through His shed blood, we are forever righteous in God’s sight, “even though we are guilty of many sins”—

“And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

This is God’s written word. This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. It angers the self-righteous who still think that they have some good in them to obey as much as a tittle of the law for whatever reason. But to the one who realises his utter weakness to stand and his utter need for God’s Salvation, it is the Good News.

Because of their false teachings, many churchgoers are being led to believe that they become “unrighteous” or fall out of fellowship with Christ when they sin and that they have to strive to be godly and sins-free by themselves in order to maintain that fellowship! Beloved, that reasoning is Satan’s doctrine, the hallmark of having the sin nature and a rejection of God’s gift of righteousness that proceeds from the obedience of Christ, not ours! That is the way for sins to multiply according to Romans 7:5 above. 

Beloved, let us not fall for the same deceit that Satan sold to Eve in Eden— that man can be godly (be like God) by human striving and via dependence on keeping the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil. It seems good to man to eat of the law for the attainment of good as it seemed good to Eve, but beloved, God’s Wisdom in saving us from sin and death is not of human logic. According to human logic, "being saved by God's grace (undeserved, unearned,unmerited favour)" without keeping the requirements of the law seems like it is too good to be true. Little wonder—

"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18.

But read it for yourself in God’s word—

20 “For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins….26 …and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.

27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”

This is the WRITTEN word, beloved. Whose report will we believe? God’s Word who is LIFE: or the LIE of Satan’s agents who preach that same doctrine of DEATH which Satan used to deceive Eve in Eden— that man can be godly (be like God) by human striving at using the knowledge of good and evil, a typology for the law?  Beloved, see the forbidden fruit as a typology for the law which many churchgoers are being deceived to depend on for the attainment of godliness (be like God) in Romans  7:8-12 (MSG)--

8-12 "Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me."

The law (letter) kills and from it is the knowledge of good and evil, just like the tree.

Beloved of God, Satan never tempted Eve to lie to Adam or to become a transgender atheist. He simply seduced her with the seemingly “good thing to do” of trying to be godly by human effort through feeding on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil— something that God who gave us His own Son to make us godly is against! Beware of preachers who try to pass off as the message of Christ that same doctrine of death which Satan sold to Eve in Eden, even twisting verses  such as “Faith without works is dead” in the epistles (letters of the apostles to the churches) for this purpose. Their messages often sound very moral, but beloved, it is not the Good News. It is the same lie that Satan preached to Eve in Eden— striving for godliness by human effort via dependence on the knowledge of good and evil (the law) while rejecting God’s gift of Righteousness through Jesus Christ the Tree of Life who suffered and died to make us godly. Theirs is the way that Proverbs 14:12 speaks of—

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

Beloved, believing that doctrine or having a mindset of trust in self for the attainment of good is what makes many ask questions such as—

— it is the hallmark of having the sin nature: a rejection of God’s abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ. It is what opens the door for Satan to sift a person like wheat for the good that he claims to possess when Christ is saying—

“There is none good but God.” 

Christ has rid all who believe in Him (having Him as our Righteousness and Strength) of the old or sinful nature/sin virus which Adam passed on to all of his descendants. See Colossians 2:11–

“When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.” Colossians‬ ‭2:11‬ ‭

That sinful or old nature which Adam passed on to all of his descendants conscripted man to a lifetime of producing acts of sins. The one with the sin nature disagrees with Christ’s word “There is none good but God” and strives to be like God (who is Good and has no trace of sins or ungodliness) by human effort hence—

”So you are saying once we are under Grace, because the righteousness of Christ covers us we should continue in sin, live lawlessly and do no good deeds?”

Beloved of God, how can this be? Beware of preachers of the above doctrine of demons who equate God’s Grace with committing sins/lawlessness. God's Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Matthew 1:21 tells us what Christ's job description is: 

“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Christ- Grace Himself - tells us in (John 6:43-46) what He is doing in the life of every believer:

“Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do My work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End."”

Wherever you might find yourself in this piece, know one thing for sure— Christ’s word in John 3 with emphasis on verse 17–

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John‬ ‭3:16-17‬.

Now is the time for salvation, beloved. God did not send our Saviour Jesus Christ to bring condemnation, point out what is wrong with us or lord the fact that one has been believing wrong over one. He came to save us from those wrong beliefs; to  save us from our sins. Being righteous or godly is not a matter of behaviour modification and determining to not sin again. That is the definition of foolishness according to Galatians 3:1-5. Nicodemus was the first recipient of our Saviour’s words in John 3:16– “For God so loved the world…” Not even the holiest church daddy can match Nico when it comes to obedience and doing good deeds— but at that point, Nicodemus was worldly aka “the world” — destined for death in hell but for God’s saving Grace which He is offering freely to all today.

See the MSG version of John 3:16-18–

““This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”

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So pour out your heart to Him, beloved. He will love you into wholeness and make all things known to you. 

When your believing is right, right living will follow.