Just a Little Change
“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12 NASB
Treat – There’s a footnote attached to the translation of the Greek poiéō in this NASB version. It reads, “Lit[erally] you, too, do so for them.” That’s the way most of us learned this verse. “Do unto others” not “Treat others.” Does it really matter? Well, yes, I think so. The word “treat” has the following connotations: regard something as if it were of a specified nature with implications, or, provide someone with something (give). You could “treat” someone as equal without actually doing anything. You could think of them in a certain way. No outward action required. You could give someone something as a sign of benevolence or acceptance, or you could imagine that you would do so under the right circumstances. “Treat” is a bit more ambiguous that “do.” You can’t imagine “do.” You have to act. “Do” requires behavior regardless of your state of mind. “Do” is entirely consumed in the deed.
The Greek poiéō is an action verb. It’s tied to God as creator. It assumes volitional fulfillment. It is only at home in deeds. This is important because it helps us see that Yeshua’s instruction is not just the positive form of Akiba’s “Don’t do to others what you would not have done to you.” Yeshua’s exhortation is at the heart of what Jewish religion really is: a way of living. Abraham Heschel remarks:
“Jewish thought is disclosed in Jewish living.”[1]
“It is in deeds that man becomes aware of what his life really is, . .”[2]
Think about these two statements. Twelve-step people know these truths. It’s called the “Fearless Moral Inventory.” No hiding from the actual behaviors. No pretending things weren’t that bad. No excuses. What I did is who I was, and until I come to terms with that “me,” I won’t be able change to another “me.” Perhaps the Jewish way of life (not the Jewish religion—is there a difference?) is really the spiritual foundation of every recovery program. It’s what I did, and what I am doing, and what I will do that makes me who I am. And that’s a vav-conversive verb in Hebrew, past, present and future rolled into one. The “journey” verb tense, progressing along the path of life and collecting all the behaviors that make you who are now as a prelude to who you will become later. Perhaps the biblical man recognized this long ago. We are all becoming. That means we can’t erase what we have been, but it does not determine what we will be. The journey reveals who I really am now, and that opens the door to who I will choose to be afterward.
So, do unto others! It’s the doing that shapes who you will be. As you do, so you are.
Topical Index: poiéō, to do, vav-conversive, fearless moral inventory, Matthew 7:12
[1] Abraham Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, p. 282.
[2] Ibid., p. 284.
