Sheep, Goats and Outsiders

[asteroid]

In answering an Email about “what about those who never hear about Jesus?”, Mitch Pacwa was discussing Mt25 on EWTN this week, specifically the discussion of the second coming from verse 31 and the talk about the sheep and the goats. Verses 31 to 33 read:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

Pacwa suggested that the word “nations” here as spoken in by Jesus in Hebrew/Aramaic would be a word meaning “those outside the faith”. (Was the word gammoyim? I can’t remember). This is an idea I’ve not heard before, that the passage is specifically directed to non-Christians/Jews.

Given what follows it seems to make sense but I want to check, is Mitch Pacwa right on this point?

 

[geezerbob]

I’m not a scholar of ancient languages, so I’ll pass on that part of your question. These verses essentially restate what is in Is. 58. That message was, of course, to the Jews, and they believed. In Matthew, the people ask “but Lord, when did we see you…”, indicating they knew who he was, at least at that time, if not before. I have heard fundies put all kinds of twists on this parable but have never heard the interpretation you cited. Not saying it’s wrong, just that I’ve never heard it before. Since Mt. 25 contains the same instructions for loving God and neighbor that are contained in Is. 58, I would tend to go with the interpretation that it applies to all of us.