The True Interpretation of Matthew 25:31-46 Totally Debunks Its Eisegetical Use for a False Social Gospel

Scripture presents one gospel and only one.  A big part of Satan’s plan is confusing the true gospel, adding, taking away, and perverting it.  in the last two hundred years uniquely in American history, cults and false religion concoct many false gospels to deceive many.  Theologians and historians call one of these perversions, “the social gospel.”  Like adding “social” to justice corrupts justice, adding “social” to gospel corrupts the gospel.

Some of you might know that the social gospel took hold in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States, destroying churches, denominations, and other religious institutions.  Like a plague, the disappearance of the host also eliminated the disease.  Now the scourge of the social gospel reenters early 21st century American churches, denominations, and religious institutions.  The most familiar label for this old heresy today is “woke.”  Religious entities that embrace the social gospel have become woke, which usually means they also deny the one and only true saving gospel.

The advocates of the social gospel allegorize scripture.  They spiritualize it to pour in their preferred message.  It’s not what God said.  Out of this very subjective hermeneutic, they buttress their theory with innovative eschatology.  The woke social gospel arises very often from some form of a termed, “liberation theology.”  It is a kind of amillennialism that speculates a kingdom of a Jesus through leftist ideology.

Confusing Matthew 25:31-46

A social gospel uses Matthew 25:31-46 as a biblical proof text, especially focusing on verses 35 to 41:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Taking this passage according to leftist dogma, Jesus dooms those who do not take care of the “needy” (meant in a very social way), definitely confusing the gospel as salvation by works.  Confused audience members then ask, “What is the gospel?”  Before, they thought it was justification by grace alone through faith alone and yet this seems, taken out of context, to require a degree of good works or action toward the most needy in society.  That message would contradict what the Apostle Paul taught in Romans and Galatians and so confusion to some first introduced to a social gospel.

Social Gospel Proponents

Wrong Approach

This section of scripture (Matthew 25:31-46) is called “the parable of the sheep and the goats” in a larger passage in Matthew 24-25, called the Olivet Discourse.  Social gospel proponents don’t usually bother with context for this passage, which undoes what they say it means.  If it does mean what they say it does, it would contradict what Jesus Himself said was the gospel all through the first four books of the New Testament.  The New Covenant would sound almost identical to the Old Covenant.

Just to see how prevalent the social gospel take on Matthew 25:31-46, I asked Artificial Intelligence a true application of this passage, and it answered this:

The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, found in Matthew 25:31-46, holds significant implications for believers in understanding how their faith should manifest in their actions towards others. The core message of this parable is that true followers of Christ will demonstrate their faith through acts of kindness, compassion, and service to those in need. The parable emphasizes the importance of living out one’s faith by caring for the marginalized, vulnerable, and disadvantaged members of society.

Nature of a Counterfeit

AI said nothing about the point of the Olivet Discourse, its audience, the disciples’ questions that they asked Jesus, its timing, and the overall point conveyed by Jesus with His teaching.  Is the AI answer true though?  No, it isn’t.

There is a small bit of truth in the answer by Artificial Intelligence, enough to deceive people in what Jesus said. Truth in false statements provide cover or deniability.  It’s especially effective at fooling people already conditioned by an immersion of leftist education.  They become easy marks for such conmen. Some of what Satan said to Eve in the Garden was true, but overall what he said to her was very false.  A counterfeit by nature contains some truth in order to fool its recipients.

What Is Matthew 25:31-46 About?

So what is Matthew 25:31-46 about?  The Olivet Discourse of Jesus (from the Mount of Olives) answers questions His disciples asked at the beginning in Matthew 24:3:  “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

Six Parables

In answering Jesus’ questions, He tells six parables:

1. Fig Tree (Matthew 24:32-35, Mark 13:28-31, Luke 21:29-33)
2. Faithful and Wise Servant (Matthew 24:45-51, Luke 12:42-48)
3. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)
4. Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13)
5. The Talent (Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:11-27)
6. The Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46)

I’m going to hop straight to the last one, the one especially used by the false teachers of the social gospel.

Introduction

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus speaks about the final judgment where He separates the righteous from the wicked, likening it to a shepherd separating sheep from goats.  His words apply specifically to those living at the end of the seven year tribulation period right before His second coming and the close of the age.  He provides this as a continuation of His answer to the disciples’ questions in 24:3.  The parable depicts the judgment that will occur at the end times when Christ returns.

Verses 31-34

31

This parable of Jesus starts with His words in verse 31:  “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.”  This talks about a specific time in the future:  the end of the tribulation period on earth when Jesus comes back and He sits on His throne in Jerusalem.  It speaks of a particular judgment of a particular people, not everyone who ever lived.  “The Son of man” is a title of Jesus, of the Messiah, from Daniel 7:13:

I saw in the night visions, and, behold,, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

This is Messianic about the coming of the Messiah, and the people in that day would have known that.

32

The next verse (32) says:  “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.”  With this judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ, He will gather all the people of the surviving nations before Him for this judgment.  Bible teachers call this judgment, “the judgment of nations.”  It isn’t the Bema Seat judgment or the Great White Throne judgment, which come at different times.  The separation of the sheep from the goats is “the judgment of nations.”

33-34

Jesus identifies the sheep in verses 33-34:

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Salvation is the blessing of God’s new covenant upon His people.  It reminds of what Paul wrote about David in Romans 4:6:

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.

Blessedness comes by faith alone, not at all by works.  Galatians asserts that blessing comes through God’s promise, not by deeds.  The Apostle Paul again writes in Galatians 3:9-10:

So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Blessed by Faith

Being blessed, you can see, comes by faith.  If it were by works, it requires continuing in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.  When Jesus talks about the “blessed” in Matthew 25:34, He speaks of saved people, already justified by faith.  Many Jews will be converted in the tribulation.  We know this.  They can fulfill the Old Covenant by faith in Jesus Christ, because then He works in them both to will and do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).  This isn’t sinless perfection, but the fruit of justification that produces a habit or lifestyle of righteousness.

Further Marker of True Sheep

The last part of Matthew 25:34 gives another cue for the identity of the sheep.  They inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.  Jesus elected them based upon His foreknowledge before time (Eph 1:4, 1 Pet 1:2).  No one has even done any good works for anyone before the foundation of the world, which shows that the salvation is all of God, that is, by grace.  The sheep also inherit the kingdom, which is for sons.  How does someone become a son?  He becomes a child of God by faith (John 1:12).

If you preach that God saves someone by His works, you are preaching a false gospel.  Paul says that anyone who adds works to grace, ‘let him be accursed’ (Gal 1:6, 9).  That’s a false gospel.  The social gospel is a false gospel.  It doesn’t present a true, biblical view of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and out of that falsity, it proclaims a false gospel of works.

According to the social gospel, men who fall short of the glory of God bring in a spiritualized kingdom through social efforts.  Those preaching a social gospel leave men dead in their sins and very often twice the children of hell they once were.  This also both adds and takes away from what Jesus said and taught.  It corrupts what men should think about the promises of God and the kingdom still coming for saved people on earth.

More to Come