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The Reign of the Servant Kings By Joseph C. Dillow A Review-Summary-Outline
Chapter 23—Negative Judgment and the Believer
How can carnal Christians whose sins have been paid for, whose trespasses are forgiven, ever experience a negative judgment from God again? In the discussion to follow, it must be stressed that the sober warnings of the New Testament are addressed to the carnal and hardened Christians and not those who are persevering in their sanctification. The Christian who persists in willful and unconfessed sin faces negative judgment both in time and at the Judgment Seat of Christ, in addition to exclusion from the inheritance in the kingdom. However, these negative consequences will not last into eternity. When Christians enter the eternal state, God will wipe away every tear and all will be made new (Revelation 21:4, 5).
First, the Bible makes it clear that God has judicially removed sin from the believer and has done it completely (Isaiah 44:22; Psalm 103:12; Micah 7:19; Hebrews 8:12). With regard to sin, Scripture affirms that the child of God under grace shall not come under judgment (John 3:18: 5:24). His sin, past, present, and future, has been born by a perfect Substitute, and he is therefore forever positioned beyond condemnation (Colossians 2:10), accepted as perfect in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:6; Colossians 2:10; Hebrews 10:14), and loved as Christ is loved (John 17:23).
But what is perplexing is that the Scriptures affirm in other passages that God does judge the Christian when he submits to carnality, and God does remember a believer’s sin (John 13:8; 1 John 1:9). If the Christian does not confess, he is not forgiven. This certainly appears to be a penalty for willful sin. If the Christian refuses to obey, he apparently will no longer remain in Christ’s love (John 15:10). This is true even though Paul has declared elsewhere that “nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God” (Romans 8:39).
So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:16)
Who will render to each one according to his deeds. (Romans 2:6)
And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. (Revelation 22:12)
Apparently, Christians, due to their sin, can “have no part” with Christ, are subject to their sins not forgiven, and can be outside of Christ’s love. Other passages declare that believers will reap what they sow (Galatians 6:7). They are warned that there is no sacrificial protection from judgment in time (Hebrews 10:26) for willful sin. Paul tells them that at the Judgment Seat of Christ they will be rewarded for both the good and the bad things they have done (2 Corinthians 5:10). For the persistently carnal Christian a dreadful experience awaits him at the last day. He will suffer the loss of everything but will be saved as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:15).
In addition, there is Christ’s stern warning to the wicked servant that he will be cast into the place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30). The foolish virgins are excluded from the wedding banquet (Matthew 25:1-13), and the man without the proper attire for the banquet will be cast into “outer darkness”—the darkness outside (Matthew 22:13). The exegetical data in these passages argues well for the regenerate state of the individuals undergoing these punishments.
As mentioned in chapter 15, there are three negative consequences for the consistently carnal Christian at the Judgment Seat of Christ:
These passages appear to teach that Christ does remember the Christian’s sins and does take them into account. This raises a perplexing theological problem. For many these conflicting bits of data cloud their view of the love and unconditional acceptance of God. The Roman Catholic Church uses these two strains of biblical thought to support their doctrine of purgatory, i.e., that the death of Christ did not completely satisfy the justice of God and therefore the believer must assist in this satisfaction in purgatory. But the Scriptures teach that the saint is made perfect at death and there is therefore no room for a “purgatorial cleansing’—that Christ’s death is complete in regard to providing eternal unconditional acceptance and immediate entrance to heaven at death. Therefore, whatever befalls the glorified saint at the Judgment Seat cannot exclude him from immediate entrance into heaven. Paul taught both the imputation of righteousness and that one day Christians will be judged according to their works; therefore, the ideas cannot be incompatible.
The Experimental Predestinarian (Strict Calvinistic) Solution
Because of the clear fact that believers have had the penalty for sin already paid, staunch Calvinists argue that any negatives accruing to the believer at the Judgment Seat of Christ are not judicially punitive in nature. They maintain that a primary purpose in this judgment of the believer is disclosure—every careless word will be revealed (Matthew 12:36) and hidden motives will be brought to light (Romans 2:16). And although they also maintain that the sins of believers will also be revealed on that day, they stress that these will be forgiven sins, whose guilt has been totally covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Yet 1 John 1:9 indicates that there are sins in the believer’s life that are not forgiven until they are confessed. And the problem with some of the above scriptures is that they seem to require a penal sense both in time and at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
The Dispensational Solution
The above view is also common in dispensational circles, albeit in a more developed form in regard to the Judgment Seat of Christ. For example, Lewis Sperry Chafer argued as follows:
At the Judgment Seat of Christ sin will not be the subject of consideration. At that time believers will be perfect, with no sin nature, and will never sin again in thought, word, or deed. Therefore any concept of discipline because of previous sins is unnecessary and would be unfruitful. The question of righteousness before God was settled when they were justified by faith. The Judgment Seat of Christ deals with works, not with sin. Believers will be judged on whether their works were good (worth something) or whether they were bad (worthless), as stated in verse 10. (Systematic Theology)
John Walvoord similarly affirms that the child of God under grace shall not come into judgment because the penalty for all sins, past, present, and future, has been paid by his Substitute. The believer is therefore beyond condemnation, perfect in Christ, and loved as Christ is loved. Walvoord says that, when saints stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ, the only issue is rewards that will be reckoned on the basis of merit. He maintains that this is not a matter of justification or sanctification, because the believer is already perfect in the presence of God. He concludes that the only remaining issue, then, is the quality of the believer’s life and the works that God counts as “good” in contrast with works that are “worthless.” Therefore any “loss” at the Judgment Seat of Christ is not about the satisfaction for sin or retribution, but about rebuke for failure and loss of reward.
The Partaker Solution
While there is much to commend in the above “solutions,” this writer prefers a slightly modified view. But the reader should be reminded that the warnings of the Bible are addressed to those who refuse to repent, who refuse to confess. This view is similar to that of the Dispensational view with a major difference—that while the Partaker does not see negative judgment coming upon the persevering Christian, he does see numerous passages speaking of such a judgment on those Christians who persist in willful, unconfessed sin.
In proof of the assertion the following points are presented:
As to the second point, consider the following:
Peter said that judgment must begin with the family of God (1 Peter 4:17). And the writer to the Hebrews says the Lord will judge His people (Hebrews 10:30). When Adam sinned, the penalty was physical and spiritual death (Romans 5:12-14). The Lord made it clear that His followers cannot be counted as His friends unless they obey Him (John 15:14). Failure to respond to discipline can result in a believer being condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:32, 33).
These judgments can include sickness and death. It is difficult to remove the notion of judgment and penalty from stern exhortation of the writer to the Hebrews, “And He punishes everyone He accepts as a son” (Hebrews 12:6). Hymenaeus and Alexander are punished and turned over to Satan (1 Timothy 1:20). Throughout the Old Testament there are numerous judgments that come upon the people of God. Moses warns of many curses that will come upon the disobedient (Deuteronomy 28:9-26). Saul was punished by God by being rejected as king (1 Samuel 15:23). God punished Solomon by taking the kingdom from him and raising up many adversaries (1 Kings 11:11). King Uzziah was punished by God with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:20). These inflictions are clearly penal in nature even though Christ is the propitiation for all sin and the justice of God has been satisfied!
If it can be shown from Scripture that any believer experiences a penal judgment either in time or eternity, it cannot be argued that the Bible teaches that no believer could ever experience a penal judgment. And it seems that it can be shown that the Bible teaches this. The judgment of physical death is a penal condemnation without exception, then why do all believers undergo the penal judgment of physical death (Romans 5:14-18)? Nowhere in Scripture does it say that the penal element is removed from physical death.
If God can bring condemnation upon believers in time as these illustrations prove, there is no necessary reason to believe He cannot condemn believers at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Indeed, there seem to be numerous scriptures that indicate that this is the case. The wicked servant was warned that he would be “cut in pieces.” Elsewhere there is the warning that every person will be judged according to deeds. It must also be remembered that the central passage on the Judgment Seat of Christ is set in a legal context. The Judgment Seat referred to was a raised platform in the middle of the city where judgments were passed and penalties announced. Paul states that all saints will stand before God’s Judgment Seat (Romans 14:10), where they must all give an account. Even describing the negative judgment as “loss of reward” is only a circumlocution for penalty. A loss of reward is one kind of penalty! The man in the parable of the talents who buried his money will lose what he has and will be cast into the “darkness outside.” The foolish virgins will hear the terrifying words,” I do not know you.” The condemnation, however, has nothing to do with the believer’s eternal salvation. The atonement has forever settled that issue.
The difficulty is obvious. If Christ is truly the satisfaction for sin and has therefore satisfied the justice of God, why then do believers still have to satisfy that justice by undergoing more penalties?
The Intent of the Atonement
The atonement of Christ is either a satisfaction for the sins of some men (limited atonement) or a satisfaction for the sins of all men without exception. It cannot be the former because the Scriptures say it was for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). The atonement must therefore be a satisfaction for the sins of all without exception. Then the question must be raised, “In what respect is it a satisfaction?” It is either a satisfaction for sin in all respects or a satisfaction for sin in some (limited) respect. It cannot be a satisfaction in all respects because then all then would be saved. If the claims of justice have truly been satisfied in all respects, then surely no person should have to satisfy again those same claims himself by suffering the penalty of hell. But individuals do go to hell. Therefore, the atonement must be a satisfaction for sin in a special sense.
What then was the atonement intended to accomplish? The intent of the atonement is not to completely satisfy the claims of justice in all respects or to save all men. Rather, the intent of the atonement is to completely satisfy the justice of God in a limited and specific sense. The atonement has freed God to unconditionally accept those who believe. According to Zane Hodges, the atonement is to realize that its purpose was to remove all barriers to God’s acceptance of the sinner. God’s justice is satisfied in the sense that He can now confer acceptance upon those sinners who believe.
Specific support for this view is surprisingly obvious. When the Bible declares that God has reconciled the world to Himself and that He no longer counts men’s trespasses against them (2 Corinthians 5:18; Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 1:20-22), it also declares that not all men go to heaven. The Bible declares that Christ’s death is a propitiation for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2), and it also states that those who do not believe on Him are condemned (John 3:18).
How can God’s justice be satisfied and the world be reconciled and men still go to hell? Either the term “world” refers only to the “world of the elect” or the reconciliation, satisfaction, and redemption of Christ have a more limited intent. To limit the term “world” to the “world of the elect” seems a bit contrived. But a limitation on the atonement is clearly taught in the Bible. It states, for example, that false teachers, who have denied the Lord, were nevertheless redeemed by Him (2 Peter 2:1). It is therefore clear that the redemption of Christ does not automatically cover the sin of the unsaved. What then is the atonement intended to do? Its purpose, says Paul, is that God “might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26). In other words, the death of Christ freed God to confer justification upon those who believe.
If it is permissible to argue for a limitation on the atonement in regard to its extent, as the Reformed Theologians do, is it not permissible to argue for a limitation on the atonement in regard to its intent when it is explicitly taught by numerous scriptures? The person who does not believe is condemned to hell because God apparently did not extend the atonement to be a satisfaction as far as condemnation to hell for that person. Rather, it was designed to satisfy the justice of God in the sense of freeing Him to unconditionally accept those who believe. When a person does believe, he is not only unconditionally accepted by the Father, but the benefits of the atonement are extended in his case to protect him from hell. This extension occurs through the free gift of justification, acquittal at the divine bar of justice.
What kind of justice accepts a penalty for sin and then extends its benefits only far enough to grant acceptance before the judge to those who believe but not far enough to acquit the sin of those who do not? Can the benefits of a pardon be variously applied and extended at the discretion of the judge?
It is true in human courts of law. Judges are free to take various circumstances into consideration that effect how far they will extend the penalties of the law. But whereas human judges base their determinations (sentences) on works, the Bible reveals that the divine Judge bases His determination only on one “requirement,” that of believing on His Son. At that point, He confers righteousness upon the sinner. The one who believes will never face the penalty of hell again. As Paul puts it, “His faith is reckoned as righteousness” (Romans 4:5).
Individuals are excluded from heaven because they are still in their sins. The atonement of Christ actually satisfied the justice of God in the sense that it removed any restraints on His love and justice. He is freed by the satisfaction of Christ to throw the bars of heaven open, but He is not obligated to extend the benefits of this atonement to all persons apart from faith.
It was, however, a provisional payment as well. Not only was it directed Godward, in throwing the bars of heaven open; but, for those who believe, God extends the benefits of His Son’s atonement to cover all their sin—they are forever removed from eternal condemnation. When a person does not believe, he is condemned for his sins. However, he is not paying a penalty for sins for which Christ already paid. Christ’s atonement was never intended to pay for the sins of those who do not believe. It was intended to remove the bars of heaven and to provide a basis for God to be just when He extends forgiveness to the ungodly.
Therefore the atonement was both actual, as the adherents of limited atonement argue (but only in a limited sense), and provisional as the advocates of unlimited redemption maintain.
Two Kinds of Relationship with God
The understanding of the intent of the atonement explained above clarifies how God can punish believers for sins when Christ is the satisfaction for sin. The answer is that Christ’s atonement was not intended to cover the sins of believers for sins within the family of God. It only renders God free to accept unconditionally into His family those who believe. Like all children we enjoy two kinds of relationships with our earthly father. We are permanently secure in his family, but our fellowship with our father can vary depending upon our behavior. With God our eternal relationship is secure and unchanging because it depends upon Him; it was secured by the atonement. But our temporal fellowship is variable because it depends upon us. We must confess our sins and walk daily in the light of His Word.
Children of God can pay penalties. The intent of the atonement was obviously not to remove all penalties from the life of the Christian. In regard to the believer’s eternal relationship he is without condemnation, but in regard to his temporal fellowship he can come under condemnation. The fact that Christ has paid the penalty for the believer’s sin, forensically, forever, in no way implies that He automatically grants forgiveness for fellowship within the family irrespective of his behavior.
The Bible speaks of two kinds of forgiveness: eternal and temporal. The sacrifice of Christ gives sacrificial protection from the former on the basis of faith—the permanent gift of regeneration and justification. But it does not give sacrificial protection to unconfessed temporal sin subsequent to this justification. A believer’s eternal forgiveness depends upon God, but a believer’s temporal fellowship with God depends upon him.
Unconfessed sin relates not to forensic forgiveness but to familial forgiveness. Any sin is a barrier to fellowship but does not endanger the eternal relationship. Daily forgiveness of those who are within the family of God is distinguished from the judicial and positional forgiveness that was applied forensically to all of a person’s sins the moment he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Forensic forgiveness is the subject of Colossians 2:13, but familial forgiveness is in view in 1 John 1:9.
Thus, in John 5:24 when the believer is assured that he will not come into judgment and yet in 2 Corinthians 5:10 he is told he will, the resolution is that John is referring to judgment with respect to one’s eternal destiny and Paul is referring to the wages for work. John speaks of forensic justification, and Paul refers to familial forgiveness. John speaks of escape from retribution; Paul speaks of rewards and punishments within the family of God. The satisfaction of Christ unconditionally and irrevocably covers the former but only provisionally covers the latter. The believer must confess daily to obtain the benefits of having the atonement extended to forgive sin within the family of God.
In summary, sin has three powers over mankind: (1) the power to bar a person from heaven and send him to hell and (2) the power to enslave him; and, upon becoming a Christian, (3) the power to exclude him from vital fellowship and friendship with Christ. Through the atonement God dealt with all three powers. Through propitiation the barrier to heaven was removed for all men. God’s justice has been satisfied. God is legally free to confer unconditional acceptance upon those who believe. Through redemption God has purchased mankind out of slavery to sin. Through reconciliation man is restored to friendship. Yet even though God is now free to confer acceptance, man must appropriate it by faith. Similarly, he appropriates the benefits of redemption from sin by reckoning [Reviewer: by faith] that he is truly free from sin (Romans 6:11). He appropriates the benefits of reconciliation by walking in the light and confessing his sins so as to remain in constant fellowship (1 John 1:9). The following chart details the various aspects of the atonement:
Practical Concerns
Will God judge the Christian for sin he has confessed? The answer is yes. However, this judgment would only be loss of reward and not rebuke or disinheritance. Scripture speaks of a threefold sense of judgment of believers. They are judged as sinners, children, and servants:
1. As sinners they were judged at the cross. There the sentence of damnation was fully executed upon their Substitute (John 5:24).
2. As children they are judged in the present. It is a penalty (1 Corinthians 11:32; Hebrews 12:5-9), but its purpose is to advance their sanctification (Hebrews 12:10, 11).
3. As servants they are judged in the future at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 2:6; 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Galatians 6:7; Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:24, 25; Revelation 22:12).
A believer who sins over an extended period of time and then confesses cannot expect to receive the same reward as one who has always lived a godly life. While his sins are forgiven, his rewards that could have been obtained are lost. What about the person who lives a carnal life for years and then on his deathbed sincerely decides to confess his sin? Will this man be punished? The answer is yes. Once he confesses, he is forgiven, but he will still be held accountable as a servant. Indeed, when he arrives in heaven no restraint from sin will be felt. He will instantly repent of any failure in the past, and he will enter into complete fellowship with the Savior. However, he will suffer loss at the Judgment Seat of Christ. There he is judged, not as a sinner or child but as a servant. His reward will be minimal. His loss will be great.
Conclusion
Four things may be said about the negative consequences that come upon the believer at the Judgment Seat of Christ:
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