Those on the left are as surprised as the righteous, but for the opposite reason. Gill says they are "likewise astonished at what he had said, but on a different account." They call Him "Lord," and Gill reads their question as suggesting that if they had ever seen Him in need, they surely would have helped. Gill concludes that these were "nominal Christians, who had made a profession of Christ." Their question presses for an exception: they never saw Him that way, so how can they be blamed? Matthew Henry's verdict is brief: "Condemned sinners will in vain offer excuses."

The King answers them directly: "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me" (Matthew 25:45). The same reasoning that commended the righteous now condemns them. The scene closes with the final separation: "these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Matthew 25:46).

"Minister" translates diekonesamen, from diakoneo. Thayer gives its sense here as "to minister, i. e. supply food and the necessaries of life," and cites this verse. The question compresses all six needs into one list, ending with the thing they failed to do: supply what was needed.

Barnes notes that the public ground of their condemnation is neglect, "because 'they did it not.'" He adds, "People should be punished for neglect as well as for positive sin," and that "Nothing better shows the true state of the heart than the proper performance of those duties."

Both groups in this scene call Jesus "Lord," and both are surprised. The righteous had served Him without knowing it. Those on the left had neglected Him without knowing it. What divides them is not knowledge but love shown in action. Barnes says that by not doing good to the poor and needy, the stranger and the prisoner, "they show that they have not his Spirit."

The King's answer shows how seriously He takes the needs of the lowly. He does not measure people by what they would have done for Him if He had appeared in glory, but by what they did for "the least of these" (Matthew 25:45). Gill puts it this way: He reckoned their neglect of His people "all one as if he himself in person had been so treated."