Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 7:22

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works?" — Matthew 7:22 (ASV)

Many will say to me in that day — No part of the Sermon on the Mount is more marvelous in its claims than this. To those who see in Christ only a human teacher with a higher morality than Hillel or Seneca, this claim is utterly incomprehensible.

At the beginning of His ministry, in a discourse that gives no prominence to His mission as the Messiah despite its tone of authority, He still claims with the calmness of assured conviction to be the Judge before whom the faithful and the hypocrites alike will have to give an account.

In “that day” (the words, though they would not yet suggest the thought of His own advent, would still carry the minds of people to the great and dreadful day of Malachi 4:5), the words “Lord, Lord,” would mean more than an expression of human courtesy.

Have we not prophesied in your name? — Here, also, is the implied calm assertion of a supernatural power, one not resting in Christ alone but imparted to His followers. This power was exercised, or at least claimed, by some who did not themselves fulfill the conditions of His kingdom. Here, as everywhere in the New Testament, “prophesying” is more than mere prediction; it includes the whole work of delivering a message to people as if coming directly from God.