for I hungered, and ye gave me to eat; I thirsted, and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
naked, and ye clothed me; I was ill, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came to me.
The scene is the King on His throne after His return. The nations stand before Him, and He separates them like sheep from goats. The kindnesses listed here — clothing, visiting the sick, coming to a prisoner — raise two questions. Who were these sick and imprisoned people? And do such acts earn the sheep their place?
This is not the judgment of the dead. It is the King taking up His rule over the living world.
William KellyNow the "King" — a title used only here — begins the formal judgment of His throne, and all the nations must appear before it... The Lord and the apostles pressed hard the coming judgment of living people on earth, in the middle of their busy, selfish, greedy and sinful life.
A third group appears in this scene, besides the sheep and the goats.
Edward DennettNotice, too, that there are three groups — the sheep, the goats, and the brothers of the King. That fact alone settles how we read the whole scene. It shows clearly that this is the judgment of the living nations, after the Son of Man appears in His glory and takes His throne.
The clothing, the visit, the prison call — these were shown to people the King calls His brothers.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIn the closing years of the Jewish age, a remnant of Jews will preach this Gospel. They are "brothers" of our Lord by natural descent. They will move among the nations of the world and give their startling testimony. They will preach the Gospel that announces the King and His Kingdom are near. How will the nations receive them?
The specific hardships named in this verse are not random misfortunes. They are the cost of carrying that message into a hostile world.
Messiah, the PrinceThose who announced the news of the coming King did so against the greatest difficulties... The people around them wanted neither God's King nor God's righteousness. So hunger and thirst, exile, nakedness and prison lay ahead of these preachers. The King identifies Himself with these servants, just as He did with another persecuted group when He stopped their persecutor, Saul of Tarsus.
The King does not say the kindness was like kindness to Him. He counts it as done to Himself. He counts neglect the same way.
J. N. DarbyThe sheep make no claim to have shown any regard to the King Himself. But He takes as done to Himself everything they did for His messengers, whom He owned as His brothers. The goats, on the other hand, claim they never failed the great King. But by the same rule, the indifference they showed toward His messengers counts in the King's heart as indifference toward Him... He always thinks of His own as if they were Himself.
Because the acts listed are ordinary human kindnesses, the verse is often read as a promise that good deeds will secure a person's standing before God. Commentators warn against this reading in strong terms.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinPeople commonly think our Lord means acts of charity — hospitals and prison work, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked through church work or charities. They think that if a person does these things and stays faithful in them, the King will approve of them in the judgment. Many a soul builds on this foundation of sand. All this is completely wrong.
So why do the kindnesses matter at all?
William KellySo everything rests on Christ, though His grace makes the most of what others might think small. Faith working by love in the one group, and complete unconcern in the other, showed plainly who was fit and who was unfit to inherit the kingdom. With all God's people, works are the evidence, faith in the Word is the instrument, Christ's work is the ground, and God's grace is the source.
Though this scene is still future, the principle already works. Onesiphorus is one example.
Edward DennettThis godly man was not ashamed of Paul or his chain. He was in Rome, and he searched hard for him, and did not rest until he found him. The Lord used him to bring refreshment to the imprisoned Apostle... And the Lord saw this good service, and valued it as done to Himself.
- Throne — When He appears, the King judges the living nations on earth. This is not the judgment of the dead. Three groups stand in the scene, not two.
- Brothers — The hungry, naked and imprisoned ones are His messengers. They carry news of the coming kingdom into a world that wants neither Him nor His righteousness.
- Identification — He counts their prison bars as His own. He thinks of His own as if they were Himself, so coldness toward them is coldness toward Him.
- Evidence — The kindness does not buy the kingdom. Works are the evidence, faith is the instrument, Christ's work is the ground, God's grace is the source.
- Now — The principle is already live. What Onesiphorus brought to a prisoner in Rome, the Lord received as brought to Himself.