the Week of Proper 27 / Ordinary 32
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Filipino Cebuano Bible
Mateo 7:23
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from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
I never: Matthew 25:12, John 10:14, John 10:27-30, 2 Timothy 2:19
depart: Matthew 25:41, Psalms 5:5, Psalms 6:8, Luke 13:25, Luke 13:27, Revelation 22:15
Reciprocal: Exodus 2:25 - had respect Deuteronomy 13:2 - General Deuteronomy 14:7 - General 2 Samuel 22:42 - unto the Lord Job 31:6 - know Job 32:15 - amazed Job 34:22 - the Psalms 45:7 - hatest Psalms 50:16 - What Psalms 92:9 - scattered Psalms 101:4 - know Psalms 119:115 - Depart Psalms 119:119 - puttest away Psalms 125:5 - with the workers Psalms 139:19 - depart from Proverbs 1:28 - shall they Proverbs 4:19 - General Proverbs 10:29 - but Proverbs 21:15 - destruction Ezekiel 18:24 - in his Nahum 1:7 - and he Matthew 8:12 - the children Matthew 13:21 - root Matthew 13:41 - and them Mark 9:39 - there Luke 8:18 - from Luke 9:26 - of him Luke 10:20 - in this Luke 12:9 - shall Luke 12:46 - and will appoint John 11:51 - he prophesied Romans 8:29 - whom 1 Corinthians 8:3 - is 1 Corinthians 13:2 - I have the 1 Corinthians 13:3 - though I give Philippians 3:2 - evil 2 Thessalonians 1:9 - from the presence Hebrews 12:17 - he was Revelation 2:2 - know
Gill's Notes on the Bible
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 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 y:
"Bar Kaphra went to visit R. Juda; he says to him, Bar Kaphra, איני מכירך מעולם, "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.
y T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 16. 1.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Profess unto them - Say unto them; plainly declare.
I never knew you - That is, I never approved of your conduct; never loved you; never regarded you as my friends. See Psalms 1:6; 2 Timothy 2:19; 1 Corinthians 8:3. This proves that, with all their pretensions, they had never been true followers of Christ. Jesus will not then say to false prophets and false professors of religion that he had once known them and then rejected them; that they had been once Christians and then had fallen away; that they had been pardoned and then had apostatized but that he had never known them - they had never been true christians. Whatever might have been their pretended joys, their raptures, their hopes, their self-confidence, their visions, their zeal, they had never been regarded by the Saviour as his true friends. I do not know of a more decided proof that Christians do not fall from grace than this text. It settles the question; and proves that whatever else such people had, they never had any true religion. See 1 John 2:19.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Matthew 7:23. Will I profess — ομολογησω, I will fully and plainly tell them, I never knew you - I never approved of you; for so the word is used in many places, both in the Old and New Testaments. You held the truth in unrighteousness, while you preached my pure and holy doctrine; and for the sake of my own truth, and through my love to the souls of men, I blessed your preaching; but yourselves I could never esteem, because you were destitute of the spirit of my Gospel, unholy in your hearts, and unrighteous in your conduct. Alas! alas! how many preachers are there who appear prophets in their pulpits; how many writers, and other evangelical workmen, the miracles of whose labour, learning, and doctrine, we admire, who are nothing, and worse than nothing, before God, because they perform not his will, but their own? What an awful consideration, that a man of eminent gifts, whose talents are a source of public utility, should be only as a way-mark or finger-post in the way to eternal bliss, pointing out the road to others, without walking in it himself!
Depart from me — What a terrible word! What a dreadful separation! Depart from ME! from the very Jesus whom you have proclaimed in union with whom alone eternal life is to be found. For, united to Christ, all is heaven; separated from him, all is hell.