So teach us. It is always fun, almost as good as watching you people "explain" James 2:17-26 or John 6:35-70.
following the text, how does the Judge know which are His sheep and thus who to put on His right hand (for this happens before there is any mention of works)?
Christ know our works better than we ourseves do. He separates thenm according to their works known to Him, and after separating them He explains the reason, and the reason is explicitly stated as their works.
annalex wrote in reference to Matthew 25:31-46:
“Christ know our works better than we ourseves do. He separates thenm according to their works known to Him, and after separating them He explains the reason, and the reason is explicitly stated as their works.”
This is a fine explanation, I suppose, but it isn’t what the text says. The text, or let us put it more precisely, the Lord speaking of His own appearing on the last day in order to judge all people says that He will separate them “as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.” This is not much of a picture of works, unless you are going to say that sheep do only inherently good works and goats do only evil works. This is just one of many ways Jesus explained who is who. Another way is found in your favorite part of the NT, the Sermon on the Mount. There He said, “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7:17-19) Would you not agree that Jesus is here also talking about Judgment Day, and the basis of salvation versus the basis of damnation? And if you do not agree, then what is He talking about?
So, here is the question: What makes the good tree good? Or, to put it in the language of Matthew 25:31-46, what makes a sheep a sheep? Please answer on the basis of the Gospels, and don’t resort to St. Paul.