Matthew 25

Matthew 25
Gospel of Matthew 25:41–26:10 on Papyrus 45, from c. AD 250
BookGospel of Matthew
CategoryGospel
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part1

Matthew 25, the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, continues the Olivet Discourse or "Little Apocalypse" spoken by Jesus, also called the Eschatological Discourse, that starts in Matthew 24.

In the Journal of Biblical Literature, American theologian Jason Hood wrote that Matthew 23, Matthew 24, and Matthew 25 form the gospel's fifth and final discourse. On his reading, these three chapters "uniquely infuse Jesus' distinctive teaching on discipleship, Christology, and judgment with the dramatic tension running throughout Matthew's plot".

Text

Matthew 25:12–15 on the recto side of Papyrus 35 from 3rd/4th century

The original text was written in Koine Greek. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

It is also found in quotations from Irenaeus (AD 180) in Adversus Haereses.

Content

This chapter has 46 verses. Pope Francis called this chapter "the 'protocol' by which we will be judged at the end of the world":

What is the protocol by which the judge will evaluate us? We find it in Chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew.

The chapter continues a discourse begun in Matthew 24:3, where the disciples come to Jesus to speak "privately". The Parable of the Ten Virgins (verses 1–13) and the Parable of the Talents (verses 14–30) are both unique to Matthew, but the Parable of the Talents has a corollary in Luke 19:11–27.

Verse 14

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.

This verse begins a new parable, that of the talents, or minas. There is no reference to the "kingdom of heaven" in this verse or in the parable, but the words, which mirror verse 1, are added in the King James Version and some other English translations "for the sake of grammatical completeness".

Verses 31–46

The final section (verses 31–46) is sometimes called The Sheep and the Goats or "The Judgment of the Nations". Though often called a "parable", it is not a story as such, but the portrayal of the Son of Man as a shepherd and the people under judgment as sheep or goats can be treated as "parabolic elements".

The narrative quotes Jesus teaching that all people will be assembled before him and "he will separate them one from another", with some who will "inherit the kingdom" and others who will go to "the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels". Jesus is said to have said that the basis of this separation is whether someone:

Hector Avalos compares these statements with The Book of the Dead, which dates to the New Kingdom of Egypt. In it, a specific set of actions are listed that are valued by the gods and by which people will be judged:

I have acted rightly in Egypt, I have not cursed a god..., I have done what people speak of, What the gods are pleased with..., I have given bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, a ferryboat to the boatless, I have given divine offerings to the gods.

Uses

Music

"Matthew 25:21" is a song on the American band The Mountain Goats' 2009 album The Life of the World to Come.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jerusalem Bible (1966), subtitle for Matthew 24–25
  2. ↑ Carr, A., Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges: Matthew 24, accessed 10 October 2019
  3. ↑ Hood, Jason (2009). "Matthew 23-25: The Extent of Jesus' Fifth Discourse". Journal of Biblical Literature. 128 (3): 527–543. doi:10.2307/25610201. JSTOR 25610201.
  4. ↑ Dwight Jeffrey Bingham. "Irenaeus' Use of Matthew's Gospel in Adversus Haereses". Volume 7 of Traditio exegetica Graeca. Peeters Publishers, 1998 ISBN 9789068319644
  5. ↑ Pope Francis, General Audience, Wednesday 6 August 2014, accessed 12 November 2023
  6. ↑ Matthew 24:3
  7. ↑ Alford, H. (1841-61), Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford: Matthew 25, accessed 21 March 2021
  8. ↑ Matthew 25:14: New International Version
  9. ↑ Plumptre, E. H. (1905), Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers on Matthew 25, accessed 20 December 2022
  10. ↑ "Death and the afterlife: The Parable of the Sheep and Goats". BBC Bitesize. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 "Matthew Chapter 25". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  12. ↑ Avalos, Hector (2015). The Bad Jesus: The Ethics of New Testament Ethics. Sheffield Phoenix Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-909697-73-7.
  13. ↑ Strain, Lauren (2009-10-06). "The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come". Drownedinsound.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2012-02-28.