Bible Strands
Matthew 24:5
For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, answering their question about the timing of his coming and the end of the age (Matthew 24:3). This is the first concrete warning in his reply.
The words — πολλοί (polloi), "many," is emphatic: the threat is widespread, not marginal. λέγοντες (legontes), "saying," carries the sense of publicly asserting or claiming, not merely thinking.
The thread — Matthew 24:11 repeats the pattern with "many false prophets," and Matthew 24:24 escalates it to "false Christs" performing signs and wonders. Jeremiah 14:14 shows the same dynamic earlier: prophets speaking in Yahweh's name without his commission.
Why it lands — The warning is that Christ's own name is not a sufficient credential; a reader must test claims against what they already know of him. It asks for discernment, not alarm.
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
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Cross-references
- Matthew 24:11 and many false prophets will arise and deceive many.
- Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
- Jeremiah 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.
- 1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.
- Acts 5:36 Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.
- Acts 8:9 Prior to that time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and astounded the people of Samaria. He claimed to be someone great,
- Jeremiah 23:25 “I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
- Jeremiah 23:21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
- John 5:43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him.
- Revelation 13:8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.