Unlearning The Judgment Seat of Christ | Dr. Randy White | June 4, 2023
This sermon is part of the "Un-Learn-It" series and aims to consider the implications of the standard consensus on the Judgment Seat of Christ. The proposed approach is to align the principles of the Age of Grace with a new way of looking at it.
The Judgment Seat In Traditional Consensus.
The common consensus regarding the Judgment Seat of Christ is that every believer, regardless of dispensation, will face Christ's judgment. This understanding is based on a literal view of these passages. Let’s begin with 2 Corinthians 5:10. At first glance, it appears to be a clear statement on who stands before the judgment seat. In verse 11, Paul ties this in with "the terror of the Lord," which would be required in such a position, by nature of judgment. Romans 14:10-12 seems also to have perfect clarity about every person standing before the Lord in judgment. 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 appears to be a third testimony that virtually closes the case and makes it impossible to avoid the traditional view of the Judgment Seat of Christ. In addition, we could include Ecclesiastes 12:14, Matthew 12:36-37, Hebrews 9:27, and the cross-referenced passages that would stem from these.
Later we will return to these passages to see if there is any way to interpret them in a different light. While we have not yet determined how to handle the above passages differently, we should acknowledge that there are several passages that suggest a different view. For example, Romans 8:1 is a famous passage that states unequivocally that there is “no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Furthermore, Colossians 2:10 says that believers are presented as “complete in Him.” Then the well-known Ephesians 2:8-9 has Paul’s declaration that salvation is “not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Finally, in 2 Corinthians 5:19 Paul states that there is now a dispensation in which God is not counting men’s trespasses to them.
The traditional view would reconcile these passages to say that some passages speak to salvation while others speak of rewards of salvation. While this seems to satisfy most, I am more inclined to dig further into that proposal.
Challenging The Common Consensus
There is a view that we call “Right Division” which suggests that the New Testament should be divided between that which is “prophecy” and that which is “mystery.” The prophetic would relate to Israel and “mystery” would relate to the “new thing” God is doing in the “dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:2). That which is mystery is considered, in this view, as unsearchable in prophetic material, and “hid in God” (Eph. 3:9 and compare vv. 1-12) until revealed through Paul.
The "Right Division" interpretation sees the passages in 2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:10-12, and 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 as being directed specifically at believers during the Apostolic Age, a different dispensational period. According to this view, these believers were still under the authority of the law and the prophets, and therefore, the idea of a Judgment Seat was (and will be) applicable to them, but not to those in the body of Christ.
This “Right Division” view considers the traditional view to be weak for the following reasons. First, the traditional view seems to underestimate the full potency of Christ's sacrifice, suggesting that it merely lessens punishment rather than eliminating it. Second, the traditional view might be seen as implying a works-based system for believers to avoid shame and embarrassment in eternity, which contrasts with Paul's teachings on grace. Additionally, the traditional view might not fully incorporate the radical change in God's relationship with humanity that came with the "dispensation of the grace of God." If judgment were still hanging over us, it could be argued that this doesn't fully reflect the transformative power of grace.
Can The Right-Division Assumption Be Accepted?
The challenge to the traditional view argues that the rather clear Pauline passages about the Judgment Seat of Christ are not actually written as instruction to the "mystery" group (the Body of Christ), but rather to the "prophecy" group, the nation of Israel. However, can this assumption be proven to be tenable?
Let's begin with 2 Corinthians 5:10 and the clear claim that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." I am a believer in the linguistic approach to Biblical interpretation: letting words speak for themselves without clouding them with pre-conceived notions of our previously adopted doctrines. Under this standard, couldn't the "we" and "all" refer to "all of us who are in the prophetic plan (the Jews)?" In fact, a linguistic analysis of 2 Corinthians would verify that “we” in the epistle is Paul and Timothy and “ye” is always the Corinthian assembly, which was Jewish in its makeup. One could also compare 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, in which Paul puts the second person plural "ye" together with the first person plural "our" in a similar way and is clearly talking about the nation of Israel alone (because the verses are simply not true of the Gentiles). Furthermore, in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul begins talking about "any man" and says that he can become "a new creature" in which "old things are passed away." Doesn't this look like Paul is saying, "the prophetic plan involved each of us standing before God in judgment, but God has initiated a new plan in which a person can be made wholly new, there is no more record of the "old things", and in this new thing, God is "not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Cor. 5:17)? Such an arrangement of an individual becoming wholly new is not found in any previous dispensation, testifying that the dispensation of the grace of God could, in a sense, be called “the dispensation of the new creature.”
In Romans 14:10, which also states that “we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,” Paul gives “proof” that this is the case by quoting Isaiah 45:23, which is a prophetic passage about the coming Messianic age. The Bible has long predicted a time in which “every knee shall bow” (Is. 45:23). Based on principles of right division, one could argue that this passage pertains more directly to Israel than to the Body of Christ.
What If The Right-Division Assumption Is Rejected?
For some, it may be a step too far to interpret the Judgment Seat of Christ passages as relating to a previous dispensation rather than to our own. However, those who choose to reject this interpretation need to construct a robust argument explaining how a grace-age believer can claim complete forgiveness for all sins—past, present, and future—while also contending with the fear of future judgment, when every sin ever committed will be brought to light. The seeming inconsistency of the current evangelical position on this issue is indeed challenging, and could be one reason why some find it hard to fully reconcile with the Christian faith, perceiving it as logically flawed. Regardless of where we stand on whether grace-age believers will face judgment, or whether those teachings are strictly for the Jews, both sides present logical issues that demand attention. Let's continue to examine these issues openly and honestly, always striving to remain true to the Word of God.
