What Does Matthew 7:23 Mean?
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; withdraw from me, you who live without boundary.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.THE KEY
The verse locates the dividing line in being known by Jesus, while the workers’ deeds are named as lawlessness.
THE MEANING
This verse confronts the reader with the possibility that conspicuous religious activity can remain outside the life Jesus recognizes. It names the workers’ practice as ἀνομία, action without or against instruction, and its severest words are relational: “I never knew you.” The text holds those together now: what a person does and whether they are known by him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that impressive religious works guarantee recognition by Jesus.
THE ROOT
ἔγνων
egnōn
GROWS FROM
γινώσκω (ginōskō), with the stem γνω- (gnō-)
To know or recognize through relationship and encounter.
The word points beyond having information about someone: “I never knew you” speaks of an absent relationship and recognition. The verse makes that absence more decisive than the workers’ claims about their deeds.
ALSO GROWS
gnōsis: knowledge
γνώσις
This related word shows the same knowing family, while Matthew’s verb makes knowing personal: “you.”
epiginōskō: recognize, come to know
ἐπιγινώσκω
This compound shares the knowing root and highlights recognition, the relational force carried by Jesus’ words.
ἀνομία
anomía
GROWS FROM
νόμος (nomos), with privative ἀ- (a-)
νόμος means law or instruction; with the privative prefix, ἀνομία means lawlessness, action without or against that instruction.
“live without boundary” in this verse is anomía. “Iniquity” here carries the concrete sense of lawlessness: work that runs outside or against instruction. The verse places that pattern beside the words “I never knew you,” joining the workers’ deeds with their lack of relationship.
ALSO GROWS
nomos: law, instruction
νόμος
This is the base word inside ἀνομία; its presence reveals the instruction that the workers’ practice disregards.
anomos: lawless, without law
ἄνομος
This related form makes explicit the lawlessness contained in ἀνομία.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats being known by God as deeper than ritual output or religious performance.
For I delight in faithful love and not slaughter, and the knowledge of God more than the ascending offerings.I am the good shepherd. I perceive my own, and my own perceive me.But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him.THE THREAD
But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him.Matthew’s “knew” and Paul’s “known” use γινώσκω (ginōskō), to know or recognize through relationship. The shared verb opens Matthew’s warning as a question of recognition, not merely public claims or works.
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