There are, of course, two schools of thought on the Bema Seat Judgment. One camp says there is indeed a separate Bema Seat Judgment exclusively for raptured believers and a White Throne Judgment for the world after the Rapture and Tribulation. The other camp denies that scripture talks about the separate judgment of believers but rather one unified White Throne Judgment at the end of the millennium to judge all men.

This brief discussion is not an exhaustive treatise on the evidence in support of the Bema Seat Judgment outlined in Romans 14 and 2 Corinthians 5. We are going to operate from the knowledge that Holy Scripture is reliable and when it speaks plainly about judgment. The Bema Seat Judgment of believers DOES exist. We are going to explore what happens, to whom it happens, and to the extent available to us, why it happens.

To get the easiest of the questions answered first, the Bema Seat Judgment is for “saved believers raised and raptured from this world”. Romans 15 and 2 Corinthians 5 leave us with no other conclusion. This judgment is for Christians and not the pagan world.

The bone of contention arises in this next point. I believe that this is not merely a “Rewards Ceremony” for believers. 2 Corinthians is very plain in this: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” How so many commentators can just whisk past the phrase “whether good or BAD [emphasis mine]” really puzzles me.

Paul did not put that phrase there as throw-a-way words. Are we rewarded for bad or are we punished for the evil we do as Christians? Maybe a better way of attacking the problem, does the common understanding of the Bema Seat Judgment imply that we are merely rewarded LESS for doing evil and rewarded better for doing good?

That is what the Rewards Only apologist would have us believe. Jesus is going to blow us kisses and say “Well, the important thing is that you tried your best.”

Heaven forbid!

1 Corinthians 3 contains some more information:

10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,
13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.
14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

The Greek word that is translated as “suffer loss,” zemiothesetai, comes from the word zemioo. In the Septuagint this Greek word is always used in the sense of punishment.

Jesus paid for our sins on the cross in full. The sins we committed BEFORE we received the free gift of salvation AND the sins we committed AFTER we received the free gift. But, we are clearly taught that we are here on this world for the time given to us to follow the Great Commission and to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

These are difficult things to do (obey Christ), lest Jesus would not have said we must pick up our cross to follow Him. Yes, these are difficult, but there is also another command given. We are commanded to work for our REWARD in heaven.

Many folks have broken down the various crowns and levels of reward and I will not labor to reproduce them here. What we need to focus on is that there is more to this Judgment than just crowns and throwing them at Jesus’ feet! We are called to receive judgment for our works be they good or BAD. There will be punishment at the Bema Seat. We will have to go through the flames of purification before we are Holy and Blameless to enter into the physical presence of the Father of Heaven.

Some have confused and confounded this simple truth and built up considerable myths and programs (e.g. purgatory and the treasury of merit) to try to avoid the unpleasant fact that, at least at first, it won’t all be gumdrops and lollipops in heaven.  Whether the Judgment happens before or after the Marriage Supper, the Bema Seat Judgment is not going to be a pleasant experience. We all are going to suffer loss through the fire.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Christianity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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