Matthew 25:31-46 (Concordant Literal New Testament)
31 "Now,
whenever the Son of Mankind may be coming in His glory, and all the holy
messengers with Him, then shall He be seated on the throne of His glory,
32 and in front of Him shall be gathered all the nations. And He shall be severing them from one another even as a shepherd is severing the sheep from the kids.
33 And He shall be standing the sheep, indeed, at His right, yet the kids at the left.
34 "Then shall the King be declaring to those at His right, 'Hither, blessed of My Father! Enjoy the allotment of the kingdom made ready for you from the disruption of the world.
35 For I hunger and you give Me to eat' I thirst and you give Me drink; a stranger was I and you took Me in;
36 naked and you clothed Me; infirm am I and you visit Me; in jail was I and you come to Me.'
37 "Then the just will be answering Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we perceive Thee hungering and nourish Thee, or thirsting and we give Thee drink?
38 Now when did we perceive Thee a stranger and took Thee in, or naked and we clothed Thee?
39 Now when did we perceive Thee infirm, or in jail, and we came to Thee?'
40 "And, answering, the King shall be declaring to them, 'Verily, I am saying to you, In as much as you do it to one of these, the least of My brethren, you do it to Me.'
41 "Then shall He be declaring to those also at His left, 'Go from Me, you cursed, into the fire eonian, made ready for the Adversary and his messengers.
42 For I hunger and you do not give Me to eat; I thirst and you do not give Me drink;
43 a stranger was I and you did not take Me in; naked and you did not clothe Me; infirm and in jail and you did not visit Me.'
44 "Then shall they also be answering, saying, 'Lord, when did we perceive you hungering or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or infirm, or in jail, and we did not serve you?'
45 "Then shall He be answering them, saying, 'Verily, I am saying to you, In as much as you do it not to one of these, the least, neither do you it to Me.'
46 And these shall be coming away into chastening eonian, yet the just into life eonian."
32 and in front of Him shall be gathered all the nations. And He shall be severing them from one another even as a shepherd is severing the sheep from the kids.
33 And He shall be standing the sheep, indeed, at His right, yet the kids at the left.
34 "Then shall the King be declaring to those at His right, 'Hither, blessed of My Father! Enjoy the allotment of the kingdom made ready for you from the disruption of the world.
35 For I hunger and you give Me to eat' I thirst and you give Me drink; a stranger was I and you took Me in;
36 naked and you clothed Me; infirm am I and you visit Me; in jail was I and you come to Me.'
37 "Then the just will be answering Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we perceive Thee hungering and nourish Thee, or thirsting and we give Thee drink?
38 Now when did we perceive Thee a stranger and took Thee in, or naked and we clothed Thee?
39 Now when did we perceive Thee infirm, or in jail, and we came to Thee?'
40 "And, answering, the King shall be declaring to them, 'Verily, I am saying to you, In as much as you do it to one of these, the least of My brethren, you do it to Me.'
41 "Then shall He be declaring to those also at His left, 'Go from Me, you cursed, into the fire eonian, made ready for the Adversary and his messengers.
42 For I hunger and you do not give Me to eat; I thirst and you do not give Me drink;
43 a stranger was I and you did not take Me in; naked and you did not clothe Me; infirm and in jail and you did not visit Me.'
44 "Then shall they also be answering, saying, 'Lord, when did we perceive you hungering or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or infirm, or in jail, and we did not serve you?'
45 "Then shall He be answering them, saying, 'Verily, I am saying to you, In as much as you do it not to one of these, the least, neither do you it to Me.'
46 And these shall be coming away into chastening eonian, yet the just into life eonian."
Introduction: Concerning the Greek words αἰών and αἰώνιον
It is a widely-held belief among Christians that our life on
earth is probationary, and that God has suspended the final destiny of all
people on something that we must do or undergo before we die. Insofar as most
people fail to meet the necessary conditions of salvation before they die, it
is believed that such people will never be saved. The majority of Christians
throughout church history have believed that the final state of the unsaved
will consist of unending conscious torment (of course, there’s no consensus
among Christians on just how bad the
conscious torment of the lost will be; this is something that is largely left
to the imagination of those adhering to this doctrine). For other Christians,
the final state of the unsaved – following some period of judgment, perhaps -
will be one of endless death (i.e., non-existence). Still others – while
agreeing that many people will never be saved – are more-or-less agnostic
concerning the exact nature of their fate, preferring to simply view the final
condition of the unsaved as one involving “separation from God.” Regardless of
the differences in these positions, however, what each of them has in common is
the idea that some will never be
saved; at some point, it is believed that the “unsaved state” in which some are
presently in will become final and unchanging.
Of all the passages of scripture that are thought
to support the view summarized above, Matthew 25:31-46 is, perhaps, the one
that is most commonly appealed to. Despite its popularity as a “proof text” for
this position, I don't recall this
passage really being taught or discussed - at least, in any
real depth - at the church in which I grew up (and if it was, it obviously left no lasting impression on me!). In any case, for much of my life, my
thoughts concerning this passage never really went beyond the expectation that
I would be among the “sheep” that would be placed at Christ’s right, rather
than among the “goats” on his left (and I can only assume that this is also the
case for the majority of those “brought up” in the institutional church). As simplistic
as these thoughts on this passage may have been, they were at least consistent
with what Jesus “clearly stated” in my trusted NIV Bible: it was the “sheep” that would be entering into “eternal
life,” while the “goats” had the doom of “eternal fire and punishment” awaiting
them. And these two “eternal” destinies were, of course, as good and as bad as things could possibly get!
As should be obvious from
what has been said above, the primary reason that Matthew 25:31-46 is seen by
most Christians as supporting the view that some will never be saved is the use
of the word “eternal” in most English translations of this passage. It is this
word in particular that gives the “fire,” “punishment” and “life” referred to
in this passage a sense of finality
that would not be otherwise present. In his 2009 article, “The Importance of
Hell,” Christian author Tim Keller begins his brief scriptural defense of the
traditional view with a reference to this passage. After stating that Jesus
“taught about [the doctrine of hell] more than all other Biblical authors put
together,” Keller informs his readers that “Jesus speaks of ‘eternal fire and punishment’ as the final
abode of the angels and human beings who have rejected God (Matthew 25:41,
46).” It is undoubtedly the word “eternal” which led Keller to see this passage
as having to do with the “final abode” of those who “rejected God”; apart from
this word, Keller would have little to no reason to view this passage as having
to do with the “final abode” of anyone.
Although it is beyond the
scope of this article to provide a more in-depth explanation for why the word
“eternal” doesn’t belong in Matthew 25:31-46 (for that, see my
seven-part study, “Eternal or Eonian?”), there are a few points that I would like to make
before examining this passage in greater detail. The Greek word translated “eternal” in the most popular English
translations is the adjective αἰώνιον (or “aiónion,” as it’s usually transliterated), and should best be understood as the adjectival form of
the Greek noun αἰών
(transliterated aión and meaning “age” or “eon” – i.e., a relatively long but temporary
measure of time). As the adjectival form of the noun aión, aiónion should be understood to mean “lasting for, or belonging to, an eon or
eons,” and would be better translated as “age-abiding” or “eonian” (as it is in
more literal translations of scripture).
Scripture affirms that there
have been past eons (Col. 1:26), that there is a present eon in which we’re now
living (Gal. 1:4), and that there will be future eons (Eph. 2:7). We also know
that there was a time before the eons began (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2), which
means that time was not always measured by eons. It is also revealed that the
eons will eventually end (1 Cor. 10:11; Heb. 9:26), which means that time will
one day cease to be measured by eons. Since the adjective aiónion (eonian) pertains to one or more of the eons,
anything that continues to exist or occur after
the eons have ended will cease to be “eonian.” When time is no longer measured by
eons, the adjective “eonian” will cease to be an accurate way to describe
anything. For example, God will always exist, but he will cease to be “King of
the eons” (1 Tim. 1:17) when the eons over which he is king have ended.
Significantly (and as I
noted in my aforementioned study), there are a number of
contemporary, evangelical Christian scholars who’ve acknowledged that the
expressions commonly translated as “eternal life” and “eternal punishment” in
Matthew 25:46 should best be understood to mean “the life of the age to come”
and “the punishment of the age to come,” respectively (with the “age to come”
being the age that will, at Christ’s return to earth, succeed the present age).[1]
This is an important concession on the part of these Christian scholars. If
they’re correct concerning the meaning of aiónion, then it would have to be
acknowledged that the English word “eternal” is not, in fact, an accurate
translation of this word. The adjective “eternal” corresponds to the noun
“eternity” rather than the noun “age” (and eternal duration is not an idea that is inherent in the word “age”).
In light of this belief, why do these and other Christian
scholars still maintain that “eternal” is a valid translation of aiónion in
their Bibles of choice? Well, in accord with the belief of most Christians,
these scholars understand the “age to come” to be a span of time that will be endless in duration.[2]
In other words, they see the “age to come” as being a never-ending age. Because
they see the age to come as being “eternal” or “everlasting” in duration,
they’re able to justify their belief
that anything referred to as “aiónion” in scripture (such as
the “life” and “punishment”
referred to in Matthew 25:46) will also be “eternal”/“everlasting” in duration. This view, however, is inconsistent with the facts.
In Ephesians 2:7, Paul stated that God
will be “displaying the transcendent riches of his grace in his kindness to us
in Christ Jesus,” and that this display would be taking place “in the oncoming eons.” Paul used the plural form of aión in this verse (aiósin)[3],
and in nearly every English Bible I’ve checked this fact is
reflected by the use of the plural “ages” or “eons” to translate it. Since an
unending eon cannot precede another eon, we can conclude that the eon to come
will - like the eons preceding it - have both a beginning and an end. And based
on the fact that we read of the conclusion, or consummation,
of the eons, we can infer that the last eon will also eventually end. This means
that neither the “fire” of Matthew 25:41 nor the “life” and “punishment” (or “chastening”)
of v. 46 refer to experiences that anyone will be having in “eternity.” Instead,
everything that we read about in this passage concerns events that are “eonian”
in nature, and which pertain specifically to the eon to come – i.e., the first eon of Christ’s reign. As I hope
to make clear by the end of this article, the scope of Matthew 25:31-46 does
not take us beyond the end of this future eon.
The upshot of these introductory remarks concerning
the words aión and aiónion
is that, no matter how good or bad the eonian destinies of the “sheep” and the
“goats” turn out to be for them, it is not
their final state. As important and worthy of our consideration as this passage
is, Christ’s words in Matthew 25:31-46 do not reveal the “end of their story.” They weren’t intended to. There
is more – much more - to come for both groups. And I believe that Christ knew
this full well at the time he spoke the words recorded in this passage. In
fact, it was with regard to the final state of all mankind that I believe our
Lord ultimately went to the cross and died for us. But
that’s a topic for another article. Suffice it to say that, because of Christ’s
sacrifice on our behalf, the “worst-case scenario” for those who will fall into
the “goat” category will, I submit, involve the following: a time of severe but
corrective judgment, a return to death (and an eon-long period of being dead),
and then - as the final outcome of Christ’s death for our sins - a state of
endless life and perfect fellowship with God (or, as we read in 1 Cor. 15:20-28,
a state in which all who are dying in Adam have been "vivified in Christ," and in
which God has become “All in all”). Although the "goats" have a relatively rough road ahead of them, our good and sovereign God is in just as much control of their life and destiny as he is of everyone else's.
Part two: http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-judgment-of-sheep-and-goats-study_16.html
Part two: http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-judgment-of-sheep-and-goats-study_16.html
[1] See, for example, C.H. Dodd, The Interpretation of the First
Gospel, pp. 144-50; George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New
Testament, pp. 290-292; J.I. Packer, "The Problem of Eternal
Punishment," Crux XXVI.3, September 1990, 23;
"Evangelical Annihilationism in Review," Reformation &
Revival, Volume 6, Number 2 - Spring 1997; John Painter, 1, 2 and 3
John (Sacra Pagina), p. 195; Alan Richardson, An
Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament, pp.73-74; John G.
Stackhouse, Jr. "Jesus Christ," The Oxford Handbook of
Evangelical Theology, p. 151; N.T. Wright, Romans, p. 530.
[2]
It should be noted that this belief – even if it were correct
- would not justify translating aiónion as “eternal.” For once it’s
admitted that the adjective aiónion – as used in Matthew 25 – pertains to a
certain aión or “age,” consistency demands that one’s translation of aiónion take into
account the meaning of the word aión. And since the idea of “endless duration” is not inherent in
the word aión (at least, as
the word is used in scripture), the decision to translate aiónion as “eternal”
would be based entirely on the translators’ own doctrinally-based belief
concerning how long they think the “age to come” will be.
Thus, if any of the Christian scholars referred to above were
to argue that “eternal” is a valid translation of aiónion simply because this
translation reflects how long they believe the age to come will be, they’d
essentially be admitting that their own doctrinal/theological beliefs can and
should influence the translation of scripture. But the job of interpretation –
of seeking to come to a correct understanding the meaning of the text - is one
that should be left to the reader
rather than to the one whose job it is to provide the reader with as accurate a
translation of scripture as is possible. Scripture interpretation is challenging enough as it is; the reader
shouldn’t have to be concerned about whether or not what they’re reading has
been heavily influenced by someone else’s doctrinal views.
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