Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Matthew 7:21-23
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents right away:
The only question I can see arising from this is one which would involve Christians doubting their own salvation. These verses are an extension of the verses about false prophets and I should have included them in the last section.
Jesus is describing the fate of false prophets and "Christian" power brokers, and is not describing your average Christ follower. However, it does say in II Corinthians 13:5:
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?"
It's just that in these verses, Jesus is not telling us that we should worry about God telling us "I never knew you", but He is telling us that just because someone talks a good talk and has a sparkling ministry, if that person doesn't have fruit - her/his fate is that God will tell them that He didn't know them.
In summary, don't use this verse to doubt whether you are good enough to be saved. But do follow the imperative from II Corinthians to examine ourselves. Christ is living in us - unless He's not. If He was living in us at one time and we no longer detect that He's there, He still is there. We just have to rediscover Him and not let the distractions of this life distract us.
I think its intriguing that the people Jesus is referring to -
ReplyDelete- think they have prophesied in Jesus name
- think they have driven out demons in Jesus' name
- think they have performed many miracles
They do not seem to doubt their salvation..
Are they delusional or were they really doing miracles?
This reminds me of the passage where Jesus sends out the disciples to do miracles. Presumably Judas was among those going out and performing miracles and yet we know his fate.
People are amazing at fooling others and themselves. I would imagine that in many cases they are delusional. On the other hand, there are some that seem to manage it. Remember the sons of Sceva, who went around casting out demons in Jesus name until they got caught? Presumably, they tried it because it either worked for them in at some time in the past.
DeleteJudas is an interesting case. What was his heart like at this time in Jesus' ministry? Was Judas "saved" at this point? Did his heart always belong to the devil? Or was he merely tricked at the end and made a terrible choice by killing himself? There is a verse saying that he helped himself to the money bags, so we know he was a thief. But when did this start? I wonder if we won't see Judas in heaven? I don't know.