Judging The Righteous

It's called the Bema Seat Judgment.  It is said to be a judgment of those who are righteous, not to determine salvation, which is already sealed, but to expose failed opportunities in life and to determine the degree of glory one is to receive.   I have been shown 2 Cor 5:10 as a proof text for this doctrine. This passage reads, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

There are three things I have to say about this doctrine: 1) I am always suspicious of a teaching that comes from a single verse.  God wrote an entire Bible, which sets a context to guide our understanding of truth. 2) The passage says that "we must all" not we as Christians must appear before the judgment seat and it says "to receive what is due" not determine one's rank or amount of glory. And, 3) the passage concludes with "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (v. 17) and "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (v. 21).

If the old is gone and the new has come, upon what is the judgment made - the old or the new?  It would have to be the new. And what is the new?  The new, upon which we are judged, is "the righteousness of God," which is ours because "God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us."  We, who are disciples of Christ, are judged in accordance with His sacrifice. The question to be answered in judgment is regarding whether or not Jesus is your Lord and Savior.

I am not suggesting that what we do as Christian has no bearing on our judgment - what we do reveals who our Lord really is. If I accept His gift and follow in His steps as a disciple would do, my life will be changed. Otherwise, if I keep doing what I've always done, I prove I reject His offer of a new life and his sacrifice. In that case, I must stand before God on my own merits. And, as "all sin falling short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23), I will not enter into His glory after judgment.

Jus' Sayn.