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Matthew 7:21. Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord. Christ extends his discourse farther: for he speaks not only of false prophets, who rush upon the flock to tear and devour, but of hirelings, who insinuate themselves, under fair appearances, as pastors, though they have no feeling of piety.⁴⁷⁸⁴⁷⁸     “Combien qu'au dedans ils n'ayent point d'affection de crainte de Dieu;” — “though at bottom they have no feeling of the fear of God.” This doctrine embraces all hypocrites, whatever may be their rank or station, but at present he refers particularly to pretended teachers,⁴⁷⁹⁴⁷⁹     “Les docteurs feints et doubles;” — “reigned and deceitful teachers.” who seem to excel others. He not only directs his discourse to them, to rouse them from the indifference, in which they lie asleep like drunk people, but also warns believers, not to estimate such masks beyond their proper value. In a word, he declares that, so soon as the doctrine of the Gospel shall have begun to bear fruit by obtaining many disciples, there will not only be very many of the common people who falsely and hypocritically submit to it, but even in the rank of pastors there will be the same treachery, so that they will deny by their actions and life what they profess with the mouth.⁴⁸⁰⁴⁸⁰     “Ce qu'ils enseignent et confessent de bouche;” — “what they teach and confess with the mouth.” Whoever then desires to be reckoned among the disciples, must labor to devote himself, sincerely and honestly, to the exercises of a new life.

In the Gospel of Luke, it is a general reproof: Why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? But as this corruption proceeds, for the most part, from pretended teachers, and easily finds its way from them into the whole body, so, according to Matthew, our Lord expressly attacks them. To do the will of the Father not only means, to regulate their life and manners, (as philosophers talked⁴⁸¹⁴⁸¹     “Comme les philosophes ont voulu enselgner le monde;” — “as the philosophers wished to teach the world.” ) by the rule of virtues, but also to believe in Christ, according to that saying,

“This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life,”
(John 6:40.)

These words, therefore, do not exclude faith, but presuppose it as the principle from which other good works flow.

22. Many will say to me Christ again summons hypocrites to his judgment-seat, as we showed a little ago from Luke. So long as they hold a place in his Church, they both flatter themselves and deceive others. He therefore declares, that a day is coming, when he will cleanse his barn, and separate the chaff and straw from the pure wheat. To prophesy in the name of Christ is, to discharge the office of teacher by his authority, and, as it were, under his direction. Prophecy is here, I think, taken in a large sense, as in the fourteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Corinthians. He might have simply used the word preach, but purposely employed the more honorable appellation, in order to show more clearly, that an outward profession is nothing, whatever may be its brilliancy in the eyes of men. To do wonderful works in the name of Christ is nothing else than to perform miracles by his power, authority, command, and direction: for, though the word ὁμολογήσω, powers, is sometimes confined to one class of miracles, yet in this and many other passages it denotes every kind of miracles.

23. And then will I confess to them⁴⁸²⁴⁸²     “Et lors je leur diray ouvertement;” — “and then will I openly say to them.” By using the word ὁμολογήσω, I will confess,⁴⁸³⁴⁸³     “Le mot Grec dont use l'Evangeliste signifie proprement, Je leur confesseray;” — “the Greek word, which the Evangelist uses, literally signifies ‘I will confess to them.’“ Christ appears to allude to the vain boasting, by which hypocrites now vaunt themselves. “They indeed have confessed me with the tongue, and imagine that they have fully discharged their duty. The confession of my name is now heard aloud from their tongue. But I too will confess on the opposite side, that their profession is deceitful and false.” And what is contained in Christ’s confession? That he never reckoned them among his own people, even at the time when they boasted that they were the pillars of the church.

Depart from me. He orders those persons to go out from his presence, who had stolen, under a false title, an unjust and temporary possession of his house. From this passage in our Lord’s discourse Paul seems to have taken what he says to Timothy,

The Lord knoweth who are his: and, let every one who calleth on the name of Christ depart from iniquity, (2 Timothy 2:19.)

The former clause is intended to prevent weak minds from being alarmed or discouraged by the desertion of those who had a great and distinguished reputation:⁴⁸⁴⁴⁸⁴     “D’aucuns qui auront en grand bruit, et auront este fort estimez;”— “of any who shall have made great noise, and shall have been greatly esteemed.” for he declares that they were disowned by the Lord, though by a vain show they captivated the eyes of men. He then exhorts all those who wish to be reckoned among the disciples of Christ, to withdraw early from iniquity, that Christ may not drive them from his presence, when he shall “separate the sheep from the goats,” (Matthew 25:33.)

Matthew 7:24. Every one, therefore, who heareth As it is often difficult to distinguish the true professors of the Gospel from the false, Christ shows, by a beautiful comparison, where the main difference lies. He represents two houses, one of which was built without a foundation, while the other was well-founded. Both have the same external appearance: but, when the wind and storms blow, and the floods dash against them, the former will immediately fall, while the latter will be sustained by its strength against every assault. Christ therefore compares a vain and empty profession of the Gospel to a beautiful, but not solid, building, which, however elevated, is exposed every moment to downfall, because it wants a foundation. Accordingly, Paul enjoins us to be well and thoroughly founded on Christ, and to have deep roots, (Colossians 2:7,)

“that we may not be tossed and driven about by every wind of doctrine,”
(Ephesians 4:14)

that we may not give way at every attack. The general meaning of the passage is, that true piety is not fully distinguished from its counterfeit,⁴⁸⁵⁴⁸⁵     “Qu'on ne peut pas bien discerner la vraye crainte de Dieu, d'avecques une feintise et vaine apparence d’ icelle;” — “that the true fear of God cannot be well distinguished from a dissembling and vain appearance of it.” till it comes to the trial. For the temptations, by which we are tried, are like billows and storms, which easily overwhelm unsteady minds, whose lightness is not perceived during the season of prosperity.

Who heareth these sayings The relative these denotes not one class of sayings, but the whole amount of doctrine. He means, that the Gospel, if it be not deeply rooted in the mind, is like a wall, which has been raised to a great height, but does not rest on any foundation. “That faith (he says) is true, which has its roots deep in the heart, and rests on an earnest and steady affection as its foundation, that it may not give way to temptations.” For such is the vanity of the human mind, that all build upon the sand, who do not dig so deep as to deny themselves.

28. When Jesus had finished these sayings By these sayings I understand not only the discourse which he delivered when he came down from the mountain, but the rest of the doctrine, which had already been made known to the people. The meaning therefore is, that, where he had given the people, on all sides, a taste of his doctrine, all were seized with astonishment, because a strange, indescribable, and unwonted majesty drew to him the minds of men. What is meant by his teaching them as having authority, and not as the scribes, I have already explained.⁴⁸⁶⁴⁸⁶     A parallel passage in the Gospel of Mark (1:22) having already occurred, the reader will find Calvin's exposition of these remarkable words at page 247 of this volume. — Ed.