Quote:
In the parable of the sheep and goats, what criteria did Jesus use for the separation? It was merely good vs evil. No mention of baptism, faith, repentance, etc.
I didn't say works were required for salvation. So I'm not sure what baptism and repentance have to do with it. But as for faith and eternal judgment here is the whole passage:
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."
The question we should be asking is 'what made them righteous?' Not just based on this limited passage but based on the whole teaching of scripture and what did Jesus himself speaks about this. I'd argue it's an issue of faith.
"I the the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father except through me."
"
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
"
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them."
In fact the purpose of the whole book of John is written to answer this very question. "
30 Therefore many other [
g]signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is [
h]the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name."
I digress. I'm not sure what your disagreement is anyway. Righteousness comes by faith in Messiah Yeshua - Jesus.