Bellarmine’s Interesting Commentary On Mt. 25 - “For I Was Hungry And You Gave Me No Food”

Many people cite Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 about the Last Judgment to argue that people can be saved without the Catholic faith, if they practice corporal works of mercy.

Matthew 25:31-42: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’  Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink’…” 

Their interpretation is false, of course, since no one can be saved without the true faith.  In commenting on this passage, St. Robert Bellarmine teaches that Mt. 25 only describes the judgment of those who are in the Church, and that it’s not about unbelievers (who are necessarily lost without the true faith).  The fact that Mt. 25 is perfectly consistently with the truth that no one is saved without the Catholic faith is dogmatically established by the Council of Florence, which references the passage in the very paragraph in which it declares that all who die outside the Church are not saved.

St. Robert Bellarmine, De Amissione Gratiae et Statu Peccati, Book 6, Chap. 5: “… but in the Gospel of Matthew (Chap. 25) there is only described the form by which those who are in the Church will be judged... For infidels are customarily compared to wolves and dogs in the Scriptures rather than goats.  Also, that reason for their eternal punishment: ‘I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat…’ etc. quite clearly indicates that this form of judgment should be referred to the faithful alone, seeing that they are not denounced because they lacked the proper faith, but because they did not exhibit the works of the faith.  Finally, since the Gospel pertains to the faithful alone, and since none has faith in the Gospel except the faithful, there was no need in the Gospel to describe the form in which infidels will be judged, but it was sufficient to make the general statement: He who does not believe, will be condemned (Mark 16); and: He who believes not in the Son will not see life (John 3); and with regard to children: The fault of one man resulted in condemnation for all men (Rom. 5).”