"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt. 7:22-23
A strange verse, is it not? Where is the love, the compassion, the mercy of Christ for these people? I thought God was all about love and forgiveness for sinners - and here he is rejecting folks who prophesy, cast out devils, and do many wonderful works IN HIS NAME. Strange, isn't it? Why would God do that? Is this verse, perhaps, Christ warning us of something? If so, of what?
This verse must be looked at extremely carefully. The first thing to note is the word MANY. Christ says that this happens to MANY people. The greek word for many is polus, meaning many, much, largely, mostly, often. The next word to look at is prophesied. The word for prophesied is propheteuo, meaning to foretell events, divine, speak under inspiration, exercise the prophetic office. This word is from prophetes, a foreteller(prophet), and inspired speaker, a poet. Clearly these folks GENUINELY prophesy. Christ does not deny their claim. As a matter of fact, He does not even challenge it.
The next thing to look at is the fact that they have cast out devils in Christ's name. They have also done many wonderful works in Christ's name. The word for wonderful works is dunamis, meaning force, miraculous power(usually by impl. a miracle itself). Thus we understand these folk have prophesied, cast out devils, and done many miracles all IN CHRIST'S NAME.
If this is truly the case, why are they rejected? The answer lies within Christ's response. Note how Christ does not deny their claims, nor even so much as challenge their claims to have done all these deeds. He simply claims "I never knew you", and then follows it up by saying that these folks in fact work iniquity. The word for iniquity is anomia which means illegality, violation of the law, wickedness. The word for never is oudepote, meaning not at all, never at any time.
To sum up: These people have prophesied in Christ's name, cast out devils in Christ's name, done many miracles in Christ's name, and yet are rejected with "I never knew you". You're telling me that many people did all of these things in Christ's name and somehow "missed out" on a 30-second prayer required to save their souls? They "missed out" on a simple acceptance of Christ into their heart? How could anyone do these great works of faith that these people have done, and fail to believe in Jesus Christ, accept Christ into their heart(which takes 30 seconds, apparently), and then hence be saved? Had they done this, then, according to modern christianity, they are saved - and if they fall away, Christ cannot say "I never knew you" because he had known them once - that would make his statement of I NEVER knew you to be a lie!
The problem is in fact deeper than most people realize. The problem here lies with the fact that these people THOUGHT they were saved. In fact, I believe that they were CERTAIN OF IT right down until the end. They embraced a false doctrine, a doctrine that told them they were saved when in fact they were not saved.
Consider: Christ says He never knew them. John 17:3 tells us that knowing God and Christ is salvation. Then, quite frankly, these people NEVER had salvation, or else Christ's statement is an outright lie. The reason these people are rejected is that their salvation doctrine is wrong - it told them they were saved when they weren't. Modern christianity tells us to accept Christ into our heart and then we are saved - if this is the case, why were these people rejected? The reason is because modern christianity's salvation doctrine is false, although they do not realize it. They are the church of Laodicea mentioned by Christ in Rev. 3:14-21, which even most people have come to recognize is modern christianity.
There are many other passages which raise questions about modern christianity's doctrine which I have not listed. These are found all over the Bible, and should be searched/studied out. These verses, along with this verse, raise serious questions about the salvation doctrine of modern christianity.
A strange verse, is it not? Where is the love, the compassion, the mercy of Christ for these people? I thought God was all about love and forgiveness for sinners - and here he is rejecting folks who prophesy, cast out devils, and do many wonderful works IN HIS NAME. Strange, isn't it? Why would God do that? Is this verse, perhaps, Christ warning us of something? If so, of what?
This verse must be looked at extremely carefully. The first thing to note is the word MANY. Christ says that this happens to MANY people. The greek word for many is polus, meaning many, much, largely, mostly, often. The next word to look at is prophesied. The word for prophesied is propheteuo, meaning to foretell events, divine, speak under inspiration, exercise the prophetic office. This word is from prophetes, a foreteller(prophet), and inspired speaker, a poet. Clearly these folks GENUINELY prophesy. Christ does not deny their claim. As a matter of fact, He does not even challenge it.
The next thing to look at is the fact that they have cast out devils in Christ's name. They have also done many wonderful works in Christ's name. The word for wonderful works is dunamis, meaning force, miraculous power(usually by impl. a miracle itself). Thus we understand these folk have prophesied, cast out devils, and done many miracles all IN CHRIST'S NAME.
If this is truly the case, why are they rejected? The answer lies within Christ's response. Note how Christ does not deny their claims, nor even so much as challenge their claims to have done all these deeds. He simply claims "I never knew you", and then follows it up by saying that these folks in fact work iniquity. The word for iniquity is anomia which means illegality, violation of the law, wickedness. The word for never is oudepote, meaning not at all, never at any time.
To sum up: These people have prophesied in Christ's name, cast out devils in Christ's name, done many miracles in Christ's name, and yet are rejected with "I never knew you". You're telling me that many people did all of these things in Christ's name and somehow "missed out" on a 30-second prayer required to save their souls? They "missed out" on a simple acceptance of Christ into their heart? How could anyone do these great works of faith that these people have done, and fail to believe in Jesus Christ, accept Christ into their heart(which takes 30 seconds, apparently), and then hence be saved? Had they done this, then, according to modern christianity, they are saved - and if they fall away, Christ cannot say "I never knew you" because he had known them once - that would make his statement of I NEVER knew you to be a lie!
The problem is in fact deeper than most people realize. The problem here lies with the fact that these people THOUGHT they were saved. In fact, I believe that they were CERTAIN OF IT right down until the end. They embraced a false doctrine, a doctrine that told them they were saved when in fact they were not saved.
Consider: Christ says He never knew them. John 17:3 tells us that knowing God and Christ is salvation. Then, quite frankly, these people NEVER had salvation, or else Christ's statement is an outright lie. The reason these people are rejected is that their salvation doctrine is wrong - it told them they were saved when they weren't. Modern christianity tells us to accept Christ into our heart and then we are saved - if this is the case, why were these people rejected? The reason is because modern christianity's salvation doctrine is false, although they do not realize it. They are the church of Laodicea mentioned by Christ in Rev. 3:14-21, which even most people have come to recognize is modern christianity.
There are many other passages which raise questions about modern christianity's doctrine which I have not listed. These are found all over the Bible, and should be searched/studied out. These verses, along with this verse, raise serious questions about the salvation doctrine of modern christianity.
I'm always skeptical when I hear, "I accepted Jesus into my heart." Does it mean that that person is not saved, not necessarily. I've never found, however, accept Jesus into your heart in Scripture.
