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Matthew 25:43

in Matthew 25

I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

KJV

I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

This verse in Matthew 25

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 253.

It follows, I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat. It is written to the believers, Ye are the body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:27.) As then the soul dwelling in the body, though it hungers not in respect of its spiritual substance, yet hungers for the food of the body, because it is yoked to the body; so the Saviour suffers whatever His body the Church suffers, though He Himself be impassible.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 79 · Written before 407.

proposed

"For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat." For though He that came to thee had been thine enemy, were not His sufferings enough to have overcome and subdued even the merciless? hunger, and cold, and bonds, and nakedness, and sickness, and to wander everywhere houseless? These things are sufficient even to destroy enmity. But ye did not these things even to a friend, being at once friend, and benefactor, and Lord. Though it be a dog we see hungry, often we are overcome; and though we behold a wild beast, we are subdued; but seeing the Lord, art thou not subdued? And wherein are these things worthy of defense? But mark them, how they are destitute not of one or two things only, but of all. For not only did they fail to feed the hungry, or clothe the naked; but not even did they visit the sick, which was an easier thing. And mark how easy are His injunctions. He said not, "I was in prison, and ye set me free; I was sick, and ye raised me up again;" but, "ye visited me," and, "ye came unto me." And neither in hunger is the thing commanded grievous. For no costly table did He seek, but what is needful only, and His necessary food, and He sought in a suppliant's garb, so that all things were enough to bring punishment on them; the easiness of the request, for it was bread; the pitiable character of Him that requesteth, for He was poor; the sympathy of nature, for He was a man; the desirableness of the promise, for He promised a kingdom; the fearfulness of the punishment, for He threatened hell. The dignity of the one receiving, for it was God, who was receiving by the poor; the surpassing nature of the honor, that He vouchsafed to condescend so far; His just claim for what they bestowed, for of His own was He receiving. But against all these things covetousness once for all blinded them that were seized by it; and this though so great a threat was set against it.

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Matthew · Written before 1274.

proposed

I was hungry. Here nothing else need be said except that he speaks differently to the good and to the wicked: because above he stated each thing separately, here he joins many together; hence sick and in prison. And because he joins these two, it …

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Matthew · Written before 1107.

proposed

Tremble, then, O man, and understand from this that these men were not punished as fornicators, or robbers, or perpetrators of any other vice, but for not having done good. For indeed, if you consider things well, the robber is he who has much and …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

I was a stranger, and ye took me not in,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. That in general which is to be illustrated is, the kingdom of heaven, the state of things under the gospel, the external kingdom of Christ, and the administration and success of it. Some of Christ's parables had shown us what it is like now in the present reception of it, as ch. xiii.
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

I was a stranger - If men were sure that Jesus Christ was actually somewhere in the land, in great personal distress, hungry, thirsty, naked, and confined, they would doubtless run unto and relieve him. Now Christ assures us that a man who is hungry, thirsty, naked, etc., is his representative, and that whatever we do to such a one he will consider as done to himself; yet this testimony of Christ is not regarded! Well, he will be just when he judges, and righteous when he punishes.
In these verses our Lord Jesus Christ describes the judgment day, and some of its leading circumstances. There are few passages in the whole Bible more solemn and heart-seaching than this. May we read it with the deep and serious attention which it deserves. Let us mark in the first place who will be the judge in the last day. We read that it will be “the Son of Man” Jesus Christ himself.

A commentator

J.C. Ryle

1816–1900

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)

proposed

In these verses our Lord Jesus Christ describes the judgment day, and some of its leading circumstances. There are few passages in the whole Bible more solemn and heart-seaching than this. May we read it with the deep and serious attention which it deserves. Let us mark in the first place who will be the judge in the last day. We read that it will be “the Son of Man” Jesus Christ himself. That same Jesus who was born in the manger of Bethlehem and took upon him the very form of a servant; who was despised and rejected of men and often had not where to lay his head; who was condemned by the princes of this world, beaten, scourged and nailed to the cross—that same Jesus shall himself judge the world when he comes in his glory. To him The Father hath commited all judgment. ( John 5:22 ). To him at last every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord ( Philippians 2:10–11 ). Let believers think of this and take comfort. He that sits upon the throne in that great and dreadful day will be their Saviour, their Shepherd, their High Priest, their elder Brother, their Friend. When they see him they will have no cause to be alarmed. Let unconverted people think of this and be afraid. Their judge will be that very Christ whose Gospel they now despise, and whose gracious invitations they refuse to hear. How great will be their confusion at last if they go on in unbelief and die in their sins! To be condemned in the day of judgment by anyone would be awful; but to be condemned by him who would have saved them will be awful indeed. Well may the psalmist say, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry” ( Psalm 2:12 ). Let us mark in the second place who will be judged on the last day. We read that before Christ “shall be gathered all the nations.”

The words behind it

19 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Matthew

The Sermon on the Mount, Carl Bloch, 1877. Public domain.
The Sermon on the Mount, Carl Bloch, 1877. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 79; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Matthew and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Matthew.