Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 7:23

"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." — Matthew 7:23 (ASV)

Profess unto them. Say to them; plainly declare.

I never knew you. That is, I never approved, loved, or regarded you as my friends. (2 Timothy 2:19; 1 Corinthians 8:3).

This proves that, with all their pretensions, they had never been true followers of Christ. Jesus will not then say to false prophets and false professors of religion, that he had once known them, and then rejected them; that they had been once Christians, and then had fallen away; that they had been pardoned, and then had apostatized; but that he had never known them—THEY HAD NEVER BEEN TRUE CHRISTIANS.

Whatever might have been their pretended joys, their raptures, their hopes, their self-confidence, their visions, their zeal, they had never been regarded by the Savior as his true friends.

I do not know a more decided proof that Christians do not fall away from grace than this text. It settles the question; and proves that whatever else such men had, they never had any true religion. (See 1 John 2:19).