Bach composed the cantata for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 20 June 1723, three weeks after he took up the position as Thomaskantor in Leipzig with Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75.

[2][3] Bach had begun to compose one cantata for almost every Sunday and holiday of the liturgical year, a project described by Christoph Wolff as "an artistic undertaking on the largest scale".

He used a cantata text by Erdmann Neumeister, published already in 1714 in the collection Geistliche Poesie mit untermischten Biblischen Sprüchen und Choralen (Spiritual poetry with inserted biblical quotations and chorales).

[4] The topic of the first recitative is "Die Redlichkeit ist eine von den Gottesgaben" (Sincerity is one of God's gifts).

[7] It seems likely that Bach performed in the same service also the earlier cantata Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe, BWV 185, composed for the same occasion in Weimar in 1715.

[2] In his composition, Bach stresses the weight of the central biblical quotation by giving it to the choir, and by scoring the framing recitatives and arias with reduced accompaniment.

Here as in the first work for the same occasion, BWV 185, Bach shows the mirror effect of the words, "Mach aus dir selbst ein solches Bild, wie du den Nächsten haben willt!"

The tenor voice sings an unusual coloratura line when the text ends on "Macht uns Gott und Engeln gleich" (makes us like God and the angels),[1] possibly representing the multitude of the Heavenly host.

[8] The eight lines of the closing chorale[9] in homophonic four-part vocal setting are richly framed by orchestral interludes and accompanied by the instruments.