---
title: Matthew 25:31
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-25-31/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-25-31.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 25:31
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 25:31

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne."

## JW Usage

The Watchtower reads Matthew 25:31 as describing Christ's enthronement on his glorious throne in heaven in 1914 — the beginning of his invisible parousia. The angels accompanying him are taken as evidence of heavenly authority, with the judgement of vv. 31-46 unfolding through the Watchtower's preaching work and culminating at Armageddon. The "Son of Man comes in his glory" is read as past-tense relative to 1914 rather than as describing a future visible coming.

## Protestant Usage

Matthew 25:31 describes a single, decisive, public event — the Son of Man coming in his glory with all his angels, sitting on his throne to render final judgement on the nations. The language is not invisible-presence language; it is Daniel-7-coming-on-the-clouds language, Acts-1:11 same-manner language, Revelation-1:7 every-eye-will-see-him language. Pair Matthew 25:31 with those texts to see the consistent picture: the final return of Christ is universally visible, bodily, and the trigger for final judgement, not a 1914-onward invisible reign. The judgement scene of vv. 31-46 follows the return; it does not unfold throughout an invisible-presence era.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Judgment According to Works](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/judgment-according-to-works.md) — Matthew 25, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 20 — evidence or basis? [Salvation]