Passage

Matthew 24

Verses 36–44 WEB Voices

Jesus turns to the unknown day and hour: angels do not know it, nor the Son, but the Father only. The days of Noah picture ordinary life interrupted by sudden judgment. Separation scenes and a thief-in-the-night image press one charge—stay awake and be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man comes at an unexpected hour.

Matthew 24:36

36“But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Arminian

Day and hour are unknown—even to angels, and here Jesus says nor the Son, but the Father only. Date-setting is disobedience.

Wesleyan Arminians hear liberation from speculative calendars. Grace redirects energy from predicting to preparing; the Father’s reserve is kindness that keeps the church watchful.

Reformed

The Father alone knows that day and hour. Angelic and even filial economic limitation (in Jesus’ speaking here) fences human curiosity.

Providence hides the timestamp on purpose. God’s secrecy serves the church’s vigilance under the Son’s lordship.

Key contrast Both forbid date-setting. Arminians typically underline a grace-enabled focus on readiness instead of speculation; Reformed interpreters underline the Father’s sovereign reserve of the hour as the reason curiosity must bow.

Matthew 24:37

37As the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Arminian

Noah’s days pattern the coming: ordinary life under a gathering storm. The parallel is moral and sudden.

Grace still preached in Noah’s time (2 Pet 2:5). The pattern invites repentance now while the ark door of the gospel remains open.

Reformed

Noah typology interprets the parousia. God has used sudden judgment after long ordinary days before.

The God who flooded the world will send the Son. History’s rhyme is theological, not accidental.

Matthew 24:38

38For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,

Arminian

Eating, drinking, marrying—good gifts used without regard for coming judgment, right up to Noah’s entry.

Classical Arminians do not despise ordinary joys; they warn against sleepwalking. Grace can sanctify daily life into watchful gratitude rather than numb routine.

Reformed

Ordinary culture ran full speed until the ark closed. Providence allowed the feast until the appointed day.

God’s patience is not absence. The calendar of mercy ends when He says; marriage feasts do not cancel the flood He decreed.

Matthew 24:39

39and they didn’t know until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Arminian

Unawareness lasts until sweeping judgment. So will the coming be for the unready.

The warning is not to remain unaware. Light is given now; grace invites wakeful faith so the day does not find you shocked and swept.

Reformed

They did not know until the flood took them—likewise the coming. Ignorance here is culpable sleep under ignored warning.

God’s judgment arrives on schedule whether culture notices or not. The Son of Man’s day will not negotiate with distraction.

Matthew 24:40

40Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left.

Arminian

Two men work side by side, but their outcomes differ. Shared workplace does not mean shared destiny.

Arminian readers press personal response: proximity to the faithful is not faith. Grace calls each person to be ready, not merely nearby.

Reformed

Field companions split—taken and left. Divine discrimination cuts through sameness of labor.

Election and judgment are not blurred by shared rows. God knows His own in the ordinary field.

Matthew 24:41

41Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left.

Arminian

Two women work at the same mill, but they come to different ends. Domestic partnership does not guarantee shared salvation.

Households need personal trust in Christ. Grace invites each grinder to watchfulness, not borrowed readiness.

Reformed

Millstones turn together until separation. The image doubles the field scene with household labor.

God’s taking and leaving pierce everyday closeness. Belonging to Christ, not shared chores, decides the split.

Matthew 24:42

42Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.

Arminian

Therefore stay awake—unknown day, known duty. Watchfulness is the fitting response.

Arminian interpreters treat stay awake as a grace-enabled command. Sleepy disciples can be stirred; the Lord’s coming deserves alert love.

Reformed

Unknown day fuels the command to stay awake. Ignorance of timing is not ignorance of Lordship.

God withholds the date and gives the duty. Vigilance is the church’s posture under a coming Lord.

Matthew 24:43

43But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

Arminian

Thief-at-night analogy: known hour would produce wakeful defense. Unknown hour demands constant readiness.

Do not gamble on a later watch. Grace trains continuous attentiveness so the house of life is not looted by surprise.

Reformed

The thief image stresses unexpected timing. A known hour would change behavior; God denies that luxury.

Providence designs surprise to produce perpetual watch. The master’s coming will not honor our preferred shift.

Matthew 24:44

44Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.

Arminian

Must be ready—for an unexpected hour. Readiness is moral and relational, not calendar math.

Classical Arminians urge present obedience as readiness: faith, love, holiness now. Grace makes unexpected-hour living possible without panic.

Reformed

Necessity (must) meets uncertainty (hour you do not expect). Readiness is the church’s assigned stance.

The Son of Man will come; God keeps the hour. Saints prepare by persevering in the works He prepared.

Key contrast Both demand readiness for an unexpected hour. Arminians stress a sincere, grace-enabled call to stay ready now; Reformed commentators emphasize God’s hidden timing that makes continual readiness the ordained posture of the elect.

Historic quotes

Voices from both camps

Older voices from both traditions on Matthew 24:36–44.

Arminian Notable voices

“This generation of men now living shall not pass till all these things be done - The expression implies, that great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. For the city and temple were destroyed thirty-nine or forty years after.”

John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (on Matt 24:36–44)

Reformed Notable voices

“Although Christ lately expressed his desire to keep the minds of his followers in suspense, that they might not inquire too anxiously about the last day; yet, lest the indifference arising out of the enjoyments of the world should lull them to sleep, he now exhorts them to solicitude. He wished them to be uncertain as to his coming, but yet to be prepared to expect him every day, or rather every moment.”

John Calvin · Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists (on Matt 24:36–44)

Quotations lightly abridged for length; wording follows standard English translations of the sources named.

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