---
title: Matthew 7:23
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-7-23/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-7-23.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 7:23
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 7:23

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "And then I will declare to them: 'I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!'"

## JW Usage

The Watchtower reads "I never knew you" as Christ's rejection of professed believers who failed to produce the works that prove genuine faith — those who claimed to follow Jehovah but did not obey the organisation, did not meet field-service expectations, or fell into "lawlessness" by departing from Watchtower standards. The verse is read as motivation toward visible obedience and continued loyalty.

## Protestant Usage

"I never knew you" is the language of relationship, not data. The Greek ginōskō here describes covenant intimacy — Jesus is not saying he lacked information about these people; he is saying he had no relationship with them. Pair with John 17:3 ("eternal life IS knowing you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent") and 1 Corinthians 13:12 ("I shall know fully even as I am fully known"). The relational sense of "knowing" is the New Testament's consistent register. The same Jesus who says "I never knew you" promises in 2 Timothy 2:19 that "Jehovah knows those who belong to him." Salvation is about being known by Christ in relational union, not about performing one's way into his ledger. Pair Matthew 7:23 with the parachute analogy: works do not earn the relationship; works flow from it.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Parachute Analogy — Trust, Not Effort](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/parachute-analogy.md) — Ephesians 2:8–9 / Way of the Master [Salvation]