Do ____(what?)____ unto others...

Ah, yes. One of the more commonly known verses in the New Testament:

Matthew 7.12: So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

I came across this in my Bible reading the other day. At first, I was just going to somewhat gloss over it: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know this verse. How many times have I quoted it to the elementary students at my school this year?" But then I read the next two verses and stopped...

Matthew 7.13-14: Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

What is it that Christ was trying to say here? Just that we need to be nice to others if we expect them to be nice to us - a kind of utopian motivation for good behavior? As I began to think about it, I realized that perhaps we're taking verse 12 out of context... Is Matthew 7 just a series of independent thoughts? Or are they all related? The more I think about it (note: I haven't studied this out in any commentaries yet...), the more I'm becoming convinced that all of Matthew 7 is referring to a call for salvation. It starts with some verses on judging other's shortcomings (sins?), moves into four verses about God's great kindness to those who ask for it (perhaps the gifts of mercy, faith, and salvation?), the Golden Rule, two more verses with very plain teaching about the ways to destruction and to life, a discussion on judging trees by their fruits, and then three verses about those that thought they had the fruit but really didn't and are now headed for eternal destruction.

So what is the Golden Rule doing in the middle of a chapter on salvation? Is chapter 7 just a bunch of random lessons? I really think that answer is a "no." Then what is it that Christ is asking us to do here? Perhaps we need to think on a higher plane... could it be that he is asking us to tell others of His call to salvation, just as we would want others to tell us of His call? This may well be the essence of what He was trying to convey here. Tell others, because you would want them to tell you if the situation were reversed! What a powerful thought, not to mention just one more reason to go and tell the world of His open call. This is reason to go out into the harvest fields and witness, even if you were a seven-point Calvinist who believed that God has already saved those who will be saved... because even those who will be saved would want to know sooner rather than later about their salvation! Wouldn't you?!

So, go... and witness unto the others as you would want them to do for you!