Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Scripture distinctly teaches that the believer will never come into judgment at all. 2 Corinthians 5:10 declares that all shall be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, believers and unbelievers alike, although not, of course, at the same time. But how will believers be manifested? In all the perfectness of Christ Himself! Are they to be judged? Assuredly not. Their judgment is past forever. It was executed at the cross. If there was a single atom of sin or guilt left unatoned for in the death of Christ, a single question left unsettled, a single thing that has still to be judged, then, most assuredly, we shall be eternally damned. But no, dear friend, it is all settled — blessedly, divinely, eternally settled. All who believe on the Son of God have passed from death to life and shall not come into judgment (John 5:24). It is as impossible that a believer can come into judgment, as that Christ Himself can. The members can no more be judged than the Head.

No doubt our works shall be tested. “The day shall declare it.” Those works shall be tried by fire, and all the wood, hay and stubble will be burned up. Further, when we stand in the light of the judgment-seat of Christ, we shall look back with an enlightened gaze over the whole of our career and see as we never saw before, our mistakes, our follies, our sins, our infirmities, our mixed motives. But we shall see also, as we never saw before, the fullness of the grace of God and the effectiveness of the blood of Christ.

With regard to Matthew 12:36-37 it teaches us that “men will have to give account for every idle word.” So also in Hebrews 9:27, we read, “It is appointed to men once to die and after that the judgment.” But the believer is taken completely off the ground of judgment since Christ was judged in his stead. Hence, instead of looking for judgment, the believer is looking for the Savior. Is all this precious grace intended to make us lax and careless? May we speak idle words because we are not to be judged? Far away be the horrible thought! No, dear friend, it is just because we believe that Jesus was judged in our stead and that we shall never come into judgment, that therefore we judge ourselves day by day and refuse to justify in ourselves a single sinful thought. “How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” It is our holy privilege to reckon ourselves “dead to sin.” We have passed through death and judgment in the Person of our Substitute, so “we have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Here lies the grand secret of our peace — the secret of our deliverance from the power of sin — the secret of all holy living. May the Spirit of God expound and apply it in power to your heart. Then you will cease to be perplexed.

We quite agree with your view of the expression, “the terror of the Lord,” and we trust your friend will be led to see the mind of God in the entire context. The believer can never come into judgment. In John 5:24 the word is “judgment” and not “condemnation.” Every man’s work shall be tested, but when the believer is manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, he will be perfectly conformed to the image of his Lord.

In 1 Corinthians 6 we are taught that the saints shall judge the world and even angels. They will be associated with Christ in that solemn work. It would be strange if the judges were to be arranged along with the judged. It is very sad to mark the confusion in people’s minds in reference to a subject so plain and simple. It is, no doubt, the result of legal teaching and bad theology. There is no such thing in the New Testament as a general resurrection or general judgment. To maintain such a notion is to deny the very foundations of Christianity.

Scripture most certainly teaches that the unconverted shall stand before the judgment seat. 2 Corinthians 5:10 takes in all, both believers and unbelievers, though not of course at the same time or on the same ground. The expression “we all” in chapter 5:10 differs materially in the Greek from the “we all” in 2 Corinthians 3:18. The latter refers only to believers; the former to both. Our Lord Christ will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and kingdom. In Matthew 25:31 we have the judgment of the living nations. Revelation 20:11 gives the judgment of the wicked dead. In the former, not one will have passed through death; in the latter, all will have done so. In neither scene have we the Church or Israel as the subjects of judgment.