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Matthew 7 · a question people ask

The many of 7:22 say they prophesied and cast out demons in Jesus's name. Had they?

In the text

Matthew doesn't say. Jesus gives what they will say: "Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’" (7:22). And what he will tell them: "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity." (7:23). His answer doesn't say whether they did those things; it says, "I never knew you". Just before, he says who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven: "he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (7:21). Jesus doesn't say here when "that day" is, or who the many are, and these notes don't say either.

The verses

““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’”
Matthew 7:21-23 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Matthew 7

Matthew 7: Hears and does them

In Matthew 7 one Greek verb runs from 7:12 to 7:26 behind the WEB's do, produce, grow and does: the good tree produces good fruit, the one who enters does the will of his Father, and the wise man hears Jesus's words and does them. And "he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes" (7:29) is, in the Greek, the same words as the end of Mark 1:22.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions