Why Did Jesus Say “I Never Knew You”?

Matthew 7:22-23 (NASB) — “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!'”

This is one of the most sobering things Jesus ever said, and the first thing to notice is who He is talking about.

Who Are These People?

They are not outsiders. They call Him Lord, and they say it twice over, the way a person speaks when they mean it. They tell Him they prophesied, drove out demons, and performed miracles — and each time they say it was done in His name.

So these are religious people. Active ones. People who would have been respected in any church.

And Jesus says He never knew them.

The reason is in the verse just before, and it is not complicated:

Matthew 7:21 (NASB) — “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”

Saying is not the same as doing. That is the whole point, and Jesus repeats it in His answer when He calls them “you who practice lawlessness.”

Lawlessness does not mean they had never heard God’s commands. They clearly had — they were preaching in His name. It means they lived as though those commands did not apply to them. They kept the name and set aside the obedience.

Luke records the same saying in a single sentence:

Luke 6:46 (NIV) — “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

One more thing worth noticing. Jesus never disputes their list. He does not say they never prophesied, or that the miracles were fake. He simply does not treat any of it as the point.

You Will Know Them by Their Fruit

This warning does not come out of nowhere. Six verses earlier, Jesus had given the test:

Matthew 7:16-18 (NIV) — “By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”

The test is not what a person claims, and not what they achieve. It is what their life produces.

A tree does not argue about what it is. It simply grows what is in it, and anyone can look and see.

That is why their answer at the throne is so unsettling. It does not sound like people caught out. It sounds like people repeating what they have always said. They are not inventing a defence — they are stating their life. Lord, look what we did. Look what was done in Your name. That was their confidence for years, and they carried it right up to the end.

They were sincere. They genuinely expected that list to be enough.

“I Never Knew You”

One word in His answer matters more than the rest.

Never.

Not “I knew you and you walked away.” Not “you were Mine and you lost it.” Never. There was no point at which they belonged to Him.

Nowhere else does Jesus use that word this way. Only here.

He said something close to it about the five foolish bridesmaids. They were part of the wedding party. They carried lamps like everyone else. They were waiting for the same bridegroom. And when they finally knocked:

Matthew 25:11-12 (NASB) — “‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'”

Luke’s version is closer to home still. The people at the door protest that they know Him:

Luke 13:26-27 (NASB) — “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.” And He will say, “I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from Me, all you evildoers.”

Notice how that ends. It is almost word for word what He says in Matthew 7.

These are not people from another religion. They had been near Him. They had heard Him teach. And He still says He does not know them.

So What Does It Mean to Be Known?

Jesus answers that Himself, and not with a list of achievements:

John 10:27 (NIV) — “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

Listen, and follow. A sheep is not known for what it produces. It is known because it belongs to the shepherd and comes when He calls.

That is also how Jesus ends this whole section of His sermon. Not with a warning, but with two builders:

Matthew 7:24 (NIV) — “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

Hears and puts them into practice. The other man in that story heard exactly the same words. He simply never did anything with them.

This passage has troubled a lot of sincere people, so it is worth saying clearly. If you are reading this and worrying whether Jesus knows you, that worry is worth noticing. The people in Matthew 7 were not worried at all. They walked up to the throne with their achievements in hand and no doubt in their minds.

The fear that you might not know Him is usually a sign that you care whether you do.

And the answer is not to work harder or produce more. It is to come to Him — not with a list, but as you are.

John 6:37 (NIV) — “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

He turned away people who came holding their record. He has never turned away anyone who came holding nothing.

Last updated 25 August 2026