Thursday, May 04, 2006

Of Sheep and Goats

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on theleft. (Mat 25:31-33ESV)

The above passage from Matthew's Gospel is marked in the English Standard Version by the section heading 'The Final Judgment'. While this seemingly innocuous phrase will probably go unnoticed by most readers, it is sure draw the ire of more than a few evangelical theologians.

Perhaps they would prefer the section heading in the Nelson Reference Bible - 'Judgment of the Gentiles', or that of the Scofield reference Bible - 'The Lord's Return Tests the Gentile Nations'. But 'The FINAL Judgment' as seen in the ESV? No, that simply cannot be tolerated!

Why? Because, you see, most evangelical and fundamentalist theologians teach that no one, and I mean NO ONE will be saved at the final judgment. You read that correctly. According to modern evangelical theology EVERYONE appearing at the FINAL judgment is DAMNED FOR ETERNITY.

Their dilemma becomes apparent. Since there are obviously saved 'sheep' at the judgment described in Matthew 25 it simply cannot be the FINAL judgment. With a simple wave of the theological wand the 'sheep and goats' judgment becomes something, ANYTHING, other than the FINAL judgment.

The theological gymnastics required to make Matthew 25 into something other than the FINAL judgment are perhaps best illustrated by a note found in the Dake's Annotated Reference Bible (New Testament pg. 29).

Here Finis Jennings Dake has listed 18 'contrasts' between the judgment of Matthew 25 (the sheep and goats) and the final Judgment as described in Revelation 20 (the great white throne judgment - which no one disputes is the actual FINAL judgment).

But among these 18 'contrasts' we find listed the following:

Matthew 25 - Two classes, Revelation 20 - One class

Matthew 25 - Some saved, Revelation 20 - None saved

Matthew 25 - Some destroyed, Revelation 20 - All destroyed

Matthew 25 - Some go to hell, Revelation 20 - All go to hell

Matthew 25 - Some enter kingdom, Revelation 20 - None enter it

Matthew 25 - Separation of good from bad, Revelation 20 - No good judged here

Matthew 25 - Some enter eternal life, Revelation 20 - None enter eternal life

How (forgive me for asking) do the above contrasts amount to SEVEN while they are in fact the exact same objection worded seven different ways? It almost seems as though someone felt the need to try to make these two judgments look as different as possible. Apparently the 'contrast' is so great that it bears repeating SEVEN times that NONE ARE SAVED IN THE FINAL JUDGMENT.

But the irony and the real fallacy of this type of reasoning is best shown by simply opening up your Bible to Revelation 20, where we read:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:11-15)

Where does this passage teach (as do our evangelical theologians) that ALL in this final judgment are LOST? Where does this passage teach the NONE in this final judgment are saved? Where?

Not only is that concept absent, it is not even implied. In fact the very OPPOSITE is implied. In saying that 'whosoever was not found written in the Book of life was cast into the lake of fire' it is surely implied that some actually were found written there.

So here is a challenge for the evangelical or fundamentalist. Do you really have any scriptural basis for teaching that ALL in the final judgment are lost? Do you have any good valid reason for not believing that Matthew 25 is describing the final judgment? Finally , if this simple fact is true, that some really are saved at the final judgment, then what does this do to the rest of your belief system?

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