I Never Knew You

In his last conference talk Elder Bednar spoke about knowing the Savior.  He pointed out two interesting changes that Joseph Smith made in his translation of the Bible that speak about knowing Christ.  The first is in the Sermon on the Mount where the King James text reads, “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23).  The Joseph Smith Translation changes the verse to read, “And then will I say, Ye never knew me” (JST Matt. 7:23).  Similarly, in the parable of the ten versions the text of the King James version reads, “Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not” (Matt. 25:11-12).  The JST changes this to say, “Verily I say unto you, Ye know me not.”  Elder Bednar suggested that these phrases about us not knowing the Lord “should be a cause of deep spiritual introspection for each of us.”  There is a difference between knowing the Savior and knowing about Him, and while even the world can teach us some things about Him, only living a life of discipleship can really help us come to know Him. 

               It’s interesting to me, though, that the idea of the Lord not knowing us as the original King James text has in the above scriptures is still repeated elsewhere.  In the Book of Mormon’s version of the Sermon on the Mount that Christ gave to the Nephites has the wording the same as the Bible: “And then will I profess unto them: I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (3 Nephi 14:23).  This suggests that Joseph’s change to the Bible was not necessarily a correction but rather another way of understanding it.  This is similar to the way that the Book of Mormon has the same language as Malachi 4 in 3 Nephi 24, and yet the Doctrine and Covenants changes the language in D&C 2.  Joseph wasn’t as concerned, it seems, with giving us the one “right” translation as he was with giving us understanding of how the scriptures apply to us.  He said in his letter to the Saints about the Malachi passage after quoting it the way that the King James text reads, “I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands” (D&C 128:18).  We might get caught up in trying to figure out exactly what the original text said, but Joseph was focused on making sure that the Saints understand what the passages are trying to teach.  And so in some cases having multiple ways of translating certain verses was not an issue for Joseph.  At any rate, it seems that there is value to us both in the phrase “ye never knew me” as well as the phrase “I never knew you.” 

              Another passage in the Book of Mormon actually puts both of the phrases together, thus helping to confirm that they both have value: “And it shall come to pass that when the second trump shall sound then shall they that never knew me come forth and shall stand before me….  And then I will confess unto them that I never knew them; and they shall depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mosiah 26:25, 27).  We do not want to get to the judgment bar and realize that we really don’t know the Savior, but we also do not want to hear the Savior say that He never knew us.  Of course, the Savior does know us in one sense because He knows all things and loves and cares for all of His Father’s children.  Perhaps one way we might understand the statement is that if we have rejected Him and have not come to know Him, then His suffering will not have been for us.  We know that if we do not repent then we must “suffer even as [Him]” and perhaps part of His “knowing” us is what took place when He “made an offering for sin” and did “see his seed” (D&C 19:17, Mosiah 15:11).  That seed, as Abinadi explained, consists of those who hearken to the words of the prophets.  Christ’s suffering does not profit us if we do not receive it and receive Him—“ For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift?” (D&C 88:33)  The gospel invites us to strive to come to know Him and the gift He made for us, and in so doing we will find that He does indeed know us.