March 02, 2004
Our Judgment and Our Works
Matthew 25:31-46. "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at His right hand, `Come, O blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, `Lord, when did we see Thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and welcome Thee, or naked and clothe Thee? And when did we see Thee sick or in prison and visit Thee?' And the King will answer them, `Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of My brethren, you did it to Me.' Then He will say to those at His left hand, `Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' Then they also will answer, `Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?' Then He will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to Me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."I think this is a fascinating passage. As a protestant, the passage always bothered me. Why? Jesus is condemning a contingent of men not because of what they believe, but because of what they did (or didn’t do). Works, in other words, is deciding who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.
It’s interesting also that both sets refer to Jesus as “Lord,” but only one set goes to heaven. Not that everyone didn’t believe – belief has no function in this paragraph except in the notion of acts that often stem from belief. Why didn’t Jesus say, “Those who accepted me as Lord and Savior to the right, the others to the left?” Because not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ gets into heaven. We must do more than simply believe, we must act. As James clearly instructs us, Faith without Works is dead. Here, Jesus Himself is condemning those who do not act, whether they believed or not. How can we say that Works are unimportant after reading a passage like this?
God bless,
Jay
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Protestants, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was of the impression that Protestants understood that "good works" are understood as a sign of a "saving faith", evidence of regeneration by God's grace.
Posted by: Richard Wan at March 2, 2004 11:53 PMI was once a protestant, and that is correct. At least in the Reformed tradition. They just separate faith from works. Faith is what saves you, and good works are a sign of that faith. As a catholic, I can't be quick to condemn a protestant, because some of them follow this better than most catholics. You see, faith without works is dead, just as works without faith are dead. To accept the scripture writen above about the sheep and the goats, we must not take it out of context. The message of the cross is all about God's love and Forgiveness for us. Christ said we need to believe in Him (faith) and then follow (works) We will never be able to earn our way into God's favor, or Heaven. We can do all the good works we want, but if we have not the love of God in our hearts that comes from Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, Then we can't be saved. I'm glad the Church doesn't separate the two. Glory to God!
in True Peace, Joshua
Posted by: Joshua at March 3, 2004 12:37 PMJoshua,
I agree that the two are inseparable: we compare faith and works to the blades of a pair of scissors in other articles on this blog. Here I was simply attempting to point out that works do have value in terms of salvation - they are necessary, just as faith is.
Thanks for the comments - I should have emphasized faith as well above!
God bless,
Jay
Amen Jay
in True Peace, Joshua
