Matthew 25 and the previous chapter, Matthew 24, are the only two chapters in the four gospels for which Swedenborg offered verse by verse explanations. It's great that we have these, because we get some assurance that the methods that he used in his exegesis of Genesis, Exodus, and Revelation can also be applied to the gospels.

The commentary on Matthew 25 is divided into chunks associated with explanations of chapters in Genesis, in the middle of "Arcana Coelestia". For chapter 25, it starts in Arcana Coelestia 4635-4638. Here's an excerpt from no. 4636:

* * * *

"The Lord used this parable to describe His own coming. This is clear from every detail in it as well as from the final sentence where He says, 'Watch therefore, for you do not know the day, nor the hour, in which the Son of Man will be coming' - words similar to those used in Chapter 24.... It has been shown already that His coming is the close of the age or the final period of the Church."

Next, in Arcana Coelestia 4637, there's a strong clear attestation to the power and importance of the internal sense of the Word:

"Consequently anyone who does not know this cannot make anything else out of the Lord's parables than ordinary comparisons which hold nothing deeper within them, as with this particular parable concerning the ten virgins. He makes nothing more out of it if he does not know what 'virgins' means in the internal sense, and also what ten, five, lamps, vessels, oil, those who sell, a wedding feast, and every other detail mean. And the same is true with all other parables. As has been stated, the details mentioned by the Lord in them look, in the outward form they take, like ordinary comparisons, but in their internal form their nature is such that they fill the whole of heaven. This is because the internal sense is contained within every detail, and that sense is such that its spiritual and celestial content spreads like light and flame throughout the heavens in all directions. That sense is utterly superior to the sense of the letter, flowing from every phrase and every word, indeed from every tiny letter."

* * * *

(Swedenborg's exegesis of the chapter continues in 4662-4664, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, and 5063-5071. It's well worth the read!)

Also, we'll append the commentary on this chapter that Rev. John Clowes wrote back in the 1850's:

Verses 1, 2, 3, 4. That in the last time of the old church and the first of the now, they who are of the church will receive spiritual truths, and some will be in truths wherein is the good of love and charity, and some in truths wherein is no good of love and charity.

Verse 5. That by reason of delay, they will be sluggish in the things of the church, and will cherish doubt.

Verse 6. But that at the last time of the old church and the first of the new, there will be a change, for then will be the judgement, namely, acceptance and rejection.

Verses 7, 8. And then all will prepare themselves, and they who are in truths without the good of love and charity will be willing to have good communicated from others to their empty truths.

Verse 9. But this is impossible, since no good can then be communicated but the good of merit.

Verse 10. Wherefore the application is preposterous, because none can be received into heaven but those who are principled in good and thence in truth.

Verse 11. Nevertheless, they who are in truths without good, are willing to enter from faith alone without charity, and from works in which is no life of the Lord, but only the life of self.

Verse 12. But they are rejected, because they are not in any charity towards their neighbour, nor by it in conjunction with the Lord.

Verse 13. Therefore the life ought to be regulated according to the precepts of faith, because the time of acceptance, and the state, is unknown to man.

Verses 14, 15. For the Lord gives to all who are in the church the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, with the faculty of perceiving them.

Verses 16, 17, 18. And by these knowledges and this faculty, some procure to themselves much intelligence and wisdom, and others procure some, and others none.

Verses 19-23. Wherefore at the Lord's coming, they who had procured much intelligence and wisdom, and they who had procured some, are accepted of the Lord, and gifted by Him with dominion over all evils and falsities, and admitted to conjunction of life with Himsel

Verses 24-31. But they who had procured none are then deprived of the truths which they had possessed in the memory only, and not in the life, and become principled in mere falsities separated from all good and truth.

Verses 24, 25. For not having joined charity to faith, they think harshly of the Divine Mercy, and act from mere natural fear, which obscures the knowledges of heavenly truth.

Verses 26, 27. Whereas they ought rather, by those knowledges, to have procured to themselves charity, and thus have attained conjunction of life with the Lord.

Verses 28, 29. Therefore those knowledges are taken away from them, and conferred on those who apply them to the reformation of their lives.

Verse 30. And they who have lived in faith alone without charity, are deprived of all the truths of faith, and all the goods of charity, having their lot with those who are in mere evils and falsities.

Verse 31. For when Divine Truth shall appear in its light, through the angelic heaven, then shall be the judgement.

Verse 32. And then shall the goods and evils of all be made manifest in the Light Divine, and there shall be a separation of what is good from what is evil, or of those who are in charity and thence in faith, from those who are in faith alone, and not in charity.

Verse 33. And this separation will be according to truths derived from good with the good, and according to falsities derived from evil with the evil, thus every one will be arranged according to his life.

Verse 34. Then shall they who are in charity and thence in faith be received amongst those in heaven who are in truth; derived from good.

Verses 35, 36. Since they are in the affection of good and truth, because proceeding from the Lord, and are averse from what is evil and false, because proceeding from themselves, and thus are in humiliation grounded in self-acknowledgment, and thence in all the offices of charity.

Verses 37, 38, 39. And yet if they had seen the Lord Himself in all the offices of charity, every one would have done them, but not from love to Him, but from fear, nor for the sake of Him, but for the sake of themselves.

Verse 40. Nevertheless the truth is that the Lord is present with those who are in the good of love and charity because He is in that good itself.

Verse 41. But they who are in faith and not in charity, will then avert themselves from all good and truth, and convert themselves to what is evil and false, and remain in the craving of infernal evil.

Verses 42, 43. Since they have never been in the affection of good and truth because proceeding from the Lord, nor averse from what is evil and false because proceeding from themselves, nor in humiliation grounded in self-acknowledgement, nor in any offices of charity thence derived.

Verse 44. And yet in the external form they have done those offices, but not from a principle of love to the Lord, but from fear, thus not for the sake of Him, but of themselves.

Verse 45. For they who are not in the affection of good and truth from the Lord, are not influenced by love to the Lord, but by self-love.

Verse 46. All such therefore will be everlastingly tormented by the concupiscences of evil, but they who are in the good of charity, will have life from that good, because it is from the Lord, who is the life itself.

4749. [4762.] About the Moravian Church

There were with me certain ones from the Moravian Church, and one among them who had come recently into the other life, and who said that he had known me in the world. He was a little toward the front down below, near the earth of the lower ones. The rest, however, were above, somewhat. I spoke with the one who was down below, while the rest were flowing in in community, because in community they operated as one. With the one who had come fresh from the world, I spoke for many hours, and in fact, about faith and caring for others. He preferred faith, saying that by it, man is saved, and that faith is the confidence or trust that they are saved by the merit of the Lord, which they keep calling the blood of the Lord.

But about these matters, I offered various comments, as that they do not yet know what caring for others is, consequently what faith and what confidence is. One who does not know what caring is, cannot at all know what confidence is, because caring for others is its essence and life force, and when they do not know this, they do not know what faith is, nor the merit of the Lord, for it is known that the merit of the Lord is universal, namely, for the universal human race, but it is also known that it is a matter of reception, for many nevertheless come to hell, and many to heaven. Therefore this shows that it is reception, and that reception is not through faith, but through the life of faith, which is charity. I also observed that he admits the word charity with difficulty, and with even greater difficulty the word love, unless the Lord is thought about at the same time. [4763.] It was further shown what they are like, namely, that it is a society of inward friendship, for just as societies of friendship, wherever they pass through, take away the outer enjoyment of life from others with whom they flow in, so do these latter take away the enjoyment of inward life, thus their blessedness, so they are a society of inward friendship. They did not want to admit this, but were convinced that it is so. For they call brothers all who are within the society, and share with them the enjoyment of inward life, but all others who are outside of the society, they scorn, and call them the dead. So they despise others in comparison with themselves, and thus condemn them to hell, believing themselves to be the only chosen people.

Moreover, all the good of charity that others do, whether they give to the poor, or pour out prayers, or frequent Churches out of piety, and thus the piety of all others who are outside of their congregation, they look down on, indeed, they ridicule, believing that such place merit in those actions and are saved with greater difficulty than robbers, adulterers, and criminals, thus utterly rejecting the life of goodness. But the life of good of those within their congregation they praise, provided only that it is not such as stands out and is apparent. But they do this not out of caring for others, but out of inward friendship, for friend praises friend, and thinks well of him, and this to the degree that he feels enjoyment in going about with him. [4764.] The former - except for those among them who do not despise others in comparison with themselves, or believe them to be infernals, and they themselves the only chosen people, and who believe that the good of life makes the Church, and not the doctrine of faith - are such in the other life that wherever they come, they destroy those qualities that pertain to innocence and heavenly love. [4765.] They were told what the heaven of the Lord is like, namely, that it is beyond measure, and that there are those who represent all the provinces of the body as to both its inward and outward regions, and that those there, if they aspire to regions beyond those in agreement with their life, do not obtain heaven. [4766.] They were also shown that they can never have true humility toward the Lord, consequently love to Him, if they believe they are the chosen more than others, and that they become saints by the blood, that is by the merit of the Lord. One who does not believe that he himself is a hell, and hence that it is the mercy of the Lord that holds them back from hell, he can never have humility, then also if they believe that faith alone saves, and that charity is nothing, consequently that doctrine and not life [saves]because everyone's life remains with them. Doctrine and life cannot be divided. If true doctrine raises them up to heaven, and their life draws them to hell, they would be divided into two, or hang between heaven and hell, which does not happen. But when the life is evil, then the truths of doctrine are taken away, and the person is cast into hell; but if the life is good, then the truths of doctrine are joined to the person, who is then elevated into heaven. [4767.] Truth of doctrine were also spoken of, and the fact that they teach how one should life, and if not for this purpose, they are worthless. [4768.] Then it was said that life is not external, or doing good, unless this is from willing good. In willing good and thinking good there is life, thus as much as willing good and thinking good is in the doing of good, so much there is life in the outer effects, and he who wills good and thinks good, the same does good, for life cannot exist without an effect. But he who does not will good and think good, and yet does good, the same is a hypocrite. [4769.] The Lord's words in Matt. Chapter 25 were also spoken of, concerning the last judgment, where only the works of charity are mentioned, but not faith, and they were surprised that the Lord spoke in this way, so that they were not at all able to reply. What they thought was not disclosed to me. It was later plain that he had spoken thus for the sake of the most simple, who are in complete ignorance. [4770.] As for the Word of the Lord, they also reject the Old Testament as abrogated, not do they pay it any heed; and they were told that it is most holy, and that all and the very least things there contain an inner meaning, and that it is Divine.