The Narrow Path Ministries

Hi Steve and other contributors,

I am doing a study on the judgment. In the past I have believed that the purpose of the judgment is to separate believers from non-believers. The result of which was to sentence non-believers to hell and believers to heaven. I am now re-thinking this because the of the discussion on "alternate views of hell" in this forum.

Here are a few verses to start the discussion......

Acts 17:30-31
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Romans 2:6-11
6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

Col 3:23-25
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

From these and other verses it is plain that there is definitely a day of judgment coming for all flesh. All will be judged and God is no respecter of persons. But there is never any reference to the judgment criteria being whether or not you are a believer, it is always refered to as being judged according to your works or deeds - good or evil.

The Bible is very plain that we are not saved by our works but by Grace; therefore, can we assume then that the judgment and the resulting reward or punishment has nothing to do with the ultimate salvation of the one being judged? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Todd

What are we being saved from? Hell? Or Sin?

An angel announced to Joseph, "You shall call his name "Jesus" for he will save his people from their sins."

This salvation from sin does not originate with our works (self-effort), for if it were, we would have something to boast about.

On the other hand, "By their works you shall know them."

We become disciples of Christ by repenting, submitting ourselves to Him, and dying to self. There is no other way. There is no scripture that states that we get right with God by "accepting the finished work of Christ" or "accepting Christ as our personal Saviour". Jesus said, "Unless you forsake all and follow me, you cannot be my disciple."

If a person is a habitual liar, he is going to go to hell.

"All liars will have their part in the lake of fire."

And consider the following:

I Corinthians 9:9,10 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.

Where we find ourselves in the resurrection will certainly be related to how we live and what we do. But it's not through self-effort that we will overcome, but through the blood of the lamb. This is why Jesus died, "that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for Him...."

I would just like to expand on Paidion's reply. It's true that we are saved from our sin, but what is it about our sin that we need to be saved from? Paul tells us:

Rom 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NKJV

Whether death is eternal torment in hell or annihilation of the soul, it's definitely something to be saved from.

Our own deeds condemn us, but the deeds of Christ save us if we trust them to. The degree that we trust Christ (as shown by our willingness to obey the Spirit) seems to be what we are judged on in my understanding. I don't have supporting scriptures at this time...it's 10:30pm and I'm tired...stay tuned...I'll dig for some later.