What does this mean????

This last Sunday, I approached a passage that many pastors probably fear to tread! That doesn’t mean I’m special, just a little too willing to take on difficult things.

The passage is Matthew 7:21-23: (NIV) “Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he 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 perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The main discussion of my sermon circled around how we as humans respond to fear in one of two ways: we either are driven by fear to God, or we are driven by fear away from God. In 1 Samuel 8, the leaders of Israel were driven by fear to make a horrible decision: ask for a king like all of the other nations have.

I won’t repeat my sermon here, you can listen to it at www.lakecenter.org. I approached Matthew 7 to talk about a healthy fear each of us should have as believers.

This is a very difficult passage to understand. First, it follows a description of false prophets by Christ. Many Bibles have a subtitle over verse 15, to distinguish it from the topic of verses 13-14. However, there is not a subtitle in my Bible over verse 21, separating it from verses 15-20. In some of your Bibles, there is. Understand that subtitles are not inspired! They are simply helpful tools placed there by the publishers to introduce a new topic.

I suggested that we need to separate the two passages. Verses 15-20 talk about false prophets, but verses 21-23 may be talking about believers. Here are my thoughts:

1.      Not everyone who says to Christ, “Lord, Lord”. 1 Corinthians 12:3 tells us that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. However, Philippians 2 states that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The latter passage is describing an exalted Christ, so it’s probably at the judgment of all people. The people in Matthew 7 seemingly called Jesus “Lord” when they were living on earth, so 1 Corinthians 12 applies here. Question: how can people say that Jesus is Lord when they can only do so by the Holy Spirit? It could be momentarily, like the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18 when they momentarily declared “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” The same could be true of those in Matthew 7, but not likely. These were likely true believers. More evidence:

2.      Not everyone who says to Christ, “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in Heaven. The main question: Is the kingdom of heaven salvation, or is it a kingdom that people can enter in eternity based upon their obedience and faithfulness? If it’s salvation, then the only people who can enter are those who do the will of God. Isn’t this works salvation? If I say, “I entered the kingdom of heaven (salvation) because I obeyed God.” That seems like works-based salvation to me. If the kingdom of heaven is not equal to salvation, but the display of great reward by those who did obey, it makes sense. This is a very difficult thought! In other words, some people will be saved, but won’t be in the kingdom. Salvation is a gift and all can receive it. Entering the kingdom is based upon rewards given for obedience. Endless books can be written on this, so allow me to throw the thought out and allow study and discussion to proceed from here.

3.      Jesus says in verse 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 perform many miracles?’” Can people preach in the name of Christ and not be saved? I guess it’s possible. But what about driving out demons? This is impossible. Look at Luke 11:15-20. Jesus was accused of driving out demons by the power of Satan. Jesus uses logic to call that idea “ridiculous”. How can Satan drive himself out? I do it by the power of God! So these people in Matthew 7 call Jesus Lord, preach in his name, and drive out demons in his name. These aren’t believers???

If they are believers, what is their crime? First, Jesus seems to be contrasting what these people did with doing the will of the Father. Look at the Pharisees. Jesus said that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, then we won’t enter the kingdom of heaven. Good luck with that. They “obeyed” the law almost perfectly. We also know that the Pharisees were beautiful on the outside, but wicked on the inside (Matthew 23:27-28). They did “good works”, but their hearts were evil. It’s all about the heart. Is the will of God better described in Matthew 25:31-46? There is a clear distinction between those saved, and those not saved. The main acid test for obedience is that care for those less fortunate. One very interesting question that boggles my mind: Jesus tells the “goats” to be cast into the eternal fire. Why? You read it.

Back to Matthew 7. There’s only one of two options here: either these people are Pharisees who have the “lingo” and actions down, but are not really true believers. It seems confusing in light of my reasoning above. If these are true believers, then many of you can agree with me up to this point. What throws this whole idea into confusion is what Jesus says to them: “I never know you. Away from me, you evildoers!” I never knew you? If he never knew them, then were they ever believers? As well, he tells them to leave, and calls them evildoers! What is going on here?

Here is an email I received early this week:

Hey PG, 

You said that you were expecting emails, so here is an email.

 I have to disagree with your position on Matthew 7:21-23 as being directed toward Believers.  I think that this passage is directed toward those who followed false teachings about Christ and the way to salvation. 

 If we consider the context, the verses immediately before vs. 21 are referencing false prophets. 

The Bible is clear that there is only one way to be forgiven of sin and that is by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  No other person, method or work can give eternal life.  In an attempt to be tolerant, however, some people assert that all religions are equally valid paths to God.  Even though we have a right to hold our own opinions regarding salvation, that doesn’t mean that everyone who holds some type of belief system will be accepted by Christ.   

When they call Him Lord in vs. 21, I believe that the people are acknowledging that they know who He is and perhaps that they thought that they had made a commitment to Him (for example salvation based upon works or being a good person).  In vs. 22, the people then begin to argue their position telling Jesus about all of the things that they did, presumably in His name, to earn their place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

 Lastly, if we regard vs. 23 as speaking to Believers, “But I will reply, I never knew you.  Get away from Me, you who break God’s laws,” it would contradict Scripture.

 John 10:14  “I am the Good Shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know Me.”

Some of my thoughts to this person:

First, this person “considers the context”. There isn’t much context all the way through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). If you scan over the sermon, you see that Jesus jumps from one topic to another. The only “context” is the overall sermon. He hits one unrelated topic after another. If you believe that he is talking about false prophets, then I ask you this: the false prophets in verses 15-20 bear bad fruit. The people in verses 21-23 are bearing good fruit (prophesying in his name, casting out demons, and performing miracles). None of us would call this “bad” fruit, and a person’s fruit is exactly how Jesus told us to differentiate good trees from bad ones.

Second, I can see their point about trusting in good works for their salvation, not in the work of Christ. However, at this point in time, it’s before the “the work of Christ on the cross”. Nevertheless, it’s still by faith in God that people in the OT were saved. The Pharisees banked everything on their own righteousness and were wicked. This may be the case here, because Jesus tells them that they break God’s laws, even though they were doing good works. Interesting.

I am still wondering about the other passages I noted above (1 Corinthians 12, and Luke 11). How did these people call him “Lord” and drive out demons if they weren’t believers?  Jesus asks the Pharisees in Luke 11, “If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, how do your sons cast them out? They will be your judges!”

The best point this person has is the “I never knew you” statement. I agree. There could be false prophets who speak lies against the gospel (verses 15-20), and there are Pharisee-type people who believe they are following God, but are really far from him. These two passages are probably separate, describing two different groups of people.

To summarize, here are four interpretations:

1.      Verses 21-23 are simply continuing the discussion of verses 15-20.

2.      The two passages are separate: the first group is made up of false prophets and the second group aligns with the Pharisees.

3.      The two passages are separate: the first group is made up of false prophets, the second group are believers who validate themselves, miss the point of Christianity (caring for those in need), and are cast out of the kingdom.

4.      The two passages are separate: the first group is made up of false prophets, the second group are believers who lost their salvation.

Application point: there are people who think they are incredible followers of God who are in for a rude awakening.

What’s your interpretation? What’s your evidence?