On The Parable of Sheep and Goats

07 Dec, 2025

I intellectually believe that the New Testament is divinely inspired, but it contains few passages which truly feel divine to me. If I wanted to, I could dismiss most of it as the writings of a mundane religious community, entirely like hundreds of others.

But, occasionally, it really does feel like the Word of the Lord. On the other side of the page, I sense a great intellect, more morally and spiritually advanced than any human being is or ever could be. There are not many passages like this, but the Parable of Sheep and Goats is one of them; it seems haunting and profound in a way few other texts are. It also happens to be fairly short, so I will quote it in full here:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by 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 something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me 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 nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.

• Matthew 25: 31 - 46, NRSVUE

In my experience, people typically ignore this passage. The last line is often quoted in debates over the purpose and duration of Hell,¹ but people rarely wrestle with what precedes it. It tells us that when we see the sick and oppressed, we are seeing the face of God. And if we fail to care for them, it is as though we ignore God's needs. It is on this basis, and no other, that we will be judged.

I'm not sure what to do with it. It seems to contradict all major Christian soteriologies. There is no mention of faith or Baptism, it doesn't say you attain salvation by dying in a state of grace. More than that, it seems to say that I--and many other people--must be both saved and damned. There have been times that I have cared for those in need: I have comforted those who mourn and helped those who are sick or hungry. But, in many cases, I have left Lazarus at my door.

I don't know what to take away from this. I have heard a few people, mostly of a liberal or leftist political persuasion, say that the parable is about nations rather than individuals. But that seems wrong, Christ separates people, not countries or governments.

I have heard a few others, mostly Catholic universalists,² suggest the sheep and goats represent parts of the soul rather than individuals. The sheep represents our regenerate self, the person God created us to be. The goat is the flesh, the "old man" of Romans 6:6. The former is accepted into eternity. The later is eternally destroyed, scraped away like dross from a crucible.

Part of likes this reading, but it's quite esoteric. Did the Lord intend us to read into his parables like that? I don't know.

I find this all deeply mysterious: I don't have a tidy theological explanation of everything going on in this parable. Maybe that's fine.

#Bible #personal identity #religion