These are obviously people who believed in Jesus, and their lives had been shaped by that “belief.” They had spent their lives doing things “in Jesus’ name.” Their lives, apparently, had been marked by rigorous religiosity and filled with religious activities. But Jesus reveals that their activities did not spring from a vital relationship with him. They were in control of the relationship they had with Jesus. These “believers” were operating out of their own agendas, not in response to a relationship in which Jesus was truly Lord.
