“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Dear in Christ,

Prooftexting and Cherry picking have been developed into a fine art by mainstream Christianity. Here is a part of Wikipedia's definition of prooftexting:

Prooftexting (sometimes "proof-texting" or "proof texting") is the practice of using isolated, out-of-context quotations from a document to establish a proposition in eisegesis. Such quotes may not accurately reflect the original intent of the author, and a document quoted in such a manner, when read as a whole, may not support the proposition for which it was cited.The term has currency primarily in theological and exegetical circles.

Mat 7:21 is one of the scriptures often prooftexted to prove that everyone won't be saved. Let's see the scripture in it's context.

Mat 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Mat 7:16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Mat 7:17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
Mat 7:18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Mat 7:21 "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.
Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

The context is of Jesus warning his first century audience (who were listening to the sermon on the mount) about the false prophets who had to come to them ("who come to you"). In his epic work “Wars of the Jews”, Flavius Josephus has made several mentions to the false prophets and miracle workers who attempted to deceive the Jewish people.

How do you apply a passage about false prophets to the man on the street?

The context of Mat 7:21 is about false prophets and the expression 'Lord, Lord' in Mat 7:21 matches with the same expression in Mat 7:22, which is about false prophets and miracle workers.

The population of Bangalore, India (where I live) is 4.3 million. How many false prophets and miracle workers are here? Hardly half a dozen, most of them are Christian preachers. How about the United States of America, the biggest Christian nation in the world? Among the 319± million US citizens how many could be false prophets and miracle workers? A few hundreds or thousands, perhaps! How can anyone apply what is specifically told about such a minuscule section of the human race (false prophets and miracle workers) to a vast majority of it?

Does the passage say anything about unbelievers? NO.
Does it speak about anyone other than those who call Jesus as 'Lord, Lord'? NO.
Does it say anything about anyone other than false prophets and miracle workers? NO.

How do you apply this passage to some random Muslim who lives in the remote areas of Pakistan or Afghanistan? How do you apply this passage to a tribal living in some of the remote hamlets in India? Is there a way to prove that every non-Christian is a false prophet and a miracle worker? (Yes, I know that you have memorized and prooftexted scriptures to exclude non-Christians from the reconciliation accomplished by God through Jesus Christ. If it be the will of God, we will examine those scriptures in their proper contexts, as we progress with this blog.)

Applying this passage to anyone other than false prophets and miracle workers is bad exegesis and bad hermeneutics.

In Christ,

Tomsan Kattackal

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I am not oblivious of the fact that Rev 19:20 and Rev 20:10 state that false prophet(s) and miracle workers would end up in the Lake of fire and sulfur. We will discuss those passages in this series.