The Sheep and the Goats

The Sheep and the Goats or "the Judgement of the Nations" is a pronouncement of Jesus recorded in chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew, although unlike most parables it does not purport to relate a story of events happening to other characters.

According to Anglican theologian Charles Ellicott, "we commonly speak of the concluding portion of this chapter as the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, but it is obvious from its very beginning that it passes beyond the region of parable into that of divine realities, and that the sheep and goats form only a subordinate and parenthetic illustration".

[1] The text of the passage appears in Matthew's Gospel and is the final portion of a section containing a series of parables.

Then the King will tell those on his right hand, 'Come, 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 to eat.

There is some difference of opinion among scholars regarding the identity of "the least of these my brothers", with Reginald H. Fuller and others holding that it refers to the disciples Jesus sent out on mission.

According to free grace theology, this passage implies that only faithful believers are able to survive the tribulation; it draws a distinction between inheriting versus entering the kingdom.

[7] Cornelius a Lapide in his great commentary writes, "He compares the elect to sheep, because of their innocence, modesty, humility, obedience, and patience; the reprobate to goats, because this creature has a fetid smell.

Lapide also notes that, "there are six principal corporal works of mercy which Christ here speaks of, viz., to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to take in strangers, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, to comfort and redeem captives, to which may be added a seventh, to bury the dead, which is commanded in Tobit.