Matthew 7:21
Matthew 7:2121Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Jehovah's Witnesses cite to argue that merely calling Jesus "Lord" is insufficient — obedience to God's will is required, and that will is mediated through the Watchtower organisation. The verse reinforces the claim that activity in Jesus' name (preaching, prophesying, powerful works) does not automatically identify the faithful community; only those who do the Father's will through the proper channel are recognised. The Watchtower also uses the verse to deflect the 8.7 million membership argument: not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will be saved, so the relevant question is not how many but whether those millions are doing the Father's will under organisational direction.
Protestant exegesis reads as a warning that religious activity — even spectacular activity done in Jesus' name — is no substitute for a genuine relationship with Christ. Jesus says "I never knew you," which means the issue is personal knowledge of and by the Lord, not institutional membership or organisational obedience. The passage is devastating to any claim that preaching volume or membership size proves divine approval. As the "name the channel" argument observes, if biblical necessity requires biblical identification, then no amount of activity can substitute for a textual warrant that names the channel. And as the 8.7 million membership argument notes, Jesus himself warned that people will come to him citing their works and he will say "I never knew you" — using the right words and doing visible religious work does not automatically identify the faithful community. The fruit test of verses 16-20, not the activity count of verse 22, is the criterion Jesus gives.