I was never responsible for you !
Matt 7:23
23And then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
From continual study of this passage and the word knew, which is the greek word ginōskō which means:
to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive,
feel
a) to become known
2) to know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of
a) to understand
b) to know
3) Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman
4) to become acquainted with, to know
This word is also used in
Rom 7:15 :
15For that which I do I
allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
The RV renders it " That which I know not "
15For that which I do,
I know not. For what I would do, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do.
The thought is this: I do not recognize as a thing that I am responsible for !
I was not aware of you being of My Sheep, the ones I layed down my life For
John 10:14-15
14I am the Good Shepherd, and
know My sheep and am known by Mine.
15As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father;
and I lay down My life for the sheep.
See those Jesus laid down His Life for, as their Shepherd, He felt responsible for them, so of course He Knew them for which He was responsible for.
Those in
Matt 7:23, He never felt that way for them. He never knew them, in that He never felt responsible for them as His , He did not own them as His Sheep, and He their Shepherd, so He felt no responsibilty for them.
As the word
know also means to feel . Jesus was telling them, I never had intimate feelings for you, which meant simply He never Loved them.