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Zero Social Gospel in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Part Three)
The application of coupling the important New Testament word “gospel” with “social” makes it an issue of eternal destiny. Gospel relates to salvation, so somehow “social gospel” relates to the word “salvation” at least. Does a social gospel really save though? It doesn’t.
The gospel saves, but not something called “social gospel.” Social gospel advocates make the social gospel a determiner of eternal destiny by buttressing it with the parable of the sheep and the goats from Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. At the end of this parable, Jesus says to His disciples (Matthew 12:45-46):
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Whatever position someone might take about this passage, it sounds very serious. Someone is going to everlasting punishment and another is going to life eternal. Everyone will want to get into the latter category, of course.
The Gospel
Social gospel proponents hint that God requires taking care of the poor to avoid going away into everlasting punishment. Almost all of them would not go that far, because the same ones who interpret this passage as social work also are tentative or weak on eternal punishment for anyone. However, they still want to frontload these works into the definition of the gospel.
In Jesus’ presentation of the gospel, He deals with two aspects: one, the entrance requirements, and two, the confirmation of conversion. Someone can say he acceded to the entrance requirements, but Jesus says to judge that by a confirming transformation. The sheep, who are separated from the goats in Christ’s judgment of nations at the end of the tribulation period, confirm their identity as true sheep and not goats by authenticating behavior.
The Audience of Jesus’s Teaching
Jesus speaks to saved Jews and tells them that at this time of trial and trouble before the beginning of His reign on earth, they will not abandon their fellow believers. That would be the same or akin to abandoning him. At that time of testing, you can identify the true sheep by their embrace of other suffering sheep. Jesus is not saying the following in this prophetic address:
People in general receive life eternal and avoid everlasting punishment by feeding and housing poor people in general, saved and unsaved — in essence, God saves people for their good works in contradiction to the gospel.
The Lord in His Olivet Discourse does not address society in general. He answers His Jewish disciples about the future coming of His kingdom, something they expected as premillennialists. Jesus isn’t spiritualizing or allegorizing. He uses figurative language of sheep and goats, which are metaphors, easily identifiable. Goats are not leadable. They don’t follow. Jesus can and will lead sheep and His sheep will follow Him.
Answering the Disciples about a Literal Kingdom
All of the parables Jesus tells in His Olivet Discourse answer the questions of the disciples at the beginning of it:
Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
The word “coming” occurs seven times in Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24-25 and especially “the coming of the Son of Man” in 24:27, 30, 37, and 39. God reveals to Daniel and Daniel 7:13-14:
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.
14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
The disciples and Jesus refer to this prophecy and this time. This isn’t speaking of any old time. It’s answering a question specifying a particular future actual event.
The Application of the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
How much of the parable of the sheep and the goats and the Olivet Discourse in general apply to now? The Olivet Discourse mainly does not apply to anything happening right now. It’s about something yet to come. That doesn’t mean there is zero application. It does apply in certain general ways.
One, it provides hope for the future. Jesus is coming and He will set up a kingdom on the earth. Two, Jews will believe in Jesus Christ in fulfillment of those prophecies in Isaiah 52-53 and Zechariah 12, so we can trust God’s promises. They will take care of fellow believers and then enter into the kingdom. Above all things, three, the message to believers today is to be ready for these events. Believers ought to always ready themselves for the future. They should and will take care of their own as if they are Jesus Christ Himself.
The philosophy or message of the social gospel clashes with scripture, some of which I addressed earlier regarding salvation by grace through faith. Social work won’t save you. It doesn’t even confirm your conversion according to this proof text. True believers will band together to survive persecution, which validates their true salvation profession. This is equal to not defecting from the faith and instead overcoming by faith.
God’s Purpose
Feeding and Housing?
The Bible smacks up against feeding and housing the general poor or homeless population. As I say that, scripture categorizes people in a different way than the modern social movements. Like He does in the Olivet Discourse, consistent with all the Bible, there the saved and the lost. David writes in Psalm 37:25:
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Preaching the gospel to everyone can move some into the category of the righteous. That will also solve people’s physical condition. It is not God’s will to relieve everyone indiscriminately from their hunger. God uses drought and famine to get people’s attention. He also uses poor physical conditions to prepare hearts and open eyes to the need of and for God.
Using Drought, Disease, and Famine
Feeding and housing takes away the pain of sin-engendered suffering that might help these people listen to the actual gospel message. As an example Amos 4:6-9 says God sends droughts, disease, and famine to warn and cause to listen to Him:
6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Many of drought, disease, and famine bring about the will of God. God doesn’t want people to rescue the ones suffering without repentance. This postpones something even worse for them. God uses these physical troubles to motivate a return to Him. These passages occur all over scripture.
Social Gospel Clashes with Jesus and the True and Only Gospel
The social gospel elevates the temporal, like Esau relinquishing his birthright for a mess of pottage (Gen 25:31-34). This confuses people. It sends a wrong, false message that this is your best life now. No. Faith trades the temporal for the eternal. This is the simplicity of losing your temporal life for eternal life. The social elevates the former as the priority. Jesus doesn’t do this. He says give up the world and take Him, which is to obtain eternal life.
The social gospel doesn’t take scripture seriously. It primarily uses the Bible. The goal is not understanding what Jesus said in Matthew 25, but using what he said for an agenda, one that isn’t true.
Should social gospel supporters scare people by telling them that they won’t have eternal life if they don’t volunteer to feed and house the general population? Do they even believe this? It’s either true or it isn’t. It isn’t true, and since it isn’t true, this kind of threat is wicked.
Jesus will turn people into the lake of fire. Who He does and who He doesn’t are as important as anything. It’s a terrible thing to confuse the gospel. People are saved, not by doing good works, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Zero Social Gospel in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Part Two)
Earlier in Matthew 7:15, Jesus commanded and warned: “Beware of false prophets.” False prophets send their victims down the broad road that leads to destruction and away from the narrow road that leads to life eternal (Matthew 7:13-14). The false teaching from false prophets varies, yet with the same goal of keeping their prey on the broad road. One of these varieties is something called the “social gospel.” Its proponents use the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25:31-46 as their proof text.
The part of the parable of Jesus in His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 25 most referred by social gospel advocates is verses 35-40. Jesus again is teaching concerning the time right before He comes and sets up His kingdom. He identifies those from the tribulation period who will enter His kingdom. Entrance into His kingdom is a common theme all through Matthew, since Jesus presents Himself as King or Messiah. Many places in the New Testament deal with this time on earth.
Salvation comes only by grace through faith. Those Jews saved by grace through faith during the tribulation period before Jesus sets up His kingdom will exclusively manifest certain characteristic at that time. One of those traits, a fruit of conversion, is their loyalty to other saved Jews. This is akin to the Jerusalem church in Acts shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus.
No middle ground existed between Christian Jews in the first century Jerusalem church and their Jewish opposition there. You were with the church or not with it and being with it meant rationing and sharing their physical belongings for mutual survival. Non-participation marked unbelief. The future tribulation period, the time of Jacob’s trouble, will show a similar demarcation between believing Jews and their alliance with the rest of the world against Christ.
Verses 35-40
The believing population when Jesus comes will have survived the tribulation, which engendered alarming needs. Jesus mentions six of them: hunger, thirst, alienation, exposure, sickness, and imprisonment. Revelation 13 says that those who do not receive the mark of the Antichrist cannot buy or sell. Believers are fugitives, running for their lives. Helping them likely is illegal and punished severely. Only believers will help believers.
The kingdom of Jesus Christ is for those who are with Christ. It’s not for those who merely profess, “Lord, Lord,” and then don’t do what He says (Matthew 7:21-23). It isn’t arbitrary. If you are with Him, then you are in fact with Him. When Jesus returns at the second coming, He will deliver those with Him, saving them from the tribulation persecution atrocities.
The care and supply of fellow believers in the tribulation is the care and supply of Jesus. Jewish tribulation saints will have done it unto him when they did it unto these. Those are the merciful who obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7). They are also the pure in heart, because their conversion is real. This isn’t an act with them, as seen in their loyalty and commitment to each other as unto Christ.
Social Action?
1 John 3:14-17
Jesus isn’t saying that they come into His kingdom because of their commitment to social action. He is saying that what they did unto these, they did unto Him. Commitment to Jesus Christ in the tribulation period will manifest itself in commitment to fellow persecuted believers. 1 John 3:14-17 reveal this truth, that the life, light, and love of God abides in those who love the brethren:
14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
John wrote his first epistle that believers might have complete assurance of their salvation (1 John 5:13). One sure mark of true conversion among others is love for the brethren. This isn’t seeing just anyone in need, but seeing “his brother in need” (verse 17). This parallels with Matthew 25:35-40 and the Jerusalem church in Acts 2-5. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21).
Not Just Talk, But Action
Tribulation era saints will not shut up their bowels of compassion toward their brethren. It is axiomatic. Believers will love the brethren. If they don’t, this reveals they are not one of the Lord’s own.
According to Matthew 7:21-22, belief is more than saying, “Lord, Lord.” People might talk a good game, but those who know Him, will not just love in word, but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18). That is a true test of faith, not mere verbiage.
The Olivet Discourse and Jesus’ record of the judgment of nations in Matthew 25:31-46 doesn’t describe social work. It isn’t about feeding and housing lost people. It is truly about the care of believers, who very often suffer for righteousness’ sake.
Earlier Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 10:40:
He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
He also told them in His upper room discourse in John 15:18:
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
True believers standing with one another against the onslaught of the world is a mark of saving grace. It is the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings that Paul mentions in Philippians 3:10. It is going with Jesus “outside the camp, bearing his reproach” in Hebrews 13:13. Those believing in Him are joining that and will characteristically or habitually join that. This is confessing Jesus before men (Matthew 10:32).
Thrill Seekers and the Lazy
In John 6, thrill seekers followed Jesus to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and He fed the multitude. He told that gigantic crowd that He would not keep feeding them, so they all defected. Everyone wanted a free meal, not Jesus Christ. Jesus turned to His disciples and asked if they would also go away. For the group, Peter said, No, you have the words of eternal life.
Jesus did not go running after those who defected. He also didn’t fail because He didn’t keep feeding them. His plan is not the temporal bread, but the eternal bread. It isn’t social action. Instead, Jesus said in John 12:8, “The poor always ye have with you.”
In fact, Paul warns against giving food to those who won’t work. The provision of food for those in the future tribulation era is not giving food to homeless on the street. Both Old and New Testaments teach a kind of quality control. Paul represents this in 2 Thessalonians 3:10:
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
The Bible won’t contradict itself. Social action, this feeding the unbelieving hungry day after day, does not jive with 2 Thessalonians 3:10. In the end, preaching that God saves those who do the deeds of feeding and sheltering the homeless is preaching salvation by works. Adding that as a requirement nullifies grace and makes someone a debtor then to do the whole law (Galatians 5:1-6). It corrupts the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even the law itself doesn’t manifest this program or represent this as a lifestyle. It isn’t even a requirement of the law, let alone the gospel.
More to Come
Zero Social Gospel in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
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:
- Fig Tree (Matthew 24:32-35, Mark 13:28-31, Luke 21:29-33)
- Faithful and Wise Servant (Matthew 24:45-51, Luke 12:42-48)
- The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)
- Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13)
- The Talent (Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:11-27)
- 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
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