Matthew 25: Sheep, Goats, Eternal Life and Eternal Punishment
I’ve seen this passage of Scripture taken completely out of context multiple times by politicians and people in the public eye in recent times. It seems to be a favorite for advocating some sort of governmental social welfare, or immigration policy, but anyone looking to Matthew 25 for a proof text that has any application to a political agenda only shows their complete ignorance of the text, simple principles of interpretation and even the gospel itself. Let’s study Matthew 25:31-45 and discover the meaning behind this passage considering the entire context of the book of Matthew and what it means to be a “sheep” or a “goat.”
Matt 25:31-45, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
What is being described in this scene is the second coming of Christ and His judgment of all of mankind. He will separate all the people of the earth into two categories: “righteous ones” and “unrighteous/accursed ones.” To the righteous He gives eternal life in the kingdom of God. To the unrighteous, their fate will be eternal punishment away from the kingdom of God (Hell, the place originally created for the devil and his angels). The question becomes, are the righteous being given eternal life merely for being perfect philanthropists or because they feed more hungry people than Mother Teresa? Are the unrighteous being thrown into eternal punishment simply for not doing enough good deeds and having too much self interest?
First of all, let’s establish who exactly it is that Jesus is referring to when He says in verse 40:“Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me” and similarly in verse 45: “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” Notice what Jesus says in the former verse. “These brothers of mine.” Jesus is referring to those who follow Him; His disciples, or simply, Christians.
Consider what we learn earlier in the same gospel in chapter 12…
Matthew 12:46-50, “While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. 47 Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” 48 But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus identifies His true family; His followers, who, by being a disciple of Jesus, is doing the will of the Father. “Henceforth the disciples are the only “family“ Jesus recognizes” (Carson, p.299). Craig Blomberg also remarks, “On calling disciples his brothers, cf. Heb. 2:11; also cf. Matt 28:10. The “will of God,” as throughout Matthew, means obedience to God‘s commands by following Jesus” (Blomberg, p.208). Now let’s go even farther back in Matthew to chapter 10 where Jesus sends out His disciples to preach the gospel across multiple cities. This “good news” is that the Kingdom of God has arrived and the proper response from the listeners is to receive this message from Jesus’ representatives. For those who did not accept Jesus’ disciples, this is what He had to say…“Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.” -Matt 10:14.
Then, He sums up again at the end of the chapter by saying…
“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.” -Matt 10:40-42
Notice the phrase “one of these little ones” in verse 42. This is referring to Jesus’ disciples.
Matthew 18:4-6, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
“The one who welcomes “a little child like this “in my name” is not welcoming literal children but “children” defined in the previous verses—those who humble themselves to become like children, i.e., Jesus’ true disciples” (Carson, p.398). Jesus even continues this terminology later on in the same chapter… “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. -18:10 and again, “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.” -18:14.
So we see that our fate depends on our response to the gospel message as proclaimed by His appointed representatives (the apostles). In John 17:8, Jesus is in the middle of praying for his chosen apostles and says this: “the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.” As Jesus is finishing His prayer for them, He includes not only his chosen representatives to spread the gospel, but “for those also who believe in Me through their word” -John 17:20. The church in Thessalonica is a perfect example of this as Paul says of their reception of his message: “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” -1 Thess. 2:13.
In our passage in Matthew 25, we not only see the result of receiving the gospel, but the “fruit” that comes forth from following Christ. That is, genuine care for His own people. A lifestyle of “death to self” so that we can live to serve our Lord and others. This is ultimately what separates the sheep from the goats. The eternal results of the sheep who are God’s people and the goats who are not are both perfectly consistent with what we see Jesus preach in Matt. 13:36-43 and 47-50. This leads Craig Keener to conclude, “The horrifying conclusion (25:46) is the damnation of people who did not actively embrace messengers of the gospel but nevertheless were oblivious to how they had offended God. The goats thus depart (7:23) into eternal fire (the worst possible conception of hell; see comments on 3:8, 10, 12)... welcoming Christ’s messengers probably involves more than only initially embracing the message of the kingdom: it means treating one’s fellow servants properly (24:45-49). Unless we "receive" one another in God’s household, we in some way reject Christ whose representatives our fellow disciples are (18:5-6, 28-29)” (Keener, p.362).
Bibliography:
Blomberg, Craig- Matthew, Vol. 22, NAC, 1992
Cason, D.A.- The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, 1984
Keener, Craig- Matthew, IVPNTC, 1997
*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995): New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.