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11 If you then, despite your evil nature, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

12 The Golden Rule of Love.[a]“In everything, deal with others as you would like them to deal with you. This is the Law and the Prophets.

13 The Two Ways.[b]“Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 7:12 Here in a word is what one must retain of the Law and the Prophets, i.e., the Old Testament: to have for others the same concern one has for oneself, out of love for God. This so-called Golden Rule is found in negative form in rabbinic Judaism as well as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.
  2. Matthew 7:13 In Jewish literature, we often encounter this doctrine of the “two ways”; it is also found in the Didache and the Epistle to Barnabas. It is a way of enabling the reader to choose for God. It means that one does not enter the kingdom except by a conversion of life—the choice to follow Jesus.

11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts(A) to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you,(B) for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.(C)

The Narrow and Wide Gates

13 “Enter through the narrow gate.(D) For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

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