How does Matthew 25:31-46 ("The Sheep and the Goats") reconcile with salvation by faith? In Matthew 25:31-46 (a passage subtitled &quot;The Sheep and the Goats&quot; in the NIV), Jesus seems to be drawing a direct relationship between good works and salvation.
Matthew 25:31-46 NIV:

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

I read this passage to say that those people who cared for those in need will have eternal life; those people who did not will have eternal punishment.
How does this passage reconcile with other passages in the New Testament that imply or directly state that salvation is through faith in Jesus (e.g. Luke 23:40-43 -- the thief on the cross; Ephesians 2:8-9 -- salvation through faith, not works)?
Judged according to what they had done, echos...


Have a look at any of the other verses that talk about the day of Judgement, they all speak about what a person did in the flesh. They all mention "works" in some fashion.




  Revelation 20:11-13
  
  11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth
  and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I
  saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books
  were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The
  dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the
  books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades
  gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged
  according to what he had done.
  
  Romans 2:5-11
  
  5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are
  storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his
  righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person
  according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in
  doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal
  life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth
  and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be
  trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for
  the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for
  everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11
  For God does not show favoritism.   
  
  2 Corinthians 5:10
  
  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each
  one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body,
  whether good or bad.


Not by Faith alone?

The only place in the Bible that "faith alone" is mentioned, is here.


  James 2:24 NIV
  
  You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not
  by faith alone.


The command to love.

Mathew 25 is showing us that Jesus is literally judging people based upon whether or not they showed true love to one another. This is the purpose to life as the Bible defines it: That we are the first of all creation to bear a new kind of fruit, and that fruit is love.


  1 John 2:3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
  
  John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The
  one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them
  and show myself to them.”
  
  John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands.
  
  Mark 12:31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no
  commandment greater than these.”
  
  1 John 3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus
  Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
  
  1 John 5:3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands
  are not burdensome,
  
  2 John 1:6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you
  have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
  
  Galatians 5:14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love
  your neighbor as yourself.”
  
  Daniel 9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: “Lord, the
  great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who
  love him and keep his commandments,
  
  Nehemiah 1:5 Then I said: “LORD, the God of heaven, the great and
  awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him
  and keep his commandments,
  
  Deuteronomy 5:10 but showing love to a thousand generations of
  those who love me and keep my commandments.


Mans rejection of God

Understand man kind. THEY HATE GOD, but more then hating God, THEY HATE EACH OTHER.


  Romans 1:29-30 (NIV)
  
  29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed
  and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and
  malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent,
  arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey
  their parents;


Eighty percent of Americans consider themselves to be saved Christians, through faith in Christ. However Jesus said that there is a way that seems right to a man that leads to death. There is a wide road and a wide gate that leads to hell and many follow it.

But the road that leads to life is small and the gate is small and few find it.

By saying FAITH ALONE a person is basically telling you that they have no responsibility to care for anybody else. Why would they? They've already been saved, "so let Jesus worry about doing the work through you and you can go about living  your sinful, wicked ways." This is plain WRONG.

Study for yourself Faith + Love and you will find the path that Jesus is pointing to over and over again. IF you have not learned to love people, then you do not know who God is.

We know we have come to know God, IF...


  1 John 2
  
  3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4
  Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a
  liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his
  word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we
  know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus
  did.