Matthew 7:21 is the twenty-first verse of the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 and is part of the Sermon on the Mount

Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...

. This verse continues Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

' warning against false prophets.

In the King James Version of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 the text reads:

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.

The World English Bible

World English Bible

The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997...

 translates the passage as:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will

enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who

does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 7:21

This verse is parallelled by Luke 6:46, but in Luke the phrasing is directed at the crowd itself, while in Matthew it is against the hypothetical false prophets.

This verse states that some of those who claim to be good Christians will be rejected by Jesus if they have not carried out the will of God. The scholarly view is that Jesus in this set of verses is presenting himself as a witness before God at the Last Judgment, being consulted by God on who should enter but with the final decision being made by the Father.

The word translated as Lord is kyrie

Kyrie

Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek κύριε , vocative case of κύριος , meaning "Lord", is the common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, which is also called the Kýrie, eléison ....

, this is the first time in Matthew that this title is used in reference to Jesus. It is a title of polite address, and Hill notes that sir might be a more literal interpretation. It is also a title by which it was common to address a rabbi or elder. There is evidence that it is a stronger wording than just sir and lord or master are closer to the original. The next verse makes clear that the lord being referenced here is the lord of the last judgment

Last Judgment

The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...

. It was also a common address for a teacher, and Harrington believes the meaning of this verse is that one needs to following the teachings not just speak them. Kyrie is also close to ho Kyrios, the term used by the Septuagint to translate the Tetragrammaton

Tetragrammaton

The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...

. The Gospel of Matthew never uses that title to refer to Jesus, though the Gospel of Luke does so.

This verse contains a collection Matthew favourite phrases, such as "Kingdom of Heaven

Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...

" and "Father in Heaven." Gundry notes that "enter the kingdom of heaven" appears three other times in the Gospel, at Matthew 5:20

Matthew 5:20

Matthew 5:20 is the twentieth verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has reported that he came not to destroy the law, but fulfil it, but in this verse makes clear that the common understanding of the Law is not...

, 18:3, and 13:13. The reference to the kingdom of heaven is not found in Luke, continuing Matthew's pattern of being far more eschatological.