And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Verse 46. And these, etc. These persons. Many, holding the doctrine of universal salvation, have contended that God would punish sin only. Christ says that those on his left hand shall go away-not sins, but sinners. Besides, sin, as an abstract thing, cannot be punished. It is nothing but the acts of transgressors; and to be reached at all, must be reached by punishing the offenders.
Observe here, 1. That though the righteous are first judged, yet the sentence is first executed on the wicked. They shall go into everlasting punishment. Observe, 2. That men's states and conditions in another world will be different, as their ways and doings have been in this world. 3. That everlasting life shall be the portion of the godly, and everlasting punishment the portion of the wicked.