Matthew 7:23
Matthew 7:2323Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
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.
"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 ("eternal life IS knowing you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent") and ("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 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 with the parachute analogy: works do not earn the relationship; works flow from it.