What Awaits Us Before the Judgment Seat of Christ – Part 2

The judgment seat of Christ isn’t a place of condemnation or acquittal, but a place of reward. Consequently, our sins aren’t judged there, deciding our damnation or salvation. Everyone who is there will already have been saved forever.

A Place of Rewards

This is not where the issue of our guilt will be dealt with. That matter was already settled on the Cross. Jesus, our mediator, took our place on it when He died for our sins, bearing our guilt and the punishment we deserved as sinners. The question of our salvation was also settled on the Cross: The Lord “himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24). The grace of God has canceled and removed the condemnation that our guilt deserved, so that we can confidently say, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1; John 3:18; Heb 10:14, 17).

Jesus says emphatically in John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

The judgment seat of Christ isn’t a place of condemnation or acquittal, but a place of reward. Consequently, our sins aren’t judged there, deciding our damnation or salvation. Everyone who is there will already have been saved forever.

A theologian said: “The judgment seat of Christ won’t determine believers’ right to participate in salvation, which already entitles them to enter the parousia. They are present as a consequence of having become children of God through their faith in Jesus Christ. It is faith that has granted them redemption through the blood of Christ, whereby they received the forgiveness of their sins.”

In his commentary on 2 Corinthians, Calvin writes: “After he has received us into favor, he receives our works also by a gracious acceptance. It is on this that the reward hinges.”

In his Notes and Reflections on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Arthur Pridham made the point well: “A saint will never again come into judgment on account of his natural or inherited iniquity, for he is already dead judicially with Christ, and is no longer known or dealt with on the footing of his natural responsibility. As a man he has been weighed and found wanting. He was born under condemnation, to a natural heritage of wrath, and nothing good has been discovered in his flesh (Eph. 2:3; Rom. 7:18); but his guilt has been obliterated by the blood of his Redeemer, and he is freely and justly pardoned for his Saviour’s sake. Because Christ is risen from the dead, he is no longer in his sins. He is justified by faith, and is presented in the name and on the merits of the Just One before God; and of this new and ever-blessed title to acceptance the Holy Spirit is the living seal and witness. Into judgment, therefore, on his own account he cannot come…”

It is completely self-evident and necessary that we should give an account of our stewardship. But, as Trenchard states in his exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, it’s inconceivable to think that “the saints, who are inseparably united with Christ in the heavenly places and share in His life, should be found among ‘the cowardly, faithless, detestable … murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and … liars’ (Rev 21:8), only to learn once more what had already been determined: namely, that their names are written in the Book of Life…”

The Great White Throne is concerned with a “court decision,” in which those who are not born again (the unrighteous) will be judged. Their judgment will be eternal damnation.

The judgment seat of Christ is an “administrative court” where only believers will be. The lawful judgment has already been carried out on our behalf, because Christ “himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24). So, “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are [united with] Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1).

Grace has canceled the full condemnation of sin’s guilt. It has already been atoned for by Christ, and God will never remember it again (Heb 10:17). But during our life as believers, the old nature still remains in our body and spirit. And so, we must be judged, because every deed we have done in our body must come under judgment. We must give an account of our stewardship.

So, it isn’t a matter of determining whether the believers there will go to heaven or remain in heaven. They are already saved for eternity.

The judgment seat of Christ is also not a judgment in the moral sense. The Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 11:20 that some in this church were weak or sick, and some had already fallen asleep, because they had lived a life that didn’t meet the requirements of God’s holiness. The Lord applies these judgments to individual believers when sin is reigning in their lives. But this has nothing to do with judgment at the judgment seat of Christ. Sin affects our sanctification and our service. But this is not where sin is examined or condemned. For those who will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, this fact is reason enough to know that they are believers and are eternally saved.

A Disciplinary Process

There will be no condemnation, but there will still be a disciplinary process in which the wheat of each believer’s works will be separated from the chaff. The result will be evident in the Church, which will then be “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:27), clothed “‘with fine linen, bright and pure’—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints” (Rev 19:8). This isn’t the righteousness of Christ that is imputed to the lives of believers—whereby they are saved and justified by faith (Rom 5:1), thus free from condemnation (John 5:24; Rom 8:1)—but the righteousness that pertains to their righteous works.

So, the “righteous deeds of the saints” aren’t the object of justification; they are evidence of faith. These works aren’t done to earn salvation but to demonstrate it (Eph 2:10), and they will stand when they pass through the purifying fire of Christ’s judgment.

Second Corinthians 5:10 says, “the judgment seat of Christ.” In Romans 14:10b we read, “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” So, the judge is the Lord. Peter says in Acts 2:36 “that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” He is the only One found in heaven and on earth to judge men (Rev 5:12). He is the One before whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, as Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10-11 quote from Isaiah 45:23. Thus, there is a law that applies to all people, a principle of responsibility: One day the judge of the living and the dead (2 Tim 4:1), the righteous judge (v. 8), will judge all people, including us, His own. First Corinthians 4:5 says:

“Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

The Lord Jesus Christ is therefore the One who judges, and the commendation (i.e., the reward) will be received from God the Father. He will sit on His judgment seat and ask His servants to give an account, and He will also give the rewards: “…and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10).

“Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tim 4:8).

As we have already seen, Christ’s judgment is not only necessary, imminent, inescapable, and sublime, but also:

Personal, “each one.” There is no doubt that judgment won’t be carried out collectively but personally. Individually. This fulfills the Scripture: “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom 14:12). The expression, “to give an account” comes from accounting: At the end of a fiscal year, the auditor draws up a balance sheet. Thus, the judgment seat of Christ will be the place where the Lord will draw up an account of each of our lives. The balances may show loss or profit, as well as a credit or debit—what is left of our works at the end, whether positive or negative. What will your balance and mine show on that day?

The term “appear” can also be translated “become manifest.” The word used in Romans 14:10 (Gr. parastesometha) roughly means “to stand before the judgment seat.” The same word was used in Acts 27:24 when Paul appeared before the emperor. The word used in 2 Corinthians 5:10 (Gr. phanerothenai) means something that comes to light or is made manifest (derived from phaneroo: to make visible or clear. Our word “beacon” comes from the same root). In an excellent commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians, John Heading writes:

“The word ‘appear’ means more than a mere standing before the judgment seat. The word means ‘to be manifested.’ In Luke 12, the Lord warned His own of this manifestation, ‘there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light, and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops,’ vv. 2, 3. Believers may be saved from the exposure of that day by exposing themselves to the light now, so that any hypocrisy may be unmasked and put away.”

We believers will all stand there and be revealed. That literally means we’ll be “turned inside out”; we’ll be shown for what we’re like. Not from the outside, but from the inside. Then people will not see what we show, but what we truly are.