Matthew 7:21

Judgment of Pretenders

7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ ¹  will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 16:17

16:17 And Jesus answered him, ²  “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood ³  did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!

Matthew 20:23

20:23 He told them, “You will drink my cup, ⁴  but to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give. Rather, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Matthew 26:39

26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ⁵  “My Father, if possible, ⁶  let this cup ⁷  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

¹ sn The double use of the vocative is normally used in situations of high emotion or emphasis. Even an emphatic confession without action means little.

² tn Grk “answering, Jesus said to him.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of this phrase has been modified for clarity.

³ tn The expression “flesh and blood” could refer to “any human being” (so TEV, NLT; cf. NIV “man”), but it could also refer to Peter himself (i.e., his own intuition; cf. CEV “You didn’t discover this on your own”). Because of the ambiguity of the referent, the phrase “flesh and blood” has been retained in the translation.

³ tc See the tc note on “about to drink” in v. 22.

⁴ tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

⁵ tn Grk “if it is possible.”

⁶ sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.