Matthew 7:23
Read Matthew 7:23 Using Other Translations
What does Matthew 7:23 mean?
Then will I profess unto them
Publicly before men and angels, at the day of judgment,
I never knew you;
which must be understood consistent with the omniscience of
Christ; for as the omniscient God he knew their persons and their
works, and that they were workers of iniquity; he knew what they
had been doing all their days under the guise of religion; he
knew the principles of all their actions, and the views they had
in all they did; nothing is hid from him. But, as words of
knowledge often carry in them the ideas of affection, and
approbation, see ( Psalms 1:6 ) ( 2 Timothy
2:19 ) the meaning of Christ here is, I never had any love,
or affection for you; I never esteemed you; I never made any
account of you, as mine, as belonging to me; I never approved of
you, nor your conduct; I never had any converse, communication,
nor society with you, nor you with me. The Persic version reads
it, "I have not known you of old", from ancient times, or from
everlasting; I never knew you in my Father's choice, and my own,
nor in my Father's gift to me, nor in the everlasting covenant of
grace; I never knew you as my sheep, for whom, in time, I died,
and called by name; I never knew you believe in me, nor love me,
or mine; I have seen you in my house, preaching in my name, and
at my table administering mine ordinance; but I never knew you
exalt my person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; you talk of
the works you have done, I never knew you do one good work in all
your lives, with a single eye to my glory; wherefore, I will
neither hear, nor see you; I have nothing to do with you. In this
sense the phrase is used in the Talmud F25:
``Bar Kaphra went to visit R. Juda; he says to him, Bar Kaphra, (Mlwem Krykm ynya) , "I never knew thee".''The gloss upon it is,
``he intimates, that he would not see him.''So here, Christ declares, he knew them not; that is, he did not like them; he would not admit them into his presence and glory; but said,
depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.
The former of these expressions contains the awful sentence
pronounced by Christ, the judge; which is, banishment from his
presence, than which nothing is more terrible: for as it is his
presence that makes heaven, it is his absence that makes hell;
and this supposes a place and state, whither they are banished;
which is elsewhere called their "own place, the lake" which burns
with fire and brimstone; "everlasting fire", prepared for the
devil and his angels. Departure from Christ's presence is the
punishment of loss, and being sent to everlasting burnings, is
the punishment of sense; and the whole, as it is an instance of
strict justice, so a display of Christ's almighty power. The
latter expression contains the character of these persons, and in
it a reason of their punishment; they were "workers of iniquity":
it may be, neither adulterers, nor murderers, nor drunkards, nor
extortioners, nor thieves, or any other openly profane sinners;
but inasmuch as they did the work of the Lord deceitfully,
preached themselves, and not Christ; sought their own things, and
not his; what they did, they did with a wicked mind, and not with
a view to his glory; they wrought iniquity, whilst they were
doing the very things they pleaded on their own behalf, for their
admission into the kingdom of heaven. Some copies read, "all the
workers of iniquity", as in ( Psalms 6:8 ) from whence
the words are taken.
F25 T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 16. 1.
