Matthew's Gospel is full of examples where we can see that reward for deeds, and
judgment according to works are very much in evidence. For example: `I tell you the
truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ
will certainly not lose his reward' is very typical of the kind of sayings that are included
in Matthew's portrait of Jesus (e. g. Mk 9.41/Mt 10.42). But there is also a very clear
affirmation of the soteriological dimension of reward:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if
he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange
for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his
angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. (Mt
16.24-27)
In the quotation from Psalm 62.12 in Matt. 16.27 here, the reward is soteriological, just
as it is when the Psalm is quoted again in Romans 2.6. The saying here in Matt 16
follows straight on from Jesus' description of those wishing to save their lives, losing
them, and vice versa. The reward cannot be for individual deeds within the future
Kingdom. In Matt 25.31-46, deeds of hospitality or justice are certainly the criterion for
judgment, however much disagreement there may be on the other details of the
parable. On the other hand, election and grace are prominent in Matthew's Gospel:
salvation is a matter of revelation purely by divine initiative (11.25-27) and is impossible
for people without divine activity (19.25-26). `At the same time, Matthew still believed
that salvation was God's gift'.