Tuesday Jul 04, 2023

“Lord! Lord!” • Understanding Matthew 7:21-23

In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul tells us:

Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
— Romans 10:13; cf. Acts 2:21

In the Gospel of Matthew, however, the Lord Himself says:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.”
— Matthew 7:21

Yet, the Lord here is not contradicting Paul; rather, these two statements balance each other. Paul is sharing how we can receive the free gift of eternal salvation (John 5:24), while the Lord is speaking of gaining the reward of reigning with Him for the 1,000 years of His kingdom on the earth (Rev. 20:4-6). To be clear that these are two very different matters is to rightly divide the word of the truth (2 Tim. 2:15).

And if we are clear about this distinction, it should also help us to understand that God’s goal for us as the believers in Christ is not that we would go to heaven, but that we today would bring God’s authority from the heavens to the earth.

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RESOURCES REFERRED TO IN THIS EPISODE

Podcast 30: “The Gospel of the Kingdom”

Podcast 31: “What Is the Kingdom of the Heavens?”

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BIBLE VERSES

For a list of Bible verses and other resources referred to in this episode of the podcast, please visit its page on our website:

Podcast 52: “Lord! Lord!” • Understanding Matthew 7:21-23”

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OUR WEBSITE

https://TheChristianFaith.org/

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