Depart from Me, I NEVER Knew You?
TL;DR Summary: Jesus' warning, "Depart from me. I never knew you," doesn't mean Christians can lose salvation or need to work harder for acceptance. It's about trusting in Jesus, not our own works. Real faith is in Jesus alone, not in what we do. Read the full explanation to understand why our salvation is secure in believing in Jesus' finished work.
I found this in a Reel and it’s great. This verse used to always trip me up – like I could lose my salvation. This is a good way of explaining it:
Jesus says, “Depart from me. I never knew you.” What does he really mean by that?
Many read that and they wonder does this mean a Christian can lose their salvation? Or that you have to work harder to be accepted? So let’s take a close look at what Jesus is really saying.
In Matthew 7, the people Jesus speaks to come to him pointing at their resume. They’re saying, “Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we cast out demons? Didn’t we do mighty works?”
Notice what their confidence is in. Their confidence is not in him, but it’s in what they did for him. But salvation is never about what we do. It’s about what he already did. The moment we think we have to add something to the finished work of Jesus, we’ve stepped into unbelief. It may look religious. It may look or sound or powerful, but it’s still unbelief because real faith says Jesus is enough.
That’s why he says, “I never knew you.” He didn’t say, “I knew you once and then you lost it.” No, he said, “I never knew you.” They never trusted in him they trusted themselves.
Some people might ask, “Well, how could they prophesy or cast out demons or do wonders in his name?” If they weren’t truly saved, wouldn’t that require the Holy Spirit? But notice that Jesus never said those works came from him. He said they claimed them.
All throughout Scripture people use his name without truly knowing him. The sons of Skiva in Acts 19, they tried to cast out demons in his name, but they weren’t believers. Also in Matthew 24, Jesus warned false prophets would perform great miracles and wonders to deceive many.
So we can see that it’s very possible to use his name even to appear powerful without belonging to him. But miracles don’t prove salvation. Jesus said you’ll know them by their fruit and the fruit he’s looking for is relationship, love, and most importantly, trusting in him alone.
So don’t be afraid of this verse as if you could lose salvation every time you stumble. This isn’t this isn’t about Christians who believe in Jesus, but [those who] fall short. It’s about those who never truly believed at all because they were relying on and trusting themselves.
If your faith is in Jesus and his finished work, you are secure. The gospel isn’t the “depart from me: gospel. It’s “Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest” and that’s the heart of Jesus. And that’s where salvation is found.
Trust in him and his finished work alone and you are saved sealed and secure.
Amen, right? Man, am I glad I’m hearing this more. For a while, it seemed like there were very few of us saying it exactly like this. Isn’t it great knowing salvation isn’t based on our performance? It’s not. It’s only based on what Jesus did for us.
It’s never Jesus + anything because that’s not faith in Jesus.