Matthew 25:31-46

CRITICAL NOTES

Matthew 25:31. When the Son of man shall come, etc.—The paragraph, Matthew 25:31, is not a parable, as some, inclusive of Townsend and Olshausen, have supposed, but a prophecy. It is a prophecy, however, which is largely imbued with parabolic and dramatic symbolisms; and which, consequently, requires for its interpretation the careful discrimination of substance and form, essence and accident (Morison). His glory.—His personal glory. The throne of His glory.—The glory of His judicial authority (Brown).

Matthew 25:32. All nations.—Either

(1) all the nations of the world, including the Jews; or
(2) all the Gentiles. The almost invariable use of τὰ ἔθνη to signify the Gentiles; the unconsciousness of service to Christ shown by just and unjust alike; the simplicity of the standard proposed by the Judge, favour the second interpretation. On the other hand, the special warning to the Apostles, and to the Jewish race, in the previous parts of the discourse render it probable that Jews and Christians are not excluded from this picture of the judgment. The unconsciousness of the judged may be referred, not to ignorance of Christ, but to unconsciousness that in relieving the distressed they were actually relieving Christ. The simplicity of the standard may be intended to include what is called “natural” religion, as well as revealed religion. The nations are judged by a standard of justice which all recognise. Read Romans 1:18; Romans 2:9 (Carr). As a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.—The sheep and goats are always seen together under the same shepherd and in company; yet they never trespass on the domain of each other.… When folded together at night they may always be seen gathered in distinct groups; and so, round the wells they appear instinctively to classify themselves apart, as they wait for the troughs to be filled (Tristram). The goat was not in evil repute in the East, as contrasted with the sheep; on the contrary, the he-goat was a symbol of dignity, so that the point of analogy is merely the separation between the sheep and the goats (Carr).

Matthew 25:41. Ye cursed.—Through their own fault penetrated by the curse of God (Lange).

Matthew 25:46. Everlasting punishment … life eternal.—Eternal punishment … eternal life (R.V.). The two adjectives represent one and the same Greek word, αἰώνιος, and we ought, therefore, to have the same word in both clauses in the English. Of the two words “eternal” is philologically preferable, as being traceably connected with the Greek, the Latin æternus being derived from ætas, and that from ævum, which, in its turn, is but another form of the Greek αἰὼν (æon) (Plumptre).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Matthew 25:31

The end itself.—Respice finem. Look to the end. Call no man happy till death. Children and fools should not be allowed to see half-done deeds. All these express what, on a far grander scale, is expressed in this passage. Its whole structure is eschatological in the highest degree. The Son of man has come in His glory; all the holy angels are with Him; all nations are assembled before Him; all the ages of Time are over; nothing remains but to pass sentence on all. What do we learn from it all? Principally, that the end of all things will show all things in a light of its own. This is shown, first, in the view it gives of men’s lives; secondly, in the view it gives of men’s motives.

I. The view it gives of men’s lives.—To us, now, there appear to be many differences—many in number and in importance as well—between one man’s life and another’s. To us, even the same life appears at times to differ much from itself. “The end” will show us that each individual life should be regarded rather as one. As we, then, “look back” upon it, we shall see this to be true. In much the same way soldiers both see and reckon when the day of battle is over. Either the enemy’s position has been captured, or it stands where it did. Either we are in possession of it, or we are not. If not the former, then, whatever the vicissitudes of the interim—not only so, but whatever, also, its gains—the day has been one of defeat. That is its character as a whole. Very similar to this will it be with us all when the individual battle of life is seen in the “perspective” of its end. All other differences and passing distinctions will be lost, then, in this one. All other dissimilarities between man and man will be obliterated in this. The mere “accidents” of comparative wealth and personal advantages and reputation and dignity, will be seen, then, to be such. Did the man succeed, or did he fail, in that which was all-important to his destiny? Did he win the day, or did he lose it, from his point of view as a soldier? That is the distinction—the only distinction—which will be of any weight then. The present parable expresses this with singular force. Its whole final issue is made to depend on the single word “not.” There are those who “did.” There are those who “did not” (cf. 34–36, 42, 43). Nothing whatever, in distinguishing between them, is mentioned beside of an external description.

II. The view it gives of men’s motives.—Why will so much be then made of that outward difference of which we have spoken? Because of the still greater inward difference which it betokens. This is easily seen, on the one hand, in a general way. Why is it that some succeed, and others do not, in the battle referred to? That some “do,” and others “do not,” the things mentioned by Christ? The answer is to be found, in part, in the respective state of their hearts. One man has chosen the will of God before everything else. The other has chosen something else—be this what it may—in its stead. Naturally, therefore, this latter man has not succeeded in doing God’s will. How should he, indeed, if he has only desired it, at best, with part of his heart? Equally naturally, therefore, the other man has been (at least) in the way of success, and has won the day, in short, because, in comparison with the former man, he has given his heart to that task. This is, therefore, one great secret which will be brought out thus at the “end.” The man who did not win will be shown, then, to have never really, because never fully, intended to win. But there is another secret, and that a deeper one, which will be brought out at that time. There is, if we may call it so, a highly specialised way of proving the point we are on. On one thing, as it were, above all other things, God has set the stamp of His will; and that is that the fulness of honour should be paid by all to His Son. This will of His has been proclaimed, on the one hand, in heaven above. “Worship Him, all ye gods” (Psalms 97:7; Hebrews 1:6). This, therefore, by implication, is what we are taught to pray for on earth (Matthew 6:10). Also, and that as expressly as may be, by Jesus Himself (John 5:23). Yet this is just the point, again, as a matter of fact, in which men are most opposed to God’s will; as is shown by the way in which they treat the representatives of Christ in the world (see Acts 9:5; Psalms 105:15, Jerome’s translation—Nolite tangere meos Christos”); and as is also implied, on both sides, with great clearness here in Matthew 25:40; Matthew 25:45. Not, however, that this truth is now seen as it should be on either side of the case. Neither those who do minister, nor those who refuse to minister, to these persons are aware now of the extent to which they are influenced in their conduct by what they discover and perceive in these persons of the image of Christ, and so, therefore, of the will of Him whom Christ alone can fully, and does fully, set forth (John 14:8). That, on the contrary, is what the day which “declares” all things will alone fully make known; and will make known, also, in such a way as to be an astonishment then unto all (Matthew 25:37; Matthew 25:44), and so, therefore, “reveal” to all men the true character of their lives, and the full extent to which they were opposed to or in harmony with the will of God as declared to men in His Son. “Ye did it to Me.” “Ye did it not to Me.” That is the summary of the whole. That is what will be shown, then, of the thoughts of us all. Utterly unperceived by most, and only dimly seen by any, before the time of the end, this is one of the first things which the end itself will make at once permanently and undeniably clear.

These things may prepare us, therefore, for what we read finally here about the character of the “end”; how it is marked:—

1. By the idea of separation.—Men will be shown then to have been either with God or else against God, in that which was nearest His heart. How inevitable, therefore, in the “day” which is to put all things right, that such as these should be “divided” asunder (Matthew 25:32)! How fitting, also, that what is said to them respectively should be the words “come” and “depart” (Matthew 25:34; Matthew 25:41). And how necessary, once more, that the issues following these should be things as far apart as they can be! Even as far as between a throne (Matthew 25:34), on the one hand, and a prison-house (Matthew 25:46) on the other.

2. By the idea of duration.—On this most solemn of subjects there seem to be two things to be equally shunned. Over-pressing the language employed, on the one hand. Wresting it, on the other. That the idea of duration is emphatically present cannot be denied (Matthew 25:46). That there is nothing in the nature of what is told us, and nothing also in the way in which it is told us, to suggest the idea of termination, seems equally plain. May it not be wisest to leave the subject in that negative form? Even so, it is awful enough!

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Matthew 25:31. The general judgment.—The following are the prominent dogmatic points.

I. Christ is the Judge of the world.—Cf. Acts 10:42; Acts 17:31.

II. The judgment shall be exercised by Him upon all mankind.—The general resurrection is included, so that all nations may be assembled.

III. The standard of judgment will be the question, how they reputed and dealt with Christ in the world; how they regulated their conduct toward Him in His own person, and in His unseen life in humanity as the Logos; how, therefore, they honoured or dishonoured the Divine in themselves and in their fellow men; how they showed christological piety in christological humanity; or how, in short, they behaved toward Christ in the widest sense of the word.

IV. The demand of the judgment will be the fruit of faith in Christian love of men, or human love of Christ. Thus not merely

(1) doctrinal faith, or
(2) external works without a root of faith, or
(3) merely individual evidences of good. But decided goodness in its maturity and consistency, as it acknowledged Christ or felt after Him, in all His concealments, with longing anticipations.

V. The specific form of the requirement will be the requirement of the fruit of mercy and compassion; for the foundation of redemption is grace, and faith in redeeming grace must ripen into the fruits of compassion. Sanctified mercy, however, is only a concrete expression for perfected holiness generally, or the sanctification of Christ in the life.

VI. The finished fruit of faith and disposition is identical with the man himself, ripe for judgment.

VII. The judgment appears to be already internally decided by the relation which men have assumed toward Christ, or the character which they have borne; but it is published openly by the separation of those who are unlike, and the gathering together of all who are like; it is continued in the sentence which illustrates the judgment by words, and confirms it by the extorted confession of conscience; it is consummated by the fact of the one company inheriting the kingdom, and the other departing to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

VIII. This perfected separation implies also the total change of the earth; on the one side the view opens upon the finished kingdom of God; on the other the view opens upon hell, now unsealed for the lost.

IX. The time of the judgment is the final and critical period in which all preparatory judgments are consummated.

1. The judgments of human history in this world.

2. The judgments in Hades in the other world. See Luke 16:19.

3. The great judgments which will begin at the manifestation of Christ.—J. P. Lange, D.D.

Matthew 25:31. The glory of Christ in the judgment.—He will be glorious:—

I. In His power.

II. In His omniscience.

III. In His righteousness.

IV. In His grace.—Niemann.

Matthew 25:32. The twofold classification.—“I can understand what is to become of the sheep, and I can understand what is to become of the goats; but how are the alpacas to be dealt with?” These words, quoted by a writer in The Nineteenth Century, touch one of the difficulties of the last judgment that has probably occurred at some time or other to most of us. The alpaca is a half-domesticated animal that is pastured in large flocks on the upper ranges of the Andes in Chili and Peru. It has long, lustrous hair, and in many respects is not unlike the sheep. An untravelled Eastern shepherd would probably call it a sheep. At the same time it possesses some of the characteristics of the goat. After all, however, it is neither sheep nor goat, but a species of small camel. By the “alpaca” I suppose the writer meant the man who has admirable and attractive social qualities, but who seems to be almost destitute of religious interest and sympathy and leaning. We do meet with that type of man at times. Now the question arises, Is there a nondescript type in character, corresponding to the alpaca in animal life—a type for which the classification set up in the text provides no appropriate place? A little reflection will enable us to see that Christ’s twofold classification—rigid, narrow, unsympathetic, as some men may pronounce it—is sufficiently comprehensive to embrace all stages, and growths, and varieties, of human character.

I. A man cannot live out his span of destiny upon earth, be it long or short, without acquiring for himself clear moral determination in one direction or another.—All supposed alpacas, upon careful examination, will be found to be either slightly-disguised sheep or slightly-disguised goats. High, unselfish, deep-rooted, inward morality is one with the most exalted religion. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least,” etc. The working out of that principle will scarcely leave you room for the alpaca, the unspiritual moralist, the irreproachable worldling, the man who is too good for the left hand, and not quite qualified to take a place on the right.

II. The elements that make and keep a man right in his earthly relationships are essentially one with the elements that make and keep a man right in his heavenly relationships.—The same qualities that will harmonise a man with the demands of his fellow-men will harmonise him likewise with the law and character of the great God. Faith, love, reverence, justice, rectitude, enthusiasm for goodness, steadfast longing and striving to bring benediction into the lives we touch and sway—these are the things needed to make a man all he should be in his relations with his fellow-man, and these are the things needed no less to make a man all he should be in his relations with his God and Father, and Saviour and King.

III. These moral and religious distinctions exist amongst those whose education in spiritual things has been superficial and defective.—The man who has the minimum of religious knowledge may sometimes be a latent Christian. And the other side of the lesson is equally true, a side enforced in the closing sentences of the Sermon on the Mount,—the man who has the maximum of religious knowledge may be a Christian in nobody’s judgment but his own.—T. G. Selby.

Matthew 25:34. Will the final Assize be held on faith or on character?—As a matter of fact, the best public mind under all religions has judged by character, and has done so with a keen sense of justice and a conviction of paramount authority. When the individual has to form an estimate of his neighbour in critical circumstances, he ignores his opinions and weighs his virtues. No one, for instance, would leave his wife and children to a trustee because he happened to be a Trinitarian, but only because his friend was a true man before God. It is a working principle of life that judgment goes by character, and if in the end it should go by faith, it might be in keeping with some higher justice we know not here; but it would cover our moral sense with confusion and add another to the unintentional wrongs men have endured, in this world, at their fellows’ hands. It were useless to argue about a matter of which we know nothing, and where speculation is vain. We must simply accept the words of Jesus, and it is an unspeakable relief to find our Master crowning His teaching on character with the scene of the Last Judgment. The prophecy of conscience will not be put to shame, nor the continuity of this life be broken. When the parabolic form is reduced and the accidental details laid aside, it remains that the Book of Judgment is the Sermon on the Mount, and that each soul is tried by its likeness to the Judge Himself. Jesus has prepared the world for a startling surprise, but it will not be the contradiction of our present moral experience; it will be the revelation of our present hidden character.—John Watson, M.A.

Matthew 25:34. The surprise of the righteous.—

I. The special peculiarity of the persons of whom our Lord here speaks, is that they did not know, that they had no suspicion, that in showing kindness to men, they were showing kindness to Christ. “Lord,” they answer, “when saw we Thee?” It is a revelation to them, in the strictest and deepest sense of the word. But who are they? I think we must agree with some of the best commentators, that they are persons who, till the Day of Judgment, have never heard of Christ; but who then, for the first time, as Dean Alford says, “are overwhelmed with the sight of the grace which has been working in upon them and the glory which is now their blessed portion.”

II. If this be the true meaning of our Lord’s words, what comfort and hope they may give us, when we think, as we are bound to think, if we have a true humanity in us, of the hundreds of millions of heathens now alive, and of the thousands of millions of heathens who have lived and died! The wages of sin are death, and can be nothing else. But may not Christ have His elect among them? May not His Spirit be working in some of them? They are Christ’s lost sheep, but they are still His sheep who hear His voice.

III. How shall we know Christ’s sheep when we see them? How, but by the very test which Christ has laid down in this very parable?—C. Kingsley, M.A.

Matthew 25:34. The public adoption.—The Romans had two forms of adoption: one private, the other public. One was at home in the adopter’s house. This was the agreement and union between the adopter and the adopted. The other form was in public, in the forum, where, in presence of the people, the adopter took the adopted for his son and heir. Thus God by His Spirit, when we believe in Jesus, receives us and seals us as His children. The public adoption is to come. “We wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.” When, at the resurrection of the just, Jesus will say, “Come, ye blessed children of My Father,” etc. our adoption shall be manifested.—C. Graham.

Matthew 25:37. Christ the Interpreter of conduct.—It is not simply the idea of modesty that is expressed. Something profounder is suggested. There is a mystery in many of the actions of men which needs the interpretation of the Master.—J. Morison, D.D.

Matthew 25:40. Our suffering brethren.—Some four days before these words were spoken, one of our Lord’s adherents had attempted to set up a rivalry betwixt the claims of his Master and those of the poor, when a warm-hearted woman, moved with gratitude, broke over the feet of Jesus costly spikenard. Judas thought that better use could have been found for the money had it been given in charity. It was then, and it is still, a very false sentiment which would attempt to make competing claims out of what is due to God’s worship on the one hand and to the service of suffering humanity on the other. Such an unseemly competition as this has no real existence. Edward Irving had it engraved on the silver plate of his congregation that when the offerings of the people no longer sufficed for the wants of God’s poor ones, the sacred vessels were to be melted down to supply the deficiency. And he was right; it is the mind of the Master. Christ has expressly transferred to the honest and suffering poor His own claims on the devotion of His people.

I. Our suffering brothers are to us in the room of Christ.—Why does Christ thus find His true representatives in men who suffer? It is not a question very easy to answer. If He meant these words to be strictly confined to the pious, then that would be enough—we should not need to inquire further; but I am not at all satisfied that we are entitled to limit His words so narrowly. Am I to ask, “Is this poor creature a Christian?” before I relieve him for Christ’s sake? Or does Jesus not care to reward your kindness if you show it to the unbeliever? We must try to understand on what ground it is that the great Lord of men, the Saviour and Friend of all men, identifies Himself with every human being, and with those human beings most of all who are afflicted.

1. He chose to be Himself a sufferer, poor, and “acquainted with grief”; and, I suppose, the recollection of His own straitened lot will teach Him to care most for those who are in like case.

2. Our Saviour’s design in coming here at all was to be a healer, a rescuer, a comforter for mankind.—He is the ideal Man, the representative Sufferer for all mankind. “Do it to any of them, you do it unto Me.”

II. The advantage of this arrangement.—

1. To Christ’s people.—More or less in the case of every Christian who fairly comes within the spell of it, the love of Christ has become the master passion, and the most effective and enduring of all inducements known to human history. Now consider how great the misfortune would have been if Jesus, after evoking, creating such a tremendous force as this, had not yoked it to any practical service or utility. Like all wasted religion of enthusiasm, it must have spent itself in a mischievous asceticism or a mischievous fanaticism. Christ does not bid you spend your strength in building cathedrals, or chanting Te Deums. No; you may quite lawfully do all that if you like, and more, in His honour; but if you really want to please Him, then His directions are very simple. He bids you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and heal the sick.

2. To the afflicted members of the race.—Are you surprised that Christ should champion so magnificently the classes whom society is wont to hustle out of sight? I am not: it is just like Him! But it surprises me exceedingly that the very classes for whom He claims everything that He might have claimed for Himself are grown in a large measure to forget Christ and to despise His name.—J. O. Dykes, D.D.

Matthew 25:46. Everlasting punishment.—I. Man’s conscience, until he deadens it. speaks out clearly, that punishment is the due reward of our deeds.—But of what duration? All knowledge as to eternity must come from the Eternal, whose it is. It is a common formula of those who venture to object anything to God’s revelation—it is inconceivable that God should visit passing acts of sin with an eternity of misery. But who so revealed to us that sin ceases in the evil, when life ceases? Never do men abandon sin, except by receiving God’s converting grace. To sin on is nature. It grows, deepens, hardens, becomes more malignant, more ingrained, more a part of man’s self until the hour of death. Why, unless changed even then by the grace of God, should it change in eternity?

II. Unchangeableness may be, for what we know, one of the laws of eternity.—We know that it shall be of the blessed. Heaven could not be heaven unless they were fixed in good. And it may be an equal law of our moral nature that those who reject God in time, even to the end, will, by a continuance of that same fixed will, reject Him everlastingly.

III. Place alone does not make heaven or hell.—Hell, with the love of God, were as heaven: without the love of God, it may be, it seems even probable, that heaven would be the worst hell. As we see in Satan, the sinner, even apart from God’s judgments on sin, carries about within him his own hell.

IV. Never will you know anything of the depth of sin, or of the deeper depth of the love of Christ or of God, until you not only believe in the abstract, but accustom yourselves to think of that awful doom, to which each wilful rejection of God’s voice in your conscience, was dragging you.—E. B. Pusey, D.D.