{7} 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.

(7) Even the best gifts that exist are nothing without godliness.

People's New Testament

7:21 Not every one, etc. The Lord has shown that the entrance into the kingdom is through the strait gate. He now shows more particularly what is needed to enter. Certain ones are described who cannot enter in. Not every one implies that some who say, Lord, Lord, etc. shall enter in. Those enter

that doeth the will of my Father. No one can be a citizen of the kingdom who does not obey the King.

Wesley's Notes

7:21 Not every one - That is, no one that saith, Lord, Lord - That makes a mere profession of me and my religion, shall enter - Whatever their false teachers may assure them to the contrary: He that doth the will of my Father - as I have now declared it. Observe: every thing short of this is only saying, Lord, Lord. Luke 6:46.

Scofield Reference Notes

Margin kingdom

See Scofield Note: "Mt 3:2".

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord-the reduplication of the title "Lord" denoting zeal in according it to Christ (see Mr 14:45). Yet our Lord claims and expects this of all His disciples, as when He washed their feet: "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am" (Joh 13:13).

shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven-that will which it had been the great object of this discourse to set forth. Yet our Lord says warily, not "the will of your Father," but "of My Father"; thus claiming a relationship to His Father with which His disciples might not intermeddle, and which He never lets down. And He so speaks here to give authority to His asseverations. But now He rises higher still-not formally announcing Himself as the Judge, but intimating what men will say to Him, and He to them, when He sits as their final judge.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:21-29 Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eternally, as multitudes do, with a lie in our right hand. Let every one that names the name of Christ, depart from all sin. There are others, whose religion rests in bare hearing, and it goes no further; their heads are filled with empty notions. These two sorts of hearers are represented as two builders. This parable teaches us to hear and do the sayings of the Lord Jesus: some may seem hard to flesh and blood, but they must be done. Christ is laid for a foundation, and every thing besides Christ is sand. Some build their hopes upon worldly prosperity; others upon an outward profession of religion. Upon these they venture; but they are all sand, too weak to bear such a fabric as our hopes of heaven. There is a storm coming that will try every man's work. When God takes away the soul, where is the hope of the hypocrite? The house fell in the storm, when the builder had most need of it, and expected it would be a shelter to him. It fell when it was too late to build another. May the Lord make us wise builders for eternity. Then nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ Jesus. The multitudes were astonished at the wisdom and power of Christ's doctrine. And this sermon, ever so often read over, is always new. Every word proves its Author to be Divine. Let us be more and more decided and earnest, making some one or other of these blessednesses and Christian graces the main subject of our thoughts, even for weeks together. Let us not rest in general and confused desires after them, whereby we grasp at all, but catch nothing.