NOTES for Mat 7:21-23

Fallen humanity is inclined to place hope in the magical power of the word. Even in prehistoric antiquity, when speaking a word, naming something, a person was sure he could affect what was named. Later he transferred this attitude to people and to gods. It was thought that by a word one could compel not only a person but even a god or spirit to do what the one speaking the word needed. Gods and spirits could be bound by a spell and forced to serve a human being. Of course, Yahwism, like later Judaism, always took a sharply negative view of magic and of all magical practices, including incantations. But deep in the subconscious, even among religious people, confidence in the magical power of the word remained. Yet if in pagan antiquity it produced the magical practice of spells, in Yahwist life, as also in Jewish and later Christian life, it produced the practice of solemn sacred oaths and doctrinal declarations. Proclaim the Nicene Creed publicly and solemnly, and you are "Orthodox." Swear just as publicly and solemnly eternal loyalty to Jesus, and you are a "Christian." And if the oaths are repeated again and again, if declaring one's "faith" becomes a profession, then no doubts remain at all: surely God cannot leave such activity unnoticed, surely the Savior will not turn away from those who have spoken so many words, perhaps even very correct words, in His defense. But it turns out that He can leave them unnoticed. He can turn away. For Jesus does not need advocates or brilliant speakers playing with words. He needs witnesses of the Kingdom. And that is something entirely different.