Bible Strands
Luke 6:46
Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses his listeners in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6), immediately after teaching on the fruit of the heart (v. 45) and before the house-on-rock illustration (v. 47). The question is directed at those who habitually use the title "Lord" for him.
The words — The vocative kuriē (κὺριε) is doubled, marking an emphatic, repeated address rather than a single polite form. Kaleite (καλεῖτε) is present active indicative, second-person plural: an ongoing, habitual calling, not a one-time utterance.
The thread — Matthew 7:21 restates the same point in declarative form: not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" enters the kingdom, but only the doer of the Father's will. Malachi 1:6 supplies the Old Testament logic: a master is owed honor, and the question "where is my honor?" mirrors the gap between title and conduct.
Why it lands — The verse removes the possibility that verbal profession is sufficient; it demands that the title "Lord" be verified by obedience to what Jesus has said. It asks the reader to check whether their address of him is matched by their practice.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Cross-references
- Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
- Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’
- Luke 13:25 After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’
- Matthew 25:44 And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
- John 13:13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am.
- Matthew 25:24 Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
- Matthew 25:11 Later the other virgins arrived and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us!’