Understanding Matthew 7

[Roger12345]

The more I read the bible the more frustrated I become with passages that suggest there are people who think they are saved and are not here is a perfect example:
Matthew 7
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Is it possible to achieve a reasonable certainty that you are saved?

 

[Scoobyshme]

The more I read the bible the more frustrated I become with passages that suggest there are people who think they are saved and are not here is a perfect example:
Matthew 7
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Is it possible to achieve a reasonable certainty that you are saved?

We should have “hope” not “certainty” that we are saved.

 

[jmfiore]

In The New American Bible: Saint Joseph Edition the footnote for Matthew 7:21-23 says:
The attack on the false prophets is continued, but is broadened to include those disciples who perform works of healing and exorcism in the name of Jesus (Lord) but live evil lives.
Entrance into the kingdom is only for those who do the will of the Father. On the day of judgment (on that day) the morally corrupt prophets and miracle workers will be rejected by Jesus.

Hope that helps.

 

[JRKH]

The more I read the bible the more frustrated I become with passages that suggest there are people who think they are saved and are not here is a perfect example:
Matthew 7
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Is it possible to achieve a reasonable certainty that you are saved?

I understand your frustration. “Been there - Done that”……

Though I may sound like a broken record here…the key lies in Love…in Agape.

In reading Scripture we need to seek and to understand the core principle that drives all else. That core is Love…Jesus reduces all of the Law and Prophets to the two great commandments of Love (Mt 22:36-40). He also tells us that the world will know that we are His by our Love (John 13:34-35). The Holy Spirit amplifies this in 1 John 4:7-8 by telling us that God IS Love.

And the passage most directly affecting your concern with the above passage is St Paul’s exposition on Love in 1 Cor 13:1-13 which says in part…

• If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.*
  So - What do those evildoers lack??? It is Love…Love of God above all else. Love of neighbor as themselves. Love that fulfills those things expressed later in Matthew 25:31-46…“I was hungry…I was thirsty…”

So - if you wish to have certainty about your salvation, examine yourself each day to see how you have shown love. How you have loved others as you love yourself. How you have loved God above all
Examine too where you have NOT shown love. How you have acted contrary to Love. These things we call sin…
Meditate on these matters, confess your faults and seek Gods forgiveness and grace to do better…To grow in holiness and humility. As you do this, and as your soul rejoices in the warmth of God’s growing grace and Love in you, your certainty…That Hope that is in you…will also grow.

Peace
James

 

[Matt_Collins]

What JRKH said.

And this…

Have you ever noticed how those who are condemned are trying to justify themselves? They are pleading their own case! Have you ever heard the maxim that anyone who represents himself in court has a fool for a client?!

Compare that to those who are saved. Jesus is pleading their case for them. They accuse themselves and Jesus defends them. There’s something profound in that.

And what JRKH said.

 

[bzkoss236]

Think of someone who knowingly sins without repenting, but says he loves Jesus and claims to follow Him, and I think you’ll understand.

We are supposed to be Christians in word and deed, not just word. And that is what this passage refers to, IMHO, and the others seem to agree.

In the end, we are to hope for our salvation, we can have confidence that if we try to follow Christ and believe in God as best as we can, that God will accept us into His Heavenly Kingdom.

 

[JRKH]

What JRKH said.

And this…

Have you ever noticed how those who are condemned are trying to justify themselves? They are pleading their own case! Have you ever heard the maxim that anyone who represents himself in court has a fool for a client?!

Compare that to those who are saved. Jesus is pleading their case for them. They accuse themselves and Jesus defends them. There’s something profound in that.

And what JRKH said.

Thank you for your kind words…I just reread my post am I’m thinking…Where id that come from…Could only be the Holy Spirit…Praise God.

I love what you say here too. It speaks strongly to true humility.

Peace
James

 

[Bookcat]

.
Is it possible to achieve a reasonable certainty that you are saved?

Yes. The gift of salvation …is a gift. We are saved by Jesus of Nazareth the Christ.

It is by the grace of God – though the death and resurrection of Christ. One initially receives such if one is adult via repentance…faith and baptism (tis grace…not something we earn). (An infant may receive such via the faith of the Church and baptism).

Now the question comes in the time following such – if one can have a ‘reasonable certainty’ (not an absolute certainty) that such remains the case?

Yes it is possible to have a kind of reasonable certainty that one living here and now in Christ…

And a firm hope that one will remain living in him when one leaves this world.

The certitude of hope is a very real thing.

"Moreover, our radical belonging to Christ and the fact that “we are in him” must imbue in us an attitude of total trust and immense joy. In short, we must indeed exclaim with St Paul: “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom 8: 31). And the reply is that nothing and no one “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8: 39). Our Christian life, therefore, stands on the soundest and safest rock one can imagine. And from it we draw all our energy, precisely as the Apostle wrote: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me” (Phil 4: 13).

Therefore, let us face our life with its joys and sorrows supported by these great sentiments that Paul offers to us. By having an experience of them we will realize how true are the words the Apostle himself wrote: “I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me”; in other words, until the Day (II Tm 1: 12) of our definitive meeting with Christ the Judge, Saviour of the world and our Saviour."

~Pope Benedict XVI

(from: vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20061108_en.html)

 

[NeedImprovement]

What JRKH said.

And this…

Have you ever noticed how those who are condemned are trying to justify themselves? They are pleading their own case! Have you ever heard the maxim that anyone who represents himself in court has a fool for a client?!

Compare that to those who are saved. Jesus is pleading their case for them. They accuse themselves and Jesus defends them. There’s something profound in that.

And what JRKH said.

. . . never heard it expressed precisely in those terms before - great food for reflection.
Thanks