The Questions
Who is being called to judgment?
Whilst the gathering is of “all nations”, this is clearly not a corporate judgment.
The culpable actions are those of individuals, so those being judged are being
judged as individuals. Whilst there are gathering in Scripture of Israel “from”
all nations (or, indeed, the wheat from the world), this is a gathering “of”
all nations, so we should not exclude Gentiles or unbelievers on that score. This
may be seen as a gathering of just the mortal population at the Second Coming,
since no resurrection is mentioned; but resurrections are not mentioned in
other “judgment” parables, so that actually tells us very little. Though Scripture
does distinguish an eschatological battle as a judgment separate from the
judgment following the resurrection, this parable is not referring to an
eschatological battle, and so separating it from any other judgment seems
unnecessary. Therefore, we can assume that his judgment is upon both living and
resurrected persons.
Are the unevangelized included in
the gathering of all nations? If this is to be a global gathering, it is
difficult to see how they could not be. Of course, this parable must be read in
the context of the rest of Scripture, so there may be qualifications on who is gathered,
but the parable itself does not stipulate any. In other parables, Jesus talks
about gathering his servants to see if they have done his will in his absence.
This parable doesn’t talk of servants but of all nations, and this contrast
seems to imply that both Christians and non-Christians are in few.
Are the unevangelized amongst the
sheep? The sheep are referred to as “the righteous,” and some will baulk at the
idea of calling any “righteous” who is not declared righteous by grace through
faith. However, since one cannot but be righteous if one enters the Kingdom,
there is a danger of circularity in such an argument. The righteous, as defined
by the parable, are those who feed, clothed, visited, Jesus-in-proxy. They did not
see Jesus. But that, in itself, does not make them unevangelized, since few
have seen Jesus since his ascension. Yet those they do see, and help, are
specifically identified as Jesus’ brothers and by that, we must assume, Jesus
means his disciples. So, the sheep, whilst not seeing Jesus, have seen his
disciples (and done good to them). Those who want to extend the concept of
brotherhood to all mankind would need to deal with the fact that Jesus does not
use the term in such a way.
A Cup of Cold Water
Elsewhere, Jesus says “whoever
gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a
disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his rewrdd” (Matt
10:42). The teaching in the parable of the sheep and the goats seems to be on a
similar theme. Those who bless the followers of Christ will themselves be
blessed. The cup of cold water is emblematic of the least of kindness (which still
earns a reward). The motivation is explicit: “because he is a disciple”; it is
not just about doing a good thing, but about doing good to a disciple. (IT does
not follow that one should not do good to non-disciples). If the logic is the
same in the parable of the sheep and the goats, then the sheep cannot be the
unevangelized, but those who met followers of Christ and were motivated to help
them because they were followers of Christ. This isn’t quite the same as saying
they believed and were baptised, but if they honour Christ enough to do good to
his followers then they would certainly seem to be tending in that direction.
In Mark’s gospel, the “cup of
cold water” teaching comes in the context of the disciples discovering one who
casts out demons in the name of Christ but does not follow with them. In this
case, Jesus is inclusive stating that “he who is not against us is on our side”
(Mark 9:40). In this context, the cup of cold water is explicitly given in the
name of Christ (Mark 9:41); again, the cup is emblematic of the least of
kindnesses that counts one to be “on our side”. The parable of the sheep and
the goats presents both the inclusivity and the exclusivity of this teaching.
Those who do good to the disciples (because they are disciples) are welcomed
into the Kingdom; those who do not go doo to the disciples (because they are
disciples) receive eternal damnation. IN this sense, the parable of the sheep
and the goats may challenge those who take a very narrow view of those who can
be saved (since Jesus has sheep that are not of this fold) but it does not
speak to the fate of the unevangelized.
The other thing that becomes
apparent, if the theme of the parable is the same as the teaching in Matt
10:42, is that the purpose of the parable is not to describe the sole,
exclusive, necessary and sufficient, condition for salvation. IT would be
unwarranted to take this parable to mean that one can be saved by good works
alone, for example, Nor, I think are we meant to conclude that a few acts of
kindness to Christians will “balance out” a lack of faith or a disregard for
Christ’s teaching. The parable is about the worth of one particular set of
actions; it doesn’t comment on the rest.
Conclusion
So, it seems, we can answer our
question in the negative: the parable of the sheep and the goats does not refer
to the unevangelized, and so, in that sense, is not biblical data that can be systematized
towards and answer to our problem. (Thomas Gaston, “The Problem of the Unevangelized,”
Christadelphian EJournal of Biblical Interpretation [April 2017]: 129-30)
