Matthew 25:40

“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of these my brothers, even these least, you did it to me.' ”

For the King will point out that it was when they did these things to ‘His brothers' that they did it to Him. The only people whom Jesus describes as His brothers in this way are those who have responded to His words and do the will of His Father (Matthew 12:48; Matthew 28:10, compare Matthew 10:42. See also Hebrews 2:11). This is further confirmed by ‘even these least'. For that was precisely what His followers were to seek to be (Matthew 18:4; Matthew 20:27; Matthew 23:11; Luke 9:48). Furthermore He has already said that to receive a disciple in His Name was to receive Him (Matthew 10:40), and has spoken of those who give a cup of cold water to a disciple as not losing their reward (Matthew 10:42). The evidence that we identify ‘brothers' with followers of Jesus is conclusive.

Some suggest that ‘His brothers' indicates the Jews, but Jesus never speaks of the Jews as such as His brothers. Others see it as indicating all mankind. That Jesus saw all decent men as His neighbours comes out in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:36). But again He never describes all men as His brothers. This further confirms that by ‘His brothers' He was referring to His followers.

We are not to see ‘His brothers' as being a separate group from the righteous and the unrighteous. They will indeed be the same as the righteous. Thus when Jesus said, ‘these My brothers' He could be seen as indicating all the righteous with a wave of His hand.

By these words Jesus was demonstrating that while His true followers are to love all men, they are to have special love for their brothers. ‘By this will all men know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another' (Matthew 13:35). And certainly as a result of persecution many of them would be in need of such help, for their faithfulness in testimony would often lead to poverty, illness, exile in a strange country and imprisonment, but Jesus' expectation was that in such situations their brothers in Christ would sustain them. This would be one very real evidence of the genuineness of their faith. Nothing more surprised the ancient world than the love that Christians revealed towards each other.

That the description ‘His brothers' does indicate His disciples and followers is important for the significance of the whole account, for it demonstrates that in the end it is the attitude of men and women towards Jesus that is in question. A few moments thought will demonstrate that the final judgment cannot possibly be limited to dealing with such matters as are described here, however important they might be. For however sentimental we might be, acceptability with God cannot possibly be seen as based simply upon these few requirements. Indeed there was nothing that the Jews were more diligent in than giving alms and helping their poor, and they were exhorted to it by the Scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus' criticism of them did not lay in their lack of such behaviour but in their reasons for doing it (Matthew 6:2) and their whole attitude towards people. Relief work is good and valuable, but it does not and cannot ensure entry into His everlasting Kingly Rule. It is only a small part of the whole. Such righteousness would not exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees. Doing fully the will of the Father is far more demanding than that.

But if in reality the judgment is being made on the basis of the attitude of the judged towards Jesus Christ, as revealed by their behaviour towards His brothers (compare Matthew 10:42 where the same principle is in mind), then it brings us back to the basis of salvation found all the way through the New Testament, that salvation finally depends on response to and attitude towards Jesus Christ Himself. For there is no other Name under Heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). They are not saved by ‘do-gooding' but because of their response to, and attitude towards, Him which results in even greater ‘do-gooding'.