James Nisbet Commentary - Matthew 7:21 - 7:21

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James Nisbet Commentary - Matthew 7:21 - 7:21


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NOMINAL DISCIPLESHIP

‘Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.’

Mat_7:21

These words are familiar to us from their place among the offertory sentences in the Communion Service. Experience points to a broad correspondence between what men do and what they are; and, therefore, action is the true test of character upon the whole. It is very tolerable to most of us, to hear classes of people condemned for sins or inconsistencies which we have no chance of committing. Our Lord knew human nature too thoroughly to flatter one of the least amiable of its weaknesses, and He proceeds to show that His disciples might be men of profession without being strictly men of action.

I. The kingdom.—What is here meant by the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’? Our Lord means, in the first instance, the new spiritual society of men which He was establishing under that name on the earth. But mere profession of adherence to Him, however reiterated, however enthusiastic, is to be no passport of entrance into the kingdom. And so, when the multitudes around Him, entranced by the power of His teaching, were visibly willing to make protestations of attachment and of service, He observed solemnly, ‘Not every one … but he that doeth.’

II. The persons referred to.—To what persons or what classes of persons does our Lord refer? We can scarcely doubt that He does refer to some bona fide hypocrites, who professed what they did not mean or feel; but our Lord speaks with a prophetical foresight to all the ages of His Church. There is much less temptation now to hypocrisy, in these days. A young man of education and ability knows perfectly well, if his highest object in life be money or distinction, there are better things to do with himself than to take Holy Orders; and in general society a man does not now lose caste, as he did twenty years ago, by avowing even his disbelief in Christianity. But our Lord includes another form of hypocrisy—being carried away by a torrent of enthusiasm into words and actions which, left to ourselves, we should not mean. A day must come when every soul must stand alone. Nothing will help us then which has not been made by God’s grace genuinely our own—our own in this sense, that we mean it, with all the purpose and intensity of the soul, whether others mean it or not.

III. The voice of feeling.—‘Lord, Lord,’ is sometimes the voice of feeling as distinct from conviction. Feeling has its due sphere in the religious life of the soul, but feeling must follow conviction. If it precedes conviction it will soon get us into trouble. Our Lord would seem to be contrasting genuine religion with mere devoutness such as we see sometimes divorced from a religious sense of duty. There are lives in which passionate bursts of feeling, strong and tender, towards our Saviour alternate with disobedience, deliberate, repeated, to the known will of God—to the simplest duties. ‘Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?’ Our business here is not to give up devotion—God forbid—but to be, by His grace, sincere about it.

Canon Liddon.