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Mat_25:46. Comp. Dan_12:2. The absolute idea of eternity, in regard to the punishment of hell (comp. Mat_25:41), is not to be got rid of either by a popular toning down of the force of αἰώνιος (Paulus), or by appealing (de Wette, Schleiermacher, Oetinger) to the figurative character of the term fire and the supposed incompatibility between the idea of eternity and such a thing as evil and its punishment, any more than by the theory that the whole representation is intended simply by way of warning (according to which view it is not meant thereby to throw light upon the eternal nature of things, but only to portray the κρίσις , i.e. the cessation of the conflict between good and evil by the extinction of the latter); but is to be regarded as exegetically established in the present passage (comp. Mat_3:12, Mat_18:8) by the opposed ζωὴν αἰώνιον , which denotes the everlasting Messianic life (Kaeuffer, as above, p. 21); comp. also Weizel in the Stud. u. Krit. 1836, p. 605 ff.; Schmid in the Jahrb. f. D. Theol. 1870, p. 136 ff.
οἱ δὲ δίκαιοι ] “hoc ipso judicio declarati,” Bengel. Comp. Rom_5:19.
REMARK.
Because the judgment is a judgment of Christians (see on Mat_25:31), faith is presupposed though not formally mentioned. The truth is, the Judge regulates His decision according to the way in which faith has been evidenced by love (1Co_13:1 ff.; Joh_13:35), without which as its necessary fruit faith does not save (Gal_5:6). Comp. Apol. Conf. A, p. 138. The manifestations of love, as forming the principle of the Christian’s life, accordingly constitute the πρᾶξις by which he is to be judged (Mat_16:27; 2Co_5:10). Comp. Mat_5:7. But, in so far as, according to this concrete view of the judgment, Jesus bases His sentence upon the principle that love shown to or withheld from the least of His brethren is the same as love shown to or withheld from Himself, He does so in harmony with the view contained in Mat_18:5, Mat_10:40. Comp. Joh_13:20.