Help with Matthew chapter 7, can you help me understand this verse.....?

Question

i have been struggling with these verses, what are your thoughts

Jesus' words in Matthew
21"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. 22Many 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?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Answer 1

Basically, don't just talk the talk "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord".....
But also walk the walk "but only he who does the will of my Father".

It takes more than saying you are a Christian to enter heaven. You must do God's will.

Answer 2

That is a hard verse for alot of people, so I understand your frustration.

Jesus' words in Matthew
21"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.

Those who "go through the motions" of Christianity will not be allowed into heaven. Only those who do the will of the Father, which is to truely repent of your sin.


22Many 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?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Many things have been done "in the name of God". The crusades are an excellent example. Just becasue something was done "in His name", doesn't mean He approved of it or that it was real.

The second paragraph is mirrored in another area. There where many people in the churches abroad trying to cast out demons by the name of Christ (as mentioned above). Their exorcisms where unsuccessful.
They commanded the demons by "the name Jesus, who Paul preaches." The demons where know to respond, "I know the name of Jesus and I know Paul, but who are you?"
The point being: the name of Jesus has authority, but only in the hands of a believer.

What Jesus is saying in the passage is that many will claim to be His followers, but not all who claim to be - really are.

If you have other questions reguarding such matters, please feel free to e-mail me.

Answer 3

Hi, I hope this helps:

21 "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.

Meaning the only people who are going to heaven are the ones who truly did everything in their heart to please God. It doesn’t matter what they proclaimed loudly to this person or the other. What matters is that they have devoted their lives to doing what God wants.


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?'

When God comes to the earth, many (not of honest hearts) will say “But God, I did this for you, and I told people that. We did this in church and saved this one or the other. See how much I’ve done? Isn’t this enough?”


23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

God knows who is true in heart or not. He can tell the phonies from the genuine. Just doing things for show, for others to see is merely showing the outside of yourself. Only you and God truly know the person you indeed are. So all the faking in the world might impress others, but when God comes, he’s gonna pass on taking the hypocrites up.

Answer 4

It means that being a Christian is more than simply following doctrine, doing what other "Christians" are doing, or even receiving the sacraments.

It means means following the 'narrow path', 'passing through the eye of the needle', 'taking up the cross', whichever metaphor makes the most sense to you. It means not just talking the talk (the easy way) but walking the walk (the hard way). Jesus is basically saying only those who take the narrow path are the ones who will be 'blessed' by his recognition.

That means doing all the 'cliches' that everyone talks about but rarely does: turning the other cheek, being the good samaritan, loving thy enemy. etc etc. Doesn't mean you have to have 100% success rate everytime (unrealistic), but it does mean better than 50%.

This means you can't 'play' at being a Christian (going to mass, doing daily bible readings, spreading the gospel, etc) while continually 'forgetting' to do the Christian thing when given the opportunity. And that doesn't mean just doing what other 'Christians' are doing either. The 'narrow' path is different for each person.

That means what is difficult (and thus, expected) for one person is different than what is expected of someone else. If you are a shy social person, it might be harder for you to volunteer (especially if you have a prejudice against skid row bums or whatnot,) thus serving at a homeless soup kitchen would be the 'narrow path' for them. However, for someone with an attitude problem, the difficult path might be for them to forgive someone they hate 'completely'.

Taking a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-the-most-comfortable approach is what Jesus is railing against. Doing what is most comfortable for ourselves, no matter how 'correct' the action, is not what Jesus (as the human/divine interpretor of God the Father) is asking of his followers, which that passage is supposed to remind them of.

Answer 5

Mythology says that the power of the word is in the phonology - the arrangement of the sounds. This is how criminals work. They need the "exact" representation of a message so that they can decipher the code.

In contrast, Jesus was the Word or Logos, but he did his Father's will. The apostle Paul also said that he came with words AND the power of the Holy Spirit. Words alone are not sufficient to show a kinship with Jesus. He healed people. We need to do the same with our kind actions. It doesn't take training. It doesn't take feeling sorry for people. It does take prayer and self-discipline. "Disciple" includes the idea of taking something apart and analysing it.

Answer 6

7:21 Christ next warns against people who falsely profess to acknowledge Him as Savior, but have never been converted. Not everyone who calls Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do the will of God enter the kingdom. The first step in doing the will of God is to believe on the Lord Jesus (Joh_6:29).

7:22, 23 On judgment day when unbelievers stand before Christ (Rev_20:11-15), many will remind Him that they prophesied, or cast out demons, or performed many wonders—all in His name. But their protestation will be in vain. Jesus will declare to them that He never knew them or acknowledged them as His own.

From these verses we learn that not all miracles are of divine origin and that not all miracle workers are divinely accredited.

A miracle simply means that a supernatural power is at work. That power may be divine or satanic. Satan may empower his workers to cast out demons temporarily, in order to create the illusion that the miracle is divine. Satan is not dividing his kingdom against itself in such a case, but is plotting an even worse invasion of demons in the future.

Answer 7

Basically Jesus was implying that one does not enter into heaven by committing good works (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Or not all who profess to be Christians really are. It is the heart that God looks at (1 Samuel 16:7). In the end, it will be those who served Jesus in spirit and in truth that will make it into heaven.

Answer 8

I don't think it means that they actually did perform miracles and cast out demons and prophecy. It just means that in their own estimation they think they did things like that. In other words, these are people who have a very high opinion of themselves, but God knew that they were hypocrites, and really good for nothing. The key words are " I never knew you". They did not have a relationship with Jesus in spite of what they thought.

Answer 9

Lizzie and others are pretty much on. I will endeavor to be a little more specific. In the end times satan is going to be here fooling everybody, saying he is the christ. Thinking Satan is the real christ these people will go out and cast out demons and perform miracles all in the name of the wrong christ who is really satan . That is why when they say " Lord, Lord ", the real Christ will say " I never knew you ". And you can take that to the bank.

Answer 10

These verses clearly describe christians. The reason they are being rejected is because they ignored the true path to salvation, a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. If they loved Jesus as they claim then they would have followed His commandments which centered around following the Spirit within us. Only when we follow the Spirit of truth will the lessons taught by Jesus come alive in our lives.