At Matthew 25:40,
Jesus said, "Truly I say to YOU, To the extent that YOU did it to one of the least of these my brothers, YOU did it to me".Exactly to whom was Jesus addressing these words, and who were his "brothers?
The subject matter of Matthew chapter 25 deals with Christ's judgement of all humans, and verses 32 & 33 make it crystal clear that there only two groups standing before him - 'sheep' and 'goats'. Keep in mind that during his ministry, Jesus referred to himself as "the fine shepherd" who would give his life on behalf of his sheep. (John 10:11-15) He also made it clear, despite his apostles' arguments about who was greater, that none of his sheep would be elevated over the others, and in reality, they were all slaves. (Luke 17:10) Jesus only had one flock of sheep, and it was to this complete flock he was speaking. Some may protest that Jesus spoke of his "brothers", so therefore his "brothers" must be separate from this group. Good point - but not backed up by the Bible.
Despite what several millions of people have been led to believe about the identity of Christ's brothers, the Scriptures lovingly instruct us as to whom God and Christ view are Jesus' "brothers".
Matthew 12:50 "
For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother".Rom. 8:14
"For all who are led by God’s spirit, these are God’s sons.Also, Jesus addressed Jehovah as his Father . How were all
his disciples to address Jehovah? (Matt. 6:9)
Some may try to justify their false/misguided teaching by saying that "the Greek Scriptures were primarily written for, and addressed to, anointed Christians, because all first century Christians were of the anointed class". Again, false premise to back up false teachings. If this was true, then Jesus' promise to the thousands at the Sermon on the Mount about 'the meek inheriting the earth' was inapplicable for his audience, because they were all going to heaven ! Hogwash! Nowhere in the Scriptures does it even infer that everyone who became a Christian automatically became part of the heavenly class. If it were so, a strong case should be made for the repentant thief who died next to Jesus, that he should to go to heaven also. According to some, he was the only person in the first century who repented and then died after Christ, but never went to heaven. So what was Jesus really saying at Matthew 25:40? He was addressing and referring to every Christian individually, as his sheep and brothers (regardless of their hope) and informing each one individually that because they had lovingly adhered to his new commandment to show genuine love for all fellow Christians (not just anointed ones) they would now receive their appropriate reward. (John 13: 35 )